The head of the Ukrainian police force’s cybercrime division, Oleksandr Grinchak, has urged the nation’s government to fully legalise cryptocurrencies in order to curb the emergence of criminal activity due to lack of government intervention or official frameworks.

In an interview with the Ukrainian branch of RBC, Grinchak highlighted that transitioning cryptocurrencies into a fully legal sector would allow law enforcement authorities to effectively monitor and manage any unscrupulous activity.

“If we talk about crimes the police force deals with now, ranging from murder, extortion, and theft to drug offences – all of these aberrations can be associated with cryptocurrency: Everything except trademark and copyright infringement. That’s why it is necessary to legalize it,” he stated.

Despite a degree of resistance, Grinchak stated that many less outspoken parliamentarians within the Verkohvna Rada, Ukrainian’s parliament, also supported a move towards legal restrictions being lifted.

“We have specialists who deal with blockchain, analytics, and communication with crypto exchanges. We do manage to identify these criminals. But we have already repeatedly raised the issue with the Verkhovna Rada and specialized committees. Cryptocurrencies need to be legalized(...)”

As the law currently stands, although cybercrime divisions have the necessary intel and resources required to move against criminal groups operating within the crypto-sphere, the lack of legal framework makes it nigh-on impossible to action any form of official investigation or prosecution.

Ukraine is now one of many developed nations with cells intent on pushing for wide-scale adoption and legalisation of cryptocurrency, with India and Taiwan already taking steps to normalise it.