A 46-year-old man, Olumide Osunkoya, has been jailed at Southwark Crown Court today for four years for running illegal crypto ATM activity said to be worth over £2.5m.

Mr Osunkoya’s sentence is believed to be the first in the UK  for unregistered cryptoasset ATM activity.

He pleaded guilty on 30 September to 5 charges of running illegal crypto ATMs and associated offences.  

Mr Osunkoya is believed to have made a substantial profit from the operation, charging a typical markup on each transaction of between 30% and 60%. 

It is illegal to operate crypto ATMs in the UK without FCA registration. The FCA has in recent times launched raids on suspected illegal crypto machines around the country.

Between 30 December 2021 and 12 March 2022, the court heard that Mr Osunkoya operated crypto ATMs at 28 different locations via his company, GidiPlus Ltd, despite being refused registration with the FCA.

Mr Osunkoya later transferred the machines from GidiPlus Ltd and personally operated a reduced network of up to 12 crypto ATMs under a false name and company to evade detection.  

The FCA said he failed to carry out the necessary checks to ensure that the ATMs were not being used by criminals to launder the proceeds of crime. He was convicted and sentenced for forgery, using false identity documents and possessing criminal property.  

At the hearing, the FCA requested the court initiate confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The FCA said that Mr Osunkoya’s sentence is the first for unregistered cryptoasset activity in the UK and followed an FCA operation, in partnership with law enforcement agencies, to crack down on illegal crypto ATMs. In 2023, the FCA visited 38 UK locations and disrupted 30 machines. The number of crypto ATMs advertised on CoinATMRadar in the UK has fallen from more than 80 in 2022 to nil in 2024, the FCA said.  

The FCA has continued to warn people that if they buy crypto, they should be prepared to lose all their money, adding that crypto remains largely unregulated in the UK and is high risk. 

In sentencing, His Honour Judge Perrins, told Mr Osunkoya: “Your decision to continue to operate illegally was an act of deliberate and calculated defiance to the regulator... You knew full well that you were acting unlawfully... You went to great lengths to create a false identity to conceal your involvement... Your actions were deliberate and carefully planned... It cannot be said that it is a mere regulatory breach.”

Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “This is the UK’s first criminal sentencing for unregistered crypto activity and sends a clear message: those who flout our rules, seek to evade detection and engage in criminal activity will face serious consequences.”