Senior member of the Treasury Select Committee MP John Mann announced that the UK will be unveiling new measures that will compel Bitcoin traders to reveal their identities and report illicit activities to law enforcement.
"These new forms of exchange are expanding rapidly and we've got to make sure we don't get left behind — that's particularly important in terms of money-laundering, terrorism or pure theft," Mann told the Daily Telegraph.
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Mann also said that he is "not convinced that the regulatory authorities are keeping up to speed" and urged the Committee to "have an inquiry next year."
"It would be timely to have a proper look at what this means. It may be that we want to speed up our use of these kinds of thing in this country, but that makes it all the more important that we don't have a regulatory lag," he said.
A Treasury spokesman, quoted by the Telegraph, said on Sunday: "We intend to update regulations to bring virtual currency exchange platforms into Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing regulation."
In early October, Economic Secretary of the Treasury Stephen Barclay wrote to the British Parliament that Theresa May's government was working on a new set of measures to bring the cyber currency that is currently worth some £145 billion under control.
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In his written reply to a parliamentary question, the Economic Secretary confirmed that the Treasury seeks to "bring virtual currency exchange platforms and custodian wallet providers into anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations".
A single Bitcoin, as it stands now, is worth $11,332.60 and can be anonymously traded by anyone with access to the Internet.
During the May cyber-attacks on the NHS, which effectively paralyzed thousands of computers and digital devices, the hackers demanded that the ransom should be paid in Bitcoins.
Labour MP Chris Evans, who campaigns for the tighter regulation of cyber space and Bitcoin in particular, urged the government to take all necessary measures to limit trade in digital currency.
"We need to crack down on the criminal gangs trading in bitcoins. There is a wild west element at the moment," Evans said, the Telegraph reports.
