According to reports, the Minister of Justice of Sweden ordered the Police to increase the seizures of inexplicable cryptography holdings, even without direct evidence of a crime. The directive depends on a controversial law that could redefine the loss of assets in the digital age.
On July 4, decipher reported That the Minister of Justice of Sweden, Gunnar Strömmer, issued a formal call for the application of the law, the tax authorities and the National Application Authority to intensify the confiscations of cryptographic assets suspected of being linked to illegal activity.
The directive is based on a law approved last November that grants the authorities of sweeping powers to confiscate digital assets, even without a definitive evidence of criminal conduct, if the owners cannot properly explain their origins. Since its introduction, the law has already been used to confiscate $ 8.4 million in properties, marking one of the most aggressive positions in Europe about inexplicable wealth.
According to the report, Strömmer emphasized the importance of improving coordination between agencies, particularly when it comes to high value assets such as cryptocurrency, stating that it was “time to increase pressure.”
Why Sweden is pointing to cryptography with aggressive seizure powers
The impulse of the Minister of Justice Strömmer seems derived from the growing concern for the role of digital assets in the economy of organized crime of Sweden.
TO September 2024 report The Sweden Police Authority and the Financial Intelligence Unit discovered that some cryptocurrency exchanges function as de facto money laundering services, which facilitates the flow of money from drugs, fraud income and other criminal income. The report explicitly urged the police to “increase their presence” on cryptography trade platforms to help identify and dismantle such operations.
Meanwhile, the recent figures of the Bloomsbury Intelligence & Security Institute estimate that approximately 62,000 people were involved or linked to criminal networks in Sweden from 2024.
While data on cryptographic crimes are still scarce, authorities cite anonymity and cross -border capabilities of digital assets as key facilitators of organized crime. These concerns are likely to feed Strömmer’s argument that Sweden assets confiscation should evolve to match the realities of the financial crime in the digital age.
One of the most vowel supporters of Strömmer’s repression is Sweden Democrat Dennis Dioukarev, an outstanding defender of a Bitcoins National Reserve. Dioukarev argues that he seized crypt, particularly Bitcoin (BTC), must be transferred to the Central Bank of Sweden, the RiksBank, to build a strategic reserve.
“Cryptocurrencies confiscated by criminals must be reused to strengthen Sweden’s financial position,” Diaukarev said in the report, framing the measure as a way of converting the fight against crime into a long -term economic asset.
Even so, the government’s silence about what will really happen with confiscated cryptography has asked questions. When he was pressed, Strömmer’s office refused to clarify whether the seized assets would be liquidated, maintained or aimed at a national reserve.
