Overview

• Chancellor Rachel Reeves plans to sell portions of the at least £5bn held in seized cryptocurrency to help narrow a looming Budget shortfall.
• The Home Office has sought bids for a centralised crypto storage and realisation framework worth up to £40m to secure, manage and liquidate frozen digital assets.
• Economists estimate that ministers must find up to £20bn this autumn, increasing pressure on the Treasury to adopt novel revenue measures.
• Bitcoin’s value doubled over the past year and peaked at $123,000 last week, boosting potential proceeds from any sale of confiscated holdings.
• Current legislation requires proceeds not returned to victims to be divided between law enforcement programmes and central government accounts as fraud victims press legal claims for restitution.