UK financial watchdog charges man with running illegal crypto ATMs

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's financial watchdog said on Tuesday it had for the first time charged an individual for unlawfully running crypto ATMs without its registration.

London-based Olumide Osunkoya, 45, is accused of operating the ATMs - machines that allow you to buy or convert money into cryptoassets - and processing 2.6 million pounds ($3.4 million)in crypto transactions across several locations between December 2021 and September 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement.

Osunkoya could not immediately be reached for comment.

"Our message today is clear. If you're illegally operating a crypto ATM, we will stop you," said Therese Chambers, the FCA's joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight.

"If you’re using a crypto ATM, you are handing your money directly to criminals. Criminals can exploit crypto ATMs to launder money globally," she said.

There were no legal crypto ATM operators in Britain, she added.

The man, who will appear at Westminster magistrates court later this month, was charged under money laundering, terrorist financing and transfer of funds regulations, the watchdog said.

Financial watchdogs are clamping down on crypto ATM networks. Germany's Bafin said last month that authorities had seized almost 250,000 euros in cash in a nationwide operation targeting cryptocurrency ATMs.

Britain's FCA has repeatedly warned that cryptocurrencies are highly risky, largely unregulated and that people should expect to lose all of their money.

It said on Tuesday that it had disrupted 26 crypto ATMs operating unlawfully in Britain last year.

($1 = 0.7637 pounds)

(Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes; Editing by Angus MacSwan)