Neil Liversidge, a veteran financial advisor, asked the UK government to ban transactions in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).
Liversidge, the owner of independent financial consulting firm West Riding Personal Financial Solutions, has initiated a petition urging local financial authorities to stop crypto transactions in the UK. The petition says:
“Legislation to prohibit the payment or acceptance of cryptocurrencies by companies or individuals residing in the United Kingdom and requiring that UK regulators (FCA and PRA) prohibit transactions by UK financial institutions in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.”
Liversidge cited a common anti-cryptographic narrative, arguing that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have no intrinsic value and “can have a destabilizing influence on society, and are often used for criminal activities”. The consultant also thinks that cryptocurrency mining is “harmful to the environment”.
According to the UK Government and Parliament website, the petition’s deadline is July 7, 2021. At the time of publication, the petition collected 108 signatures.
In an interview on January 13 with the publication Professional Adviser, which focuses on finance, Liversidge noted that a widespread ban on crypto transactions in the UK will help to reduce the power of criminals who use crypto such as Bitcoin for illicit activities. “Law enforcement will never catch all of them, it will not catch even most of them, but destroying its financial base reduces its power,” argued the IFA.
Liversidge also said that an encryption ban would immediately trigger a market crash: “If the UK government takes the initiative to ban crypt transactions at my request, it will trigger a chain reaction, breaking crypts overnight,” he said. .
The IFA’s verdict is that all crypto investors should immediately sell their stakes: “So if you’re holding crypts now, my advice is to find a bigger fool than you and throw them out quickly.” Liversidge also told Cointelegraph that he “never owned and would never buy any” cryptography, even though he knew it would bring him hundreds of percent return.
The ongoing Bitcoin rally raising its price to $ 42,000 has definitely pushed global Bitcoin opponents to finally talk about Bitcoin after maintaining silence in 2020. On January 14, Russian Duma member Anatoly Aksakov suggested that global authorities should ban crypto payments because Bitcoin is a bubble that is about to burst “sooner or later”. On January 13, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde declared that Bitcoin is a “highly speculative asset” and a “funny business” that helps money launderers.