Ukraine is the "island of crypto freedom" in Europe, what to expect ?

[DrBeer]

Ukraine is the "island of crypto freedom" in Europe, what to expect?

I propose to discuss interesting news related to both the economy and the crypto world. The essence of the news is that at the moment, Ukraine is preparing to accept a package of documents that:
1. They legitimize the cryptocurrency, and allow to officially conduct transactions in the cryptocurrency.
2. Legalize the cryptocurrency market
3. A virtual hryvnia (the national currency of Ukraine) is being prepared to enter the market
4. Very important - mechanisms / legal framework are being launched to implement the amnesty for profits from crypto assets in connection with the launch of the legalization of the virtual asset market

Below are 2 links to the article (easily translated by google translate)
1. Interview with the Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation on IT Development of Ukraine (https://minfin.com.ua/currency/articles/oleksandr-bornyakov-virtualni-aktivi-mozhut-povnistyu-zaminiti-deyaki-nacionalni-valyuti/)
2. The same Deputy Minister, article "Ukrainians will be allowed to declare their income from cryptocurrencies" (https://biz.ligazakon.net/ru/news/205193_ukraintsam-razreshat-zadeklarirovat-svoi-dokhody-ot-kriptovalyut-proekty)

Interested in your opinion:
1. Will Ukraine become "Crypto Switzerland" or "Island of Crypto Freedom"?
2. What does the opening of such a specific market promise?
3. How can this affect some areas of the economy and which ones?

[Ozero]

The Ukrainian government has always been very friendly towards the introduction of cryptocurrency and especially blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is practically being implemented in all ministries and sectors of the economy of this state.
So far, indeed, very good conditions for the circulation of cryptocurrency are planned in Ukraine. Cryptocurrency mining without any restrictions, as long as there are no claims to the consumed energy. 5% tax on profits from cryptocurrency, which is calculated as the difference between the cost of selling a cryptocurrency and the cost of buying it.
However, it will finally be possible to judge this when the relevant law on digital assets enters into force in Ukraine.

[Obito]

How is it exactly an island though, it's a landlocked country iirc. What do you exactly mean with Crypto Switzerland? I assume that you are talking about Swiss banking which has been reformed a long time ago so it's not going to be called that, the opening of such market will surely bolster the adoption of the market throughout Europe. I don't know about economy but it will probably help the microeconomy of a country.

[hugeblack]

We cannot judge the results until after the legislations have been passed, which may take a lot of time, and after reading the bills that have been approved, then we may be able to pass judgments.

Ukraine is a crypto-friendly country, but nevertheless, accepting cryptocurrencies does not mean that they will not impose taxes on them, and therefore how to deal with the financial system and impose legislation on it will determine the nature of the country's transition to a new concept.

[lovesmayfamilis]

What is moderation for? Are you filtering responses, or will there be a surprise for many later with the deletion of all posts?

[dkbit98]

Governments will allow people to use Bitcoin and other coins until they create and make their own virtual currencies that are totally controlled and tracked.
Problem is what will happen after that... very likely they will try to ban Bitcoin and say they can't control it or they will blame it because some hackers got paid in Bitcoin.
Never trust government, better wake up and understand that they are working for us and not the other way around, see what happened in United States with that latest crazy bill, same thing can happen all over the world soon.

Will Ukraine become "Crypto Switzerland" or "Island of Crypto Freedom"?

I don't have high hopes for something like this to happen, it's one thing on paper and it can be totally different thing in reality.

[Coyster]

3. A virtual hryvnia (the national currency of Ukraine) is being prepared to enter the market

I don't think Ukraine is planning to be crypto friendly for the benefits of the common citizen, what they actually want to do is create their own centralized currency (virtual hryvnia) for their advantage, with the virtual hryvnia, Ukraine will be able to monitor users of the currency, denying them of their privacy, which is exactly what the government is known for; I think the whole reason for generalizing their intentions in the direction of them being crypto friendly is basically so people get the erroneous message and think they'll embrace crypto in general, but I honestly doubt that.

