🧊 Britain’s Crypto Chill: £6M on Ice! 🥶

In the vast tapestry of human endeavor, the British have found a new stitch—freezing crypto assets. Since the powers that be clamped down last year, they’ve iced about £6 million worth of digital dough, according to MailOnline’s snoopery.

Last April, the powers that be decided that police, the law’s enforcers, and the tax man should be able to lock up suspicious crypto wallets for a good three years. It’s like putting money in a deep freeze, except colder and more digital.

After a bit of peering into court documents, it turns out the biggest chunk of this crypto Popsicle was £1.5 million, neatly tucked away in a Coinbase wallet. The tax folks, HMRC, asked for this freeze, and the court in Newcastle Upon Tyne was only too happy to oblige on March 18.

But wait, there’s more! The total might be even bigger, but we can only guess because of those pesky legal restrictions. All this frosty action is meant to tackle folks using crypto for naughtiness like money laundering, tax dodging, and funding terror. How neighborly!

Lawyer Dude Says £6M is Just Pocket Change 🤑

Now, some legal eagles are chirping about the significance of this icy seizure. Nick Barnard, a crypto law hotshot, says £6 million is peanuts “in the grand scheme.” He’s like, “Chill, it’s just the beginning, folks.”

But Siobhain Egan, another lawyer type, tells MailOnline that the government is beefing up its crypto freezer. It’s all part of their plan to kick the behinds of money launderers and terror funders. Ice cold justice, baby!

Usually, the freezing process is a sneaky affair. Investigators get their orders without tipping off the suspected baddies. That way, they can’t whisk away their Bitcoin (BTC) or other crypto coins before the law comes a-knocking.

Egan spills the beans: “If the cops are on a big case about baddies cleaning their cash with crypto, they’ll swoop in and grab the loot before the investigation is even done.”

The UK government is upping its crypto game with the Crime and Policing Bill. This nifty piece of lawmaking helps value crypto, sets up procedures for courts to get their hands on dirty money, and gives the Crown Court more power to say, “Freeze!”

2025-03-30 16:29

Lawyer Dude Says £6M is Just Pocket Change 🤑

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