The UK Financial Conduct Authority published GC26/7, "Decentralised finance guidance", on 21 October 2026. It is non-Handbook guidance, meaning it clarifies how existing rules apply rather than creating new ones. The FCA asks for comments by 18 November 2026 and plans to publish final guidance in January 2027.
Scope is narrow and worth reading precisely. The guidance is aimed at FCA-regulated firms that provide financial services using DeFi and that fall under SYSC 15A (operational resilience), SYSC 6 (compliance and financial crime) or the Money Laundering Regulations. It contains "observations on the current risk landscape relevant to DeFi" and illustrative measures firms may consider. The FCA defines DeFi broadly as "financial services facilitated by distributed ledger technology", notes that there is "in some cases, no traditional intermediary", and says these features "can expose firms and their clients to increased operational resilience and financial crime risks". The paper does not name DEXs or specific protocols, and it does not regulate protocols directly.
Cointelegraph and Regulation Tomorrow read it alongside the FCA's companion consultation on the crypto regulatory perimeter, which treats decentralisation as a continuum and expects a case-by-case view of whether an identifiable controlling entity exists.
For individual traders nothing changes now. For UK-regulated firms that route client flow through on-chain venues, or offer access to them, the guidance signals what the FCA expects on resilience and AML before the broader UK crypto regime takes effect in 2027.