I mean, think of it, why would they be preparing to launch their virtual hryvnia and still nurse the idea of being free to other forms of decentralized cryptocurrency, the thing is whenever a country starts to work on CBDC's, you must understand that sooner or later, they'll hardly want to entertain any other form of decentralized currency that would pose as a sort of competition to their own digital currency that they are controlling.

[herurist]

first i want to say first that ukraine is a country and not an archipelago
but i agree with the title of your thread which says that ukraine is not an island country which is identified with crypto freedom. because it's not without reason because ukraine is always open with crypto especially with blockchain and even i've read that there are officials who have btc assets of 46,351 BTC, worth more than 75 billion hryvnia (ukraine currency) and this is proof that the government there is always open with regard to crypto, although until now Ukraine still has no plans to make regulations for cryptocurrency mining because it is considered to have a big risk for the country, but until now, Ukraine is still one of the good countries for cryptocurrencies.

[Sterbens]

Based on the article you shared, I tried to try it first. Then my conclusion is:
the most basic point is that the legalization of crypto can be said to be 95% achieved. Plus several stages will follow and refer to the Virtual Assets Bill.
then in the article, it says

The document defines the legal status and requirements for service providers related to virtual assets, through the passage of state registration procedures for one or more types of activities:

* Store or manage virtual assets and virtual asset keys;
* Virtual asset exchange;
* Transfer virtual assets;
* Participation and provision of financial services related to
* Issuer offering and/or sale of virtual assets.

The 230 people's representatives who have proven it have shown that the crypto market in Ukraine will increase the number of transactions currently underway, thereby increasing the alternative push to continue to be a financial monitor of assets on a larger scale.

Well, I hope this will be the next El Salvador. Of course, it would be very easy for Ukraine to do this if they really wanted to go on to a more massive level of crypto growth.

Furthermore, I believe that when Ukraine does everything according to procedures, it will only have potential as a global market economy, but will continue to be considered as another desire. Apart from that, the news is quite important, that previously Ukraine had been forgotten in the world's economic growth after the second world war.
And today, they are the first to catch up so that the lagging behind regarding the global economic market has been almost far with countries that are still halfway in supporting the growth of cryptocurrencies.

[fiulpro]

I have been living in Ukraine for 3 years now, considering this is my fourth year, I can honestly give a good opinion.
1. It's very easy to buy/sell cryptocurrencies like bitcoins here in Ukraine.
2. There are many people interested in the same so you can always find a local buyer.
3. The crypto market is flourishing day by day.
4. More and more stores online are accepting cryptocurrencies, the other day I wanted to buy some stuff for my dogs and apparently there was an option to buy using bitcoins, which honestly baffled me since people were so open towards it.
*
I do believe bitcoins and cryptocurrencies are going to have a safe heavens here. We are going to see bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies becoming legal tender soon enough, fingers crossed.

[hatshepsut93]

1. They legitimize the cryptocurrency, and allow to officially conduct transactions in the cryptocurrency.

They aren't going to allow businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments directly. Bitcoin will not be a legal tender like it is in El Salvador. Crypto is not banned in Ukraine, what this law will change is just taxation and some new regulations for exchanges and other services.

3. A virtual hryvnia (the national currency of Ukraine) is being prepared to enter the market

This law won't be touching Ukraine's CBDC project. In fact, the law that would allow Ukraine's central bank to issue CBDC has already been passed a few weeks ago.

1. Will Ukraine become "Crypto Switzerland" or "Island of Crypto Freedom"?

If EU will be more hostile towards crypto with harsher regulations and higher taxes, you could say that Ukraine is an "island of crypto freedom", but it's still far from what El Salvador is doing.

