Rachel Reeves is eyeing up a \u00a35bn pre-Budget windfall as the government considers selling off seized cryptocurrency to plug a hole in the public finances. <\/p>\n
The Home Office is reportedly working with police forces to offload at least \u00a35bn worth of Bitcoin and other currencies taken from criminals.<\/p>\n
It is planning to develop a storage system for the currencies to handle their sale, it has emerged, as concerns about Labour\u2019s spending plans mount ahead of the autumn Budget. <\/p>\n
Rachel Reeves needs to find billions to balance the books ahead of her Budget this autumn (REUTERS)Home Office plans for a \u201ccrypto storage and realisation framework\u201d would allow law enforcement to securely store frozen digital currencies and sell them, The Sunday Telegraph reported. <\/p>\n
Ms Reeves has been left with a gap of at least \u00a35bn to fill when she sets out the government\u2019s spending plans this autumn, with the government\u2019s chaotic U-turn on planned benefit cuts raising the likelihood of tax hikes. <\/p>\n
The chancellor and Sir Keir Starmer have left the door open to a wealth tax to cover the shortfall. <\/p>\n
As well as the \u00a35bn black hole left by the welfare climbdown, the impact of sluggish economic growth and Donald Trump\u2019s trade war could leave the Treasury scrambling to find as much as \u00a320bn in tax hikes or spending cuts elsewhere. <\/p>\n
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\u2019s return to the White House, meaning the haul could be worth more than \u00a35.4bn. <\/p>\n
Responding to the suggestion Ms Reeves could sell the reserves, Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf said: \u201cThis would be a terrible decision. The UK should be implementing Reform\u2019s Crypto Bill and increasing its Bitcoin reserves.<\/p>\n
\u201cSelling now will go down as a far worse decision than Gordon Brown\u2019s fire sale of our gold.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Westminster class are dinosaurs who don\u2019t get the future.\u201d <\/p>\n
Zia Yusuf said selling Bitcoin would be a terrible mistake (PA Wire)But Aidan Larkin, the chief executive of seizure company Asset Reality, told The Sunday Telegraph: \u201cThere 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.\u201d <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The leading cryptocurrency reached $120,000, marking both an all-time high and an important landmark for those who believe that bitcoin is undervalued.<\/p>\n
The Treasury was approached for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rachel Reeves is eyeing up a \u00a35bn pre-Budget windfall as the government considers selling off seized cryptocurrency to plug a hole in the public finances. The Home Office is reportedly working with police forces to offload at least \u00a35bn worth of Bitcoin and other currencies taken from criminals. It is planning to develop a storage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n