Russian Interior Ministry will be able to seize cryptocurrencies

The department will need a court order to do so, and the confiscated assets will be stored in a special wallet

19.05.2022 - 09:10

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What’s new? The Ministry of the Interior (MVD) of Russia will be able to seize and confiscate digital assets by court order. A special electronic wallet of the department will be created to store such assets. This is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the MVD’s press center.

News on the website of RIA Novosti

What powers will be given to the MVD? The draft laws “On Digital Currency” and “On Amending Certain Laws of the Russian Federation in connection with the adoption of the Federal Law “On Digital Currency” were finalized on May 18 at the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and further agreed upon by the Ministry of the Interior.

If these laws are passed, representatives of the Russian Interior Ministry will have the power to seize and confiscate cryptocurrencies and store them thereafter.

What events happened before? On April 5, the district court in St. Petersburg for the first time allowed law enforcement agencies to seize the stolen cryptocurrency. The Investigative Committee blocked 24 addresses with 4 000 ETH ($7,77 million at the Binance rate on May 19), which an attacker stole from an investor.

In late April, Russia’s Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov called for digital assets to be included in criminal legislation. In his view, this initiative should simplify the investigation of cases of theft of cryptocurrencies, as well as make it possible to arrest them.

On May 18, the State Duma of the Russian Federation passed the first reading of the draft law on taxes on transactions with digital assets. According to the document, the tax base for transactions with DFAs is defined as the difference between the sale and purchase price, including taxes.

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