War had no impact on Ukraine’s regulatory approach to crypto, Kyiv lawmaker says

cointelegraph.com:

Ukraine continues working on cryptocurrency legislation a year after Russia’s invasion. According to Yurii Boiko, commissioner of Ukraine’s National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM), the war has not changed its regulatory stance.

Ukraine has continued to follow in the footsteps of the European Union concerning digital asset laws, Boiko told Cointelegraph in an interview.

The commissioner said Ukrainian lawmakers have been working to implement major European crypto regulations, known as the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation, or MiCA.

“The approach to the regulation of the virtual asset market has not changed during the war,” Boiko stated, adding:

Boiko noted that the adoption of crypto legislation in Ukraine had been slowed mainly due to the need to develop necessary amendments to the country’s tax and civil codes. Another factor is Ukraine’s path to European integration, the official said, adding that the NCSSM has been actively cooperating with international colleagues to implement regulations like MiCA.

According to Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, head of the parliamentary group Blockchain4Ukraine, the country’s legislature started working on regulating the cryptocurrency market in October 2017. 

“Unfortunately, at that time, the Verkhovna Rada of the eighth convocation was unable to adopt a crypto law, and only since the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Verkhovna Rada of the ninth convocation returned to consideration of it,” Zhmerenetskyi said. The lawmakers subsequently created the Blockchain4Ukraine group together with more than 50 deputies in September 2019, he noted.

Zhmerenetskyi added that a working group under the NSSMC is currently finalizing a package of amendments to the draft law “On Virtual