Ukraine is still working on cryptocurrency legislation a year after the Russian invasion. According to Yuri Boyko, commissioner of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine (NCSSM), the war has not changed his regulatory stance.
Ukraine has followed in the footsteps of the European Union when it comes to digital asset laws, Boiko told Cointelegraph in an interview.
The commissioner said that Ukrainian lawmakers have been working to implement the main European crypto regulations, known as the Crypto Asset Markets regulation, or MiCA.
“The approach to regulating the virtual asset market has not changed during the war,” Boiko stated, adding:
“We clearly know where we need to go because our path is European integration and the introduction of better EU standards and rules in our markets. Therefore, we confidently go our own way and implement the MiCA regulations in the legislative plan.”
Boiko noted that the adoption of crypto legislation in Ukraine had slowed down mainly due to the need to develop the necessary amendments to the country’s tax and civil codes. Another factor is Ukraine’s path towards European integration, the official said, adding that the NCSSM has been actively cooperating with international colleagues to implement regulations such as MiCA.
According to Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, head of the Blockchain4Ukraine parliamentary group, the country’s legislature began working on regulating the cryptocurrency market in October 2017.
“Unfortunately, at that time, the Verkhovna Rada of the 8th convocation was unable to pass a cryptocurrency law, and only since the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky has the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation considered it again,” Zhmerenetskyi said. Lawmakers subsequently created the Blockchain4Ukraine group together with more than 50 lawmakers in September 2019, he noted.
Zhmerenetskyi added that a working group under the NSSMC is currently finalizing a package of amendments to the “On Virtual Assets” bill to bring it into line with MiCA, which the European Parliament will vote on in April.. As soon as the president approves and signs the package, the NSSMC and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will prepare the statutes, after which Ukraine will officially launch the virtual asset market, he said.
“We plan to do it by the end of this year,” Zhmerenetskyi said.
As previously reported, Ukraine’s central bank banned purchases of Bitcoin (BTC) with the local currency, the Ukrainian hryvnia, in April 2022. The NBU only allowed Ukrainians to buy cryptocurrencies with foreign currencies, with total monthly purchases not exceeding 100,000 hryvnias ($3,300).
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