The head of the IC urged to legislate the possibility of arresting cryptocurrencies

Alexander Bastrykin believes that there is uncertainty in the judicial review of criminal cases,associated with digital assets.

Chairman of the Investigative Committee of RussiaAlexander Bastrykin proposed to register in the criminal legislation the possibility of arrest and confiscation of cryptocurrencies. In an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, he explained that there are still sulfur zones, without regulation of which it is difficult to effectively counter illegal transactions using digital financial assets.

“In particular, until now, theadditions to criminal and criminal procedural legislation, securing the belonging of digital currencies to property. The absence of such rules can complicate the qualification of acts (for example, embezzlement, bribery, terrorist financing) and create uncertainty in the judicial review of a criminal case. In addition, the lack of a determination of the procedural status of such assets prevents them from being seized, as well as confiscated, "Bastrykin emphasized.

In his opinion, in cases where persons providingservices in the field of virtual assets, controlled by the state, the seizure of cryptocurrency can be implemented by analogy with the seizure of funds and securities. At the same time, the head of the IC noted that the decentralized nature of the digital currency issue does not allow for full state control in this area.

“In such cases, in order to arrest cryptoassetsit is necessary to ensure the possibility of transferring them from the control of the accused to the control of the state, for example, by introducing norms into the criminal procedure law that allow the court to order a person to transfer cryptoassets to a special state crypto account before the end of the trial, "Bastrykin explained.

Formerly vice speaker of the upper house of parliamentNikolai Zhuravlevv said that a working group will be formed in the Federation Council, which will discuss issues related to the regulation of cryptocurrencies. Zhuravlev called the expediency of a legislative ban on operations with digital assets a difficult and controversial issue.

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