Britain Financial Conduct Authority said on Tuesday that it stopped 26 machines across the country for illegally offering cryptocurrency, warning consumers they could lose all their money.
A member of the public paid ยฃ1,000 at a crypto ATM in Sheffield, northern England, in an attempt to buy cryptocurrency, but was unable to cryptocurrency or the funds were returned, the FCA said.
The watchdog, in a coordinated operation with other law enforcement agencies, inspected 34 places suspected of harboring crypto ATMs since the beginning of this year and "disrupted" 26 machines.
"If you use a crypto ATM in the UK, you are using a machine that is operating illegally and may be handing your money over to criminals," Steve Smart, the FCA's joint executive director of compliance and market supervision, said in a statement. statement.
"You won't be protected if something goes wrong and you could lose your money," Smart said.
UK consumers buying crypto assets will get a 24-hour โcooling offโ period for the first time from October under stricter marketing rules sleepless by the financial regulator in June.
Crypto assets such as Bitcoin have little direct regulation globally, but regulators are taking a closer look at FTX's crash last year, which left millions of investors suffering losses totaling billions of dollars, some of them them in Britain.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said "refer-a-friend" bonuses for cryptocurrency buyers would also be removed and those promoting such assets would have to implement clear risk warnings and ensure they that the advertisements were clear, fair and not misleading.
ยฉ Thomson Reuters 2023
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
for the last Technology news and reviewsFollow Gadgets 360 on Twitter, Facebookand google news. For the latest videos on gadgets and technology, subscribe to our Youtube channel.
