Ukrainian Cybercrime Chief Calls for Regulating Cryptocurrencies

Oleksandr Grinchak, the head of ukrainian cyber police, advocates for regulating cryptocurrencies because most of criminal activities are happening in the cryptocurrency sphere.

In an interview with RBC’s Ukrainian service, the cyber police chief, Oleksandr Grinchak, says that most crimes can be related with digital assets, such as murders and drug trafficking, due to the anonymous nature of transactions done through blockchain.

“If we talk about crimes the police force deals with now, ranging from murder, extortion, and theft to drug offenses – all of these aberrations can be associated with cryptocurrency: Everything except trademark and copyright infringement. That’s why it is necessary to legalize it,” he said.

He also claimed that the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, supported his “repeated” calls for regulation on cryptocurrencies.

“We have specialists who deal with blockchain, analytics, and communication with crypto exchanges. We do manage to identify these criminals. But we have already repeatedly raised the issue with the Verkhovna Rada and specialized committees. Cryptocurrencies need to be legalized,” Grinchak stressed.

“The [mining sector] is not regulated in any way in Ukraine: Not one regulatory document is currently in existence. [All we can charge illegal miners with is] stealing electricity.” he added.