I Checked the Licences of Every Platform I Use

I had assumed that platforms describing themselves as regulated were regulated for what they do. I checked, and two were not. I had assumed these numbers were unknowable until I found a platform supervised under a named regulator publishing them.

The method

Take the authority and reference number from the platform’s own site.

Search that authority’s public register. Not a search engine, the register itself.

Compare the entity name against the one in the terms of service.

Read the permitted activities.

Five minutes each.

What I found

Three checked out completely. Entity matched, permission covered what they do, no conditions.

One did not resolve. The number produced no result on the register. I emailed and received a different number, which belonged to a related company in another country.

One had the wrong permission. It held an exchange authorisation and was holding a balance for me. Holding client assets is a separate permission and it did not have it.

Why the second one matters

If a platform holds your balance without the custody permission, the segregation rules you assumed apply do not.

That is the difference between assets being returned to you if the platform fails and joining a queue of creditors.

I had a balance sitting there because it was convenient.

What I did about it

Moved the balance out. Kept the account for trading, which is what it is actually authorised to do, and stopped leaving anything there overnight. On the receiving side the equivalent is a platform built for institutional allocations, with settlement included.

That is a reasonable position and it required knowing the distinction existed.

The group structure thing

The one whose number belonged to a related company is a common structure.

The protections attach to the entity that holds the authorisation. If your agreement is with a different one, you have the marketing and not the protection.

The question that settles it, in writing: which legal entity will I be contracting with, and does that entity hold the authorisation.

What I do now

Check before depositing anywhere. Five minutes.

Recheck annually, because authorisations change and nobody writes to tell you.

And keep balances at platforms only while transactions are happening. That habit matters more than the checking, and the checking made me take it seriously. Check it yourself rather than taking my word. a crypto exchange with published fees is on a public register.