By Scotland has recorded a staggering 2,000 percent surge in cryptocurrency-linked crimes since 2019, according to Police Scotland’s latest 2025 annual report.
The scale of this increase reflects the growing role digital assets now play in organised crime and fraud.
While tools to trace illicit crypto flows have been adopted, Scotland remains behind other UK jurisdictions in terms of specialised response, with no dedicated crypto crime unit yet established.
Authorities say organised crime groups are adapting rapidly, using crypto to obscure transactions and launder proceeds from illegal activity.
Crypto crime up 2,000%
The 2,000 percent rise in crypto-linked criminality has been fuelled by more serious and organised crime groups embracing digital assets.
Police Scotland’s report says these groups are “quick to adapt and utilise new methods to help obfuscate their activities,” with cryptocurrency now a common enabler of fraud and money laundering.
The report does not quantify how many cases make up the 2,000% increase, but the shift has been dramatic enough for the force to flag the issue prominently.
However, Police Scotland has yet to form a specialised crypto crime unit to match rising demand.
The report confirms “development of capabilities outside of cybercrime is progressing,” but no dedicated team is currently in place.
New tracking tools added
Despite the lack of a crypto-specific team, Scottish police have recently implemented two new tracking and tracing tools for digital assets.
These tools reportedly align their investigative capabilities “with much of UK and leading international law enforcement.”
However, officers continue to rely heavily on cybercrime units and broader digital forensics expertise.
Police Scotland is a member of the national Cryptocurrency Working Group, which focuses on designing a “training pathway to include expert witness testimony,” and improving institutional knowledge on crypto-related investigations.
The report stresses that while technical tools are now available, more robust structures and cross-team coordination are still in development.
Court converts Bitcoin to cash
In 2024, the High Court in Edinburgh set a key legal precedent for how cryptocurrency assets can be processed under proceeds of crime legislation.
In a case linked to violent criminal activity in Lanarkshire, prosecutors successfully converted 23.5 Bitcoin into £109,601.
The digital currency was tied to John Ross Rennie, described in court documents as the “technical brains” behind a violent robbery.
The court’s approval to convert the seized Bitcoin into cash marked a critical step in formalising how digital assets can be recovered and repurposed under Scottish law enforcement.
The case is one of the first in Scotland where stolen crypto was transformed into usable fiat currency through the judicial system, highlighting a new legal pathway for future asset seizures involving digital tokens.
Cyber fraud unit proposed
Police Scotland is proposing a new Cyber and Fraud Command unit aimed at modernising its approach to crypto crime.
The objective is to restructure roles and responsibilities internally, enabling officers to handle cryptocurrency offences with a more specialised and streamlined system.
This would bring Scotland in line with jurisdictions like England and Wales, which already have dedicated crypto teams within law enforcement.
The proposed command could also improve strategic coordination across economic crime divisions and address training gaps highlighted in the report.
Authorities suggest that as cryptocurrency adoption increases in both legitimate and criminal contexts, the force’s future success will depend on integrating crypto-specific expertise at every level of investigation.
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