Cryptocurrency Investigations & Disputes Solicitors

Our Reputation

For over twenty years Kangs Solicitors has been successfully representing clients in investigations conducted by the major UK enforcement agencies which currently include the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Since 1997 we have been deploying our extensive resources, skill and expertise to advise corporate and individual clients in complex and often multi-jurisdictional investigations.

Our award-winning team of solicitors is nationally recognised for its work in Civil and Criminal financial investigations including cryptocurrency investigations and prosecutions.

Both the leading law directories, the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners, rank the firm in the highest categories for our work in financial fraud investigations and prosecutions.

Call Us For Confidential Advice

Our team is led by Hamraj Kang, a nationally recognised leader in the field of financial crime investigations.

We appreciate that an investigation by an enforcement agency can cause significant disruption to a business and its senior management. We work to minimise the risk of reputational damage and provide practical cost-effective solutions for our corporate and individual clients.

Kangs Solicitors has expert teams of civil lawyers  and criminal fraud solicitors experienced in defending both civil and criminal issues that arise in the use, storage, ownership, transfer, investment and trading of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets.

We are here to assist you with these issues and our team of expert solicitors can be contacted for confidential and discrete advice as follows:

• 020 7936 6396            London
• 0121 449 9888            Birmingham
• 0161 817 5020            Manchester

Cryptocurrency: A Legal Definition

The European Union’s 5th Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) came into force in January 2020 and defined a cryptocurrency as follows:

‘a digital representation of value that can be digitally transferred, stored or traded and is accepted…as a medium of exchange’.

Cryptocurrency and Crypto Assets

There are many hundreds of different types of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets, with Bitcoin being the most recognised.

A key feature is there is no centralised bank or nation state regulating a cryptocurrency. All transactions are conducted without such regulation.

A cryptocurrency is used in a variety of ways:

• a means of exchange, enabling goods and services to be paid for
• a payment platform
• a store of value and investment
• a sophisticated financial instrument, such as cryptocurrency derivatives.

The underlying technology is blockchain which creates a unique one line ledger for each transaction made using the cryptocurrency.

The ledger can be accessed from anywhere in the world with multiple copies being available at any one time. All copies are automatically updated simultaneously. This is what makes the blockchain technology different to a traditional ledger.

The blockchain technology does not rely on a centralised server. The information is encrypted, stored and protected to the level that cyber-attacks are considered unlikely to be successful.  

Crime and Cryptocurrencies

The lack of regulation of the multi-billion dollars crypto assets market has led to concerns that the virtual currencies are being favoured by criminals to conduct their business.

Areas of concern that have been highlighted include:

• the block chain technology enables the anonymous and borderless nature of transactions resulting in money laundering on a large scale
• the lack of ‘Know Your Client’ and ‘Due Diligence’ checks conducted by many cryptocurrency exchange providers attracts professional money launderers
• criminals targeting innocent investors drawn to cryptocurrencies for the potentially large rewards from currency appreciation
• ‘boiler room’ type operations offering Initial Coin Offerings (‘ICOs’) which prove to not exist at all or, if they do exist, prove to be worthless
• theft of cryptocurrencies from personal wallets and from exchange providers as a result of cyber-attacks.