Sweden Orders Police to Increase Seizures of Criminal Crypto Profits

The Swedish Minister of Justice has called on the police, the tax agency and the enforcement authority to increase its efforts to grab criminal profit, also in the form of cryptocurrency.

Gunnar Strömmer, from the moderate party, called on the authorities to take more advantage of the forfeiture that was introduced last November, so that enforcement agencies can get permission to grasp ownership “Regardless of whether it can be proven that someone has committed an actual violation. “

This means that if the authorities suspect that they have obtained cryptocurrency illegally, and if that person “otherwise cannot explain where it comes from”, the police and other agencies will be legally able to grasp it.

“We want them to strengthen their collaboration and focus on assets that generate big profit,” said Gunnar Strömmer. “Now it is a matter of continuing the pressure.”

Strömmer also pointed out that the new legislation is one of the strictest in Europe; Until now it has been used to grasp real estate worth $ 8.4 million (80 million Kronor).

As explained on the website of the Swedish parliament, the legislation also “applies to children and young people, as well as persons who have a serious psychological disorder at the time of the violation.”

Sweden and Crypto

Strömmer’s call for increased seizure activities comes at a time when some legislators in the Riksdag insist on creating a National Bitcoin reserve, according to similar movements in the United States and other countries, such as the Czech Republic and Italy.

A prominent advocate of one Bitcoin Reserve, Sweden Democrat Dennis Dioukarev, says Decrypt That he supports Strömmer’s call for an increase in attacks.

“I welcome everything to grab illegally obtained assets to fight crime and make life difficult for criminals,” he said.

As for what will or should be done with seized crypto, Dioukarev repeats his calls for the accumulation of a strategic reserve.

He explained: “Cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular that are seized must be transferred to the Central Bank of Sweden, the Riksbank, to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

Whenever Decrypt Asked by Minister Strömmer’s press office for clarifications about what will happen with confiscated digital assets, one of his press officers replied: “We will not be able to answer your questions this time.”

This inability to comment also applies to questions about which actions Strömmer and the Swedish government want the authorities to take to increase their attacks by crypto.

According to the Bloomsbury Intelligence & Security Institute, 62,000 people “were involved in or connected with criminal networks in Sweden“In 2024, with drug dealers and money washingers who make a significant (if not -quantified) use of crypto.

And last September, the police of Sweden and the unit for financial intelligence services a report published That concluded that some crypto reviews are professional money laundering.

The report also called for law enforcement to “steadily increase his presence on various platforms used for crypto exchange to identify and assign illegal crypto exchange providers.”