Russian Exchanges to Disclose Crypto Investor Data

Russian cryptocurrency exchanges will be required to store all information about cryptocurrency owners for at least five years and provide it to law enforcement or other state agencies upon request, reports Parliamentary Newspaper.

The relevant set of documents has been prepared by Rosfinmonitoring and may be adopted by the end of the year.

“Worldwide, numerous crimes are committed using blockchain and digital currencies. Over 1,500 reports of criminal offenses related to cryptocurrencies can be found in open sources,” noted Olga Tisen, head of the legal department of the agency, during a round table at the Federation Council.

According to her, digital assets are most often used as a means of payment or as objects of criminal intent. However, even when crypto wallets are seized, law enforcement finds it difficult to identify their owners.

The only option remains direct requests from investigative bodies to exchanges and exchangers. But the procedure is not established, and platforms may ignore the request or claim lack of data, Tisen emphasized.

“Since 2017, we have been developing a package of bills aimed at ‘legalizing’ the sphere of cryptocurrency operations. All crypto exchanges will be required to register or obtain a license. They will also be obliged to establish information about the owner of a crypto address and store data on all transactions for at least five years,” the official stated.

In the future, crypto transactions should contain information not only about the sender but also about the recipient. However, Tisen admitted that implementing such rules is technically too complex and has only been achieved in the EU so far.

In June, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office announced oversight of cross-border cryptocurrency transfers by Russians using special software.

In October, it was revealed that the central bank will examine international transactions related to the acquisition of digital assets conducted through 19 credit and financial institutions.