According to a press statement from the UK Home Office, new authorities that will aid law enforcement in seizing cryptocurrency used for criminal activity went into effect on Friday.
The Home Office declared that these new regulations will eliminate the need for police to make an arrest before confiscating cryptocurrency holdings. The U.K. Parliament enacted a crime bill last year that set the groundwork for cryptocurrency to be seized more rapidly, which prompted the new regulations.
“This will make it easier to take assets which are known to have been criminally obtained, even if sophisticated criminals are able to protect their anonymity or are based overseas,” the press statement issued on Friday stated.0Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of cryptocurrency have already been taken into custody by the police, who have deployed crypto tactical advisors across the nation. An investigation into a narcotics operation conducted in January by the National Crime Agency and the U.S. narcotics Enforcement Administration resulted in the seizure of $150 million worth of cash and cryptocurrency.
“It is vital that investigators and prosecutors have the capability and agility to keep pace with this changing nature of crime which these new measures will greatly assist our ability to restrain, freeze, or eliminate crypto assets from illegal enterprise,” according to Chief Crown Prosecutor Adrian Foster in a statement.
Police will also have the ability to move cryptocurrency into a wallet managed by legal authorities. Assets in cryptocurrency may be destroyed “if returning it to circulation is not conducive to the public good.”
According to the news release, one asset class where seized coins might be destroyed is privacy coins.
Home Secretary James Cleverly stated in the statement, “These reforms will also enhance our national security.” “Terrorist organisations like Daesh are known to raise funds through crypto transactions and these updated powers will enable our agencies to more easily strip them of their assets.”