Kraken's EMI Licence: What It Means for UK Users

It is useful to understand how an EMI authorisation differs from the cryptoasset registration that most UK-facing exchanges hold.

Cryptoasset registration under the anti-money-laundering framework, administered by the FCA, confirms that a firm has met the regulator's standards for preventing financial crime. It permits the firm to operate as a cryptoasset exchange or custodian wallet provider in the UK. It does not confer the ability to issue electronic money or to hold and transfer fiat currency on behalf of customers within the regulated e-money framework.

An EMI authorisation, granted under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011, is a separate and more demanding regulatory approval. It allows the holder to issue electronic money — a form of stored monetary value represented as a claim on the issuer — and to provide associated payment services. EMI-authorised firms are subject to capital requirements, safeguarding obligations, and conduct rules that do not apply to firms holding only cryptoasset registration.

Where a firm holds both a cryptoasset registration and an EMI authorisation, it is operating under two distinct regulatory frameworks simultaneously. The combination gives it the ability to handle both cryptoassets and the electronic money that underpins the GBP deposits and withdrawals that UK users rely on.

Kraken has maintained a presence in the UK since 2014, when it became the first major cryptocurrency exchange to introduce a BTC/GBP trading pair. The UK is reported by the exchange to be one of its most active markets globally by trading volume, and Kraken has built GBP-denominated trading pairs and multiple fiat deposit routes into its platform over the years.

The EMI authorisation was obtained by Payward Services Limited, Kraken's UK operating entity, under Financial Reference Number 1010381. The exchange also maintains a separate FCA-authorised investment firm registration through Crypto Facilities Limited, which underpins certain other regulated activities in the UK.

The March 2025 announcement followed Kraken's receipt of a MiFID investment firm licence in Cyprus, which allows it to offer regulated derivatives products to eligible European traders. Across the EU, Kraken also holds an EMI licence from the Central Bank of Ireland.

FCA data cited by Kraken at the time of the announcement indicated that over seven million UK adults — approximately twelve percent of the adult population — held some form of cryptoasset. The exchange framed the authorisation in the context of continued growth in UK crypto participation and its own expansion plans for the domestic market.

Kraken is not the only exchange to have pursued EMI authorisation in the UK. The trend of major crypto exchanges obtaining e-money licences in their key markets reflects a broader shift in the industry toward deeper integration with existing financial infrastructure.

For UK users, the accumulation of regulatory approvals across the exchanges they use does not eliminate the risks inherent in holding cryptoassets on third-party platforms. It does, however, signal that the major exchanges operating in the UK are investing in formal compliance structures that go beyond the minimum required for anti-money-laundering registration.

As the UK's evolving cryptoasset regulatory framework through 2027 comes into force, the distinction between registration and full authorisation will become more pronounced. Firms that have already built regulated e-money and investment firm infrastructure will enter that transition with regulatory experience that newer entrants or less-compliant firms will need to acquire.