FCA Targets Three London Premises In Illegal P2P Crypto Trading Crackdown

TL;DR

• The FCA, HMRC and Metropolitan Police inspected three London premises over suspected illegal crypto trading.
• Cease-and-desist notices were issued.
• The action involved unregistered P2P businesses, not licensed UK exchanges.

The Financial Conduct Authority has stepped up its enforcement work against illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading in London.

Working with HMRC and the Metropolitan Police, the regulator inspected three commercial premises suspected of operating unregistered crypto businesses.

The action took place on September 10, with the FCA publishing details on September 17.

Teams issued cease-and-desist notices and gathered intelligence from the businesses involved.

This Was About Unregistered Trading

The distinction matters because the UK is in the middle of a much wider overhaul of crypto regulation.

The FCA’s new authorisation gateway opens at the end of September, but firms already face rules around anti-money-laundering registration and financial promotions.

Physical or P2P businesses that operate outside that framework remain enforcement targets.

The latest action appears aimed squarely at that part of the market.

It is not evidence that the FCA is suddenly targeting licensed exchanges or shutting down mainstream crypto trading.