Ukraine’s parliament has passed a law making crypto-payments legal in the country, the official said. The move comes as Kiev has been mulling a plan to make its national currency, the hryvnia, a digital currency. The law was published on the government’s official website on Monday, the government said in a statement. The bill must be signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko before it is enforced.
The State Duma of the Russian Federation has approved a bill to allow payments in cryptocurrency, reports local media outlet BNN. According to the document, all the necessary mechanisms will be provided for the introduction of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.
The president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed a bill that will allow Ukrainians to pay their taxes and other utility bills in cryptocurrency, like bitcoin, the president’s press service said on Tuesday. The law will go into effect on January 1, 2019, and it will allow Ukrainians to pay taxes, utility bills and other payments in cryptocurrency, which will be converted to Ukrainian currency at the official exchange rate. The law will also require all Ukrainian ministries and state agencies to accept payments in digital currencies, with the exception of the central bank, the president’s office, the National Security and Defense Council, and the State Revenue Service.
Despite not recognizing cryptocurrencies as legal money, a new cryptocurrency-related law in Ukraine would enable payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), according to a government official.
According to Oleksandr Bornyakov, deputy minister of Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, it would be “very legal” to pay with cryptocurrencies in Ukraine via payment intermediaries that enable crypto-to-fiat conversions.
In a Friday interview with local financial magazine Minfin, the official said that Ukraine’s draft law on virtual assets “clearly says” that cryptocurrencies are not legal currency in the nation and that only crypto purchases are permitted.
Local payment processors would still be allowed to offer services for converting crypto to fiat to enable payments derived from crypto, according to the law, which states:
“Today, Ukraine’s law prohibits you from paying in dollars, but you may simply pay for goods using a dollar card. During the payment process, currencies are exchanged in real time. As a result, it will be perfectly legal to pay with cryptocurrency in Ukraine, but only via a third party.”
The forthcoming law, according to Bornyakov, would formally legalize the process of bitcoin trading and reporting. “We anticipate an entire industry of intermediary services for cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, storage, and exchange. This will broaden the scope of their application,” he said.
Related: A new research shows a strong desire for cryptocurrency payments
The Ministry of Digital Transformation proposed approval of a revised draft law “On Virtual Assets” at the second reading in late June, as previously reported by Cointelegraph. Monobank, a local e-bank, later announced intentions to offer a debit card with Bitcoin trading capabilities.
The announcement comes only days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed another digital currency-related legislation, the Payment Services Law. The legislation made it legal for Ukraine’s central bank to create a digital currency known as the digital hryvnia.
On Wednesday, November 28, the Ukrainian parliament approved a bill that allows cryptocurrency to be used as legal tender in the country.. Read more about ukraine digital currency and let us know what you think.
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