The FCA filed its lawsuit in October 2025, accusing the exchange of violating financial promotion rules.

Thu 29 Oct 2026 · 08:32 EDT · 2 min read

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Crypto exchange HTX has agreed to withdraw from the UK market under a settlement with the Financial Conduct Authority, ending a legal dispute over alleged breaches of the country’s crypto marketing rules, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

The FCA sued the exchange in October 2025, alleging it had unlawfully promoted crypto-asset services to UK consumers and allowed residents to trade on an unauthorized platform.

Under the settlement, HTX has undertaken not to target or solicit UK customers, while the exchange said it had proactively introduced measures to comply with financial promotion regulations. UK users can no longer register from UK IP addresses, and existing customers have been barred from trading and given 48 hours to withdraw their assets before their accounts close.

The case marks the FCA’s first lawsuit against a crypto company under the financial promotion framework. The regulator also said it had struggled to establish who owned or controlled HTX, according to the report.

The exchange is owned by Panama-based Huobi Global and is linked to Justin Sun, a prominent crypto entrepreneur and investor in Trump family digital asset ventures.

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The FCA is preparing to introduce a comprehensive authorization framework for the UK crypto industry on Oct. 25, 2027, bringing a wider range of crypto services under its supervision.

The rules will extend beyond the current anti-money-laundering and financial-promotion requirements to cover stablecoin issuers, crypto custodians, trading platforms, brokers, transaction intermediaries and staking arrangers.

Firms must apply for authorization by Feb. 28, 2027, within an application window running from Sept. 30, 2026, to retain eligibility for transitional provisions. Those that apply on time may generally continue conducting specified activities while their applications are assessed, subject to applicable conditions, whereas firms that miss the deadline may need to suspend relevant services.

Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.