The Approach of the Criminal Justice System to the Criminal Risk of Virtual Assets

As a technological tool with criminal capabilities, virtual assets have also attracted the attention of criminals. The unique features of this technology have become the beginning of conceptual changes and examples of some crimes. Hence, curbing the criminal risks of this technology and taking preventive and confrontational measures against it seems inevitable. In the meantime, the risks of money laundering of virtual assets have made it the focus of criminal policy measures. Features such as speed, anonymity, not being tracked have caused criminals to use these assets widely. Therefore, within the framework of their criminal justice system, countries are trying to control the criminal risks of money laundering of virtual assets in two preventive and confrontational dimensions. Based on this, in order to adopt optimal strategies at the level of the criminal justice system, first of all, it is very important to know what virtual assets are from a technical and legal point of view, and then to examine its criminal capacities. Because the prerequisite for adopting any action or reaction strategy is to know the exact phenomenon of the subject of these actions. This will provide the necessary background for presenting the ideal model of criminal policy at two both preventive and penal levels. Therefore, in the present study, the approach of the criminal justice system to the criminal risk of virtual assets will be investigated with a descriptive-analytical approach and by examining library sources such as transnational documents, domestic laws, and regulations. In this framework, by examining the existing situation in Iran's legal-criminal system, the needs of the criminal policy in this field will be outlined.