Reeves ‘eyes £5bn windfall from sale of seized cryptocurrency'
The Home Office is reportedly working with police forces to offload at least £5bn worth of Bitcoin and other currencies taken from criminals.
It is planning to develop a storage system for the currencies to handle their sale, it has emerged, as concerns about Labour's spending plans mount ahead of the autumn Budget.
Home Office plans for a 'crypto storage and realisation framework' would allow law enforcement to securely store frozen digital currencies and sell them, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
Ms Reeves has been left with a gap of at least £5bn to fill when she sets out the government's spending plans this autumn, with the government's chaotic U-turn on planned benefit cuts raising the likelihood of tax hikes.
The chancellor and Sir Keir Starmer have left the door open to a wealth tax to cover the shortfall.
As well as the £5bn black hole left by the welfare climbdown, the impact of sluggish economic growth and Donald Trump 's trade war could leave the Treasury scrambling to find as much as £20bn in tax hikes or spending cuts elsewhere.
It is not known how much cryptocurrency law enforcement agencies currently have, but one 2018 raid saw 61,000 Bitcoin seized from a Chinese Ponzi scheme. The value of Bitcoin has surged since Mr Trump's return to the White House, meaning the haul could be worth more than £5.4bn.
Responding to the suggestion Ms Reeves could sell the reserves, Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf said: 'This would be a terrible decision. The UK should be implementing Reform's Crypto Bill and increasing its Bitcoin reserves.
'Selling now will go down as a far worse decision than Gordon Brown's fire sale of our gold.
'The Westminster class are dinosaurs who don't get the future.'
But Aidan Larkin, the chief executive of seizure company Asset Reality, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'There is oil under our feet in terms of digital assets, from an illicit perspective, that could have hundreds of millions of pounds coming back into the UK each year.'
Bitcoin investors have been spurred on by Mr Trump, who has lent his support to the market both by promising new legislation and regulatory changes, but also even launching his own digital currencies.
The leading cryptocurrency reached $120,000, marking both an all-time high and an important landmark for those who believe that bitcoin is undervalued.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Council recognising their town's link with Gaza is ‘important' says Jewish group
A Jewish group has called a UK council recognising 'friendship links' with an area of Gaza, 'an important act of solidarity' after local councillors voted for an immediate ceasefire. Last week, Hastings Borough Council, in east Sussex, passed a motion to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to all arms sales to Israel and to support the town's friendship links with the people of Al-Mawasi – a section of the Gaza strip. The decision comes after multiple attempts over the past 21 months to bring a ceasefire motion prior to the recent local elections, which changed the make-up of the council. The motion was carried by a majority of 14 Green and Hastings Independent Group MPs, with three voting against and 11 abstentions, mostly from Labour councillors. Hastings Jews for Justice have welcomed the decision, they said: 'We stand with the Palestinians in Gaza who are being slaughtered and starved right now and we demand immediate action of our politicians. 'We applaud all the councillors who chose to stand on the right side of history and used their voice and their vote to fight these crimes against humanity. 'And we reject the idea, shared by several Labour councillors during the debate, that standing up for a people facing genocide is an attack on Jewish people in our community or 'divisive'.' Proposing the motion, Green Party councillor Yunis Smith said: 'We must ask ourselves, when the dust settles, will we have done enough? Will we be able to say that we stood up even when it was difficult? 'Or will we, like generations before us, say that we saw the signs and still we did nothing?' In December 2023, Al-Mawasi was designated a safe zone by the IDF and Palestinians were urged repeatedly to relocate to the area. Since then, the area has been repeatedly attacked, one of the most deadly was July 13 2024, where Israeli jets bombed Al-Mawasi, killing 90 people and injuring 300 displaced Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. Hastings Friends of Al-Mawasi group has been building a friendship and language exchange with the Palestinian area over the past few years. Mr Smith said: 'From one coastal town to another, we've shown that solidarity, dignity and human connection shine brighter than cruelty, 'Al-Mawasi, like Hastings, is defined not just by its land but by the resilience of its people. They survive, endure and beckon us to witness their struggle and their strength.' Hastings has become the most recent in a line of UK councils to pass a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Hastings Jews for Justice added: 'This is an important act of solidarity with a people who are being made to suffer in the most horrific ways imaginable and we are determined to show that as British Jews it is not in our names.' The Green leader of the council, Councillor Glen Haffenden, has reportedly received more emails on this subject from his residents than on any other subject since becoming a councillor. Hastings campaign group Friends of Al-Mawasi says there has been a 'marked escalation of threatening and abusive behaviour' towards anyone in the town showing sympathy or support for Palestine over the past few weeks. Sussex Police have confirmed that an investigation is ongoing after a woman was allegedly assaulted while wearing a Keffiyah at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill.
Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
English doctors to strike in face-off with government over pay
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Resident doctors in England will begin a five-day strike on Friday over pay, challenging Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party government that promised to end industrial unrest when taking office a year ago. The government is refusing to meet demands for higher pay from the British Medical Association, which says the 5.4% rise awarded to resident doctors - qualified physicians who make up nearly half of the medical workforce - does little to undo years of pay erosion. The result is a return to picket lines outside hospitals from 0600 GMT Friday - a throwback to 2023 when high inflation and stagnant pay brought doctors, nurses and other staff from the publicly-funded National Health Service (NHS) out on strike. "We don't want to strike, but we have to," said Bishoy Yassa, a 24-year-old recently qualified resident doctor. "Even after fair negotiations ... we were completely ignored." "There's a misconception that doctors are being greedy," he added. "This isn't just about pay. This is about getting the government to listen to the state of the NHS." After winning an election last year, Labour quickly reached a settlement with doctors for a 22% pay rise, but this year, as it grapples with increasingly strained public finances, it has refused to move beyond a 5.4% increase. Health minister Wes Streeting has called the decision to strike "reckless and needless." "All I asked of the them (BMA's leadership) was the postponement of strikes for a few weeks so we could work together on a detailed package that could form an offer to you to end this dispute," Streeting said in a letter addressed to resident doctors posted on X on Thursday. Public backing for the strikes is limited, with 52% now opposing them and 34% in favour, according to a YouGov survey of 4,954 adults conducted on Monday. That represents a shift from May, when 48% opposed and 39% supported the action. Views among doctors also differ. Adam Boggon, a 33-year-old resident doctor and a BMA member, told Reuters he voted against the strike action, fearing it would harm patients. "I would like for a settlement to be achieved very soon and in the absence of strike action which doesn't help anybody and which nobody wants," he said.
Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
Brazil's WEG expects to mitigate most impacts from Trump tariffs
SAO PAULO, July 24 (Reuters) - Brazilian motor maker WEG ( opens new tab said on Thursday it expects to offset most of the impact from the 50% tariff U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose on Brazilian goods partly by adjusting some export routes. Analysts have cited WEG - whose motors are used in vehicles, wind turbines and power transmission lines - among the most exposed firms to the steep tariffs, which are due to take effect on August 1. The company on Wednesday reported lower-than-expected second-quarter results, noting that geopolitical uncertainties have limited long-term visibility and led some clients to postpone investment decisions for large projects. Chief Financial Officer Andre Rodrigues suggested on Thursday the firm could use its Brazilian operations to supply countries such as Mexico and India, whose products would in turn meet U.S. demand. "The execution may take a few months, but once the change is implemented, we expect to be able to mitigate most of these impacts," he told a call with analysts, though warning the move would also depend on the levies Trump imposes on other nations. WEG has plants in over a dozen countries, including the United States and Mexico, and has touted its global presence and broad product portfolio as factors that might help shield it from the tariffs' impacts. Rodrigues said that products made in Brazil currently account for less than a third of WEG's U.S. sales. He noted that the effects on WEG's second-quarter results of the 10% tariff Trump had initially imposed in April were small, saying that the firm made some price adjustments in the U.S. to offset the impact of those levies. "Looking ahead, at this point it's not possible to have a firm stance, given the many uncertainties and volatility in the trade structures being discussed," Rodrigues added. "But if the current situation persists, WEG does have an action plan."
