Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said surging cryptocurrency use is a boon for illicit activity, Reuters reported.
“I’m afraid that the advent of digital means of payment, and in particular crypto assets, … is providing another means of payment for people who want to conduct criminal activity,” he said, per the report.
J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon predicted there would be more regulations for cryptocurrency, pointing to unease regarding digital currency in Washington.
“Blockchain can be real, stablecoins can be real,” Dimon said, speaking to the Institute of International Finance annual membership meeting, per Bloomberg. “No matter what anyone in the room thinks, nor what any libertarian thinks, nor what anyone thinks about it, government’s going to regulate it.”
Dimon has been a skeptic of bitcoin, saying it is “worthless” but acknowledging that clients disagree, according to the Bloomberg report. He said that while the bank can’t custody crypto, “we can give them legitimate, as-clean-as-possible access.”
Scams, including those involving digital currencies, have been more prevalent in the months since the pandemic started, with fraudsters pouncing on the opportunity to take advantage of the confusing and fast-paced new transition to digital payments.
In one case, U.K. police seized more than $2.7 million in crypto. Investigators called it “sophisticated cyber fraud,” and detectives found links to money laundering. They were able to seize over 48 bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Read more: UK Police Seize Over $2M in Crypto Scam
The suspect was underage when he was arrested in August 2020, and he was caught after an investigation into reports of credit card fraud and stealing personal information to scam a gift voucher company out of $8,200.
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