Ukraine legalises cryptocurrency to fight Russian invasion

Kiev, March 17:  Ukraine has legalised cryptocurrency as the country received donations worth tens of millions of dollars from individuals and groups to help it fight the Russian invasion.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed the law that creates conditions for further formation of the legal field in the market of virtual assets.

The new market will be regulated by the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market.

The signed law determines the legal status, classification and virtual assets ownership rights and determines the list of providers of virtual assets and conditions of their registration.

Until now, the Ministry of Digital Transformation has been developing the legal framework in this area.

"The Ministry of Digital Transformation is also actively working to amend the tax and civil codes of Ukraine to fully launch the virtual assets market," the government said in a statement.

The signing of the crypto law is an important step towards bringing the cryptocurrency sector out of the shadows and launching a legal market for virtual assets in Ukraine.

"Ukraine has legalised the crypto sector. From now on, foreign and Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchanges will operate legally and banks will open accounts for crypto companies," the government tweeted.

Crypto exchanges and companies that handle other virtual assets will have to register with the government.

"With the beginning of the war, cryptocurrencies have become a powerful tool for attracting additional funding to support the armed forces of Ukraine," said the country's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov.

"In more than three weeks of war, the Crypto Fund of Ukraine has raised more than $54 million in cryptocurrencies," he informed.

Media reports claimed that the government has received close to $100 million in crypto donations.

El Salvador was the first country to permit consumers to use cryptocurrency in all transactions, alongside the US dollar, in September 2021.