Financial consulting veteran Neil Liversidge has petitioned the UK parliament and the government to ban transactions in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Liversidge, the owner of West Riding Personal Financial Solutions, a financial advisory company, began petition with these words:
“Legally prohibit acceptance and payments in cryptocurrencies by UK-based companies and individuals and demand UK regulators to prohibit UK financial institutions from transactions in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.”
Liversidge based his petition on the well-known anti-cryptocurrency narrative, according to which cryptocurrencies, in particular Bitcoin, have no real value and “can have a negative impact on society and are often utilized in criminal activities.” In addition, the advisor is confident that cryptocurrency mining operations are “harmful to the environment.”
On January 13 in an interview with the financial publication Professional Adviser Liversidge stated that a complete ban on crypto transfers in the UK will help law enforcement agencies to counter criminals using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. “Law enforcement will never arrest all criminals, they won’t even arrest most of them, but the destruction of the financial base will diminish their power,” the adviser said.
Liversidge also said that the cryptocurrency ban would immediately trigger a market crash: “If the UK makes the first step and bans cryptocurrency transactions, as my petition calls for, it will start a chain reaction, crashing cryptocurrencies overnight.”
