Issue A cashless UK: harder concealment versus new untraceable channels

Summary

The report suggests that a move to a fully cashless UK could raise the costs of financial crime by making transactions harder to hide. Yet new forms of illicit finance could emerge that exploit cryptoassets which are intangible and hard to trace. It also points out that UK criminals might use cash from countries that still rely on physical currency, allowing them to do business in the UK without leaving an audit trail. In linking to emerging financial systems, the report sees economic criminals continuing to be early adopters of new financial technology where oversight is weak. At present, although exact figures are hard to calculate, hundreds of billions of pounds are estimated to be laundered in the UK each year.