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Highlights
- In a massive announcement, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a verdict on Friday, 11 March, to shut down all the Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs operating in the country.
- The FCA elaborated that crypto-asset firms that are registered with the regulatory body have not been permitted to offer crypto ATM services.
- According to Coin ATM Radar data, close to 81 crypto ATMs offer services in various cryptos in cities, such as London, Birmingham, Watford, etc.
In a massive announcement, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a verdict on Friday to shut down all the Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs operating in the country. The FCA elaborated that none of the crypto asset firms, which are registered with the regulatory body, have been allowed to offer crypto ATM services.
Hence, the crypto services that have set up crypto ATMs will have to remove them. They will now have to register them with the FCA first and comply with UK Money Laundering Regulations (MLR). The announcement has shocked many operators and ATM companies in the country.
Also read: What can the crypto world expect from the Stripe & FTX partnership?
The FCA had granted crypto registration approval for 33 firms in August 2020. The regulatory body then further granted temporary registrations to 22 companies until 31 March, including Revolut Ltd, Blockchain Access UK Ltd, etc.
The action
The FCA believes that it is critical to protect investors amidst fluctuating prices and the volatile market. According to Coin ATM Radar data, around 81 crypto ATMs are operational in cities such as London, Birmingham, Watford, etc, which offer services in various cryptos such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash Dogecoin, etc.
The Upper Tribunal recently had ruled against crypto ATM firm Gidiplus in November 2021, wherein it found that the firm did not meet the requisite registration under the MLR law. The FCA said that it would be contacting operators instructing them to shut down their operations in the coming days, or they would be subject to severe action.
Also read: Stacks (STX) crypto on cloud nine after Bitcoin Odyssey announcement
Conclusion
The FCA has been pretty stringent on operations related to cryptocurrencies and is a strict vigil on how the firms are marketing their businesses and products. Recently, it has even taken action against a few exchanges, such as Crypto.com, Kraken, Binance, etc., for their irresponsible marketing.
Besides, time and again, the FCA has been educating investors and consumers that cryptocurrencies are volatile assets and unregulated. Therefore, consumers won’t have any protection in case of any untoward incident, scam, or loss of money.
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