Ukrainians to Trade and Spend Crypto Legally — Ministry of Finance

On Friday, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, Oleksandr Bornyakov, shared in an interview that it will be possible to legally pay with crypto in the country once the new law is adopted. As of now, the draft law ‘on virtual assets’ is now being prepared in the second reading.

Of note, Ukraine has been preparing to legalize cryptocurrencies and the virtual hryvnia for the past few months. Clearly, once the new virtual assets law is adopted, the residents of Ukraine can legally trade and spend crypto in the country.

To highlight, the crypto holders will gain a number of benefits from this news. It will introduce investor protection and allow them to legally declare their crypto holdings. More so, the legislation is expected to make virtual assets a common phenomenon for the government and society.

The draft does not clearly specify that cryptocurrencies are a means of payment in the country. However, acquiring operations are allowed. It will be legal to pay with crypto through an intermediary providing instant conversion to Ukrainian currency – hryvnia. In fact, the legislation in Ukraine today does not allow you to pay in dollars, but you can easily pay for purchases with a dollar card.

According to Bornyakov, exchanges will also have to acquire permits to provide services to Ukrainians which will be checked by regulators. He emphasized that this is not a licensing regime as the procedure will be much simpler. He added,

“We understand that the business with virtual assets is global, so if we set conditions for registration in Ukraine, crypto exchanges will not enter our country.”

It can be recalled, the virtual assets bill was voted through at the first reading last December. Since then, it has been revised and this June, the parliamentary Committee on Digital Transformation recommended its final adoption.