On May 19, Olga Tisen, Head of the Legal Department of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, participated in a panel discussion titled “Digital Currency: Object of Crime, Means of Committing Crime, Property Subject to Confiscation. Issues of Regulatory Framework and Law Enforcement” held within the framework of the 13th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.
The session brought together representatives of relevant ministries and agencies, the private sector, and the expert community to discuss issues related to the use of virtual assets for criminal purposes, the specifics of detecting and investigating such offenses, and the legal regulation in this area.
The session was moderated by Mikhail Shalumov, Deputy Head of the Department for the Systematization of Legislation and Analysis of Judicial Practice — Head of the Department for the Systematization of Legislation and Analysis of Judicial Practice in the Field of Criminal Proceedings at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
In her remarks, Olga Tisen emphasized that under current Russian legislation, cryptocurrency mining pools are now required to comply with anti-money laundering laws and connect to the Federal Financial Monitoring Service’s Personal Account.
“In open decentralized blockchains, transaction data are publicly accessible with the exception of information identifying the wallet owner. For this purpose, closed transaction tracking systems are used. Russia has its own unique system — Transparent Blockchain — which is owned by the Russian Federation and operated by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service,” stated Ms. Tisen.
The Service’s representative also noted that access to this service through the Personal Account is now available to law enforcement agencies, enabling investigators to independently trace cryptocurrency transactions and determine which virtual asset service provider (VASP) was used by the offender. Cooperation with VASPs allows authorities to identify wallet owners and hold individuals accountable for crimes committed using digital assets.
