The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has conducted multiple raids across London, disrupting illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading in the capital city.

 

According to a press release from the regulatory watchdog, the crackdown was not conducted alone, as it involved collaboration with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Metropolitan Police Service.

 

“Working with partners, we continue to track and disrupt illegal crypto activity. Anyone running an unregistered peer-to-peer crypto business should assume we are looking at them,” said Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA.

 

 

Following raids at three locations where these illegal crypto trading activities were being carried out, the FCA said it issued cease and desist letters ordering the operators of these trading activities to stop.

 

Although peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency trading is not entirely banned in the UK, P2P trading is only allowed if it is conducted on a registered platform. However, the agency warns against P2P trading activities conducted directly between two users due to their potential to facilitate illicit activities such as money laundering.

 

The raid by the FCA is not the first of its kind this year. In April, the agency conducted a more intense crackdown on illegal crypto trading businesses, raiding eight locations across the UK where these illegal crypto trading activities were being carried out.

 

Similar Crackdowns Outside the UK

 

Outside the UK, several other regulatory agencies have also been going hard on illegal crypto businesses, with Australia, the United States, and India being in the news recently.

 

In Australia, the Australian financial intelligence agency (AUSTRAC) recently suspended or cancelled the registrations of 45 virtual asset service providers (VASPs), shutting down 96 CryptoLink ATMs across the country due to compliance and regulatory violations.

 

In the United States, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in collaboration with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Secret Service, coordinated action against Xinbi Guarantee, a large Chinese-language Telegram-based illicit marketplace reportedly linked to scams, money laundering, and other cyber-related crimes.

 

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has raided multiple locations across the country, suspected of running illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading operations.

 

The raid, conducted by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, the country’s regulatory watchdog, in collaboration with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the South West Regional Organized Crime Unit (SWROCU), targeted eight locations suspected of facilitating illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading.

 

 

According to the FCA, cease and desist letters were issued to the platforms, ordering a halt to the illegal trading activity, and evidence supporting their suspicions and ongoing criminal investigations was gathered on-site during the raid.

 

Peer-to-peer (P2P) trading, which involves the buying and selling of crypto assets directly between individuals without the use of a centralized exchange, is illegal in the UK, as there are currently no FCA-registered P2P trading platforms in the country.

 

According to Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, “Unregistered peer-to-peer crypto traders operating in the UK are doing so illegally and pose a financial crime risk. We will use our powers and work with partners to disrupt them.”

 

He added, “Consumers should protect themselves by only dealing with firms registered with the FCA and by remembering that crypto remains a high-risk investment.”

 

UK Takes Tough Stance on Illegal Crypto Operations

The UK authorities, in collaboration with law enforcement agencies, have intensified efforts over the past year to combat illegal cryptocurrency operations, cracking down on illicit crypto entities and their operators.

 

Earlier this month, the National Crime Agency (NCA), working with the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, launched Operation Atlantic, a crackdown targeting crypto phishing scammers. The operation led to the seizure of more than $12 million in suspected criminal proceeds, involving victims across the UK, the US, and Canada.

 

In February this year, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Service, seized more than £1 billion in cryptocurrencies from two individuals suspected of running an illegal cryptocurrency exchange. This follows legal action taken by the FCA approximately a year earlier against the cryptocurrency exchange HTX, when the regulator filed a civil lawsuit against the exchange over its unlawful financial promotions in the country.

 

Most recently, the FCA said in an X post that it is cracking down on influencers promoting illegal financial products that put consumers’ money at risk.