Crypto enforcement steps up

Crypto regulation is moving off the page and onto the street — in London with raids, and in Washington with code-level compliance rules. (fca.org.uk ) (fincen.gov) Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority said on April 22 that it led its first crackdown on illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading, targeting eight London sites with HM Revenue and Customs and police partners. Reports on the operation said officers issued cease-and-desist letters and gathered evidence for criminal investigations. (fca.org.uk) (coindesk.com) Peer-to-peer crypto trading means buyers and sellers deal directly with each other instead of using a centralized exchange. In the U.K., firms that provide in-scope crypto services must register with the Financial Conduct Authority under anti-money-laundering rules that took effect on January 10, 2020. (fca.org.uk 1) (fca.org.uk 2) In the United States, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a joint proposed rule on April 8 to implement the GENIUS Act for permitted payment stablecoin issuers. The proposal would treat those issuers as financial institutions for Bank Secrecy Act purposes and require anti-money-laundering and sanctions compliance programs. (fincen.gov 1) (fincen.gov 2) That U.S. proposal does not use the phrase “programmable financial enforcement” in the rule text, but it would push compliance deeper into product design by requiring stablecoin issuers to maintain effective sanctions controls and monitoring systems. Industry coverage has described that approach as embedding enforcement into the code and operations of crypto platforms. (fincen.gov) (pymnts.com) The timing is not accidental. The Financial Conduct Authority published a consultation on April 15 on the U.K.’s future crypto regime, with policy statements due in summer 2026, applications opening on September 30, 2026, and the new regime expected to take effect on October 25, 2027. (fca.org.uk 1) (fca.org.uk 2) The agency has already been building an enforcement record while that rulebook is still being written. In June 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority said it had arrested two people tied to a suspected illegal £1 billion cryptoasset business, and in July 2025 it said seven crypto ATMs were seized in southwest London and two people were arrested on suspicion of money laundering and running an illegal cryptoasset exchange. (fca.org.uk) (fca.org.uk) For crypto firms, the practical effect is less room to treat compliance as a back-office function. In both the U.K. and the U.S., regulators are signaling that registration, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and shutdown powers need to be built into the business before a problem reaches law enforcement. (fca.org.uk) (fincen.gov) That leaves the industry facing two clocks at once: active investigations now, and infrastructure deadlines later. The firms that can document controls, register where required and redesign products for sanctions and anti-money-laundering checks will be better positioned as enforcement keeps moving from guidance to action. (fca.org.uk) (fincen.gov)