War had no impact on Ukraine’s regulatory approach to crypto, Kyiv lawmaker says

Ukraine continues working on cryptocurrency legislation a year after Russia’s invasion. According to Yurii Boiko, commissioner of Ukraine’s National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM), the war has not changed its regulatory stance.

Ukraine has continued to follow in the footsteps of the European Union concerning digital asset laws, Boiko told Cointelegraph in an interview.

The commissioner said Ukrainian lawmakers have been working to implement major European crypto regulations, known as the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation, or MiCA.

“The approach to the regulation of the virtual asset market has not changed during the war,” Boiko stated, adding:

“We clearly know where we should go because our path is European integration and the introduction of better EU norms and rules to our markets. Therefore, we confidently go our own way and implement MiCA regulations into the legislative plan.”

Boiko noted that the adoption of crypto legislation in Ukraine had been slowed mainly due to the need to develop necessary amendments to the country’s tax and civil codes. Another factor is Ukraine’s path to European integration, the official said, adding that the NCSSM has been actively cooperating with international colleagues to implement regulations like MiCA.

*National Commission on Securities and Stock Market commissioner, Yurii Boiko*

According to Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, head of the parliamentary group Blockchain4Ukraine, the country’s legislature started working on regulating the cryptocurrency market in October 2017.

“Unfortunately, at that time, the Verkhovna Rada of the eighth convocation was unable to adopt a crypto law, and only since the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Verkhovna Rada of the ninth convocation returned to consideration of it,” Zhmerenetskyi said. The lawmakers subsequently created the Blockchain4Ukraine group together with more than 50 deputies in September 2019, he noted.

Zhmerenetskyi added that a working group under the NSSMC is currently finalizing a package of amendments to the draft law “On Virtual Assets” to adapt it to MiCA, which the European Parliament will vote on in April. As soon as the president adopts and signs the package, the NSSMC and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will prepare by-laws, after which Ukraine will officially launch the virtual assets market, he said.

“We plan to do this by the end of this year,” Zhmerenetskyi stated.

As previously reported, Ukraine’s central bank banned Bitcoin (BTC) purchases with the local currency, the Ukrainian hryvnia, in April 2022. The NBU only allowed Ukrainians to buy crypto with foreign currency, with total monthly purchases not exceeding 100,000 hryvnia ($3,300).