04-24-2026 
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The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has carried out its first operation to disrupt illegal peer-to-peer digital asset trading across multiple locations, in a joint action with other agencies that targeted eight actors across London.
According to an FCA press release on April 22, the eight actors suspected of illegal peer-to-peer digital asset trading were simultaneously issued cease-and-desist letters at each site, notifying the traders to stop the illegal activity immediately.
The operation was conducted in collaboration with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU). The FCA said that evidence obtained during the on-site inspections was being used to support several ongoing criminal investigations.
Peer-to-peer crackdown
Peer-to-peer trading involves individuals buying and selling digital assets directly with each other, rather than using a centralized exchange.
The U.K. crackdown is not aimed at ordinary individuals making occasional trades, but at people operating as a business without registration. Casual activity—such as a person buying or selling their digital assets, or occasionally trading directly with another person—generally does not require FCA registration.
However, someone conducting peer-to-peer trading, in the U.K., “by way of business”—such as regularly facilitating trades, acting as a broker or dealer, running P2P trading groups, or earning fees from transactions—must obtain a license to operate and abide by the same rules currently imposed on all other cryptoasset service providers.
The U.K. is still awaiting a full digital asset framework, expected to be finalized this summer, to come into force on October 25, 2027. In the meantime, digital asset services and businesses are subject to the FCA’s financial promotions regime, which restricts how digital assets can be marketed to U.K. consumers, and the country’s anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, called the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds regulations 2017 (MLRs).
Under the latter, digital asset firms operating “by way of business” must register with the FCA and comply with AML/CTF obligations, including customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, and reporting.
The FCA said there are currently no registered peer-to-peer digital asset traders or platforms operating in the U.K. Thus, those targeted in this latest operation were operating illegally, and the regulator said action was taken under the MLRs.
“Unregistered peer-to-peer crypto traders operating in the UK are doing so illegally and pose a financial crime risk,” said Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA. “We will use our powers and work with partners to disrupt them.”
This sentiment was echoed by Detective Inspector Ross Flay of SWROCU, who said, “As law enforcement, we want to stop these traders providing a route for criminals to move, disguise and spend illegal money.”FCA gets praise for its vigilance
The FCA has previously taken action against other forms of unregistered digital asset activity in the U.K., including an operation to disrupt illegal digital currency ATMs, part of which involved the prosecution of an individual in 2024. In another case, also in 2024, the FCA worked with the Metropolitan Police Service to arrest two individuals suspected of running an illegal digital asset exchange.
The FCA’s latest action, the first targeting peer-to-peer digital asset traders across multiple locations, received praise from market participants, particularly legal specialists, as an example of the regulator’s continued vigilance in combating financial crime and enforcing the country’s AML/CFT rules.
“The FCA’s action today demonstrates the regulator’s continuing focus on crypto and tackling financial crime,” said Imogen Makin, counsel at law firm WilmerHale. “The resources and coordination deployed in this operation show that the FCA isn’t just making statements about its areas of focus, it is acting on them.”
Commenting to CoinGeek on the operation, she added that “it seems likely that we will continue to see similar crackdowns in future as the FCA remains focused on combatting the risks associated with crypto and financial crime.”
Meanwhile, Thomas Cattee, white-collar crime partner at law firm Gherson Solicitors LLP, said the FCA action “demonstrates a continued pro-active willingness to pursue individuals alleged to be involved in unregistered crypto-asset activity.”
According to Cattee, “this is part of a wider strategy to disrupt un-registered activity and the first time the FCA has specifically focused on the unregistered peer-to-peer crypto trading.”
If this is true, this week’s FCA announcement may end up being the first of many.
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