Aave Labs secures FCA crypto registration, completing a dual-permissioned UK rail
The point where retail money moves between bank accounts and public blockchains has long been the most expensive and most lightly regulated stretch of the crypto journey. Aave Labs is now attempting to own both ends of that rail under regulatory cover. On 28 May 2026, its UK subsidiaries Push Labs Limited and Push Virtual Assets Limited (together "Push") confirmed they have secured cryptoasset exchange provider registration from the Financial Conduct Authority.
The significance lies less in the single registration than in what it completes. Push already holds an FCA Electronic Money Institution authorisation, which permits it to issue electronic money. Bolting the cryptoasset registration onto that licence gives the group control of both the fiat issuance rail and the digital asset exchange rail. That combination is what allows Push to offer zero-fee on and off-ramping, letting users swap sterling for stablecoins or other cryptoassets without surrendering margin to third-party payment processors.
Why the dual permission matters
For a protocol of Aave's scale, the regulatory architecture is the product. Aave is the largest decentralised liquidity protocol, with more than $12 billion in total value locked, and that ecosystem has historically sat outside retail financial regulation by design. Acquiring a non-custodial heritage and then layering an EMI authorisation and a cryptoasset registration on top is a deliberate move to bring DeFi infrastructure inside a supervised perimeter rather than around it. For banks watching the on-ramp problem, it signals that the cheapest fiat-to-crypto conduit may end up being a regulated one rather than an unregulated workaround.
The UK approval also slots into a wider European footprint. In November 2025, sister entity Push Virtual Assets Ireland Limited secured authorisation as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider under the EU's MiCAR framework from the Central Bank of Ireland, unlocking passporting across the European Economic Area.
"Our FCA EMI authorisation and cryptoasset registrations provide the regulatory foundation to deliver next-generation, zero-fee onchain consumer financial products in the UK," said Stani Kulechov, Founder and CEO of Aave Labs.
With permissions now established across both the UK and the EEA, the question for incumbents is no longer whether DeFi will be regulated, but who will hold the licences when it is.
Source: FF News.
