The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) carried out its first coordinated raids against illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading, working with HMRC and a regional organised crime unit.
Authorities issued on-site cease-and-desist letters at each location. The FCA confirmed that the evidence gathered is now supporting multiple ongoing criminal investigations.
A Market Outside the Regulatory Perimeter
The FCA stated that there are currently no registered peer-to-peer crypto traders or platforms operating in the UK, which means every P2P operation in the country is, by definition, illegal.
It was an operation against an entire business model that sits outside the regulatory perimeter rather than a crackdown on outliers within a regulated sector.
"Unregistered peer-to-peer crypto traders operating in the UK are doing so illegally and pose a financial crime risk," said Steve Smart, the FCA's executive director of enforcement and market oversight. "We will use our powers and work with partners to disrupt them."
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An Enforcement Model, Not a One-Off Raid
The presence of an organised crime unit and HMRC signals what the FCA considers the core risk: money laundering. The UK government's National Risk Assessment has flagged crypto assets as an increasingly common channel for moving illicit funds, and law enforcement framed the operation accordingly.
"By working with our colleagues at the FCA and HMRC we are able to effectively target and disrupt unregistered peer-to-peer crypto traders," said DI Ross Flay of the SWROCU. "As law enforcement, we want to stop these traders providing a route for criminals to move, disguise, and spend illegal money."
This is not the FCA's first direct action in the space. The agency has previously prosecuted the operator of an illegal crypto ATM network and supported arrests in an unauthorized exchange case. But the multi-agency raid format is new, and suggests the enforcement model is shifting from reactive prosecution toward active, coordinated disruption.
For any firm facilitating crypto activity in the UK, the message is straightforward: FCA registration is a necessary prerequisite to operate legally under the current regulatory framework.
