The police department of Victoria, Australia, made its first successful crypto seizure, worth $142,679, following recent amendments to the law that allow officers to gain control of digital assets.
The Victoria Police released its 2023–24 annual report on Oct. 31, highlighting a recent authorization of “new powers” following the addition of “SECT 92A Seizure of digital asset under search warrant” to the Confiscation Act 1997.
Since Aug. 1, 2023, the change in the law has empowered police officers in Victoria to confiscate cryptocurrencies in the possession of criminals through a search warrant.
Finding seed phrases during a drug bust
During a major drug trafficking investigation, Victoria Police’s Cryptocurrency Operations team applied for a search warrant after discovering several crypto recovery phrases in seized documents.
Recovery or seed phrases are a secret string of words linked to specific crypto wallets, which can be used to recover and access their crypto assets.
Check out Cointelegraph’s guide to learn how to recover a crypto wallet with or without a seed phrase.
Noting the authority’s first successful cryptocurrency seizure since the changes to the legislation, the report said:
“Victoria Police detectives were able to access six wallets and seize $142,679.10 worth of various cryptocurrencies.”
New powers to simplify cryptocurrency seizures
The new law allows four ways for police officers to seize crypto assets under a search warrant: accessing storage devices and computers, interfering with the storage or communication devices, altering or transferring the crypto assets and performing transactions that lead to gaining exclusive control of the assets.
The Victoria Police are allowed to seize any property that either contains cryptocurrencies or can help gain access to them, such as hardware wallets.
Related: Australian crypto investors ‘sitting on the sidelines’ for clearer laws: Swyftx CEO
In September, local reports said that Australian regulators were preparing a new guidance to require cryptocurrency exchanges to obtain financial services licenses.
According to Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Commissioner Alan Kirkland, the new requirements are necessary because the regulator considers that the Corporations Act covers most major crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
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