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In summary
- A 37-year-old man has become the first person charged in the UK for illegally operating a Cryptocurrency ATM.
- Cryptocurrency ATMs were common in the UK, despite the FCA ban in 2022.
- Habibur Rahman was arrested and charged with operating a machine without FCA registration.
A man has become the first person charged in the UK for illegally operating a cryptocurrency ATM.
Cryptocurrency ATMs were relatively common in the UK, even though the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the body that regulates financial services in the UK, banned them in 2022.
According to data from Coin ATM Radar, there were 81 cryptocurrency ATMs in operation in the UK as of March 2022, placing it in the top ten in the world at the time.
Although there have been numerous raids by UK police since the ban, this is the first reported case of a criminal charge occurring as a result of operating one.
Police officers carried out a search warrant at an electronics store in Chatham, Kent, where they seized several cryptocurrency ATMs, including one that was on public display.
Habibur Rahman, 37, of Langdon Crescent in East Ham, London, was arrested following the search. He has now been charged with operating the machine without FCA registration.
Kent Police also alleged that he laundered £300,000 of criminal money by converting it into cryptocurrency.
Rahman is currently out on bail ahead of his trial date on October 10.
Matthew Long, FCA Director of Payments and Digital Assets, said: ‘There are currently no FCA-registered cryptocurrency ATMs, so if you’re using one of these machines you could be handing your money over to criminals.
Cryptocurrency ATMs are still commonly used for criminal activities around the world.
According to research by TRM Labs, since 2019, at least $160 million in illicit volumes have been processed by the cash-to-crypto industry, which operates primarily through cryptocurrency ATMs.
In Germany, where cryptocurrency ATMs remain legal as long as they comply with certain rules and regulations, law enforcement agencies recently seized nearly €250,000 (approximately $279,000) in cash and shut down 13 cryptocurrency ATMs for lacking the correct licenses.
Although the UK has effectively phased out the digital asset ATM industry, these ATMs are more common than ever in some regions.
The number of cryptocurrency ATMs in Australia has increased by 1,700% over the past two years, while the number in New Zealand has jumped from 0 to 157 in the past 12 months, according to analysis by TRM Labs.
There are 31,843 cryptocurrency ATMs in the US at the time of writing, according to data from Coin ATM.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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