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United Kingdom

UK cryptoasset seizures: ECCTA 2023 and POCA powers over crypto asset-related items, CJA 1987 compulsion, and the limits posed by non-custodial wallets and private keys

Published on: 13 June 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Corporate Crime expert
Legal News
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Article summary

Crypto wallets are digital instruments for holding and deploying digital assets. UK law enforcement have received enhanced, targeted powers to seize and access such wallets under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023). Authorities may freeze, manage, and ultimately forfeit cryptoassets in seized wallets where the funds represent the proceeds of unlawful conduct. Entry to a crypto wallet can be achieved in two principal ways—by possessing the private key that unlocks the wallet (non-custodial wallets), or through a centralised crypto exchange or other third-party hosting service providers (custodial wallets). In this piece, we set out how UK agencies can identify and take control of wallets for investigation and later forfeiture, and explore the limits of compulsory powers, particularly where the cryptoassets sit in non-custodial wallets.

Custodial and non-custodial crypto wallets

Grasping the distinction between these two wallet types will determine how effective particular criminal investigation powers are to obtain and use cryptoassets. This is because cryptoassets held in a non-custodial wallet operate as bearer instruments, so whoever holds the password to the crypto wallet—commonly called a private key—will also exercise control over the assets contained in that wallet and exclude others from access entirely...

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