Ministry of Internal Affairs will develop a mechanism for the arrest and confiscation of cryptocurrencies

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with other law enforcement agencies, should develop proposals for arrest by the end of 2021cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets. In addition to technical difficulties, the uncertain status of the “crypt” in Russia prevents this.

Russia plans to develop a legal mechanismthe seizure of virtual assets for their confiscation. The relevant proposals should be prepared by December 31, 2021 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs together with Rosfinmonitoring, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee, the Justice Ministry, the FSB, the Federal Customs Service and the Federal Security Service with the participation of the Supreme Court, a source familiar with the instructions of the Interior Ministry’s collegium told November 1. The information that such a measure is being discussed along with other proposals to combat IT crimes was confirmed by a representative of the Group-IB company, which specializes in the fight against cyber crimes.

To virtual assets that the Ministry of Internal Affairs will deal with, inFirst of all, cryptocurrencies are related, explains Nikita Kulikov, member of the State Duma's expert council, founder of the PravoRobotov Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization. The usual practice of seizing property should be applied to them, he said.

Now cryptocurrencies in Russia are in grayzone, therefore, in order to be confiscated, they must be recognized at the legislative level as either goods or cash equivalents, said Konstantin Golikov, co-owner and CEO of the Dailyrich.ru platform. Those formulations that exist in the bill currently being developed for the cryptosphere are not suitable for these purposes, adds Kulikov.

For security officials, crypto assets partially leftblind spot: in February 2019, the plenum of the Supreme Court decided that Art. 174 and 174.1 of the Criminal Code on the legalization of criminal proceeds should also apply to cryptocurrency. Changes to the previous decree of the plenum of 2015 were made in connection with the recommendations of the FATF (international Group for the development of financial measures to combat money laundering).

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