UK lawmakers passed legislation allowing authorities to seize and freeze cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (btc) if they are used for illicit purposes.
According According to official data from the UK Parliamentary Law website, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill is expected to receive royal assent on October 26, meaning the bill would complete all parliamentary stages in both houses of parliament.
Introduced in September 2022, the approved legislation aims to expand the ability of authorities to crack down on the use of cryptocurrencies in crimes such as cybercrime, scams and drug trafficking.
One of the provisions of the Economic Crimes and Business Transparency Bill permissions the recovery of cryptoassets used in crimes without conviction, since some people can avoid conviction by remaining remote. The legislation also aims to combat the use of digital assets “for terrorist purposes” or related reasons.
The latest crypto-related legal development in the UK aligns with the government’s plans to “robustly” regulate cryptocurrencies to combat the illicit use of digital assets as part of its economic crime plan from 2023 to 2026. In March, UK lawmakers said they aimed to pass the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill by the fourth quarter of 2023, in addition to adopting the Financial Action Task Force Travel Rule.
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As the UK government has been cracking down on cryptocurrency-related crimes, the country has become a major cryptocurrency economy. According to an October 2023 report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the UK is the largest crypto country in terms of gross transaction volume in Central, Northern and Western Europe.
In February 2023, crypto tax platform Recap also reported that London was the most crypto-business-ready city in the world, ahead of Dubai and New York.
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