The Investigative Committee of Russia has called upon the government to grant it the power to seize crypto and freeze wallets. This is in response to recent requests from the American FBI.
The investigative committee’s Chairman Alexander Bastrykin remarked in an interview that the “decentralized nature of the issuance” of what he called “digital currencies” does not at this moment “allow for full state control in this area.”
Bastrykin went on to explain that in some special cases, law enforcers can use existing laws to seize and freeze coin. This is very similar to how they might do with bank accounts, funds, and securities.
The Chairman did however note that increasing decentralisation could make it difficult for agents and officers trying to do this. Often, officers are forced to seek the help of crypto firms in special cases to transfer funds into state-owned wallets while legal procedures take place.
The Investigative Committee dealt with 331 special cases in nine months of 2021. This suggests that measures need to be put in place to make the cases easier to deal with, without relying on the help of crypto firms.
However, to be able to control crypto assets more effectively in these special cases, Bastrykin said officers needed the ability to “transfer” tokens from the individual accused in a criminal case over to the control of the state.
The Chairman said that this could be done by introducing prominent changes to criminal law that would allow a court to order a person to transfer cryptoassets “to a special state crypto account until the end of the trial.” It has been suggested that failure to apply to these laws would be a criminal offence.
Earlier this year the head of the Ukrainian cyberpolice called for the legalization of crypto. The head claimed that doing so would allow the police more room to manoeuvre in their crypto-related investigations.
It is thought that the online black market now makes use of cryptoassets. As coins remain in a “grey” legal area in Ukraine- this is also the case in Russia– officers complained that they found their hands were often tied in criminal procedures involving crypto transactions.
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