header-logo header-logo

Crime fighters put cryptoassets in their sights

24 May 2024 / Nick Barnard
Issue: 8072 / Categories: Features , Profession , Crypto , Cyber , Cybercrime , Technology
printer mail-detail
174011
Criminals love them, but now enforcement agencies have the statutory tools to fight back, writes Nick Barnard
  • On 26 April 2024, amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 came into force, giving law enforcement new tools to freeze, seize or even destroy cryptoassets.
  • Explains crypto-wallet freezing orders and crypto-wallet forfeiture orders.
  • The new orders are based on the Account Freezing Order regime.

Since their ascent to mainstream attention over the past decade, cryptoassets have proved a vexed challenge for law enforcement agencies (LEAs), particularly those charged with disrupting money-laundering and recovering the proceeds of crime.

Unlike cash (which exists only in physical form) or funds in bank accounts (which are controlled by a regulated third party with established law as to ownership and location), cryptoassets represent a new form of liquid digital value, which can be held and transferred in entirely new ways.

As a starting point, the infrastructure of cryptoassets generally makes no provision for recording or enforcing the ‘owner’ of

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll