The Financial Conduct Authority wants to ban the sale of complex products linked to cryptocurrencies to retail investors, in a bid to shield them from “sudden and unexpected losses” in what have proved to be volatile markets.

The proposals come less than two months after the UK’s financial watchdog warned that the number of reported “get rich quick” scams targeting investors in the crypto and foreign exchange markets tripled in the 2017/18 financial year to more than 1,800.