The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has run a second round of operations against peer-to-peer crypto traders in London, issuing cease and desist letters at three premises alongside HM Revenue & Customs and the Metropolitan Police.
The action took place on September 10 under the 2017 money laundering regulations, and follows a first sweep in April whose evidence the FCA says is now supporting criminal investigations.
Anyone buying and selling crypto directly with others as a business in the UK must be registered, and, the FCA said, there are currently no registered peer-to-peer crypto businesses operating in the UK.
Every such operation in the country is therefore unregistered by definition, a position that makes enforcement a question of finding them rather than distinguishing the compliant from the rest.
FCA vs P2P
Unregistered traders sit outside the anti-money laundering controls registration would impose, the FCA said, which makes them a route for moving and laundering criminal funds.
"Anyone running an unregistered peer-to-peer crypto business should assume we are looking at them," said Steve Smart, the FCA's executive director of enforcement and market oversight.
Detective Sergeant Sathish Alalasundaram of the Met pointed to the practical difficulty. The complexity of crypto and "the speed at which funds can be moved across jurisdictions presents ongoing challenges for those investigating," he said, adding that the force is adapting its disruption tactics as criminals adapt theirs.
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The FCA has prosecuted in this area before, securing a four-year sentence for Olumide Osunkoya over an unlawful crypto ATM network and supporting the arrest of two people suspected of running an illegal exchange.
Crypto remains largely unregulated in Britain aside from money laundering rules and financial promotions, which is why these operations run under 2017 legislation rather than anything crypto-specific. That changes on October 25, 2027, when the FCA's new regime takes effect, with applications for authorization opening on September 30.
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