FCA issues warning against Solana-based memecoin Retardio

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has raised concern over Retardio, a Solana-based meme coin. The FCA said that Retardio may be offering financial services in the U.K. without the required approval.

The notice stated that the Financial Ombudsman Service will not protect investors who deal with the coin in case of a dispute. However, holders do not qualify for protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as well.

The regulator also warned that investors would be unable to get their money back in case the project becomes insolvent.

“If things go wrong. This means it’s unlikely you’d get your money back if the firm goes out of business.” 

FCA.

The warning comes after the FCA has been on a crackdown spree of unregulated crypto assets that are targeting consumers in the UK. Even with the warning, the price of Retardio rose by 16%, and the total market capitalization hit $111 million. Earlier, the meme coin had reached almost $240 million. As of this writing, Retardio is currently trading at $0.09011.

The Retardio community responded to the news with the appropriate humor on social networks, which only increased the demand for the token.

The Bezos Cabal send their regards.

Oi come get me bruv 🫵🤡 https://t.co/DNrd7G5Zyk pic.twitter.com/LVxTsUwDxA

— RETARDIO 🚀 (@retardiosolana) December 16, 2024

In related news, the FCA has also been increasing its efforts to regulate the cryptocurrency market. The agency has also recently released a discussion paper that seeks industry input on the regulatory model for the sector.

This year alone, the FCA has reportedly increased the size of its crypto team at the UK watchdog to over 100 people. The policy team has also been regarded as the fastest-growing section, which points to the regulator’s efforts to meet the dynamics of the cryptocurrency market.

FCA also targets Pump.fun

Besides Retardio, the FCA recently issued a warning against Pump.fun, which is a memecoin generator on the Solana blockchain. The warning, published on December 3, says that Pump.fun is “not authorized” to provide financial services in the UK.

The FCA noted that customers interacting with Pump.fun will not be protected by the Financial Ombudsman Service. The notice advised customers against using the platform and advised them to beware of potential fraud.

The Pump.fun platform lets people create and launch tokens, especially memecoins, with no coding skills required. The platform, which was launched in January 2024, has reportedly made over $315.6 million in revenue, according to Dune Analytics. 

The FCA has recently intensified its supervision over the crypto platforms. In October 2023, it declared over 140 digital asset companies, including Huobi and KuCoin, as unauthorized companies. 

The regulator is also looking to tighten the rules on public sales of cryptocurrencies. The UK also aims to fully regulate stablecoins and other cryptocurrency activities by the end of 2025.  As previously noted by Cryptopolitan, 12% of UK adults now own cryptocurrency, which is an increase from the 10% in 2022. Also, the average investments in cryptocurrencies per investor increased from £1,595 to £1,842. Currently, Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency that is familiar to 78% of the respondents in the UK.

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