The UK cryptoasset longstop is 24 October 2029, not 25 October
A one-day error, in three law firm alerts
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/102, carry a longstop on both of their transitional mechanisms. Several of the most widely read published summaries give that longstop as 25 October 2029. K&L Gates puts it plainly: “There is a long stop date for both arrangements, which is 25 October 2029.” Travers Smith's note on the final legislation says of the relevant power that “this power also lasts until 25 October 2029.”
On the statutory wording, both dates are a day late. The transitional arrangements cease at the end of 24 October 2029. It is a small point. It is also the kind of point that goes into a board calendar, a wind-down plan and a set of contractual end dates, and is then relied on for three years without anyone re-reading the regulation.
Where the date comes from
Two provisions have to be read together.
- Regulation 1(2): “Subject to paragraph (3) these Regulations come into force on 25th October 2027 (the full commencement day).”
- Regulation 53(3) and regulation 55(9): the relevant chapter ceases to have effect “at the end of the period of 2 years beginning with the full commencement day”.
So the clock is a two-year period, and the question is only when it starts and therefore when it ends.
“Beginning with” includes the day named
In United Kingdom legislative drafting, “beginning with” is the deliberate formula for a period that includes the day identified, as opposed to “from” or “after”, which exclude it. The distinction is not stylistic; it is the standard convention precisely because the courts have had to resolve one-day disputes over the alternative wording often enough that drafters now settle it on the face of the instrument.
Applying it here: a period of two years beginning with 25 October 2027 has 25 October 2027 as its first day. It runs to the end of 24 October 2029. The last day on which the transitional provisions have effect is 24 October 2029, not 25 October 2029.
This is a construction point rather than something stated anywhere in the SI as a date, so read regulations 1(2), 53(3) and 55(9) yourself before you diarise anything on the strength of an article. But the wording is unambiguous, and the published 25 October 2029 appears to come from adding two years to the commencement date rather than from applying the statutory formula.
Why one day is worth the trouble
A firm operating under the regulation 53 saving on 25 October 2029 is not operating under a saving. It is carrying on a regulated activity without authorisation, with everything that follows for the validity of contracts written that day, for the firm's own permission records, and for the individuals responsible.
In practice the date shows up in four places, and all four should be checked:
- The wind-down plan, where the terminal date drives the whole timetable backwards.
- Client contract end dates and notice periods, where a notice period expressed in months against a wrong terminal date can run past the cliff.
- Run-off and professional indemnity cover, where the period has to cover the actual last day of activity.
- Board and audit committee calendars, where the date is usually entered once and then never re-derived.
The related framing error, which is bigger
While you are correcting dates, correct the one that costs more. It is widely written that the FCA gateway “closes” on 28 February 2027. Nothing closes. The 30 September 2026 and 28 February 2027 dates are not in SI 2026/102 at all; they come from an FCA direction under regulation 52, published in February 2026. Regulation 52(5) is explicit that a direction “does not prevent applications for a relevant cryptoasset permission being made outside the relevant application period”.
The FCA says the same on its own page on how the gateway will operate: “While we will expect firms to submit their applications for authorisation (or variation) during the application period, firms can submit an application for authorisation (or variation) outside of the application period.” The consequence of filing late is stated in the next sentence: “we will not expedite our assessment of a firm's application to compensate for its late submission”.
What ends on 28 February 2027 is eligibility for the regulation 53 saving — the materially better of the two transitional positions — not the ability to apply. “The window for the saving closes” is accurate. “The gateway closes” is not, and a firm that believes the second one may conclude, wrongly, that a March 2027 application is pointless.
What to check in your own file
- Search your internal documents and external advice for “25 October 2029” and correct it to the end of 24 October 2029.
- Re-derive the date from regulations 1(2), 53(3) and 55(9) rather than from a secondary source — including this one.
- Check whether your wind-down timetable was built backwards from the wrong day.
- Confirm whether your file assumes the gateway shuts on 28 February 2027, and correct the framing if so.
The checklist behind this article
Our UK FCA Cryptoasset Gateway Readiness Checklist works through the authorisation file against the regime as it actually reads: every item cited to its regulation, article or policy statement, every figure marked according to whether it is instrument text or reporting of it, and the genuinely unresolved items — the application fee, the draft amending SI on stablecoin distribution — left marked as open. USD 149, with the updated edition free as the position develops.
If your perimeter position is clear and you know which activity heads you need, the checklist is enough on its own. If it is not — group structures, tokenised securities touching article 9N, or a stablecoin distribution model that the draft amending SI would move — our 48-hour gap check is at this link.