Ukraine Legalizes Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

Ukraine has become the latest country to adopt a legal framework for crypto assets, according to the latest report.

The recent report stated that the Ukrainian parliament has voted in favor of a Virtual Assets Bill that grants legal status to all forms of cryptocurrency and virtual assets. 300 members of parliament voted in favor of the bill and only 2 members voted against it. However, the country has not made bitcoin a legal tender.

The bill gives all virtual assets in the country a basic regulatory framework to thrive. It categories cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) under the term “virtual asset,” which is defined as any asset that cannot already be legally used as a payment instrument or traded for other assets, products, and services.

The bill details requirements that Bitcoin service providers such as exchanges should abide by and determines fines for violations of the law’s provisions, in addition to determining that the country’s National Securities Commission regulates the cryptocurrency market.

Reacting to the new development, Mykhaylo Fedorov, Ukrainian minister of digital transformation, said:

“The new law is an additional opportunity for business development in our country. Foreign and Ukrainian crypto companies will be able to operate legally, and Ukrainians will have convenient and secure access to the global market for virtual assets,”

According to the report, the Securities Commission of Ukraine has been tasked with issuing permits to Bitcoin and crypto service providers and carrying out supervision and financial monitoring of the market

It can be recalled that Ukraine had introduced a similar bill in September 2021, but President Volodymyr Zelensky vetoed it, arguing that the country couldn’t afford to create a new regulatory body specifically for Bitcoin and crypto-assets.

The bill was then returned to the Ukrainian parliament by the President along with his suggestion to let existing regulators oversee the fast-growing sector. Now, the recommendation has been incorporated by the parliament and the amended bill has been passed.

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