British police have seized £180 million ($249 million U.S.) in cryptocurrency that is believed to have been used in illegal money laundering schemes.
London's Metropolitan Police said the seizure is the largest confiscation of cryptocurrency ever in the United Kingdom and one of the biggest globally. The latest seizure comes just weeks after British police confiscated £114 million ($158 million U.S.) of cryptocurrency in late June.
British police seized the cryptocurrency after pursuing intelligence received about the transfer of the digital coins as part of an international money laundering ring. The police have not specified which cryptocurrency was seized.
Authorities around the world have been cracking down on the use of cryptocurrency by criminals who use it to launder the proceeds of crime.
Separately, media reports said that a growing number of cryptocurrency miners are fleeing China as the government in Beijing intensifies its crackdown on digital coins and tokens.
China had accounted for nearly half (50%) of all cryptocurrency mining in the world. However, the government has been cracking down on crypto mining in that country ahead of the launch of a national digital currency that will be regulated by China’s central bank.
