The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Wednesday swooped on eight London addresses suspected of illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading in its first such operation with other agencies, the financial regulator said on Wednesday.
Working with tax officials and police under money laundering and terrorist financing regulations, the FCA said it had issued cease and desist letters at each site.
“Evidence obtained during the on-site inspections is supporting a number of ongoing criminal investigations,” the FCA said in a statement.
Authorities want to prevent such traders from providing a route for criminals to move, disguise and spend money. Peer-to-peer traders, who shun centralised exchanges, have to be registered in Britain – and there are currently no FCA-registered peer-to-peer crypto traders here.
Authorities rank crypto assets as a high-risk investment in Britain, where they remain largely unregulated, except for under anti-money laundering and financial promotion rules.
“The resources and coordination deployed in this operation show that the FCA isn’t just making statements about its areas of focus, it is acting on them,” said Imogen Makin, counsel at law firm WilmerHale in London.
“It seems likely that we will continue to see similar crackdowns in future as the FCA remains focused on combatting the risks associated with crypto and financial crime.”