Russia’s GUKON is Considering Unregistered Crypto Operations Criminalization

       Russia’s GUKON To Outlaw Unregistered Crypto Activities

The Ministry of Internal Affairs in charge of the control of drugs in Russia, also known as GUKON, is reportedly carrying out investigations to determine whether criminal sanctions are proper for unregistered virtual asset set-ups.

According to a local news outlet known as Izvestia, documents picked up from the government agency give details in connection to the pursuit amendments to the current legislation which in many ways may end up criminalizing crypto activities which are not registered with the relevant fiscal and duty state establishments.

What Criminalization Entails
Andrey Khrapov, the leader of GUKON, decided to push Russia’s Ministry of Finance on its sentiments on the viability as well as the suitability of the recommended alterations. This is because the Ministry of Economic Development had been skeptical about the criminalization of the virtual assets, asserting that doing so at this stage may not be useful.

An official from the Ministry of Economic Development, Savva Shipov, asserted that the law in Russia as it is currently constituted does not have precise regulations on crypto transactions. Currently, the law is only clear on the prosecution of individuals who use the virtual assets to take part in proscribed activities like financing of terrorism.

The position taken by Shipov is also being supported by Artem Tolkachev, who is a legal expert and also the CEO of Sputnik DLT. Artem is of the view that it is not sensible to criminalize unregistered virtual asset activities before putting in place definite codes of practice in the nation.

According to Artem, trading in virtual assets in Russia is in essence a ‘grey zone’ since there is lack of an established lawful structure, without any grounds for outlawing it.

Regulations
Early this year, Russia’s Ministry of Finance introduced a bill which would be in a position to regulate the blockchain and crypto space. The bill has passed through the necessary readings in Parliament and once fully established, it will legalize crypto activities, but not payments in the form of virtual assets.