Ripple has applied for registration as a crypto asset firm with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is seeking a payments license in Ireland. This move comes after Ripple's partial win against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the classification of its XRP token as a security.

The decision considered XRP to be a security when sold to institutional investors but not to retail investors, and the case is still open to appeal by the SEC. More crypto firms are looking to the UK for regulatory clarity and a supportive business environment amid a wave of enforcement actions carried out by the SEC in the US.