The Russian Ministry of Justice has drafted a bill recognizing cryptocurrencies as property for the purposes of seizure and confiscation, according to TASS, citing Deputy Minister of Justice Vadim Fedorov.
“Simultaneously, it is proposed to establish special requirements aimed at ensuring its preservation. Taking into account the specifics of a particular [digital] currency, an investigator will be able to seize the physical carrier with access codes to it or ask the court to impose a ban on operations,” the official noted.
According to Fedorov, authorities intend to involve specialists in the relevant procedural actions to “determine the necessary measures to ensure the preservation of digital currency for subsequent confiscation or satisfaction of victims’ claims.”
He added that the document is already being prepared for consideration in the State Duma at its first reading.
However, the Deputy Minister of Justice acknowledged issues in the procedure for confiscating and seizing digital currency:
“The attractiveness of this type of asset for criminals is explained by several factors, primarily anonymity and the lack of centralized control. Digital currency cannot be physically seized and placed in a safe, as is the case with cash and valuables.”
The Ministry of Finance proposed putting confiscated digital assets into circulation through an ELR.
In a conversation with ForkLog, Maria Agranovskaya, managing partner of “Agranovskaya and Partners,” explained that the bill would expand the scope of current legislation, which already recognizes digital currencies as property. Given the objective difficulties in implementing cryptocurrency seizure, the document focuses on the “physical carrier subject to seizure” and the requirements for intermediaries to provide information upon request.
Among the potential gaps, the expert cited excerpts from the explanatory note to the document. In particular, in the absence of access to a hot or cold wallet, the only possible option is “seizure of the physical carrier on which the digital currency or access codes to it are stored, to prevent operations with digital currency,” rather than the seizure of the digital currency itself.
Additionally, the document states that “the goals of ensuring the preservation of digital currency cannot be achieved solely by seizing (arresting) the physical carrier or transferring it to an address-identifier due to the possibility of third parties having access codes to the digital currency or a backup method of restoring rights to the digital currency.”
Representatives of the legal agency Cartesius shared their opinion on the bill in a Telegram channel. According to them, investigators will have the right to confiscate carriers with private keys, including hardware wallets and hard drives, or block cryptocurrency transactions on exchanges through the court.
“The bill fills a gap in the legislation: currently, courts can recognize cryptocurrency as property in private cases (for example, in bankruptcy), but there is no unified approach,” the lawyers explained.
Among the “pitfalls” of the bill, experts highlighted the problem of anonymity — to seize, it is necessary to prove the wallet belongs to a specific person, which is difficult without access to exchange data or blockchain de-anonymization. Moreover, Russian law enforcement will only be able to demand asset freezes from platforms operating in the jurisdiction of Russia or friendly countries like China and the CIS.
“Decentralized exchanges are not even discussed — it’s too complicated, easier to formally ban access to them,” added Cartesius.
Anonymity — Not a Problem?
Olga Tisen, head of the legal department of Rosfinmonitoring, stated that the anonymity of cryptocurrency transfers is a “myth.” According to her, crypto exchanges cooperate with law enforcement agencies, providing data on wallet owners upon request.
“As you know, there is no legislation in Russia regulating the activities of crypto exchanges and exchangers, and currently they operate outside the scope of legal regulation. However, this does not mean that they do not verify the owners of cryptocurrency wallets. And now they openly say that they provide information upon request from law enforcement and government agencies about the owner of cryptocurrency wallets and all information by the identifier code, that is, the open cryptocurrency key from the crypto wallet,” Tisen noted.
Crypto transactions are not considered information constituting banking secrecy, and no court orders are needed to obtain information about the owner of an address, clarified the Rosfinmonitoring representative.
“You can go to the Binance website right now and see that they have created a separate section for interaction with Russian law enforcement agencies. This confirms that they actively cooperate with the authorities and provide information about the owners of cryptocurrency wallets. This is related to international standards,” she concluded.
Tokenization on the Horizon
The Russian Ministry of Finance announced the preparation of a bill on the tokenization of real sector assets within the framework of an experimental legal regime.
“Last year, we were instructed by the Prime Minister […] to prepare a concept for the tokenization of real sector assets. To date, we have already prepared a draft federal law, this will be a government law undergoing interdepartmental coordination, which will allow the launch of the tokenization process within the ELR,” added Alexey Yakovlev, director of the financial policy department of the regulator.
Previously, the Bank of Russia agreed on the rules for admitting foreign digital rights to the local market. In a comment to ForkLog, experts explained the essence of the new requirements.
Back in April, Russian authorities announced the launch of a cryptocurrency exchange aimed at super-qualified investors.