U.K. law enforcement agencies' enhanced ability to seize cryptocurrency assets in crime cases, including terrorism, looks poised to take effect on April 26, after provisions in a 2023 law got closer to reality on Thursday.

The secondary legislation approved this week follows the passing of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which gave law enforcement powers to seize and freeze crypto used for crime.

The provisions from the 2023 act that will come into force shortly include the civil recovery regime for crypto plus the crypto asset confiscation orders that allow authorities to take crypto-related items, defined as "an item of property that is, or that contains or gives access to information that is likely to assist in the seizure ... of any crypto asset," the legislation said.

Regulations Crypto UK Crime

Camomile Shumba

Camomile Shumba is a CoinDesk regulatory reporter based in the UK. Previously, Shumba interned at Business Insider and Bloomberg. Camomile has featured in Harpers Bazaar, Red, the BBC, Black Ballad, Journalism.co.uk, Cryptopolitan.com and South West Londoner. Shumba studied politics, philosophy and economics as a combined degree at the University of East Anglia before doing a postgraduate degree in multimedia journalism. While she did her undergraduate degree she had an award-winning radio show on making a difference. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.