Ukraine: Over 1500 Criminal Cases Related to Cryptocurrencies
Since 2014, information about more than 1500 criminal proceedings related to various cryptocurrencies has been recorded in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions in Ukraine, as reported by local media. The majority of these cases (420 proceedings) are connected to fraud, most often associated with the activities of various financial pyramids. In 345 cases, digital assets are mentioned in the context of their use by drug traffickers, and in 54 cases, in connection with investigations into computer network interference. The register also includes criminal proceedings related to money laundering, document forgery, extortion, corruption, and terrorism financing through cryptocurrencies. As of the time of writing, only one-third of the 1500 criminal proceedings have resulted in guilty verdicts. In 2023, cases related to cryptocurrencies constituted a small part of the total number of 475,000 open criminal proceedings. One possible reason for this low number may be the limited qualifications of law enforcement officers to conduct complex investigations in this field. Since 2022, employees of Ukrainian supervisory and law enforcement agencies have been undergoing various specialized training, including the use of tools for analyzing blockchain transactions. However, journalists have found mentions of the practical application of such tools in only two court decisions. In May 2023, the US Internal Revenue Service and the analytical company Chainalysis announced cooperation with Ukraine to track instances of Russians evading sanctions using cryptocurrencies. In November of the same year, Ukrainian officials and law enforcement officers underwent training courses on tracking criminal bitcoin transactions, funded by the OSCE. According to the data of the Ukrainian cyber police, more than 1500 statements related to crimes in the field of cryptocurrencies were submitted to law enforcement agencies from January to November of the previous year. Read the full article