Cryptocurrency as an object of criminal law and criminological research

Crimes committed today with the use of information and communication technologies are the most dynamically developing. They are undergoing not only quantitative changes, but also qualitative ones, as new ways of committing traditional crimes using digital technologies, in particular cryptocurrencies, appear. Such crimes in the doctrine are called “crypto-crimes”. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency itself has received legal regulation in Russia for only six months. Using its properties (lack of a single assessment as a financial instrument, anonymity), many subjects of the criminal markets for goods and services use it as a means of payment or the subject of theft. Meanwhile, the main criminological risks of using cryptocurrency have been studied in detail only superficially. The emergence of these risks is primarily due to the huge delay in the development of legal regulation of the use of virtual currencies and the rapid development of criminal markets for goods and services. Materials and Methods: The normative basis of the study was: Federal legislation governing relations related to digital currency and digital financial assets, norms of domestic criminal law; the scientific basis is represented by the results of criminological and criminal law studies of domestic and foreign scientists. The research methodology is based on a dialectical approach, as well as a number of general scientific methods, including a systematic approach; method of induction, deduction, logical method; as well as private-scientific ones, among which are comparative-legal and formal-legal methods. The research methodology was based on the method of peer review and content analysis. The results of the study: The authors analyze both the existing criminological risks and the problems that arise when qualifying crimes committed using cryptocurrencies. The classification of crimes that make up cryptocrime, their characteristics are given. Findings and Conclusions: The authors conclude that it is necessary to study these crimes in detail in terms of their qualification, damage determination and, as a result, the possibility of differentiating criminal liability for their commission. The need for a criminological study of cryptocrime is analyzed from the point of view of developing a system of countermeasures and training personnel for its implementation.