In a bid to combat the increasing crimes, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has opened senior roles for crypto investigators. Notably, the new positions align with the UK’s attempt to regulate the cryptocurrency market better.
According to local media reports, in August, NCA intends to fill the Digital Assets Disclosure Officer role within its Complex Financial Crime Team (CFCT). Reportedly, the agency had opened one position of Digital Assets Disclosure Officer in multiple locations, with the closing date for applications being August 21, 2023.
Sources reveal that the CFCT’s surveillance team dealing with illicit finance investigations has reportedly operated a task force with the police. The agency mentions that the role falls within the newly formed Digital Assets Team (DAT).
According to reports, the newly formed DAT will investigate Blockchain-enabled crimes in compliance with the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA). As stated in the announcement:
It involves enquiries into criminal activity within virtual arenas, high end of high harm cryptocurrency and virtual assets fraud and money laundering offenses carried out by significant organized crime groups and state actors.
Additionally, the NCA has opened two other posts on the website accepting applications until today, August 7. Sources reveal that the agency opened two positions for a Digital Assets Cryptocurrency Financial Investigations Manager and one post for a Digital Assets Senior Investigator.
Each of these roles specifically focus on complex investigations involving cryptocurrency and digital assets. It is important to note that these positions come at a time when the UK is growing stricter in regulating cryptocurrency, especially citing the increasing crimes.
The British authorities have been battling with the increasing interest in cryptocurrencies amid the growing crimes. To this, a panel of British lawmakers has recommended regulating the trading of “unbacked crypto assets” such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as gambling rather than a financial service.
However, last month, the UK Treasury expressed disagreement with the proposal bringing a major relief. Additionally, under the leadership of Rishi Sunak, the nation intends to be a crypto hub and has progressed to a timely, sensible crypto regulation. To this, on June 5, MPs who support the crypto industry called for the government to appoint a “Crypto Tsar” to help achieve that goal.
Notably, The Financial Services and Markets Bill 2023, recently approved by King Charles III, is an important law that enables the UK government to take charge of the rules governing financial services.
One significant aspect of this bill is the inclusion of crypto assets and stablecoins, which will now be subject to regulation. This also follows the neighboring European Union’s Markets in Crypto Crypto Assets (MiCA) implementation for clearer crypto rules in 2024, which has been appreciated by the industry.