Rosfinmonitoring: Anonymity of crypto transactions is a myth
The anonymity of cryptocurrency transfers is a myth, said Olga Tisen, head of the legal department of Rosfinmonitoring, at the XIII St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. According to her, despite the lack of regulation of the activities of crypto exchanges and exchangers in Russia, they disclose all data on the owners of crypto wallets at the request of law enforcement agencies, writes RBC Crypto with reference to TASS.
“They are now openly saying that they are issuing information at the request of law enforcement and government agencies about the owner of cryptocurrency wallets and all information on the public cryptocurrency key. <…> Thus, the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions is currently a myth,” Tisen said.
In accordance with the international recommendations of the FATF, operators of virtual asset services, including crypto exchanges, must collect data on participants in cryptocurrency transactions.
Tisen said that no court order is required to obtain such information, since cryptocurrency transactions are not subject to banking secrecy. All crypto platforms with representative offices in Russia interact with the authorities, the agency representative noted.
Tisen recalled that large platforms, including Binance, created separate sections on their websites for interaction with Russian law enforcement agencies several years ago. According to her, this practice complies with international standards.
Rosfinmonitoring also receives data on cryptocurrency transactions from banks. Earlier, the agency recommended that credit institutions pay increased attention to identifying transactions that are potentially related to digital assets and use any available tools for this purpose, including monitoring online mentions of bank details in the context of cryptocurrency transactions.
It is also planned to introduce the Transparent Blockchain cryptocurrency transaction analysis service into banks' personal accounts by the end of 2025. In February, Anton Lisitsyn, deputy director of Rosfinmonitoring, told RBC that more than 12 thousand users are connected to the service — these are employees of law enforcement agencies and foreign anti-money laundering intelligence units, for example, in the CIS countries.
The Bank of Russia has been using Transparent Blockchain data for several years. The regulator's report on financial stability for Q3 2023 indicates that the service was used to assess Russians' visits to crypto exchanges Binance, HTX (formerly Huobi), Bybit, OKX, Gate, MEXC, KuCoin, Poloniex, Bittrex, Bitfinex, as well as Bing, Bitmart, Bitrue, Bkex, Btcex, Coinw, Coinbase, Phemex, Probit, Whitebit, Exmo and Garantex.
Источник: cryptocurrency.tech
