The head of Rosfinmonitoring announced tracking of Russians’ transactions with cryptocurrency

Director of Rosfinmonitoring Yuri Chikhanchin said “Izvestia”that the department has a tool to track Russians’ transactions with cryptocurrency. It is called “Transparent Blockchain” and allows you to see the sender and recipient of funds in cryptocurrency, added Mr. Chikhanchin.

“The software product was launched by Rosfinmonitoring together with VTB on instructions from the President. It makes it possible to move along the chain – to see the sender and recipient of funds. Today it allows you to track more than 30 cryptocurrencies. We are creating a unified database of gray addresses; now there are about 19 thousand of them,” said the head of Rosfinmonitoring.

Mr. Chikhanchin said that the product has already been launched in a number of Central Asian countries, and Arab, African and Latin American countries are showing interest in it.

The director of Rosfinmonitoring reported that in the nine months of 2023, the number of transactions with cryptocurrency exceeded 185 thousand. Mr. Chikhanchin said that in 2022, during the same period, 60 thousand transactions with crypto were recorded. He said that cryptocurrency is actively used by drug traffickers, terrorists and corrupt officials.

When asked which position regarding the regulation of cryptocurrency is closer to Rosfinmonitoring (ban or legalization and control), Mr. Chikhanchin replied that the department hopes for the fastest possible decision on this issue. “We already know how we will work both if cryptocurrency payments are legalized and if they are completely banned. But we need to understand the rules of the game,” he clarified.

The Russian Ministry of Finance supports the legalization of payments in cryptocurrencies. In the Central Bank perform against the use of private cryptocurrency in payments and settlements. On November 17, a bill on cryptocurrency mining was submitted to the State Duma. On December 23, the ministry nevertheless agreed to support the bill, but insisted on jointly with the Central Bank agreeing on a normative act on an experimental legal regime. The Central Bank approved it, but criticized the Ministry of Finance. The project is currently under consideration.

Erdni Kagaltynov