New reports have revealed that Ukraine is moving towards legally recognizing cryptocurrencies in the country. The country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed a virtual assets bill into law this Wednesday, March 16th. The new law will allow Ukraine to establish a regulated crypto market and grant crypto exchanges the ability to legally offer their services, while banks will be allowed to open special accounts for cryptocurrency companies.
The country’s Ministry of Digital Transformation noted that this represents a major step towards the development of the virtual assets market in Ukraine.
Interestingly, this was the second iteration of the country’s crypto bill, and it was passed by the parliament exactly a month ago, on February 17th. The first version was also approved by the parliament in September 2021, but the country’s president vetoed it. At the time, it was considered too costly to establish an entirely new regulatory body just to handle the cryptocurrency industry.
The country’s existing National Commission on Securities and Stock Market will take control of regulating the crypto sector for the time being.
The Crypto Sector Rallies
Following the news of Ukraine legalizing cryptocurrencies, the crypto market started a new rally–after months of price drops. Bitcoin has surged by around 3.82% in the last 24 hours, finally breaching the $40,000 barrier, and even punching up to $42,170.
The rest of the market followed; most coins are now trading in the green. Ethereum, for example, is 4.14% higher than 24 hours ago, with a price of $2,838 at the time of writing.
It should be noted that Ukraine did not propose to adopt cryptocurrencies as legal tender, the way El Salvador did with Bitcoin in late 2021. However, it did take an important step that will allow the crypto industry to operate in a safer and more reliable way.
Ukrainians are Turning to Blockchain Technology
It has been several weeks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine originally started, and the crypto industry has wasted no time in pressuring the Ukrainian authorities to start accepting crypto donations. Originally skeptical at first, the country’s government accepted the proposal, as it was in need of all the help it could get.
The crypto donations to Ukraine have given the country a much needed boost. Ukraine now intends to fully legalize and regulate the crypto market–putting the infrastructure in place to become the biggest crypto hub in Eastern Europe.
