UK financial regulator FCA has announced that it has warned operators of crypto ATMs in the UK to shut their machines down or face enforcement action.
Crypto ATMs offering cryptoasset exchange services in the UK must be registered with the regulator, and must comply with UK Money Laundering Regulations (MLR). None of the cryptoasset firms registered with the FCA 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.
The UK’s Upper Tribunal recently ruled against Gidiplus, a firm offering crypto ATM services, which wanted to continue trading, pending the Upper Tribunal’s determination of its appeal against the regulator refusing its application for registration under the MLRs. The judge concluded that there was a ‘lack of evidence as to how Gidiplus would undertake its business in a broadly compliant fashion’.
The FCA said that it is now concerned about crypto ATM machines operating in the UK, and will therefore be contacting the operators instructing that the machines be shut down or the operators will face further action.
Since the regulator published the list of unregistered crypto firms that may have been continuing to conduct business, a recent assessment found that 110 are no longer operational.
The FCA regularly warns consumers that cryptoassets are unregulated and high-risk, which means people are very unlikely to have any protection if things go wrong, so people should be prepared to lose all their money if they choose to invest in them.
The Upper Tribunal’s decision regarding Gidiplus can be seen here (pdf).