First crypto ATM billing in the UK: Phone shop owner allegedly laundered $400,000
British police have filed the country’s first crypto ATM-related charges after accusing a London man of operating an illegal machine and laundering £300,000 ($395,000).
Habibur Rahman was charged on Wednesday, more than a year after his arrest in April 2023.
British police seized several crypto ATMs belonging to the 37-year-old, who ran a mobile phone shop in Chatham, Kent. Rahman is accused of laundering hundreds of thousands of pounds by converting them into cryptocurrency.
The UK financial regulator FCA has issued a ban on crypto ATMs in 2022 and warned machine owners that they must be registered with the FCAThe regulator then launched a crackdown on unregistered crypto ATMs.
By July 2023, Blockworks had reported, using data from CoinATM Radar, that there were fewer than 10 crypto ATMs in the country. Now, CoinATM Radar estimates that there are no such machines left in the UK.
Read more: FCA too slow to enforce crypto, says UK financial regulator
Matthew Long, director of payments and digital assets at the FCA, said: “There are currently no crypto ATMs registered with the FCA, so if you use one of these machines, there is a chance you could be handing your money over to criminals.”
He added: “We continue to remind people that cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated and carry a high level of risk. If you buy them, you should ready to lose all your money.”
Rahman is free on bail and is due to appear before Medway Magistrates Court on October 10.
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