The hryvnia is the only legal means of payment in Ukraine, and this remains the principled position of the National Bank of Ukraine, while cryptocurrency is not such a means, and legislative regulation of the virtual assets market is necessary, stated the head of the National Bank of Ukraine Andriy Pishnyi.
“We do not consider cryptocurrency as a legal means of payment. Are we up to the challenge? Yes, we are working,” he said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
According to him, several technical missions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) took place, the purpose of which was to deeply study various experiences and develop comprehensive proposals for the legislative regulation of the virtual assets market, which would take into account European experience and requirements for financial monitoring.
Pyshnyi believes that with the introduction of a limit on P2P transfers of UAH 150,000 per month from October 1, 2024, unscrupulous persons will more actively use crypto-assets in their activities, and the volume of operations with crypto-assets will increase.
“Therefore, we understand that step by step, at least in terms of the mandate of the National Bank, we must create the most transparent and understandable rules of the game on this market,” he said.
In his opinion, today the market of virtual assets is what is “under the hood” and mostly serves shadow circulation and optimization schemes.
“I understand that this requires an appropriate response from us and from other stakeholders. In particular, from our side, we have strengthened the regulations regarding the facts of unlicensed activity, which is often closely related to the functioning of the virtual asset market,” said the head of the National Bank.
He added that the general adoption of Law No. 11043 on October 8 on improving the functions of the NBU on state regulation of financial services markets will enable the National Bank to better adjust its regulatory mechanisms to prevent abuses in payment transactions. In addition, the central bank intends to improve interaction with other stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Tax Service.
Pyshnyi also stated that there is currently no ready-made decision on the legislative regulation of the virtual assets market, which the National Bank could subscribe to.
“So, together with colleagues from other institutions, we must critically rethink this situation and, after analyzing what has already been done, focus on finding optimal solutions for updating the legislation. Work on this is also ongoing,” the head of the NBU emphasized.
