{"value":{"id":1813636,"askingMemberId":5239,"askingMember":null,"house":"Commons","memberHasInterest":false,"dateTabled":"2025-06-17T00:00:00","dateForAnswer":"2025-06-19T00:00:00","uin":"60727","questionText":"To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the prevalence of cryptocurrency use in illicit finance; and what steps she is taking to reduce this activity.","answeringBodyId":1,"answeringBodyName":"Home Office","isWithdrawn":false,"isNamedDay":false,"groupedQuestions":[],"answerIsHolding":false,"answerIsCorrection":false,"answeringMemberId":4243,"answeringMember":null,"correctingMemberId":null,"correctingMember":null,"dateAnswered":"2025-06-25T00:00:00","answerText":"<p>Directed by the Economic Crime Plan 2 (and supported by an Economic Crime Levy funding) UK law enforcement is investing in improving both its capacity and capability to investigate the criminal use of cryptoassets. This includes:</p><ul><li>Investing in <strong>specialist capability in the NCA and partner agencies</strong>, including the recruitment of an additional 475 Financial Crime investigators (292 currently in post) and developing an improved crypto track and trace capability which will go live in December 2025.</li><li>Funding public-private crypto collaboration teams in police forces and ROCUs through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme</li><li>New <strong>training and upskilling</strong> that has been rolled out to improve law enforcement officers’ understanding of cryptoassets, supported by the provision of specialist tooling (i.e. blockchain analytics tools).</li><li>Building a new <strong>crypto-specific public/ private partnership</strong> within the existing Joint Money Laundering Taskforce structure in order to understand the threat and foment various joint initiatives (including around data sharing).</li><li>Developing a <strong>multi-agency operational crypto cell</strong> to ensure that knowledge and abilities in investigating cryptoassets are pooled together, and that all available tools and powers and are exploited efficiently.</li><li>Designing a <strong>system-wide strategy</strong>, with an accompanying roadmap of activities required to prevent and disrupt digital asset-enabled crime impacting the UK. The focus is on ensuring system co-ordination and collaboration, keeping the public / consumers safe, effectively disrupting criminals through robust enforcement and building global co-operation to effectively share information and gain a consistency in regulatory standards.</li></ul>","originalAnswerText":"","comparableAnswerText":"","dateAnswerCorrected":null,"dateHoldingAnswer":null,"attachmentCount":0,"heading":"Cryptocurrencies: Crime","attachments":[],"groupedQuestionsDates":[]},"links":[{"rel":"self","href":"/Questions/1813636","method":"GET"}]}