UK FCA raids to crack down on illegal crypto trading: inspecting 8 locations in London, strengthening anti-money laundering enforcement

CoinWorld News, on April 22, according to Reuters, the UK financial regulatory authority Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently coordinated with tax authorities and police to conduct surprise inspections at eight suspected illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency trading locations in London and issued cease operations notices to the relevant entities. This is FCA’s first enforcement action of this kind in collaboration with multiple departments. FCA stated that the evidence collected on-site has supported multiple criminal investigations, focusing on activities potentially involving money laundering and terrorist financing. The regulatory agency pointed out that unregistered P2P trading activities could be used by criminals to transfer and conceal funds, and currently, there are no P2P crypto traders registered with FCA in the UK. Industry insiders believe that this action indicates that UK regulators are shifting from policy statements to substantive enforcement, and similar crackdowns may continue to intensify in the future. Under the current framework, crypto assets in the UK are still regarded as high-risk investments, mainly subject to anti-money laundering and financial promotion regulations.