As part of a larger effort to combat money laundering, a new anti-money laundering measure proposed in the United Kingdom today is meant to make it simpler for law enforcement to acquire digital assets.
“For years, domestic and foreign criminals have laundered the profits of their crime and corruption by exploiting UK business structures, and they are increasingly employing cryptocurrencies,” stated National Crime Agency Director General Graeme Biggar in a press statement supporting the measure. These long-awaited and much-appreciated measures will help us clamp down on both.
After today’s first reading of the revised bill in the House of Commons, a second reading on October 13 is expected as the next required step for the measure to become law.
As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the subject of illegally obtained monies and assets stashed in the United Kingdom has come to the forefront. Russian billionaires have long resided and stashed assets in the nation, which started punishing and collecting those assets – including Chelsea Football Club – as part of an attempt to punish Russian leadership and deprive it of the means to wage the war.
In an attempt to minimize the use of shell corporations to launder money, the measure also requires anyone creating a business in the United Kingdom to prove their identities and gives the national registrar, Firms House, more authority to monitor and crosscheck the validity of companies.
During the last Queen’s Speech, an annual address to Parliament that sets the agenda, newly crowned King Charles III vowed additional anti-money laundering measures on behalf of his recently departed mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
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