First-ever Criminal Case Involving Bitcoin Brought to Justice in Russia

So far, authorities have not been able to pinpoint an exact illegal activity or individual who conducted that activity by using Bitcoin or other digital currencies. However, that is apparently changing as the news reports from Russia are saying that the first criminal case involving Bitcoin has been brought brought to a judge. A police action in Russia conducted last week resulted in three businessmen being arrested for the fraud with the digital currency trading.

They are accused of trading Bitcoins in the value of 500 million rubles and these arrests have been shaking up the digital currency markets all over the world. In Russia, for example, authorities are planning a series of actions that could potentially make digital currency a legitimized currency in the country and these arrests did not bring any points to that campaign.

On the other hand, Russia needs to prove its strength and to send a message that using digital currencies for any illegal activity will not be tolerated and the punishment will be tough. In the last couple of months, Russia has done a 180-shift when it comes to the digital currencies. Not that long ago, Russian authorities were against digital currencies gaining any popularity in the country and they even wanted to make it illegal.

Important Shift

However, not even a month ago, Russian government has announced that they will be making a change in their opinion and that they have been convinced that Bitcoin and other digital currencies are the future of the financial sector. Even though this is the first criminal case involving digital currencies brought to justice in Russia, this is not the first time that the judges will have to make a decision about this issue.

Over the last four or five years, Russian justices have been banning platforms, websites, or Bitcoin exchanges where a user is able to exchange Bitcoin for the real currency, rubles. Despite that, no person has been criminally charged as it was very hard to find the people behind their online profile on some of those platforms.

One of the reasons why Russian authorities were successful in bringing those three people to justice was the fact that they have discovered more than bank cards or sim card that were used to transfer money to unknown individuals. The identity of those three businessmen was not revealed but some suspect that it might be some of the biggest names in the business world in Russia.

Bitcoins no Longer as Anonymous

Considering that the regulations about this issue have decreased the level of anonymity, tracking people behind suspicious transactions has become much easier. Each user needs to have a digital address before he or she decides to make any transactions.

However, by following the digital address and the transactions made from that address, authorities are able to track the owners.

Bitcoin has introduced these privacy changes but it is still very hard to trace the ID back to the user since Bitcoin is coming up with new safety procedures every day. At this moment, Russians are not able to exchange Bitcoins for the real money but it seems that might be changing as there are members of the Russian parliament who are advocating for digital currencies to become legitimized as the real and possibly the only global currency in the world.

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