The chief superintendent of detectives at the UK National Council of Chiefs of Police has stated that all police forces in the country have officers trained to conduct investigations related to the execution and seizure of cryptocurrencies.
In a parliamentary debate on the UK’s Economic Crimes and Corporate Transparency Bill on 25 October, Andy Gould of the NPCC said that the country’s police had the ability to tackle cryptocurrency-related economic crimes, but not the ability. It reported that authorities had used £100 million — roughly $116 million at press time — over the past four years to create “cryptocurrency tactical advisers across the police force.”
“There are now officers in all the forces and in all the regional organized crime units who are trained and equipped to [investigar e incautar criptomonedas vinculadas a delitos]Gould said. “We’ve nationally acquired the investigative tools so they can move investigations forward, and we have a national storage platform to store that once we’ve seized it.”
The bill, announced by King Charles in May and tabled in Parliament by UK lawmakers in September, was aimed at expelling “dirty money” from the country and included giving authorities the ability to “compel companies to hand over information that could be related to money laundering or terrorist financing,” including on cryptocurrencies. The UK government has suggested the legislation was related to the sanctioning of individuals linked to Russia and its President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine.
Gould added that the police, despite their ability to tackle illicit uses of cryptocurrencies, face challenges such as incentives to join the private sector and keep up with the industry:
“We are in a position where we have actually seized hundreds of millions of pounds worth of cryptocurrency assets in the last year or so. The challenge we have is that it is getting more and more difficult to do it. The assets themselves are becoming more diverse and more technically complex, so our officers are in something of an arms race trying to keep up.”
Although the UK government saw three leaders in less than two months with the resignations of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak becoming the country’s 57th Prime Minister on October 25, Parliament has continued to advance legislation related to cryptocurrencies. The House of Commons moved forward on the Financial Services and Markets Bill, furthering the UK’s intent to become a global cryptocurrency hub by addressing regulations around digital assets and stablecoins.
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