Another victory: Ukraine's parliament passes bill to legalize cryptocurrency

Ukraine's parliament on Thursday voted almost unanimously to pass a bill to legalize and regulate cryptocurrencies. The bill was proposed in 2020 and will now go to the desk of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will decide whether to sign it into law.

Until today, cryptocurrencies have existed in a legal gray area in Ukraine. Locals are allowed to buy and exchange virtual currencies, but companies and exchanges dealing in cryptocurrencies are often closely scrutinized by law enforcement.

Authorities tend to take an opposing stance when it comes to virtual currencies, viewing them as “scams,” raiding cryptocurrency-related businesses and “often confiscating expensive equipment without any reason.”

If the new bill is signed by the president, virtual assets, digital wallets and private keys will be written into Ukrainian law.

But unlike El Salvador’s move to make Bitcoin a legal tender parallel to the U.S. dollar, Ukraine’s crypto law will not accelerate the introduction of Bitcoin as a form of payment, nor does it put Bitcoin on equal footing with the country’s national currency, the hryvnia.

Today’s vote, however, is part of a broader effort by the Ukrainian government to tilt toward Bitcoin. The country plans to open its cryptocurrency market to businesses and investors by 2022, and senior government officials have been touting their crypto street cred to Silicon Valley investors and venture capital funds.

During a visit to the U.S. last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of the country’s budding “legal innovation market for virtual assets” as a selling point to attract investment, and Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said the country is modernizing its payments market so that its central bank can issue a digital currency.