The City watchdog has brought its first charges against an individual for running a network of illegal cryptocurrency ATMs, which it said processed millions of pounds worth of transactions.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Tuesday that it charged Olumide Osunkoya, 45, for unlawfully running multiple crypto ATMs without the regulator’s registration.
The defendant is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 30 September.
Crypto ATMs are machines that allow customers to buy or convert funds into cryptoassets, but regulators have warned they can be used to launder dirty money. There are currently no crypto ATM operators registered with the FCA, which they must be to operate legally.
Osunkoya, who resides in London, is accused of running ATMs that processed £2.6m in crypto transactions across multiple locations between 29 December 2021 and 8 September 2023, the FCA said.
The news marks the FCA’s first criminal prosecution relating to unregistered cryptoasset activity under money laundering and terrorist financing regulations introduced by the government in 2017.
Therese Chambers, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, commented: “Our message today is clear. If you’re illegally operating a crypto ATM, we will stop you.
“If you’re using a crypto ATM, you are handing your money directly to criminals. Criminals can exploit crypto ATMs to launder money globally.”
Osunkoya could not be reached for comment by City A.M.
It was reported in 2022 that a man with the same name had lost a judicial review attempting to overturn the FCA’s decision to refuse a licence for crypto ATM operator he co-owned.
The FCA has held a strict line on digital assets, which are largely unregulated in the UK, and warned that if people buy crypto they should be prepared to lose all their money.
City A.M. revealed last month that the regulator had not registered a crypto firm since 27 February, marking over six months without a new approval.
Around 86 per cent of all applications made by crypto firms for FCA authorisation have failed since it began supervising the UK’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regime in January 2020.