[DrBeer]

The Ukrainian government has always been very friendly towards the introduction of cryptocurrency and especially blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is practically being implemented in all ministries and sectors of the economy of this state.
So far, indeed, very good conditions for the circulation of cryptocurrency are planned in Ukraine. Cryptocurrency mining without any restrictions, as long as there are no claims to the consumed energy. 5% tax on profits from cryptocurrency, which is calculated as the difference between the cost of selling a cryptocurrency and the cost of buying it.
However, it will finally be possible to judge this when the relevant law on digital assets enters into force in Ukraine.

As a citizen of Ukraine, I cannot agree with you. The reality before that was such - we do not know what cryptocurrencies are, we know what they earn on it, we do not know how to deal with it, we do not know how to take taxes from crypto trading! Believe me, this is how the situation looked and still looks today. BUT! Now the authorities realized that cryptocurrency is a new source of income-taxes and decided to somehow "systematize" it

[DrBeer]

What is moderation for? Are you filtering responses, or will there be a surprise for many later with the deletion of all posts?

If this really bothers you - take screenshots of posts, and then prove my "crimes" Moderation was done in order to POTENTIALLY be able to clear the thread from spam. I am ready here to answer for the maintenance of the topic, and promise that there will be no electoral "purges" of posts. Except for spam and open insults

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Never trust government, better wake up and understand that they are working for us and not the other way around, see what happened in United States with that latest crazy bill, same thing can happen all over the world soon.

That bill (the infrastructure one that has the crypto regulation inserted into it) hasn't been passed yet by the senate, and I think a lot of crypto miners are calling up their state senators and complaining about it--at least that's what seems to the case if Youtube is to be believed.  We'll see on that one.

As far as Ukraine becoming a crypto utopia, I wish them luck and hope that country does turn into one.  Maybe that's where all the miners will end up after all of the big countries regulate all things crypto to death.  My fear would be that Ukrainian politicians change their minds eventually and decide they want some of that crypto wealth for themselves.  Dkbit98 is right about not trusting the government, because politicians change as well as attitudes toward certain things, cryptocurrencies included.

If this really bothers you - take screenshots of posts, and then prove my "crimes"

You haven't committed any such crime by self-moderating this thread, and I think it's smart to do so.  The problem is that some members do indeed just start deleting posts at random, so it's tricky whether to spend time posting in a thread like this when there's a risk that it'll have been for nothing.

[Darker45]

If other countries will continue to be hard on crypto and will continue to tighten regulations there will definitely come a point when cryptocurrency-related and crypto-friendly industries will look for a particular country conducive to smooth business operations. Ukraine could play such role.

Strict crypto regulations will not only discourage certain companies to enter and do business in a country, they may also cause an exodus of existing ones. If it ever occurs to the likes of the US and UK, for example, surely Ukraine might become the next country of choice. And since the crypto industry is a trillion-dollar industry, this friendly approach of Ukraine toward crypto will certainly help its economy grow.

[caryoscar]

In order to promote legislation in the field of encrypted assets and a wide range of applications, the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation has also recently released a series of online programs to educate citizens about cryptocurrency, blockchain and Bitcoin. The show premiered on Wednesday and is part of the Ukrainian government’s "Diia.Digital" education program. Allegedly, the audience will receive a certificate of completion after watching all the episodes. This initiative is one of the measures taken by the Ukrainian government to promote the country's digital literacy.

In addition, according to Chainalysis's ranking, Ukraine is the world leader in the 2020 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index. Excluding the holders of the "giant whale" cryptocurrency, Ukrainians, Russians and Venezuelans are the most active retail users of digital currencies.

Regarding the legislation and legalization of cryptocurrency (regardless of whether or not taxes are levied), we can find an interesting phenomenon: Compared with the world's major countries, small countries are more radical, and there will be more third world countries speeding up the pace of cryptocurrency-related legislation.

The reason is actually very simple. Bitcoin is decentralized. I understand that it is de-dollarization. The U.S. dollar acts as a foreign exchange settlement center and a technology monopoly center. It is this center that has allowed many small countries to be sheared by the United States.

