Crypto
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- Two directors of Blockchain Access UK Ltd are set to face court due to their failure to file financial accounts since 2020
- The company has previously changed its registered office, raising concerns over administrative mismanagement, despite its $6.2 billion valuation
- UK regulators are increasing scrutiny over crypto firms failing to meet financial reporting obligations
The directors of a British blockchain firm valued at over $6 billion face court next week after the company failed to file company accounts for the fourth year in a row. Blockchain Access UK Ltd has not filed any accounts since 2020, despite actively raising funds, leading to legal action by the UK’s company register, Companies House. The action represents the most serious taken against a UK crypto company for failure to file accounts, something that another UK blockchain company, nChain, was guilty of until recently.
Crypto Significant Growth or a Smokescreen?
Blockchain Access UK has attracted substantial investments since its founding by Nicolas Cary and Alasdair Turnbull in April 2018, notably a $107 million Series B follow-on round in 2021. In 2023, it raised additional funding of US$110 million, valuing the group overall at £6 billion, and yet it has not submitted accounts past December 2020.
Cary was one of the founders of crypto giant Blockchain.com in 2011, and for some time, it seemed that Blockchain Access UK was going in the same direction, given its investment, valuation and international expansion. However, if the act of not filing company accounts for one year is not a good look, not filing them for four years suggests something extremely rotten with the company.
Crypto Blockchain Access UK Not Alone
As a result of their transgressions, Cary and Turnbull are due in court next week following a rare prosecution brought by Companies House, with records showing that Blockchain Access UK has three County Court Judgments against its name, meaning that debts have not been repaid on all occasions. This, combined with the lack of filings, suggests that the picture may not be as rosy as Blockchain Access UK’s shareholders would like.
While Blockchain Access UK may be the only British crypto firm to have been involved in prosecution for lack of company filings, it is not the only such example; nChain, the former workplace of Satoshi Nakamoto pretender Craig Wright, failed t
