Crypto Users In Russia Won’t Remain Anonymous Say Russian Authorities

Crypto users in Russia won’t remain anonymous according to the chair of Russia’s federal investigating authority. The official is leading the efforts to fight corruption in the governemnt including the mandatory identification of those that transact digital coins so let’s take a closer look at today’s crypto news.

The head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin believes that crypto users in Russia won’t remain anonymous. The former Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia Bastryking said:

“I have already noted that in connection with the adoption of the federal law ‘On Digital Financial Assets’ in July 2020, additional risks of using digital currency for criminal purposes may arise, in particular for financing terrorism and extremism.  Therefore, the circulation of digital currency requires further legal regulation — first of all, mandatory identification of users of such a currency is necessary.”

The status of online platforms that provide opportunities to buy and sell crypto anonymously is yet to be determined as well. The websites that offer crypto exchange services have had a lot of trouble with the Russian regulators, especially in the past few years. Digital coin trading is one of the most common activities related to crypto whcih remains outside of the scope of the current legislation. A new working group set up at the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament is now preparing the proposals to deal with the outstanding issues. The Investigative Committee in Russia’s main federal investigating authority is subordinate to the Russian president so it is responsible for combating corruption and conducting investigations into federal governmental bodies and law enforcement agencies.

President Vladimir Putin even signed a decree approving the country’s National anti-corruption plan and as a part of the new strategy, the Russian head of state ordered a few ministries and the central bank to prepare for inspections of officials that have to disclose their digital asset holdings. Speaking to the news reports, Alexander Bastrykin insisted that crypto should be recognized as a property for the purposes of criminal law and procedures. He outlined that this is a necessary condition for investigating criminal cases where digital currencies are involved. The prosecutor General’s office of Russia proposed to define crypto as a property in the country’s criminal code.