The country’s parliament approved a revised measure legalising bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in final reading.
Bitcoin is officially legal in Ukraine, after the country’s parliament passed a measure in final reading that complies with the president’s guidelines. The nation, however, has not declared bitcoin official money.
“The new legislation provides an extra chance for our country’s economic progress. Foreign and domestic cryptocurrency enterprises will be allowed to operate lawfully, and Ukrainians will have simple and safe access to the worldwide market for virtual assets,” Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhaylo Fedorov said in a statement.
According to an official statement, the Ukrainian parliament ratified the new Law of Ukraine on Virtual Assets on Thursday with more than 270 votes. The bill defines the standards that Bitcoin service providers such as exchanges must follow and establishes penalties for infractions of the law’s provisions, in addition to establishing that the cryptocurrency market be regulated by the country’s National Securities Commission.
Ukraine’s Securities Commission will be responsible for licencing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency service providers, as well as market regulation and financial monitoring, according to the statement.
Ukraine submitted a similar cryptocurrency law in September, but President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected it the following month, claiming that the government could not afford to establish a separate regulatory agency for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
President Zelensky then returned the bill to the Ukrainian parliament, along with his recommendation that the booming industry be regulated by existing authorities. Parliament has now taken his advice into account and enacted the modified measure.
“The Legislation on Virtual Assets is mostly a framework law that needs significant modification, such as amendments to the tax code,” Serhiy Tron, creator of White Rock Management and the Parea Foundation international fund, told Bitcoin Magazine. “However, the paper sent a significant signal to the world community as Ukraine’s National Bank formally declared that digital money is a’monetary substitute with no intrinsic value.'”
“The Legislation on Virtual Assets is mostly a framework law that needs significant modification, such as amendments to the tax code,” Serhiy Tron, creator of White Rock Management and the Parea Foundation international fund, told Bitcoin Magazine. “However, the paper sent a significant signal to the world community as Ukraine’s National Bank formally declared that digital money is a’monetary substitute with no intrinsic value.'”
According to Tron, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation intends to position the nation as a worldwide leader in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets, which the new legislation enables.
“By establishing a high-tech, creative cryptocurrency market that operates under transparent laws, the government anticipates a rapid influx of crypto investors from throughout the globe,” he said.
Ukraine’s Bitcoin law allows the peer-to-peer currency to exit the “grey” zone by establishing explicit legislation defining how the asset should be regarded legally and how institutions should operate in terms of investor protection and reassurance.
Tron said that now that bitcoin exchanges may operate under defined standards, people’ funds would be better safeguarded from theft or misappropriation by service providers, including custodians.
“Adopting the Law on Virtual Assets sends a strong signal to the entire cryptocurrency community that Ukraine has legalised cryptocurrencies,” Tron told Bitcoin Magazine. “The ability to do business lawfully in Ukraine will draw crypto-investors from across the world to our nation.”
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