On May 24, a round table “Regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Ukraine” was held in Kyiv. The event was organized by BRDO with the support of EU4Business\FORBIZ as part of the Public Dialogue #PRODialogue.
Issues of legalizing the crypto industry were discussed by representatives of government, business, the public and expert circles.
BRDO experts voiced their position regarding the current situation with the legal status of digital currencies. Consideration of the legislative field of the state showed a lack of definition of basic concepts, which led to the fact that in Ukraine the cryptocurrency market is present de facto and absent de jure.
All participants in the discussion agreed with this formulation of the problem and came to the conclusion that there is an urgent need to form clear rules of the game on the part of the regulator. The result of the round table was BRDO's proposal to resolve pressing issues of the crypto industry in two stages.
-At the first stage, clarification from regulators regarding the classification of cryptocurrencies as an intangible asset and confirmation of this position of the NBU is necessary, as well as legislative enshrinement of the provision that mining is not a licensed activity.
-At the second stage, the necessary concepts should be integrated into the Law on the Prevention of Income Laundering (No. 1702-VII). This must be carried out taking into account changes to Directive 2015/849/EU, which Ukraine is obliged to implement in accordance with the action plan for the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU.
Recently, the initiative for public discussions of the problems of state regulation of cryptocurrency has been heard more and more often. Ukraine is among the top 10 countries in the world by the number of cryptocurrency users. National companies have long appreciated the possibilities of digital currency for business. Thus, at the Grain & Maritime Days in Odessa 2018 conference, held on May 24-25, Cerealia CEO Andrey Grigorov said that financing of agricultural products could soon be provided in cryptocurrency.
However, the legal vacuum in this matter creates negative incentives and slows down the development of the crypto market.
Today, the state cannot come to a consensus on cryptocurrencies. Thus, the NBU defines digital money as a substitute for legal tender (monetary surrogate), the court as virtual (non-existent) property, law enforcement agencies as prohibited electronic money. Minister of Justice of Ukraine Pavel Petrenko, in his interview back in January of this year, noted that the state has no other option other than legal regulation.
Since January 2018, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has two bills on regulating the cryptocurrency market. ( No. 7183 and No. 7246), and not one of them has been considered until today. Last week the public was invited to comment on the new bill on digital currencies in Ukraine, published by the people's deputy.
However, all calls for the definition of the official the status of cryptocurrencies in the country remain unanswered.
Apparently, digital business in Ukraine is destined to catch up with the train of legislative regulation, when all the good places for crypto players in it will already be occupied.
We will hang on bandwagon.
We are no strangers.
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