Two people have been arrested on suspicion of running an illegal exchange thought to have traded more than £1bn worth of cryptocurrency. The Financial Conduct Authority searched the London offices of the suspects, aged 38 and 44, while the Metropolitan Police seized digital devices from two residential properties in the capital. More than £1bn worth of unregistered crypto assets are believed to have been bought and sold through the exchange.
The high-profile implosion of FTX, the crypto exchange run by Sam Bankman-Fried, saw the mogul sentenced to 25 years in prison in the US for defrauding customers and investors. Meanwhile, Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao, the founder of crypto exchange Binance, was sentenced to four months in prison in April for allowing criminals to launder money on his platform. Zhao, who resigned from Binance in November, pleaded guilty to breaking US money laundering laws.