A petition demanding that the Government and Parliament of the United Kingdom pass a law banning residents from transacting in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies registered by independent financial adviser and co-founder of West Riding Personal Financial Solutions Neil Liversidge.
“Cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value, can destabilise society, and are often used for criminal activity,” he says.
Liversidge is convinced that banning cryptocurrency transactions in the country would hamper criminals who rely on these assets. For law-abiding citizens and businesses, digital currencies matter little, and their mining harms the environment, the adviser added.
If the petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the government will respond to it. If it receives at least 100,000 signatures, the demand will be considered for debate in Parliament. As of writing, Liversidge’s proposal had gathered 115 signatures, and the petition deadline is 7 July 2021.
Earlier, Anatoly Aksakov said, head of the State Duma committee on the financial market, that there is a need to regulate bitcoin and ban it as a means of payment. In his view, this is necessary to close the channels through which cryptocurrency is used “to finance drug trafficking, terrorist operations, money laundering, corruption schemes and so on.”
Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank (ECB), has also called for regulating bitcoin, calling it a “speculative asset” and a platform for “objectionable money-laundering operations.”
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