Ukraine To Legalise Cryptocurrencies

The Ukraine securities chairman, Khromaev, wants to legalise ‘several’ cryptocurrencies, and will put forward the possibility of doing so at the next meeting of Ukraine’s Financial Stability Board. It has been reported that the country will likely begin formal procedures for legalising these cryptocurrencies after its securities chief recognised what an impact virtual currencies were already having on the world, saying that it had crossed the “point of no return.”. Just a few days ago, Khromaev, who is the country’s chairman of Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), as well as being the head of the Committee on Development Strategy and Economic Analysis of Stock Market believes that the cryptocurrency market will have a huge impact on the financial system and will become an integral part of it, saying;

“The ‘point of no return’ is already in the past…financial regulators need to address issues (cryptocurrencies’) status, activity, and in consequences when creating adaptive and legal/normative declarations.”

As a country, the Ukraine have had a mixed opinion when it comes to the everyday use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, yet the central bank have been considering creating a digital version of their own national currency, the hryvnia. They faced criticism last year though, when a number of politicians had their personal Bitcoin holdings revealed, which were said to have reached hundreds of millions of dollars. Khromaev believes though that something needs to be done now, and that it might be too late to wait for international regulatory standards, and that national level legal frameworks should be put in place, and it is this that he will put forward at the next board meeting, saying;

“All things considered, I reckon it is highly prudent to look into the issue of recognising several crypt assets…as a financial instrument, formulate paths to allow interaction with them and begin procedures on creating suitable legal frameworks.”

If these plans are successful and go through, the policy surrounding cryptocurrencies would be significantly different from Russia, where it has been reported that authorities are considering implementing usage restrictions as part of a load of new laws, which are set to be released in July.