The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs recently shared details of the successful experience of arresting cryptocurrency as property. According to the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Stanislav Makarov, this practice is being developed as part of the investigation of criminal cases related to drugs.

The legislation does not contain comprehensive instructions regarding the seizure and seizure of cryptocurrency, which emphasizes the relevance of developing a unified mechanism for this procedure, the official says. Now such assets can be seized if there is access to the wallet and passwords.

Makarov spoke about one successful case of cooperation with a defendant in 2021, who voluntarily handed over cryptocurrency received from drug sales. During the experiment, the detainee showed the security forces the process of exchanging cryptocurrency for cash, after which the money was transferred to law enforcement officers through an intermediary. These funds were seized and placed in a special account of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Subject to the assistance of the accused, another method can be used – transferring the received fiat funds to a bank account with a preliminary seizure of the account itself. This will eliminate outgoing transactions, the police officer says.

Makarov spoke about a case where cryptocurrency was seized “in kind” when the accused refused to cooperate. The police themselves were able to prove that the accused received bitcoins for criminal activities. Laptops were confiscated from the accused, and from one of them a specialist decrypted information about the public and private keys that the accused used for cryptocurrency transactions.

Recently, the Bank of Russia announced that it is going to monitor cross-border transfers that are associated with the purchase of crypto assets. The regulator wants to complete the study of transaction tracking capabilities by February 9, 2024.

Bits.media yesterday spoke in detail about the form in which cryptocurrency regulation exists and is going to change in Russia.