British shop owner charged with operating illegal crypto ATM

A man has become the first person to be charged in the UK for operating a crypto ATM.

Crypto ATMs have been relatively common in the UK – although the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s financial services regulator, banned them in 2022.

According to data from Coin ATM Radar, there were 81 functioning crypto ATMs in the UK as of March 2022, making the country among the top 10 ATMs in the world at the time.

Although there have been numerous UK police crackdowns on crypto ATMs since the ban, this is the first reported case of a criminal charge being brought for operating such an ATM.

Police officers executed a search warrant at an electronics store in Chatham, Kent, and seized several crypto ATMs, including one that was on public display.

Habibur Rahman, aged 37, of Langdon Crescent in East Ham, London, was arrested following the search and is now accused of operating the machine without FCA registration.

In addition, Kent Police alleged that he laundered £300,000 of illegal assets by converting them into digital assets.

Rahman is currently out on bail ahead of his court date on October 10.

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.”

Crypto ATMs continue to be widely used for criminal activities around the world.

According to research by crypto analyst TRM Labs, the cash-to-crypto industry, which operates primarily through crypto ATMs, has processed at least $160 million in illegal transactions since 2019.

In Germany, crypto ATMs are still legal as long as they follow certain rules and regulations. Law enforcement recently seized nearly 250,000 euros (around $279,000) in cash and closed 13 cryptocurrency ATMs because they lacked the appropriate licenses.

Although the UK has virtually eliminated the digital asset ATM industry, in some regions these ATMs are more widespread than ever before.

According to analysis by TRM Labs, the number of crypto ATMs in Australia has increased by 1700% in the last two years, while in New Zealand the number has increased from zero to 157 in the last 12 months.

According to Coin ATM data, there are 31,843 crypto ATMs in the US at the time of writing.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.