The Rycroft Report: Building protective walls around UK democracy
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Rycroft Report
Commenting on the Rycroft Review, Eliza Lockhart, Research Fellow at the Centre for Finance and Security (CFS) at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said: “The Rycroft review underscores the growing risk of foreign financial interference in UK politics and the inadequacy of current safeguards to respond to increasingly sophisticated, technology-enabled threats.
"Crucially, it recommends a temporary moratorium – not a permanent ban – on crypto donations, endorsing the findings of CFS at RUSI’s Cryptocurrencies in UK Politics project."
"This reflects an often-overlooked reality – that banning crypto donations at the point of receipt does not address the more insidious upstream risks, namely, the use of crypto to obscure the provenance of funds before they enter the political finance system as fiat. A blanket ban therefore risks creating a false sense of security while leaving the underlying vulnerabilities untouched."
"As the Rycroft review recognises, a moratorium offers a more credible policy response to these complex threats. It acts as a temporary prohibition to pause immediate risk exposure, while enabling the development of a tailored regulatory framework and strengthened enforcement capabilities. Whereas a ban is a blunt instrument, a moratorium is a ban with a plan – designed to build the regulatory architecture and enforcement capacity needed to deal with these risks over the long term.”
