"They're screwed, I think, unless they can spin up a new entity in an unregulated area, which they might do," the CEO of one of the firms preparing to use an overseas jurisdiction, who also requested anonymity. "I know that some of these firms have been either in the process of IPO prep or serious funding talks and then those conversations have materially collapsed as a result of the FCA's approach here, which is not meritocratic and is super subjective."