$435 Million Worth Of Cryptocurrencies Seized By UK Police Forces In Five Years

• A magazine related to science and technology submitted FOI requests, to which police forces of the UK revealed that they seized £322 million worth of cryptocurrencies over the past five years.

• Bitcoin makes up 99.9% of the total cryptocurrencies seized by UK police forces, and others include Ethereum, Monero, Zcash, and Dash.

• A major loophole in the Crime Act that requires UK police forces to get a conviction for seizing non-cash property, cryptocurrencies, will be updated soon.

The U.K. police have recently revealed the details about the number of cryptocurrencies they have seized over the period of years and is a response to the requests of FOI (Freedom of Information). As per the data, the London Metropolitan Police has seized far more Bitcoins compared to all other police boroughs. Of the 43 UK police forces, 12 forces have seized a total of £322 million ($435 million) worth of cryptocurrencies, in overall investigations of the past five years. The event was reported by the New Scientist magazine, which was a response to the FOI submitted by the magazine.

The total cryptocurrencies seized in the U.K included 99.9% of Bitcoin while the remaining included Zcash, Etherum, Dash, and Monero. In the U.K, the London Metropolitan Police was the police force that seized the highest amount of cryptocurrencies, seizing Bitcoins worth £294 million. Also, £25 million worth of cryptocurrencies were seized by the Great Manchester Police, and £2.4 by Dyfed-Powys police. However, it’s worth noting that some UK police forces did not respond to the requests.

UK Police Educating Themselves On Crypto Technology

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Joseph Harrop, the detective chief inspector of the economic crime unit at Great Manchester Police, said that the UK police forces have just started to understand the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies and that his force has been hiring civilian staff that has pertinent experience in the industry, to train their detectives. 

In November 2021, the tax authority of the U.S, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), also revealed that about $3.5 billion worth of crypto was seized in the year. The $3.5 billion figure makes up 93% of all the cryptocurrencies seized by criminal investigation units of tax agencies in the same time frame. Also, the IRS agency hinted that it is expecting to seize more billions of dollars of cryptocurrencies in 2022.

The Loophole in Crime Act Of UK

One major legal problem is faced by police forces while seizing cryptocurrencies as these digital assets have not been classified as cash but property, under the Proceeds of Crime Act. As per the act, if there is a suspicion the cash can be seized, but to seize non-cash properties, police forces are required to get a conviction. However, to get rid of this loophole, the act is being looked over and will be updated soon.

The head of the financial investigation at the National Crime Agency, told the magazine, that they were in the same circumstance in a similar manner when they were in it with the cash about 20 years back, and that they haven’t received any legislation to seize, yet.

Growing Concerns Of UK Authorities

The concern of lawmakers and regulators in the UK about criminal activities linked to cryptocurrencies has grown massively. As per the report released by NCA in May 2021, using cryptocurrencies to launder money has produced several new types of crimes. Seeing the spike in increasing crypto-linked criminal activities, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has invested about £500,000 on consultants for training their staff about terrorist financing and money laundering.