Bitcoin News and Finance
Scotland Yard Seizes Record £114 Million in Cryptocurrency Skip to main content

Scotland Yard Seizes Record £114 Million in Cryptocurrency

Scotland Yard Seizes Record £114 Million in Cryptocurrency

British police have carried out U.K.’s largest crypto seizure to date. Detectives working on a money laundering case found a staggering £114 million worth of cryptocurrency in a suspect’s account. Scotland Yard vowed to continue the investigation.

UK Makes One of World’s Largest Crypto Seizures

Acting on intelligence about the transfer of criminal funds, specialist detectives confiscated £114 million (over $158 million) in crypto, Britain’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) announced Thursday. The agency responsible for law enforcement in the Greater London area described the operation as the biggest cryptocurrency seizure in the U.K. and one of the largest globally.

Scotland Yard Seizes Record £114 Million in Cryptocurrency

The digital assets have been captured as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation conducted by the Met’s Economic Crime Command. Police officials refrained from disclosing further details, including the type of cryptocurrency seized. “Criminals need to legitimise their money otherwise it risks being seized by law enforcement,” Detective Constable Joe Ryan commented, elaborating:

The proceeds of crime are almost always laundered to hide the origin, but by disrupting the flow of funds before they are reinvested, we can make London an incredibly difficult place for criminals to operate.

“Every single part of the Met is working to reduce violence on the streets of London as an absolute priority, this includes our financial investigators,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty. He emphasized there’s an inherent link between money and violence. “Violence is used to extort, blackmail, burgle, control and exploit. It’s used to protect criminal profits and maintain control of territories,” the commissioner explained.

Cash Remains King, Scotland Yard Admits

Police officers are not only trying to disrupt the digital transfer of illicit funds but also deprive criminals of hard cash, McNulty added. In the fiscal year 2020-2021, investigators discovered and seized over £47 million ($65 million). “This cash can no longer be reinvested in crime, it cannot be used to buy and peddle drugs and weapons, and cannot be used to entice and exploit young and vulnerable people into criminality,” the high-ranking official noted.

Scotland Yard Seizes Record £114 Million in Cryptocurrency

According to an article in the Daily Mail, Scotland Yard made its largest-ever cash seizure in May of this year, when a criminal dubbed ‘moneybags’ was caught “struggling to carry holdalls brimming with money.” More than £5 million was discovered stuffed under mattresses, in cupboards, and stacked up on the floor of a flat in West London, the publication wrote. The cash was stashed by a money-laundering gang as they “didn’t know what to do with it” during the Covid lockdown in Britain.

“Cash remains king,” Graham McNulty stressed, but he also acknowledged that the development of technology and online platforms has pushed some criminals towards more sophisticated methods of money laundering. The recently seized cryptocurrency is more than twice the amount of fiat cash confiscated by Scotland Yard in the last fiscal year, highlighting a trend of growing police seizures of crypto over the past years which started with the capture of over £1.2 million worth of bitcoin in 2019.

What are your thoughts on the latest cryptocurrency seizure in Britain? Tell us in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory