Ukraine Legalizes Bitcoin amidst Crisis with Russia

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Key Takeaways: 

  • On Thursday, Ukraine gave Bitcoin a legal status. 
  • A few native volunteers and hacking groups are receiving Bitcoin donations from worldwide. 
  • Bitcoin cannot be used for payment yet in Ukraine. 

Ukraine has become one of the five countries to legalise Bitcoin and set some guidelines for cryptocurrencies. The motion in support of this was set in motion in 2020 and was sent to be approved by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Finally, after unanimous voting, the Ukrainian government has decided to adopt laws to legalise and regulate digital currencies on Thursday. 

Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Twitter, “Ukraine is already in top-5 countries on cryptocurrency usage. Today we made one more step forward: Parliament adopted a law on virtual assets! This will legalise crypto exchanges and cryptocurrencies, and Ukrainians could protect their assets from possible abuse or fraud.”

Earlier, only the country residents were allowed to trade digital currencies, whereas business organisations were always under the administration’s watch. The Ukrainian government even set laws to keep an eye on money laundering by asking for identifications of domestic transactions. In addition, it was mandated by the Ukrainian National Bar Association to monitor international transactions constantly. 

Ukraine and Russia’s crisis has raised global concerns. The volunteer and hacking groups of the former has been receiving an increasing amount of donations in Bitcoin and has received over $550,000 worth of digital currencies only in 2021. The groups that have received donations have also helped government forces with equipment. We anticipate that Ukraine has legalised Bitcoin to get funding to help if Russia decides to invade the country.  

However, Ukraine is not yet approving Bitcoin as a legal tender. As a result, digital currencies have not received equal status as hryvnia, the country’s national currency and thus cannot be used as a form of payment. 

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Shreya Bhattacharya
Shreya Bhattacharya

A journalist & writer exploring new topics every day!

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