Our regulator, the Council of Licensed Conveyancers, as do other regulators, treat the use of Bitcoin and other crypto assets in property transactions as a high-risk money laundering indicator.       

They warn practices to exercise extreme caution when they are used as part of a transaction i.e. for the purchase, or for loans and gifts towards the purchase. Lawyers must conduct Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and we must trace the original source of funds to ensure it is from legitimate souces, verify conversions, check bank transfers and confirm if the crypto provider is FCA-regulated.

As a result we, like many other Firms, choose not to act on transactions using cryptocurrency.

This is due to the difficulty in tracing funds back to the source, resulting in increased time spent and therefore costs incurred, but more importantly the significant increased risk that cryptocurrency may be derived from criminal activity.