UK Lawmakers Promote a New Crypto-Focused Bill
- The UK government recently signed the Financial Services and Markets Bill into law to encourage the use of crypto assets.
- The new bill will give law enforcement agents the right to seize and free crypto assets suspected of having been used in crime.
- The recent measures by UK lawmakers mirror the country’s plans to incorporate crypto into its economy.
The upper house of the British Parliament continues to move forward with a bill that will provide law enforcement agencies with additional resources to target cryptocurrency used for illegal activities.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill was introduced in September 2022 as part of the UK’s attempts to improve the power of law enforcement to pursue crypto crimes. The bill underwent its third reading in Tuesday’s meeting of the UK’s House of Lords Parliament. Interestingly, lawmakers had few changes to make in Tuesday’s reading of the bill.
However, earlier procedures resulted in amendments that made sure that the rules applied to terrorist cases and added provisions to help law enforcement seize assets that could help them identify crypto-related crimes.
The UK, like the rest of the world, has suffered greatly from crypto crimes and has sought ways to address this. At the time the bill was introduced last year, Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, said that “domestic and international criminals have for years laundered the proceeds of their crime and corruption by abusing U.K. company structures and are increasingly using cryptocurrencies.” He added that reforms such as the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill would crack down on these illegal activities.
The bill will return to the House of Commons for final review before becoming law after being approved by the Lords. The final stages would involve King Charles signing the bill into law once it had been approved by both houses.
Crypto is gradually becoming a part of the UK’s economy. However, lawmakers want to ensure that crypto activities are regulated to make them safe for residents. The UK government declared in March that its three-year economic crime goal included tackling the illegal use of cryptocurrency.
The UK has also introduced several measures to address crypto-related crimes, one of which includes assigning tactical crypto advisers to local police departments to assist in locating and seizing digital assets linked to crimes.
The UK government recently signed the Financial Services and Markets Bill into law on June 29. The bill was designed to encourage the use of crypto assets in the UK.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
