Alexander Savenkov Law enforcement in Russia wants to open their own cryptocurrency wallets. This would give them the ability to take control of any digital money criminals have and sell it like they do in America and other European countries.
Russia Enables Arrested Criminals to Lose Cryptocurrency Seizure!
The government in Russia is proposing that investigative groups can keep digital coins they seize by having their own wallets and accounts. It doesn’t need a new law to be made so that this power can be given. A representative of the Prosecutor General’s office, Madina Dolgieva said this in the chamber of the highest part of Russian Parliament.
The Prosecutor General’s Office supports the idea of creating a system that could help police find out and block any illegal money. The Prosecutor’s spokeswoman, Dolgieva, said that they would allow the law enforcement officers to have their own cryptocurrency accounts and wallets.
Dolgieva said that, instead of changing the Criminal Procedure Law (which is a long process), we can do this with the help of a government order. She also believes that the government should issue a new decree, or change the existing law regarding enforcement procedures, so that the Russian Federal Bailiff Service can sell seized cryptocurrency.
Recently, Igor Krasnov, who is the head of Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office, asked crypto exchanges (like a bank) to sign up in Russia and give user data to the police. In response to this request, Dolgieva proposed ideas on how to do this.
Krasnov suggested more rules for digital currencies in Russia because the just recognizing them as valuable doesn’t do enough to stop criminals from taking advantage of them. He also mentioned that nowadays it can be even riskier because of the international situation.
Law enforcement in the U.S. and Europe are able to take money made from criminal activities in the form of cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, and sell it for real dollars. Recently, U.S officials said they sold over $112 million made from illegal investments. Last summer, Finland even got more than $50 million from their sales of seized crypto assets.
Do you believe that the Russian government will give permission to law enforcement and detectives to access cryptocurrency wallets? Leave your opinion in the comments section below.
