Ukrainians were deprived of the opportunity to make electronic payments through the WebMoney system. Presidential Decree No. 126/2018, which entered into force on May 24, subjected the Ukrainian WebMoney.ua, which has a NBU license and the right to operate in Ukraine, to personal economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions).
Initially, the list of legal entities to which restrictive measures (sanctions) are applied by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine is compiled in relation to Russian companies and citizens. This is already the second sanctions list of the National Security and Defense Council - the first to ban VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Yandex, as well as the work of a whole list of Russian IT companies in Ukraine. Instead of 1,228 individuals, the updated list now includes 1,748 people. The number of companies increased from 468 to 756. The sanctions include not only WebMoney.ru, registered in the Russian Federation, but also the British WebMoney Europe Ltd and WebMoney.ua.
In addition, the list includes the INDX cryptocurrency exchange, operating in the “.ru” domain zone. There are only eight cryptocurrencies presented on the crypto platform: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC, XRP, DASH, XMR, BTG. Officially, its owner is INDX Transaction, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. The ultimate beneficiary of the company is the Webmoney payment system.
The sanctions provide for many restrictions that mean a complete cessation of activity andare introduced for a period of three years from the date of publication, i.e. until May 24, 2021.
Marketing Director of WebMoney.ua Rostislav Trotsenko stated a lack of understanding of this situation, due to the fact that there was no official notification to the company received, and the company until today operated in Ukraine legally, since it received a license in 2015 and was included in the NBU register.
"I believe that this is a political decision. It is very convenient, under the guise of national interests, to add some business to such a sanctions list and destroy it in one day - without trial or investigation. As you can see, the European company also got into it. I think in this way someone is simply trying to redistribute some financial flows as the officials need," Trotsenko said. The company's lawyers are now trying to get an explanation of the current situation and the official position will be published later.
At the moment, the system is not working and more than 4 million users remain cut off from online electronic payments.
According to http://www.rnbo.gov.ua
You May Also Like
Hong Kong is developing liberal laws for crypto platforms
The outgoing chairman of the Hong Kong Securities Authority has lifted a ban on domestic cryptocurrency exchanges and instead proposed formal regulatory methods.
The IMF again criticized the legalization of Bitcoin in El Salvador
In the report, El Salvador: 2021 Article IV Mission Staff Final Statement, the IMF praised El Salvador's efforts to promote "financial inclusion and growth" but criticized the tool the country's government is using to achieve this goal.
