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

BlockBeats News, April 22 — According to Reuters, the UK financial regulatory authority, the 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 the FCA’s first enforcement action of this kind in collaboration with multiple departments.

The 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 FCA-registered P2P crypto traders in the UK.

Industry insiders believe that this action indicates the 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 are still considered high-risk investments in the UK, mainly regulated under anti-money laundering and financial promotion rules.