New Law Would Let Police Confiscate Bitcoin From 2021

Russia is planning on creating legal statutes allowing the government to achieve the impossible: confiscation of Bitcoin (BTC). 

As local financial news outlet RBC reported on Nov. 7 citing sources familiar with the matter, Russia’s interior ministry will work with various state organs to draw up the plans, which could enter into law in 2021. 

Confiscating the non-confiscatable 

The push does not single out Bitcoin, but instead refers to “digital assets” as a general phenomenon, chief among which are cryptocurrencies, says RBC.

The publication quoted Nikita Kulikov, head of a dedicated committee at the Russian parliament, as explaining:

“The constant growth trend in crimes using virtual assets, and the lack of consumer protection in the face of this kind of criminal onslaught, naturally dictate the need to develop mechanisms for legal regulation and control of virtual asset exchange.”

Among the options under consideration is the creation of a government cryptocurrency…