London police said they carried out the UK’s largest cryptocurrency seizure, worth nearly € 250 million. The previous record had been set only a few weeks earlier (114 million pounds carried out in June by the London police).
Detective Joe Ryan of London Metropolitan Police said that “less than a month ago we managed to seize 114 million pounds in cryptocurrency. Since then, our investigation has been complex and far-reaching. (…) Today’s operation is another important step in this investigation which will continue for the next few months”.
Investigators seized what represents a value of around 180 million pounds. This seizure was carried out by specialized anti-money laundering investigators, exploiting information received on the transfer of criminal assets. A 39-year-old woman was arrested on June 24 on charges of money laundering, and later released on bail. She was also questioned.
Cryptocurrencies, and especially Bitcoin, are regularly criticized by istitutions and media for their illegal uses, due to their lack of knowledge on the subject and their ease of use. According to a February report by Chainalysis, cryptocurrency transactions for illegal purposes reached $ 10 billion in 2020. But bitcoin is not a great way to carry out criminal activities, because it has a couple of features that don’t make it perfect for it purpose. In fact, criminal organizations still prefer to use traditional currencies for their trafficking, because for a criminal organization it is necessary that its transactions are not traceable, and with Bitcoin this is not possible. In fact, on the blockchain the transactions are all public and if you want you can trace the path that the value has made. Furthermore, the value of cryptocurrencies is still unstable, therefore not easily acceptable to anyone. As always, technology provides us with possibilities and these can be used in the right way or the wrong way.
