Reporting by Susie Violet Ward · Topic guide
Who can see how people earn, save and spend, and what can they do with that information? This page gathers Susie Violet Ward's reporting on digital ID, financial surveillance, data security and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), grouped by issue with the newest articles first. Bitcoin Policy UK's related policy work is listed separately at the end.
The national digital ID scheme was cancelled in September 2026, but GOV.UK One Login, GOV.UK Wallet and online age checks raise the same questions: who verifies identity, and who holds the data?
Why cancelling the national scheme did not end the growth of government digital identity.
Britain's reliance on a few private technology companies, including Palantir, for public services and data.
Why checking children's ages online can mean checking everyone's identity.
The government's case for digital ID, set against public opposition and warnings of exclusion and mission creep.
Whether the Online Safety Bill's aims justified the risks to end-to-end encryption.
Anti-money laundering (AML) rules and tax reporting, including the FATF Travel Rule and the OECD's Cryptoasset Reporting Framework (CARF), require firms to collect and share customer data. On Bitcoin's public ledger, linking an identity to an address can reveal far more than one payment.
HMRC's proposed information powers over cryptoasset businesses, and the risk of linking tax identities to Bitcoin addresses.
The UK's FATF presidency, its fraud agenda and whether more data sharing reduces fraud.
The Travel Rule in the EU and UK, and the security risks of passing customer data between firms.
What the OECD's Cryptoasset Reporting Framework requires of service providers, and what it means for privacy.
The EU's Anti-Money Laundering Regulation and its treatment of self-hosted wallets and mixers as high risk.
The arrest of the Samourai Wallet founders and the debate over privacy tools and cash.
Why Bitcoin's links to crime are overstated, and how its public ledger helps investigators.
When a leak or breach connects a name and home address to Bitcoin holdings, it can lead criminals to people and their families.
A hardware wallet flaw and a Telegram tracking issue, and the gap between assuming security and verifying it.
The rise in physical attacks on crypto holders, and how compliance data can help criminals find them.
A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is a digital form of a country's money, issued by its central bank. Critics warn that programmable money linked to identity checks could let spending be tracked, restricted or given expiry dates.
Responses to a European Central Bank paper that presented CBDCs as preferable to Bitcoin.
Big Brother Watch's warnings about a digital pound, and the legal protections for privacy in the UK.
A US state law protecting self custody and Bitcoin payments, and barring the state from accepting CBDC payments.
Ripple's CBDC platform, set against its co-founder's funding of a campaign to change Bitcoin's code.
An explainer on how CBDCs work, from programmability to legal tender status.
How CBDCs and Bitcoin compare as digital alternatives to cash, with a focus on access and control.
A column linking CBDCs to a wider expansion of surveillance and emergency powers in the UK.
A column criticising the digital pound consultation and how little public attention it received.
A column on a CBDC industry conference and the lack of public scrutiny of digital pound plans.
A column, written as the government prepared its CBDC roadmap, on why the public needed a clearer explanation.
A column on the functions a programmable CBDC could add, from automatic deductions to spending limits.
Bitcoin Policy UK's organisational work, not journalism. Susie Violet Ward is the organisation's Co-Founder and CEO. Full list: Policy & Consultation Work.
Supports replacing per-coin holding limits, which would have required identity checks, and asks the Bank to limit the personal data collected and shared during redemption.
A 17-page public guide to protecting privacy online and when using Bitcoin, with steps grouped by how much effort they take.
Asks for limits on the personal data collected and shared under CARF, warning that leaked names and home addresses could expose holders to physical harm.
Published by Satoshi Action Education, Axiom and Bitcoin Policy UK
Argues that the European Central Bank's working paper overlooks the centralisation, privacy and surveillance risks of CBDCs.