In brief
- Sweden’s Minister of Justice has called on the country’s authorities to increase efforts to seize criminal profits, including cryptocurrency.
- Forfeiture legislation introduced last year enables enforcement agencies to seize property “regardless of whether or not it can be proven that someone has committed an actual offence.”
- Advocates of a national Bitcoin reserve support the call for a ramping up of seizure activities.
Sweden’s Minister of Justice has called on the police, Tax Agency and Enforcement Authority to increase its efforts to seize criminal profits, including in the form of cryptocurrency.
Gunnar Strömmer, of the Moderate Party, called on the authorities to take greater advantage of forfeiture legislation introduced last November, which permits enforcement agencies to seize property “regardless of whether or not it can be proven that someone has committed an actual offence.”
This means that if authorities suspect anyone of having obtained cryptocurrency illegally, and if that person “cannot otherwise explain where it comes from,” the police and other agencies will legally be able to seize it.
“We want them to strengthen their cooperation and focus extra on assets that generate large profits,” said Gunnar Strömmer. “Now it’s a matter of turning up the pressure further.”
Strömmer also pointed out that the new legislation is some of the strictest in Europe; so far it has been used to seize property worth $8.4 million (80 million kronor).
As explained on the Swedish parliament’s website, the legislation also “applies to children and young people, as well as persons who at the time of the offence have a serious mental disorder.”
Sweden and crypto
Strömmer’s call for increased seizure activity comes at a time when some legislators in the Riksdag are pushing for the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve, following similar moves in the United States and other nations, such as Czechia and Italy.
One prominent advocate of a Bitcoin reserve, Sweden Democrat Dennis Dioukarev, tells Decrypt that he supports Strömmer’s call for a ramping up of seizure activities.
“I welcome every effort to seize illegally obtained assets in order to fight crime and make life hard for criminals,” he said.
As for what will or should be done with seized crypto, Dioukarev reiterates his calls for the accumulation of a strategic reserve.
He explained, “Cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular that are confiscated should be transferred to Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, in order to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve.”
However, when Decrypt asked Minister Strömmer’s press office for clarifications on what will be done with seized 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 regarding what actions Strömmer and the Swedish government would like authorities to take in order to increase their seizures of crypto.
According to the Bloomsbury Intelligence & Security Institute, 62,000 individuals “were involved in or connected to criminal networks in Sweden” in 2024, with drug dealers and money launderers making significant (if unquantified) use of crypto.
And last September, Sweden’s Police Authority and Financial Intelligence Unit published a report which concluded that some crypto-exchanges are professional money launderers.
The report also called for law enforcement to “steadily increase its presence on different platforms used for crypto exchange in order to identify and map illicit crypto exchange providers.”
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