As Ukraine promotes the legalization of cryptocurrency, the time has come for a change. There will be more investors buying cryptocurrencies all over the world. This trend cannot be stopped. Although investors hold a string of encrypted characters, it is It is a sword of Damocles to counter economic hegemony and build a new world.

In a word, don’t think too much, just do it.

[Coyster]

I have been living in Ukraine for 3 years now, considering this is my fourth year, I can honestly give a good opinion.

It's actually great to get the opinion of one living in the country we're discussing about, and tbh, I'm actually elated to read your posts and what you have to say about the condition of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in Ukraine, and prolly the Ukrainian government may actually turn out to be different from the others, we'll just have to wait and see. I'd actually be surprised and I'm as well keeping my fingers crossed to see if the Ukrainian government will take absolutely no action in regulating or stopping the freedom at which people can use Bitcoin when the virtual hryvnia is officially out, but for now, going by your experiences you just narrated, Ukraine sure seems like a wonderful place to use Bitcoin compared to many other parts of the world.

[aysg76]

Many nations are drafting such regulations to adopt bitcoin and intergrate crypto payments in the country and same goes with Ukraine also.They have implemented one of the nuclear plant in the country for bitcoin mining also some time back if i remember.But the problem is they want to counter it with bringing up their own central CDBC and issue them as virtual modes of payment across the country and force people to use it.The Ukraine crypto users might not be having problem in trading cryptocurrencies and with such regulations it becomes more easy for them.But government might impose certain restrictions later on and what they are doing is solely for tax purposes and generate revenue out of such business.But such jurisdiction might help it to grow from poverty as it is among poor countries in Europe and ranking 74th in Human Development index.We also hope it become crypto friendly center for all the citizens but it requires strict implementation of government policies and they can change their decisions anytime.So hope it goes well.

[DrBeer]

Governments will allow people to use Bitcoin and other coins until they create and make their own virtual currencies that are totally controlled and tracked.
Problem is what will happen after that... very likely they will try to ban Bitcoin and say they can't control it or they will blame it because some hackers got paid in Bitcoin.
Never trust government, better wake up and understand that they are working for us and not the other way around, see what happened in United States with that latest crazy bill, same thing can happen all over the world soon.

Will Ukraine become "Crypto Switzerland" or "Island of Crypto Freedom"?

I don't have high hopes for something like this to happen, it's one thing on paper and it can be totally different thing in reality.

I would not be so negative. I am a citizen of Ukraine and have lived here almost all my life, and in the crypto market since 2014. Our country, of course, has its own "jokes", often the government "chuds", quite often openly idiotic laws are launched ... .. But we have very comfortable conditions for IT and technology startups.. I myself work in the IT field and know the reality well. Regarding freedoms on the crypto market - now we have a situation that is difficult to imagine, but cryptocurrency absolutely falls out of the legal framework, and in fact it turns out nonsense when you can profit from the sale of a crypt but not pay taxes, because in the legislative framework, cryptocurrency and operations with it do not have any status and regulatory laws This can be used for now. The next steps, it seems to me, will be aimed at regulating this market, introducing light taxes, and allowing for wider use in real life. What should ultimately become attractive to investors, crypto enthusiasts and crypto projects

[Lucius]

I have nothing against Ukraine becoming a kind of crypto oasis or, as the OP says, an "island of crypto freedom", but the question is whether it can overtake or reach the countries of Western Europe that already have very well-established crypto regulations. By that I mean Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia as quite crypto-friendly countries, especially in terms of taxes that you don't even have to pay in some countries if you hold crypto for more than 1 or 2 years after purchase.

When it comes to Ukraine, what about the element of national security in terms of the country not being able to defend its borders when needed? This threat is still relevant and I think that investors are not very interested in investing in such countries, regardless of the conditions that may be very favorable for them. The condition for the progress of every country is to be politically and militarily stable, without which there is no progress.

If we take into consideration GPI (Global Peace Index), Ukraine is in a very poor 143rd place (out of 163 countries) by a factor that measures the "relative position of nations 'and regions' peacefulness."