Petersburg allowed investigators to confiscate stolen Ethereum coins from the suspect’s wallets. This was reported in the joint press service of the local courts. The decision sets a precedent in the judicial practice of the Russian Federation.

In 2017, the plaintiff purchased 7,000 ETH. The attacker gained access to the victim’s wallet and transferred the funds to his address.

The owner of cryptocurrencies appealed to law enforcement. The investigation identified 24 wallets associated with the kidnapper, containing 4,000 ETH from the stolen coins. The location of the remaining assets is unknown.

“The use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, investment and savings, in other words, having a material value, being recognized as other property by the court and the existence of the criminal subject, respectively. “The note that can be confiscated according to article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” the statement said.

The court also considered that the main difference between cryptocurrencies and money is “only the way they arise”. The press service added that since the concept of cryptocurrencies is not enshrined in the law, it is allowed to be named as other property in an arrest petition and the coins can be recovered.

The definition of cryptocurrencies as property was included in the “Digital Financial Assets” (“On DFA”) law, which came into effect in 2021. More detailed regulations should be specified in a separate “Digital Currency” law.

Andrey Tugarin, managing partner of GMT Legal, pointed out that it is indeed possible to pledge cryptocurrency in the Russian Federation, and it will be seized in the status of property. This is confirmed by the law “Ten CFAs”.

“For example, if a court decision is successful in practice, not just on paper, this will create a more conducive environment for such decisions to be repeated and enable those affected to retrieve the crypt stolen from them,” the lawyer says.

Tugarin stressed that he was not ready to comment on the court’s decision because at the time of writing he did not know the motivational and functional parts of the decision.

Recall that in 2018, the Moscow court issued a precedent decision obliging a bankrupt entrepreneur to transfer access to a cryptocurrency wallet to a financial manager in order to replenish his bankrupt property.

At the end of last year, the head of the RF Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, called for the procedure for the recognition of cryptocurrencies as property and the arrest.