The government of the United Kingdom has proposed a bill with the intention of putting an end to fraudulent activities such as money laundering and strengthening the capacity of the authorities to go after cryptocurrencies that are being used for unethical or illegal reasons.
The Home Office, Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, Serious Fraud Office, and Treasury presented the 250-page Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency bill, which was first announced in May and includes more than simply cryptocurrency. On Thursday, it went through its first reading in the House of Commons, and on October 13, it will go through its second reading.
The official statement reads:
The new law will make it easier and quicker for law enforcement agencies such as the National Crime Agency to seize, freeze and recover cryptoassets — the digital currency increasingly used by organized criminals to launder profits from fraud, drugs and cybercrime.
According to the report, local and foreign criminals have been laundering the profits of their crime and corruption for years by exploiting the corporate structures of the United Kingdom, and they are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies.
These measures, which have been anticipated for a very long time and are very much appreciated, will help us clamp down on both of those things.
Following the lead of other countries, the Treasury Department issued a revised set of guidelines at the beginning of this month to require cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers to notify potential violations of sanctions.
Both the United States and the European Union have made it clear that their respective sanctions will apply to cryptocurrency transactions.
