Don’t Travel with your Cryptocurrency Wallet
I’ve seen the signs even here in Canada warning that any funds, bearer bonds, including crypto over $10K Canadian must be declared. If you are passing through customs and they find your crypto hardware wallet or similar, they can demand your keys and to find out how much is in there. If you refuse, some countries may jail you or the most likely outcome is that until you co-operate, they will seize your hardware crypto wallet as this is what normally happens in many countries. Crypto seizures are more common than people think and I predict they will keep rising, generally, most countries don’t treat crypto any different from cash, so it can be seized under the same rules and laws as cash is often taken as “proceeds of crime”. You may not be a criminal and the funds may not be associated with any crime, but the requirements of proof that will often be asked of you, are onerously impossible to meet on the spot.
The $10K USD rule is fairly common in many countries but remember that some countries have a low threshold. One HNW friend was almost in a dangerous situation, some of his coins appreciated by more than 35% when he landed in another country, which almost pushed him over the $10K mark. Remember, customs in any country really doesn’t care what the value was when you left. The declaration when clearing customs is the actual value now, not what you bought it for, not what it was even 1 day ago. Usually, for most fiat currencies this level of fluctuation is not a concern so you may not think about it, but crypto can have massive moves of 10-30% within hours.
The agents clarified for Barker that their big concern was that he might be carrying more than $10,000 in Bitcoin,
Nevertheless, TSA screeners might detain the traveler so a law enforcement officer can seize the cash. By working together, TSA and law enforcement officers have found creative ways to seize money from travelers for civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
Even when TSA doesn’t detain the traveler, the TSA screener might provide a “secret tip” to law enforcement officers who can detain the traveler before they board the plane for a domestic flight. TSA routinely provides these secret tips to federal agents with CBP, HSI, DEA, and local law enforcement officers.
https://criminaldefenseattorneytampa.com/asset-seizure-asset-forfeiture/airport/can-tsa-seize-cash/
If you make it past the above point, they could still seize it as the “proceeds of crime”. I’m sure most of you would be offended since I doubt my readers are criminals but all that matters at that moment is what you can prove. Perhaps you received some of the crypto as a gift or maybe it was a payment for your job, as many people get paid in crypto these days. This is a similar concept as what many travellers report in the US when they get pulled over and searched. In some cases people have lost their legitimate life savings due to an illegal seizure, it may be confiscated as the proceeds of crime even though you aren’t a criminal. If you’re lucky, after years and a huge sum of money in legal fees, you may be able to get your money back.
How can you avoid the cryptocurrency seizure issues?
Never travel with crypto on a physical device. You should use a secure and multiple layer, encrypted service to store your crypto keys.
You can use a tool like my cryptocurrency OS to store your crypto or at least access your crypto. It comes as a LiveCD which means nothing is saved but it be permanently installed. Of course DO NOT travel with even CryptocurrencyOS installed on a USB or your laptop, even as a VM as it could still be subject to seizure like your wallet.
It could make sense to run this remotely or find a fully encrypted server as I describe here.
