The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, enacted the Law on Virtual Assets, which gives legal support to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in that country. The information was disclosed in an official statement by the Ministry and Committee for Digital Transformation of Ukraine, this Wednesday, March 16.
The approval occurs in the context of flow of donations in bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies that the Ukrainian government is receiving to deal with the armed attack launched by Russia on its territory.
The Law on Virtual Assets had been approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ukrainian parliament, on February 17, just a few weeks before the Russians began an invasion of the country. As CriptoNoticias reported, the legal instrument was only waiting for Zelenski’s signature to enter into force.
According to the statement, the Law creates the legal conditions for the “launch of a legal market for virtual assets in Ukraine”, which will be regulated by the National Securities Market Commission and the Central Bank of Ukraine.
Beyond granting a legal character to the use and ownership of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the law will offer the conditions to classify and regulate the market, as well as to create monitoring mechanisms for the sector. The measures include the creation of a registry of service providers with cryptocurrencies.
“Currently, the Ministry of Finance is also actively working to amend the Tax and Civil Codes of Ukraine to fully launch the virtual asset market,” the statement said.
Donations in cryptocurrencies already exceed USD 80 million
According to data from the Slowmist tracking page, donations received in the Ukraine-related cryptocurrency wallets reach close to $80.5 million, at the current price. The registry reflects donations in 11 different cryptocurrencies.
Most of the contributions are being sent to the official wallets of the Ukrainian government, where more than USD 50 million are concentrated. The rest is distributed to other funds such as the Ukrainian NGO, Ukraine DAO, Aid for Ukraine, Unchain Found, and Ukrainian Cyber Police.
CriptoNoticias reviewed last year a Chainalysis report according to which, for the month of August, Ukraine it was the fourth country with the highest adoption of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Ukrainians ranked third in terms of peer-to-peer (P2P) trading volume, in the report.