The central financial regulator of the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority, has recently made a decision about the Bitcoin ATMs that can be found throughout the country. By all appearances, it came as a surprise move for the entire crypto industry in general, the financial regulator of the United Kingdom has given a warning to companies operating Bitcoin ATMs to shut down their operations, or they would have to deal with further action. The FCA also outlined its intention of getting in touch with these companies in order to confirm this warning. The FCA said that it was enforcing these rules because the fluctuating assets are known for their high-risk nature, the absence of regulatory structure and the need to stick to the principles outlined in the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR). 

The FCA said that they were quite concerned about the crypto ATMs that were operating throughout the UK, so they would get in touch with their operators in order to instruct them to shut down the machines, or encounter further action. Since August 2020, around 33 crypto companies have been granted registration by the FCA under the framework of the MLR. The most prominent names in this list of crypto companies include Galaxy Digital UK Limited, Payward Ltd, which is the holding company of the crypto exchange Kraken, and Gemini Europe Ltd.

More recently, eToro (UK) Ltd. was also added to this list back on January 14^th. Furthermore, there are 22 companies that have been given temporary registration status by the FCA until March 31^st, 2022. The regulatory authority will determine the validity of the application presented by these companies after that. The names on this particular list include Wirex Ltd., Revolut Ltd, Copper Technologies (UK) Limited and Blockchain Access UK Limited (blockchain.com). Coin ATM Radar conducted an analysis, which shows that the UK has about 81 crypto ATMs and there are eight companies operating them. 

According to the FCA, none of the 33 companies that have been approved have gotten licensing status, or filed the appropriate documents for operating Bitcoin ATMs in their jurisdiction, due to which they have been termed as illegal enterprises. They established precedent for the ruling in question on November 15^th. This was when the FCA handed a decision notice to the crypto asset automated teller machine (CATM) service Gidiplus Limited, which is Bitcoin-centric. The notice turned down the application that had been made for crypto exchange providers, which is otherwise referred to as a crypto ATM.

The report is sixteen pages long and stated that Gidiplus was unable to fulfill the requirements that have been outlined under the MLR. The decision was appealed on December 3^rd by the company unsuccessfully in order to overturn the ruling. However, the FCA had concluded that their problem was that the company could not provide enough evidence about how it would undertake its business. The news of this decision by the FCA to shut down crypto ATMs is not a welcome sign for the crypto community in the United Kingdom.