Regulators in the U.K. may be taking over supervision of the controversial activity of binary options trading.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a statement on Tuesday that the British government is currently consulting on proposals that would give the FCA responsibility for regulating binary options trading. These options allow investors to make win/lose bets on the performance of underlying financial instruments, such as a company’s shares.

Currently, the U.K. Gambling Commission oversees the trading of binary options, but it only captures firms that have remote gambling equipment based in the U.K. Otherwise, the activity is not regulated in the U.K.

However, binary options trading is frequently a source of concern for securities regulators who worry that this speculative, unregistered activity exposes investors to everything from major investment risk to the risk of fraud or identity theft.

For example, Quebec’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) warned investors earlier this month about an increase in “suspicious schemes” by unregistered foreign companies offering online trading in binary options.

The AMF reported that its cyber surveillance team found companies based in the U.K., Cyprus, and the Virgin Islands targeting investors in Canada — and the regulator warned that these trading platforms are “sometimes associated with scams.”

See: AMF issues warning on binary options

British policy-makers are also worried that the financial services regulatory framework in the U.K. doesn’t protect investors when dealing in binary options, so the U.K. government is consulting on whether the FCA should regulate this activity.

Some European Union (EU) countries already consider binary options to be a financial, rather than a gambling, product, the FCA statement notes. As a result, firms that operate as financial services firms in other European countries are able to do business in the U.K.

The U.K. federal government is seeking comment on draft legislative provisions that would provide the FCS regulates and supervises certain binary options. Comments are due by June 18.