The FCA has issued cease and desist letters at three London premises suspected of running illegal peer-to-peer crypto businesses, its second such operation this year.
The register those businesses were meant to be on is empty. There is not a single FCA-registered peer-to-peer crypto business in the UK, which makes any P2P operation running as a business unregistered by definition.
The regulator said on September 17 that the action took place on September 10, carried out with HM Revenue & Customs and the Metropolitan Police Service.
What the Action Covered
The letters require traders to stop any suspected illegal crypto businesses. No arrests were announced, and the action was taken under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017.
Peer-to-peer trading means individuals buying and selling crypto directly with each other. Doing so by way of business in the UK requires registration with the FCA.
The regulator’s stated concern is laundering. Unregistered P2P traders can provide a route for criminals to move illicit funds, it said, because operating outside the registration regime means avoiding the controls designed to detect and prevent money laundering.
Steve Smart, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said anyone running an unregistered peer-to-peer crypto business should assume the regulator is looking at them.
The Second Operation This Year
The action follows a larger one in April, when the FCA worked with HMRC and the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit to inspect eight London locations. The Crypto Times reported those raids on April 22.
The regulator says evidence gathered in April is now supporting criminal investigations and further enforcement action — which means the first operation has moved from cease and desist letters toward prosecution.
Detective Sergeant Sathish Alalasundaram of the Metropolitan Police said the complexity of cryptocurrency and the speed at which funds move across jurisdictions present ongoing challenges for investigators, and that the force continues adapting its disruption tactics as criminals change methods.
The Enforcement Record
The FCA points to two prior cases. Olumide Osunkoya was sentenced to four years for running an illegal crypto ATM network that processed £2.6 million between December 2021 and September 2023 without registration, the first UK conviction of its kind. The regulator also supported the arrest of two people suspected of operating an illegal crypto exchange.
The pattern in both is the same as here: an activity requiring registration, carried out by businesses that have none.
Thirteen Months Until the Rules Change
The FCA notes that crypto remains largely unregulated in the UK apart from anti-money laundering and financial promotion rules — until October 2027.
That date matters. The UK’s comprehensive cryptoasset regime does not take effect for another thirteen months, which means the FCA is policing the sector through money laundering regulations rather than a purpose-built framework. Every action of this kind is an AML action, because AML is what currently exists.
Consumers can check whether a crypto firm is registered using the FCA’s Firm Checker.
