The British government has ordered all cryptocurrency cash machines to shutdown immediately, saying they are operating illegally and without regulatory oversight.
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority issued a cease-and-desist order against all cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs) that enable people in the United Kingdom (U.K.) to buy cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) using their bank card.
The financial watchdog said that no company offering cryptocurrency services in the U.K. has a licence to operate a crypto cash machine. The Financial Conduct Authority said all such machines must shutdown or it will take action to force them to cease operations.
There are estimated to be more than 80 crypto-ATMS currently operating throughout the U.K. The cryptocurrency cash machines look identical to traditional ATMs but deal exclusively in digital coins and tokens.
In a news release, the Financial Conduct Authority said: “We regularly warn consumers that crypto assets are unregulated and high-risk which means people are very unlikely to have any protection if things go wrong. People should be prepared to lose all their money if they choose to invest in them.”
The Financial Conduct Authority publishes a list of companies that appear to be involved in cryptocurrency but have not registered their business with the regulator for anti-money-laundering checks.
It said that since the publication of its most recent list last year, 110 cryptocurrency companies on the list had ceased operations.
