On May 2, the Russian government submitted amendments to the State Duma that tighten responsibility for droppers under Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The possibility of broad interpretation of the proposed norms, if adopted, threatens the activities of cryptocurrency traders. This was stated by the founder of the legal agency Ignat Likhunov.
He explained that the legislator's goal is to combat droppers. The new bill describes specific conditions for holding individuals criminally liable who transfer electronic payment means to other persons, including bank cards, for them to carry out illegal operations.
«Illegal operations, as noted in the commentary, are transfers, issuance, and receipt of money without the grounds provided by law, other legal acts, or agreements,» noted the lawyer.
According to him, if previously there was liability for carders who forged payment orders from accountants and wrote malware, now it is being introduced for the transfer of a card "from Vasya to Petya."
«Since law enforcers like to interpret laws very broadly, to their own advantage, this provides a very large scope for lawlessness, although it will be an effective way to combat conditional dropping,» warned Likhunov.
According to the provisions of the bill, it is proposed to introduce criminal liability of up to three years for droppers, and up to six years for drop providers and traders.
The lawyer reminded that many citizens of the Russian Federation need cryptocurrencies due to sanctions and the political situation.
«Question: will the sale of cryptocurrency as such fall under [illegal operations]? If so, it will be possible to imprison just anyone. In the detention center, drug addicts will be replaced by droppers and cryptocurrency traders,» said Likhunov.
He added that since 2022, he has refused to make transfers to a card when selling digital assets and only exchanges them for cash.