Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

POCA 2002 civil (non-conviction) recovery of cryptoassets (ECCTA 2023): search, seizure, wallet freezing, detention, forfeiture/destruction and conversion in the magistrates' courts (England and Wales)

Published by a LexisNexis Corporate Crime expert

Practice notes

Following a series of court decisions and influential commentary, it is now widely accepted that, under English law, cryptoassets are neither things in possession nor things in action; instead, they comprise a distinct third form of property as data objects. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002) establishes, in broad terms, two routes for the realisation of criminal proceeds:

a conviction-based restraint and confiscation regime under POCA 2002, Pt 2, criminal in character and largely managed by the criminal courts under the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 (CrimPR 2025), SI 2025/909; and
a non-conviction based asset recovery regime under POCA 2002, Pt 5, operating within the civil jurisdiction.

In England and Wales, at a high level, this results in:

proceedings before the magistrates’ court, in its civil jurisdiction, for the freezing and forfeiture of (i) cash, (ii) high value personal property, and (iii) money in accounts held with financial institutions (FIs); and
proceedings before the High Court for a civil recovery order (CRO).

Although certain powers within these frameworks have been used to recover cryptoassets (see...

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Harriet Territt

Addleshaw Goddard

Harriet has significant experience advising on corporate criminal and financial regulation, including money laundering and sanctions legislation, supply chain compliance, trade and export control and foreign investment issues. She undertakes highly confidential internal investigations and remediation projects, as well as representing clients before regulators and enforcement agencies such as the Financial Conduct Authority and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. Increasingly, Harriet works with clients who want to future proof compliance systems, providing boards and senior management with clear visibility and assurance around levels of regulatory risk.Harriet is passionate about the power of emerging technologies to change our world for the better, with particular experience in liability, risk, and governance issues arising out of the cutting edge of fintech and digital assets, including DLT (distributed ledger technology, also known as blockchain), AI implementations, payments, cryptoassets, digital currencies, alternative finance...

Gilly Bradbury

Addleshaw Goddard

Gilly is currently a Senior Knowledge Lawyer of Commercial Disputes at Addleshaw Goddard. Previously, Gilly was a Knowledge Development Lawyer in BCLP’s Financial Services Disputes & Investigations and White Collar Crime practices, based in London. Gilly is an experienced professional support lawyer with extensive individual criminal defence expertise. She joined BCLP from Lexis Nexis, where she had developed their suite of practical guidance content on their LexisPSL Corporate Crime module. Before becoming a knowledge lawyer, Gilly was a defence litigator and represented individuals in a range of white collar crime and asset recovery matters brought by prosecutors such as the FCA, NCA, CPS and SFO. Prior to this, Gilly worked in the public prosecutor's asset recovery unit, where she was responsible for enforcing multi-million pound restraint and confiscation orders....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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