The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warns all Bitcoin and crypto ATM operators in the country to immediately shut down their ATMs if they want to avoid legal action. It indicates that ATMs must be registered with the FCA, and none so far are.
This order concerns all Bitcoin and other digital asset ATMs in the UK as they have been declared illegal under the UK Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) and the lack of official FCA approval. The financial regulator published the notice on its website today March 11, saying that:
“Crypto ATMs offering cryptoasset exchange services in the UK must be registered with us and comply with UK Money Laundering Regulations (MLR). None of the cryptoasset firms registered with us have been approved to offer crypto ATM services, meaning that any of them operating in the UK are doing so illegally and consumers should not be using them.”
“We are concerned about crypto ATM machines operating in the UK and will therefore be contacting the operators instructing that the machines be shut down or face further action.”
FCA cites the case of Gidiplus
Per the announcement, the UK High Court recently made a decision to reject crypto ATM operator Gidiplus’s appeal to continue operating, citing a “lack of evidence as to how Gidiplus would go about its business in a broadly compliant manner.” Meanwhile, the court is still deliberating the operator’s appeal against the FCA for rejecting its application for registration.
Likewise, the FCA statement says that since they published the list of unregistered crypto companies that may have continued to conduct business, “a recent assessment found that 110 are no longer operational.”
81 Bitcoin ATMs operational in the UK
Bitcoin ATMs are one of the easiest and quickest ways to buy and sell bitcoins and other crypto assets. According to Bitcoin ATM locator site Coin ATM Radar, there were 81 Bitcoin ATMs in operation in the UK at the time of publication, mostly located in London. These same establishments have also received warnings to stop the operation of the machines. It is worth noting that, according to Coin ATM Radar, there are over 36,000 Bitcoin ATMs across 76 countries, and growing at 36 ATMs per day. In the United States alone there are more than 32,000 Bitcoin ATMs.
It is worth noting that it has not been the only action in reference to cryptocurrencies that the FCA has made lately. Just this month, it reported that it was investigating at least 50 cryptocurrency companies and has reviewed more than 300 cases involving digital assets.
Likewise, the United Kingdom said in January that it would further tighten its regulations on cryptocurrency advertising, primarily to prevent misleading promotions and protect consumers.
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