British police have revealed the amount of cryptocurrency they have seized over the past five years in response to Freedom of Information requests. The London Metropolitan Police seized more bitcoin than other police boroughs.
British police reveal information about seized crypto
Twelve of the UK’s 43 police forces have seized cryptocurrency worth around £ 322million ($ 435million) in criminal investigations over the past five years, reported Thursday New Scientist, citing the access to information (FOI) requests he submitted.
Bitcoin accounted for 99.9% of the cryptocurrencies seized in the UK. However, law enforcement also seized ethereum, monero, dash and zcash, according to the post.
The police who seized the most cryptocurrency were the London Metropolitan Police, which seized £ 294million in BTC. Greater Manchester Police have seized £ 25million. Some police districts did not respond to requests.
Meanwhile, the U.S. tax administration, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), revealed in November of last year that $ 3.5 billion in crypto was seized in fiscal year 2021. This represents 93% of all funds seized by the criminal investigation unit of the tax agency during the same period. The agency plans to seize billions of additional dollars in cryptocurrency this year.
What do you think of the amount of bitcoin seized by the UK police? Let us know in the comments section below.
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