On August 30, Protos reported that according to the Freedom of Information request (FOI), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has spent a total of 25 years processing crypto applications. The Financial Times reported that the FOI submitted by the law firm Reed Smith showed that the average time for the FCA to evaluate crypto applications was 459 days. From May 2023 to April 2024, the number of applications submitted fell to 29, a significant decrease from 42 and 59 in the previous two years. Only seven applications were submitted in the first quarter of 2024. The report shows that the number of crypto companies registered with the FCA has fallen by 51% in the past three years, and a total of 186 companies have withdrawn their applications to the financial regulator.