The UK Financial Conduct Authority has issued cease and desist letters at three London premises suspected of running unregistered peer-to-peer crypto trading businesses. The regulator announced the action September 17 after an operation with HM Revenue & Customs and the Metropolitan Police. The visits took place September 10. The FCA has not publicly named the premises or the people operating from them.

Peer-to-peer trading involves buyers and sellers transacting directly rather than placing orders on an exchange. In the UK, a person carrying out such activity as a business must have the appropriate registration. The FCA says no peer-to-peer crypto trading businesses are currently registered with it. Its letters required traders at the three locations to stop the suspected illegal activities; the announcement did not report convictions or a financial penalty.

The regulator links its enforcement work to anti-money-laundering rules. An unregistered trading business can move funds without the controls imposed on registered firms, making it harder to detect suspicious transactions. The September visits were carried out under the UK's money-laundering and transfer-of-funds regulations. Officials did not disclose transaction amounts or allege that every customer at the targeted locations had used crypto for a crime.

The operation follows earlier action against eight London addresses in April. The FCA says evidence gathered during that earlier effort is being used in criminal investigations and other enforcement work. Its latest action therefore represents a further disruption of suspected unregistered operators while those investigations continue. For London's informal crypto trading market, the message is that in-person deals conducted as a business remain within the regulator's registration remit.