The fin-tech company based in the United Kingdom, Revolut announced that it was suspending its crypto operations in the United States.
The decision would come into effect from September 2nd, 2023 and is mostly due to the uncertainties and changing regulatory landscape associated with the crypto industry in the United States.
The announcement
A spokesperson for the company said that from the aforementioned date, customers in the US would not be able to use the Revolut platform for playing buy orders for crypto.
They further said that the company was looking for alternatives to provide customers with access to crypto products and hoped to offer crypto services in the US once more in the future.
Once this change goes into effect, the company would introduce a more comprehensive restriction that would be implemented a month later i.e. from October 3rd, 2023.
From this date, US customers would not be able to access any cryptocurrencies on the Revolut platform. This means that they would not be able to buy, hold, or sell any crypto tokens.
The company spokesperson said that they had had to come to this tough decision because of the changing regulatory environment in the US and the uncertainties.
Both Revolut and its banking partner in the United States would stop offering crypto services on the Revolut platform in the country.
More details
The spokesperson went on to say that the fin-tech firm had not taken this decision lightly and they were aware that it could cause a lot of disappointment.
Revolut informed all its customers in the United States about this decision via email. The said email informed customers that the platform was shutting down in the country.
A significant factor in this announcement from Revolut is the regulatory context related to cryptocurrencies.
The SEC
According to the securities regulator in the US, most of the crypto tokens are actually securities, meaning investor protection rules are applicable to them.
In early June, the regulatory efforts escalated when the SEC filed lawsuits against crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase for not registering a number of crypto tokens.
The allegations have been denied by the two companies. After the declaration of the SEC, Revolut swiftly delisted tokens on its platforms, including Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA).
The regulator had named these three tokens as securities, thereby Revolut had opted to delist them. The delisting process will be completed on September 18th.
Most of the crypto firms in the market do not believe the SEC is authorized to regulate the crypto market.
In recent months, they have been lobbying Congress to create laws to clarify that cryptocurrencies are not securities and are similar to commodities.
But, the decision does not have any impact on Revolut operations outside of the United States. The spokesperson said that its crypto services in other countries would continue as per the norm.
The company’s crypto services are active outside the US and are actually undergoing expansion, including in Europe.
A staking program was launched by Revolut back in February that gives customers in 30 European countries and Great Britain the chance to earn some crypto rewards.