Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of finance and cryptography.
UK Proposes New Law to ‘Seize, Freeze and Recover’ Crypto Assets Easier and Faster – Regulation Bitcoin News
The UK government has presented the Financial Crimes and Corporate Transparency Bill to Parliament which would “make it easier and faster” for law enforcement agencies “to seize, freeze and recover crypto assets.” The government stressed: “We need to ensure that law enforcement agencies have the right legislation in place to recover criminals’ crypto assets.”
UK’s new bill to help authorities seize, freeze and recover crypto
The British government introduced the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill in the House of Commons on Thursday. The bill “aims to strengthen Britain’s fight against financial crime,” the government said, noting that “it will also support efforts to tackle terrorist financing.”
The government explained:
The new law will make it easier and faster for law enforcement agencies such as the National Crime Agency to seize, freeze and recover crypto assets – the digital currency increasingly used by organized criminals to launder profits from fraud, drugs and cybercrime.
Moreover, the bill includes amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) to support the recovery of crypto assets.
“We must ensure that law enforcement agencies have the appropriate legislation in place to recover criminals’ crypto assets to ensure that crime does not pay and prevent these assets from being used to fund further criminal and terrorist activities,” the government continued. “The use of this digital currency has increased significantly in recent years, with the Metropolitan Police reporting a large increase in cryptocurrency seizures last year.”
Director General of the National Crime Agency Graeme Biggar commented:
Domestic and international criminals have for years laundered the proceeds of their crime and corruption by abusing UK corporate structures, and are increasingly using cryptocurrencies.
Crypto regulation may be undergoing changes in the UK under the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss. Several key officials who previously worked on the country’s crypto policy resigned from the government before she took office, including former finance minister Rishi Sunak and finance minister John Glen.
In May, the UK government outlined its plans to support crypto adoption and reaffirmed its commitment to regulating stablecoins.
Sunak said in April: “It is my ambition to make the UK a global hub for cryptoasset technology and the measures we have outlined today will help ensure that firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country.” Glen similarly said: “We want this country to be a global hub – the very best place in the world to start and scale crypto companies.”
What do you think of the Financial Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill in the UK? Let us know in the comments section below.
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