State insolvency body hired a former police officer specializing in tracking cryptocurrencies.
Insolvency Service claims that the number of cryptocurrency usage in the country has grown.
The UK Insolvency Service announced on June 9 that it will start tracking bitcoin and cryptocurrencies of bankrupt individuals and businesses in the country.
The measure came after a 420% increase in the number of individuals and companies in bankruptcy proceedings holding cryptocurrencies among their assets.
The state body also stated that only in 2024, the amount of £500,000 (R$ 3.7 million) was held by individuals in bankruptcy proceedings. This number stood out as being 364 times greater than in 2019/2020.
Expert hired by the UK Insolvency Service to track bitcoin is a former police officer.
To act in the tracking of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, former police investigator Andrew Small was the first hired by the UK Insolvency Service.
In a statement, the expert confirmed that he arrives with a clear mission to find assets. “There has been a rapid increase in cryptocurrency ownership in the UK and, along with this, we have seen a similar increase in the ownership of crypto-assets in bankruptcy cases,” he said.
According to Small, several creditors are waiting to receive money from bankrupt companies and individuals, amounts that may be in cryptocurrencies. “The Insolvency Service has the duty to track and recover money and assets from individuals or companies in bankruptcy cases, and we work to return as much money as possible to creditors,” he added.
“Cryptocurrencies are recoverable assets.”
The security of cryptocurrencies has been a reference in finance in recent years, as investors holding values in anonymous wallets are rarely recognized. However, for the expert hired by the UK service, these are recoverable assets.
“Cryptocurrencies are largely recoverable assets, and my role will help the agency by providing specialized knowledge about the types of crypto-assets available and the associated technology used to buy, sell, and store them,” he concluded.
In a statement, Neil Freebury, head of intelligence at the Insolvency Service, said that the number of bankruptcies linked to cryptocurrencies has quadrupled in recent years. “Cryptocurrencies are growing in popularity, and we have seen the number of insolvency cases involving crypto-asset ownership quadruple in the last five years,” said the head.
Expert in tracking bitcoin hired by the UK (Disclosure).
With the new hiring, the United Kingdom becomes the first country to create a tracking division for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies exclusive to bankruptcy proceedings. In the future, they hope to structure a complete intelligence team to act in investigations.
