Question to the Attorney General:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any confiscation orders have been made under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 relating to sums held in digital currencies; and if so, whether those orders required payment in the relevant digital currency or in pounds sterling.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has obtained one confiscation order to the value of £2.2m, of which approximately £26,000 (1% of the total) is held in a digital currency. The confiscation order must be paid in pounds sterling. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has not obtained any confiscation orders of this type. Other prosecutors outside of the CPS and SFO have powers to obtain confiscation orders; data for those prosecutors is not known.

The CPS has successfully obtained 5 restraint orders where the assets restrained include digital currency. The CPS has obtained ancillary orders from the Crown Court to make those restraint orders more effective by requiring suspects or defendants to repatriate digital currencies held abroad to the UK, to disclose the full particulars of digital currencies held and to allow the digital currency held to be converted to a flat currency, namely pounds sterling.

The CPS is considering the execution of a mutual recognition request from an EU Member State, which has sought recognition of a freezing order over digital currency held in digital currency exchange accounts.