UK passes bill allowing authorities to seize bitcoin connected with crime

On October 26, 2023, the United Kingdom passed a significant piece of legislation, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, which granted authorities the power to seize and freeze cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin if used for illicit purposes. This bill was a substantial step in the UK’s efforts to combat economic crime and enhance corporate transparency.
 

The bill aimed to strengthen the UK’s fight against economic crime and support efforts to tackle terrorist financing. It included amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) to support the recovery of cryptoassets, ensuring that law enforcement agencies had the necessary legislative framework to recover criminals’ cryptoassets.
 

The legislation allowed law enforcement to more effectively investigate, seize, and recover the proceeds of crime within the cryptoasset ecosystem. The UK’s first post-conviction confiscation of cryptoassets had taken place in July 2018, to a value of £1.2 million, and with this new bill, the government sought to modernize its proceeds of crime legislation to introduce new powers to recover cryptoassets in more circumstances than at present.
 

The bill let law enforcement freeze crypto without a conviction, promising faster and more substantial seizures, particularly in time-sensitive cases. It covered a range of criminal activities from drug trafficking to cybercrime and included provisions to help authorities seize other assets that can help identify crypto linked to crime.