With MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation) due to come into force in June, EU countries are at different stages of translating the piece of regulation into local law, according to CoinDesk.

France has reportedly designated its financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and banking authority, the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, as its MiCA supervisors.

Some countries with smaller financial markets will not have the capacity to hire employees that will specifically oversee MiCA.

Austria, Estonia, Denmark and Croatia are among the countries whose parliaments still need to approve draft national legislation to align with MiCA, according to what regulators told CoinDesk.

Other nations such as, Ireland, Slovenia, Poland and Lithuania have consulted publicly on draft legislation, CoinDesk was told by respective authorities in the country.

UK crime agency increases powers

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has put in place measures for law enforcement to investigate, seize, and recover illegal cryptoassets. These changes include:

• Police will no longer be required to make an arrest before seizing crypto from a suspect. This will make it easier to take assets which are known to have been criminally obtained, even if sophisticated criminals are able to protect their anonymity or are based overseas.
• items that could be used to give information to help an investigation, such as written passwords or memory sticks, can be seized.
• Officers will be able to transfer illicit crypto assets into an electronic wallet which is controlled by law enforcement, meaning criminals can no longer access it.
• UK law enforcement will be able to destroy a crypto asset if returning it to circulation is not conducive to the public good. Privacy coins, for example, are a form of cryptocurrency that grant an extremely high degree of anonymity and are often used for money laundering.
• Victims will also be able to apply for money belonging to them in a crypto assets account to be released to them.

The NCA’s National Assessment Centre estimates that illicit crypto transactions linked to the UK are likely to have reached at least £1.2 billion ($1.41 billion) in 2021, if not significantly more.

In January 2024, the NCA worked with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate a multi-million drug enterprise which led to $150m in cash and crypto being seized.  

“It is vital that investigators and prosecutors have the capability and agility to keep pace with the changing nature of crime. These new measures will greatly assist our ability to restrain, freeze, or eliminate crypto assets from illegal enterprise,” Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor, said.

“These powers allow the Director of Public Prosecutions to assist law enforcement in crypto forfeiture cases where our expertise can add real value.”

South Korea establishes investigative unit

Rising cryptocrime and crypto fraud has led to the establishment of a permanent investigative unit in South Korea, local reports say.

The country’s Justice Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety are scheduled to start discussions in early May to upgrade the Joint Virtual Asset Crime Investigation Unit into an official department, according to Yahoo! news.

South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit put in place a work plan in February to strengthen the response to money laundering related to virtual assets and illegal private finance. It reported that incidents of suspicious transactions had increased by 49% in a year.

Crypto is relatively popular in South Korea, with 20% of the population owning or using cryptoassets in 2023, according to Statista data.