Revolut Could See License Application Denied, But Crypto Offerings Unaffected

Revolut’s internal IT systems were identified in March as being insufficient in assuring revenue streams from different areas of its business, including crypto trading

article-image

Veja/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Britain’s most valuable fintech company, Revolut, faces a significant setback as the Bank of England reportedly prepares to reject its application for a banking license. 

It follows a review of the company’s internal IT systems which were found to be insufficient in assuring revenue streams from different areas of its business including crypto trading revenues, its accounting firm BDO said last month.

After a two-year campaign, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), responsible for licensing, informed the government of its intention to deny Revolut’s application. The decision also comes amid concerns over Revolut’s balance sheet and a qualified audit opinion on overdue accounts, local media The Telegraph reported Thursday. 

PRA has instructed Revolut to produce a set of accounts with an audit opinion and simplify its share structure before the license could be granted. The regulator had previously informed the UK government of its plans to issue a notice to Revolut in March.

To date, no warning notice has yet been issued, but backroom discussions are now underway in an attempt to salvage the license application, per the report.

In any case, a denial of its banking license is only expected to affect its offerings of mortgages and loans to UK customers, while its crypto services are expected to remain unaffected.

In March, BDO, one of the UK’s top accounting firms, said it was unable to fully verify £477 million ($591 million) of Revolut’s revenues for 2021 due to internal system deficiencies. This amount represents over two-thirds of Revolut’s total revenues of £636 million ($789 million) for the year.

Revolut, which provides neobanking services, recently doubled down on its crypto offerings, including furthering its push with staking rewards to customers across the UK and Europe.

The fintech unicorn, which has raised $1.8 billion over 19 rounds and is valued at roughly $33 billion, first began offering crypto in 2017 by allowing users to acquire bitcoin, ether and litecoin.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

4.png

Research

This months PPGC covered four main areas. Firstly, debriefing the progress and status of the mainnet implementation of the Ahmedabad hard fork. Secondly, a retrospective on the testnet phase of the Ahemdabad Hard Fork. Thirdly, an update on PIP-36 which involves replaying failed state syncs. Lastly, PIP-47 which pushes upgrades to the Polygon Protocol Council.

article-image

Institutions to test out the settlement of “digital assets and currencies” on a network that annually carries more than 5 billion financial messages

article-image

After Bitwise’s XRP ETF filing this week, one industry watcher notes: “Politics will determine whether this happens soon or in a few years”

article-image

Plus, a look back at some of the SEC’s biggest enforcement moves under Gurbir Grewal

article-image

The forward-looking financial system is being championed by several contributors to India’s UPI digital money system

article-image

Multiple teams are pursuing integration cross-chain and off-chain

article-image

An SEC spokesperson told Blockworks the Ripple judgment clashes with Supreme Court precedent and securities laws