The UK has introduced new measures to strengthen the powers of law enforcement to seize cryptocurrencies linked to criminal activity.
Britain’s Home Office announced on Friday (April 26) that these new rules, resulting from a crime bill passed by Parliament last year, had come into force. Under the new regulations, police officers in the UK will no longer be required to make arrests when seizing crypto assets
Expanded powers for the National Crime Agency and police to seize, freeze and destroy crypto assets used by criminals have come into effect today.
This change aims to streamline the process of confiscating criminally obtained assets, even when sophisticated criminals manage to hide their identities or operate from locations abroad. UK police have already deployed crypto tactical advisors across the country and successfully seized hundreds of millions of pounds worth of crypto.
In one notable case from January, the country’s National Crime Agency worked with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to investigate a drug operation, resulting in the seizure of $150 million in cash and cryptocurrencies. Senior Crown Prosecutor Adrian Foster stressed the importance of these new measures to help investigators and prosecutors keep pace with evolving crime rates.
UK crypto laws are set to tighten
The seized crypto assets will be transferred to wallets controlled by law enforcement, and officials will have the authority to destroy these assets if their reintroduction into circulation is deemed detrimental to the public good. Privacy coins in particular have been highlighted as an example of types of assets that can be destroyed following a seizure.
Home Secretary James Cleverly underscored the importance of these reforms in strengthening national security, noting that terrorist organizations such as Daesh are known to use crypto transactions to raise funds. The updated powers will allow authorities to strip these groups of their assets more effectively.
The development follows recent reports that the UK Treasury plans to introduce a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins by July 2024. The UK has been working hard on cryptocurrency regulation for some time and has already published its final guidelines for the cryptocurrency sector at the end of October 2023, with the intention of gradually enacting legislation from this year.