Cryptocurrency ATMs are illegal right now in the UK The Register

All cryptocurrency ATMs are operating illegally in the UK and must be closed now, the country’s Financial Conduct Authority said in an alert on Friday.

Terminals accepting or dispensing cryptocurrencies in the country must be registered with the watchdog to ensure they comply with Blighty’s Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs), which came into effect for digital assets in 2020.

The problem here is not that none of the companies operating the machines have registered their equipment. Even if they did, none of them were approved by the FCA. And those who have not registered cannot have been given the green light, so all digital cash machines in use in the UK are currently illegal.

“None of the crypto-asset companies registered with us have been licensed to offer crypto-vending machine services, which means that one of them operating in the UK is doing so illegally and consumers should not use them,” the regulator said in a statement.

After the regulator published a list of unregistered cryptocurrency trading and exchange platforms, some 110 firms have since pulled out of the UK. But some continue to flout the rules and still have terminals around. FCA warned them to shut down their machines or “face other action”.

“We routinely warn consumers that crypto-assets are unregulated and high risk, which means people are very unlikely to have protection if something goes wrong. So people should be prepared to lose all their money if they choose to invest in it,” the FCA added. . ®