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To secure the seized cryptocurrencies, Albania has reached out to European partners. But this cannot last indefinitely. What is required is the establishment of the legal basis and systems for the storage of this dirty money.
" We encountered many difficulties... we definitely solved the problem, but we solved it by cooperating closely with foreign authorities, of an EU member state, which offered itself to us. Of course, the solution was based on law, based on international agreements to which we have adhered as a state, but it was a very big effort ," said Altin Dumani, former Head of SPAK.
Transferring assets to SPAK wallets was a delicate process, as the exchange holds the private key and can move funds according to legal guidelines. To avoid manipulation, an institutional wallet with high security was created: offline cold storage, multi-signature and private key sharing, preventing internal theft.
This structure prevents internal robberies and ensures that funds do not disappear after seizure.
" Criminal procedure is almost out of date with these technological developments and this development of virtual money. In criminal procedure, it is almost undefined how you can investigate a cryptocurrency, " former prosecutor Eugen Beci told me.
But this is not a final solution. It is an extraordinary effort, which also highlights the major legal shortcomings of the system.
Crime does not wait; and until the law adapts to the digital reality, it wins over justice. A shadow market, thriving between social networks and unlicensed "exchanges".
" Albania passed a law in 2020 on distributed ledger technology, which was a big step for the time, but that law has remained as such without any sub-legal act and without any subsequent development, which was certainly a big step forward, but on the other hand it did not prove to be that fruitful ," said Nadia Elbasani, a lecturer.
" This law from 2020 to today, despite efforts to issue bylaws, orders and instructions, seems not to have become familiar with what is happening in technology... the law was created, but it created some basic principles, and the bylaws and instructions that could have been issued in implementation of this law have not been issued ," said former prosecutor Eugen Beci.
Given the shortcomings identified after researching investigative files and legal loopholes, Inside Story addressed the Financial Supervisory Authority with a request for information.
This institution explains that, since the entry into force of Law No. 66/2020, no request for licensing or authorization has been received by the AFSA.
So, in Albania there is no licensed platform for trading cryptocurrencies. However, dozens of pages on Instagram, TikTok and Telegram offer every day "buying and selling crypto, cash payments in Tirana". A market that operates in the shadows, while the state simply has no one to control it.
" This is a problem that arises due to legal gaps in the criminal procedure code, which provides for article 274 and article 276 that talk about the seizure of assets, but this article only talks about the seizure of banking assets, real estate and other items that come from criminal activity; therefore, there is no specific provision for such cases of digital assets ," said Dritan Jahaj, lawyer.
" On social networks like Instagram and Facebook, numerous traces are left. This starts from the point of first contact with another person where you are identified at that moment, from the device you use, which you enter and log in to social networks, from the messages you send to each other, where it is impossible for those messages to be deleted, the screenshots that can be made of you chatting about a possible exchange of virtual currencies, with cash ," said Dorian Kane, a cryptocurrency expert.
The AMF says that a total of 12 regulations and government decisions have been approved, ranging from "Licensing DLT exchanges" to "Digital portfolio custodians"...
But the law has remained a framework without content: a house without inhabitants, where no one has ever entered to request a license. Paradoxically, while the rules exist, no one has enforced them. The preference is the underground market, where dirty money circulates and institutional alert is avoided.
The AMF says it has not been made aware of any financial fraud, but at the same time acknowledges that the informal market exists. In fact, it has become so large that in November 2024, following a referral made by the AMF itself, a police operation codenamed “USDT 1” was conducted, where 32 subjects were investigated and 18 were prosecuted for illegal cryptocurrency activities. / Inside Story
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