UK in dark about cryptocurrency risks

Julian Dixon says Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are widely misunderstood and regulating them is now almost impossible because “that horse bolted a long time ago”. He argues that the bodies policing suspicious online activity have been behind the curve in putting measures in place to tackle it.

Dixon’s comments follow yesterday’s UK Treasury Committee meeting, in which Donald Toon, Director of Prosperity at the National Crime Agency, and Mark Thompson, Interim Director of the Serious Fraud Office, conceded £150 billion or more is laundered annually in the UK.

Toon denied Bitcoin is “the crooks’ currency of choice”, but conceded that “tracing cryptocurrencies is difficult, complicated and can be blocked”. Dixon says the Treasury Committee meeting shows the UK is currently oblivious to how cryptocurrencies work and ill-equipped to deal with the risks.

“As if the task of cracking down on financial crime wasn’t already difficult enough, we have an open door policy on cryptocurrency in the UK which will leave fraudsters and money launderers free to continue offending at will,” Dixon warns.