Partner at the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners, Dmitry Gorbunov, emphasized that cryptocurrencies in Russia are not a recognized means of currency. According to him, almost any operation with digital assets can be regarded as illegal.
“For citizens who have a direct connection with cryptocurrency transactions, there are risks of increased attention from law enforcement,” said Dmitry Gorbunov.
Lawyer Emil Agalaev shares a similar point of view. In his opinion, anyone who comes into contact with cryptocurrency may become the object of attention of law enforcement agencies. Often, crypto exchange services accept virtual coins from scammers without knowing it, and thus themselves become accomplices in crimes.
“Now many people buy and sell cryptocurrency using P2P platforms to avoid large commissions and for the speed of the process. In this case, the person does not know who the other party to the transaction is, and he may turn out to be dishonest or even a criminal, who is already being led by law enforcement officers,” noted Emil Agalaev.
Fyodor Ivanov, director of analytics at Shard, drew attention to the fact that in Russia, despite the adopted laws on mining and experimental legal regimes with digital assets, there is still no clarity on the legality of cryptocurrency circulation.
“Well-known large crypto exchanges registered outside the Russian Federation also operate legally or almost legally in Russia. At the same time, no one has yet required companies focused exclusively on the Russian market to comply with any standards that are mandatory for other financial institutions,” emphasized Fedor Ivanov.
He added that if services care about their own reputation, they will comply with Know Your Customer requirements. However, in the absence of a user verification system, no one will prohibit their activities in the country, so “dirty” cryptocurrency is everywhere.
Earlier, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow chose a preventive measure for three defendants in the case of the Russian crypto exchange Cryptex and the anonymous payment service UAPS. According to the court order, they were sent under house arrest until November 28.
Source: Bits
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