US, Britain Announce Alerts Regarding Cryptocurrency, Money Laundering And Greater Powers To Seize/Freeze/Destroy Cryptoassets
The British government has announced, "greater powers for the National Crime Agency and police to seize, freeze and destroy cryptoassets used by criminals have come into force today".
FBI/IC3/BRITISH GOVERNMENT - Both the US Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FB), Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the British Government have released statements concerning Cryptocurrency, with the British government announcing "greater powers for the National Crime Agency and police to seize, freeze and destroy cryptoassets used by criminals have come into force today".
The FBI alert warns "Americans against using cryptocurrency money transmitting services that are not registered as Money Services Businesses (MSB) according to United States federal law (31 U.S.C. § 5330; 31 CFR §§ 1010; 1022) and do not adhere to anti-money laundering requirements".
The FBI report states, "The FBI has recently conducted law enforcement operations against cryptocurrency services which were not licensed in accordance with federal law".
It added, "People who use unlicensed cryptocurrency money transmitting services may encounter financial disruptions during law enforcement actions, especially if their cryptocurrency is intermingled with funds obtained through illegal means".
The British Government cited estimates saying that illicit crypto transactions link to the United Kingdom are likely to have reached at least £1.2 billion in 2021, if not significantly higher.
Furthermore, it says "To tackle this emerging threat, the government has updated proceeds of crime and terror legislation, making it easier for UK law enforcement to effectively investigate, seize and recover illicit cryptoassets. These changes include:"
Police will no longer be required to make an arrest before seizing crypto from a suspect. This will make it easier to take assets which are known to have been criminally obtained, even if sophisticated criminals are able to protect their anonymity or are based overseas
Items that could be used to give information to help an investigation, such as written passwords or memory sticks, can be seized.
Officers will be able to transfer illicit cryptoassets into an electronic wallet which is controlled by law enforcement, meaning criminals can no longer access it.
UK law enforcement will be able to destroy a crypto asset if returning it to circulation is not conducive to the public good. Privacy coins, for example, are a form of cryptocurrency that grant an extremely high degree of anonymity and are often used for money laundering.
Victims will also be able to apply for money belonging to them in a cryptoassets account to be released to them.
Full Alerts/Announcements From FBI, IC3, British Government:
 | A guest post by
|