Russian law enforcers want crypto exchanges to provide data to investigators

This measure is accompanied by a proposed ban on advertising unlicensed crypto services.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of Russia presented their review notes on the upcoming “cryptocurrency bill” developed by the country’s Ministry of Finance. Law enforcement agencies insist on the possibility of requiring crypto firms to provide transaction data to investigators and suggest clarifying the conditions under which digital assets can be confiscated.

On Thursday, the Izvestia newspaper reported on the content of an overview note that the security service and the police ministry submitted to the Ministry of Finance on the draft bill on digital currency. Some of the proposals were reportedly accepted by the ministry, while others were rejected.

The Ministry of Finance supported the FSB proposal to oblige crypto service providers to share information not only with the courts, but also with investigators. It was also decided that it is necessary to clarify the set of requirements for storing crypto transaction data.

Another comment came from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which noted that the bill lacks procedural details of the arrest and storage of crypto assets. The Federal Tax Service (FTS) also made a proposal to tighten the requirements for unlicensed exchanges and wallets – advertising of such services is proposed to be considered illegal. These recommendations were accepted by the Ministry of Finance.

What the ministry did not accept were the FSB’s proposals to make sure that any mined currency is transferred to licensed exchanges and that anti-money laundering laws apply to mining.

The Treasury Department called “overly detailed and harsh regulation” unfeasible at the moment, as it could scare investors and users away from cryptocurrencies. The idea of the Federal Tax Service to ban banks from making crypto transactions with unlicensed organizations deserves further discussion, the ministry commented.

According to Anatoly Aksakov , head of the State Duma committee on the financial market, the final draft of the “crypto bill” is planned to be submitted to parliament in May.

Last week, Reuters reported that the regional head of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange agreed to provide the Russian financial intelligence arm, Rosfinmonitoring, with customer data that could potentially be linked to donations to opposition activist Alexei Navalny . The crypto exchange called this claim “categorically false” on its blog.