UK Courts Combat Rise In Cryptocurrency Fraud

Chrysanthos Christoforou of Elias Neocleous discusses recent cases in which the UK courts have shown great flexibility and willingness to assist victims to trace and freeze their stolen crypto-assets

'Cryptos' are one of the hottest topics in the financial markets sector. At its simplest, cryptocurrency is any form of currency that exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography (instead of the ordinary banking system) to secure transactions. Instead of being physical money carried around and exchanged in the real world, cryptocurrency payments exist purely as digital entries in an online database describing specific transactions.

It has been reported that cryptocurrency transactions exceeded $14 trillion in trading volume in 2021, which represents a 689% increase compared to 2020 trading volumes. The non-fungible token (NFT) market alone reached an estimated $22 billion last year. These figures and the rate of growth almost defy belief.