Met Police seizes more than $150 million in cryptocurrency during criminal investigation

The UK's Metropolitan Police said Thursday that it seized £114 million in cryptocurrency — an amount worth about $158 million — as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

The Met Police said the operation "was carried out by detectives from the Met’s Economic Crime Command on the back of intelligence received about the transfer of criminal assets." The operation is ongoing, according to the announcement.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Met Police is seeking additional powers to halt the transfer of cryptocurrency funds as part of its operations. The Times of London specifically said that Scotland Yard wants legislative changes to make it harder for criminals to make such transfers.

“The conversations that we’re having is about how we align cryptocurrency to the same kind of approach that we have about cash-based criminality,” Mick Gallagher, a Met Police official, was quoted as saying.

Last month, local police in the West Midlands said they seized a bitcoin mining operation while hunting for a suspected cannabis grow operation.