Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill [Employment Rights Bill: impact assessments - GOV.UK ].

These Impact Assessments have been submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee who have acknowledged their receipt [Employment Rights Bill: statement on lateness of IA submission - GOV.UK ].

As is standard practice, this has also been published on the Employment Rights Bill page on the Parliament UK website [Employment Rights Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament ].

The UK’s foreign currency assets are held in the Exchange Equalisation Account. These assets are managed in line with the following investment principles:

• Ensuring readiness to meet the policy requirements of the reserves
• Limiting risk and volatility to avoid compromising the policy readiness of the reserves
• Maximising returns within these constraints

Bitcoin has been a historically highly volatile asset relative to stable fiat currencies like the US dollar, and commodities, such as gold. This volatility makes Bitcoin unsuitable as a reserve asset for the UK.

Given this, the Government has no plans to adopt a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

The Government does not hold any Bitcoin.

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains powers to deprive criminals of their money, or other property connected to criminal activity, and recover the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrencies. As with all assets, action to seize, recover and manage crypto assets is for independent law enforcement bodies and the courts to consider.

We do not routinely publish the amount recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by asset type. We publish annual statistics on the amount of proceeds of crime confiscated and recovered as detailed on GOV.UK Asset recovery statistics: financial years ending 2019 to 2024 - GOV.UK.