Marinade Finance is reportedly halting its operations in the United Kingdom. The company explained it decided due to concerns about the country’s Finance Conduct Authority’s compliance regulations.

Marinade Finance is currently the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol running on the Solana blockchain, and CoinTelegraph reported that it has started prohibiting access to users based in the U.K.

U.K. Users Were Locked Out

It was said that customers only became aware of the restriction on Monday, Oct. 23. They tried to log in to Marinade Finance’s website but were denied and instead got the pop-up message that reads: “Access to this site is unavailable in the United Kingdom due to compliance concerns relating to rules and regulations promulgated by the U.K. Finance Conduct Authority. Users may withdraw liquidity, claim delayed tickets, or delay unstake via our SDK.”

The DeFi protocol currently has more than $265 million of locked assets, accounting for 70% of the funds locked on the Solana blockchain. The company has about 75,000 users today.

FCA Regulation on Crypto

Solana’s Marinade Finance’s decision to cease its operations in the U.K. was made in response to heightened compliance concerns from the regulatory framework that the FCA implemented.

The new set of rules protocol requires UK-based users to perform specific actions, including claiming delayed tickets, withdrawing liquidity, and delaying unstake through the use of its software development kit (SDK).

Coin Journal reported that the protocol focuses on the stringent measures being pressed by the FCA and indicates a magnified aim at ensuring transparency and fairness within the crypto industry. Marinade Finance is not the only firm to stop its services in the U.K. due to compliance issues - Binance, PayPal, and others have also withdrawn from this market.

Photo by: Marinade Press Kit