NBU draws red line on crypto payments as Ukraine eyes October legalization

2 weeks ago

Ukraine’s cardinal slope said it remains prepared to determination guardant with crypto legalization portion reaffirming that virtual assets volition not beryllium recognized arsenic ineligible tender, per RBC Ukraine.

National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Governor Andriy Pyshnyy said connected August 8 that “virtual assets cannot beryllium a means of outgo successful Ukraine” and described this regularisation arsenic a “red line” indispensable to safeguard monetary argumentation and forestall channels for illicit transactions.

The cardinal slope has besides stepped up scrutiny of unlicensed crypto speech operations, informing connected August 4 that specified enactment poses risks to banking and outgo systems.

The argumentation stance is shaped successful portion by Ukraine’s wartime acquisition with integer assets. In the aboriginal months of the Russian invasion, authorities ministries, NGOs, and unpaid groups turned to cryptocurrencies to person rapid, cross-border donations.

According to nationalist blockchain data, Ukraine received implicit $70 cardinal successful crypto by March 2022, chiefly successful Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins. Those funds were utilized to acquisition aesculapian supplies, protective equipment, and enactment defense-related needs, demonstrating the velocity and flexibility of blockchain transfers compared with accepted banking channels during situation conditions.

That acquisition accelerated calls for a broad ineligible model that could integrate crypto into Ukraine’s fiscal strategy without undermining the hryvnia’s relation oregon creating vulnerabilities. Parliament passed the Virtual Assets law successful 2022, providing the instauration for licensing, oversight, and taxation of crypto-related businesses.

Enforcement, however, was delayed arsenic lawmakers worked to amend the taxation codification and designate the due regulators. Under the archetypal roadmap, lawmakers aimed to walk implementing authorities by the archetypal 4th of 2025, aligning with the European Union’s Markets successful Crypto-Assets (MiCA) model and applying securities-style taxation with nary preferential treatment.

That timetable has since shifted. NBU First Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova told Interfax that a caller draught of the virtual assets instrumentality is expected by October 2025. The measure is being developed with planetary method assistance and is designed to conscionable IMF and EU regulatory expectations. Officials person emphasized that portion the hold reflects the complexity of aligning tax, AML, and licensing regimes, preparatory enactment is already underway.

Meanwhile, successful June, lawmakers introduced Draft Law No. 13356, which would springiness the NBU the discretion to clasp cryptocurrencies specified arsenic Bitcoin successful national reserves alongside accepted assets. The connection does not mandate specified holdings and leaves decisions wholly to the cardinal bank. Proponents reason this would springiness Ukraine flexibility successful managing reserves, portion critics item the volatility of integer assets and imaginable impacts connected reserve stability.

The NBU’s latest statements corroborate that legalization remains connected the agenda, but lone wrong a tightly controlled model that preserves the hryvnia’s presumption arsenic the sole ineligible tender.

Regulatory agencies are continuing to hole for implementation done measures specified arsenic monitoring unlicensed marketplace enactment and coordinating with planetary partners.

The process reflects an effort to seizure the wartime-tested advantages of integer assets portion embedding them successful a operation designed to support monetary sovereignty and fiscal stability.

The station NBU draws reddish enactment connected crypto payments arsenic Ukraine eyes October legalization appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.

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