UK Government Wants More Power to Seize Crypto Assets: Report

The U.K. government is proposing a set of reforms, which will give it greater power to seize crypto assets, to tackle money laundering, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

• The reforms will be set out under a new economic crime bill aimed at addressing the use of digital currencies to hide the origin of potentially nefarious funding, FT reported.
• Ministers will soon publish a white paper proposing reforms to the Companies House, the U.K.'s registrar where all businesses must submit financial statements and other information.
• The reforms will insist that applicants registering new companies should provide more details of their identities.
• These proposals are being brought forward in conjunction with another economic crime bill introducing a register of overseas entities, requiring foreign owners of companies to reveal their identities to prevent criminals from concealing funds behind shell companies.
• Such legislation has been been in the works for some time but was delayed in favor of other measures that had more mass appeal.
• The government is now accelerating its plans in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has sharpened concerns about the flow of "dirty money" into the U.K.

Read more: Ukraine Asks Exchanges To Freeze Russian, Belarusian Crypto Accounts