Crypto Exchanges
By Sakamoto Nashi
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Nobody's Registered, Everyone's Illegal. Here's the thing. The FCA says zero P2P crypto traders or platforms hold registration in the UK.
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Money Laundering Drives the Crackdown. Why bring in an organized crime unit? Money laundering.
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Registration Isn't Optional Anymore. Crypto firms operating in the UK need to get registered. That's the message.
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The Financial Conduct Authority just hit peer-to-peer crypto trading operations across the UK. Hard.
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The regulator teamed up with HMRC and the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit for what it's calling its first coordinated raids on illegal P2P crypto businesses.
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Steve Smart runs enforcement and market oversight at the FCA. He didn't mince words. "Unregistered peer-to-peer crypto traders operating in the UK are doing so illegally and pose…
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The scale is pretty stark. Every P2P operation in the country sits outside the regulatory framework.
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The UK's National Risk Assessment flagged crypto assets as a growing channel for moving dirty money.
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DI Ross Flay from SWROCU spelled it out. The goal is stopping unregistered traders from helping criminals move money, hide where it came from, and spend it.
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The involvement of a crime unit marks a shift. The FCA used to prosecute after the fact. Now it's going proactive.
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Law enforcement sees P2P crypto trading as a vulnerability. Criminals can move funds without going through registered exchanges that have know-your-customer requirements and…
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See also: FCA Pulls 1,267 Illegal Finfluencer Ads in Global Enforcement Sweep
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The FCA has taken action before. It prosecuted operators running illegal crypto ATMs. It supported arrests of people running unauthorized exchanges.
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The FCA has made registration mandatory for crypto businesses since 2020. But enforcement was spotty. Some operators probably figured they could fly under the radar.
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For P2P platforms and traders, the path forward is murky. The FCA says nobody's registered, which means nobody's been approved to run this business model legally.
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