Political finance rules
There are many foreign interference risks in the current political finance rules and, when you add the pseudonymity and cross-border speed of crypto, it pushes the scale and scope of this behaviour beyond the capacity of the current regulatory system.
"Lockhart says that cryptocurrency donations, which are now accepted by three UK political parties, present another mechanism for funds from hostile foreign actors or criminal origins to flow into UK politics. ‘The problem with crypto is that it’s essentially a money laundering accelerant,’ she says. ‘There are many foreign interference risks in the current political finance rules and, when you add the pseudonymity and cross-border speed of crypto, it pushes the scale and scope of this behaviour beyond the capacity of the current regulatory system.’ Lockhart and her team at RUSI’s Centre for Finance and Security are calling on the government to temporarily ban crypto donations until a bespoke regulatory regime is designed for them.”
