Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on government officials to join the fight against the increased use of cryptocurrencies in illegal activities. According to a transcript made public on the Kremlin’s official site, Putin considered that the General Prosecutor’s Office should keep engaged in strengthening financial monitoring. Several other countries are also looking to regulate cryptocurrencies as the industry continues to gain mainstream exposure.
“Criminal elements are increasingly using cryptocurrencies.”
Russian President said, “There is one more point — quite new, but essential: to take additional measures to suppress the illegal cross-border movement of funds of digital financial assets. Criminal elements are increasingly using these digital financial assets, and this certainly needs to be paid close attention to with colleagues from other departments, including Financial Monitoring.” Financial Monitoring, or Rosfinmonitoring, is the Russian government agency responsible for overseeing all anti-money laundering-related matters. According to the transcript made public, Putin’s meeting held with the attorney general’s office was done to review their work results in 2020.
Russian President is overlooking crypto regulations actively.
In the last few months, the Russian President has been active within the crypto field regarding regulatory affairs. As reported earlier, Putin had signed into law on August 2020 the bill that regulates digital financial asset (DFA) transactions. One of the mandates stipulates that individuals and legal entities in Russia will only be able to challenge crypto transactions in court if they have declared these transactions and their possession of cryptos. It was approved by the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, on July 22 and by the Federation Council on July 24. The law came into force on Jan. 1, 2021. Putin had also signed an order compelling the country’s government workers to disclose their cryptocurrency holdings.
