Punishability of crimes committed using virtual currency

Abstract

Innovations in the field of computer technology and financial assets affect all spheres of life of society and the state, including its law enforcement and judicial bodies. New types of encroachments, which include crimes committed using virtual currency or in relation to it, which certainly have an increased public danger, often go unpunished due to the lack of regulatory regulation and uniform judicial practice. The greatest risks from the lack of effective criminal legal counteraction to these crimes are borne by society, since the absence of punishment, as the final stage of the mechanism for bringing to criminal responsibility for illegal violations, negates the efforts of law enforcement agencies faced with the impossibility of bringing to such responsibility the perpetrators. To overcome these contradictions and before the adoption of legislative measures, appropriate explanations of the Plenum Supreme Court of the Russian Federation are necessary, since the judiciary should not assume the powers of the legislature and form the directions of the criminal policy of the state.