Head of Russia’s Investigative Committee calls to classify Bitcoin as property

Digital currency should be recognised as property for the purposes of criminal and criminal-procedural legislation. On this, заявил the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) Alexander Bastrykin in an interview with RIA Novosti.

According to him, this aspect requires separate regulation:

“The recognition of digital currency as property for the purposes of criminal and criminal-procedural legislation is a necessary condition for investigations into criminal cases in which digital currency serves as the subject of bribery or embezzlement,” said Bastrykin.

The head of the ICR also proposed that Rosfinmonitoring develop a mechanism to identify crimes in which digital currency may be used.

Law enforcement authorities in Russia are currently examining several cases related to bribes in cryptocurrency.

In April 2019, on suspicion of extortion of $1 million in bitcoins, the former FSB investigator Alexei Kolbov was detained. Along with his accomplice, he was demanding money from Alexander Galumov, the son of the former director of the Izvestia publishing house Erast Galumov, who was accused of fraud with investment contracts.

The Law On DFA, which provides definitions for “digital financial assets” and “digital currencies”, was adopted at the end of July. It recognises cryptocurrencies as property and prohibits using them to pay for goods and services within the territory of the Russian Federation. The document will come into force on 1 January 2021.

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