FCA raids three London sites running unregistered peer-to-peer crypto trading

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority raided three London premises suspected of running unregistered peer-to-peer crypto trading operations, working alongside HM Revenue & Customs and the Metropolitan Police. For institutional investors tracking Britain’s incoming crypto regime, the operation matters less for its size than for the FCA’s blunt confirmation that no peer-to-peer crypto firm currently holds UK registration, meaning any such trading today sits outside the regulatory perimeter.

• The FCA, HMRC and the Metropolitan Police inspected three London premises on Thursday, September 10, 2026, issuing cease-and-desist letters at all three.

• 3 London premises inspected by FCA, HMRC and police on Sept. 10
• 0 FCA-registered peer-to-peer crypto firms currently operating in the UK
• 2027 October date when the full UK crypto regime is due to bite

The FCA disrupted suspected illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading at three London sites on Thursday, September 10, 2026, working with HMRC and the Metropolitan Police Service. Cease-and-desist letters were issued at every location and investigators gathered intelligence for potential follow-up action, according to the regulator’s press release published Thursday, September 17, first reported by newsbtc.com.

The action was taken under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017. It targeted unregistered peer-to-peer businesses, not licensed UK exchanges.

Three Premises, One Set of Cease-and-Desist Letters

Peer-to-peer trading, where individuals buy and sell crypto directly with each other, requires registration in the UK if done by way of business. The FCA says unregistered P2P operators give criminals a route to move and launder illicit funds precisely because they sit outside anti-money-laundering controls.

Detective Sergeant Sathish Alalasundaram of the Metropolitan Police Service said law enforcement continues adapting its tactics as criminals move funds across jurisdictions at speed. The FCA separately flagged its record on the issue, including prosecuting an unlawful crypto ATM network operator and supporting the arrest of two individuals accused of running an illegal exchange.

Zero Registered Firms Means All Current P2P Trading Is Unlawful

The practical shift here is narrower than the enforcement action might suggest. Because no peer-to-peer crypto business currently holds FCA registration, the regulator’s statement effectively puts every UK-based P2P operator on notice that it is, by definition, unregistered and therefore a target regardless of intent.

That is a harder line than April 2026’s operation, whose evidence is still being used to support separate criminal investigations rather than closing cases outright.

The open question the FCA’s statement does not answer is whether any firm will actually clear registration once a formal route exists, or whether the peer-to-peer model remains structurally incompatible with the compliance burden the regulator is building.

New Authorisation Gateway Opens Late September, Full Regime Waits Until 2027

The FCA’s broader authorisation gateway for crypto firms opens at the end of September 2026, giving compliant businesses a formal route into the regulated perimeter for the first time. Until then, and largely afterward too, UK crypto remains a high-risk, largely unregulated asset class outside anti-money-laundering and financial promotion rules.

That gap between enforcement action today and a fully built regime nearly a year away is where institutional desks are watching most closely. Consumers can already check a firm’s status using the FCA’s Firm Checker tool, but no equivalent registration path for peer-to-peer trading yet exists to check against.

The regulatory contrast is notable set against how other jurisdictions are handling crypto policy. London is choosing enforcement first and authorisation second, a sequencing that puts pressure on unregistered intermediaries well before the licensing system they would need to join is finished. Verification tools like the Firm Checker sit in the same broader push toward provable legitimacy that projects such as peaq’s identity work for machines are pursuing on the technical side.

The CCS read. This raid does more to validate licensed UK exchanges than to threaten them. Every enforcement notice against an unregistered P2P operator widens the compliance gap in favor of firms that already meet AML and financial promotion rules, making the FCA’s authorisation gateway a competitive asset once it opens rather than just a cost center for institutional players positioning ahead of the October 2027 deadline.

The FCA’s authorisation gateway is due to open at the end of September 2026, but the regulator has not said whether any peer-to-peer crypto firm has applied for registration under the new framework or when the first such approval might arrive.