Sweden Cracks Down Harder: Police Told to Seize More Criminal Crypto Gains
Stockholm tightens the screws on crypto crime—because apparently, criminals still think Monero is 'untraceable.'
Swedish authorities just greenlit aggressive new measures to claw back illicit crypto profits. No more polite requests—this is a full-scale asset grab targeting drug rings, fraudsters, and that one guy who keeps exit-scamming DeFi projects.
Why now? Because old-school seizure tactics can't keep up with chain-hopping and privacy coins. The National Police Commissioner's memo bluntly states: 'Adapt or let crime syndicates bank in digital shadows.'
Bonus jab: Meanwhile, traditional banks launder $2 trillion annually—but sure, crypto's the problem.
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.”
