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.