Ukraine is ready to legalize cryptocurrencies, a sector already widespread in the country which during the three weeks of the Russian invasion proved to be an effective tool to raise money for humanitarian purposes and to support the Ukrainian army. The announcement came from Mykhailo Fedorov, deputy prime minister of the country and minister of digital transformation, very active on Twitter with the digital blockade strategy against Russia , achieved through continuous requests for help and suspension of the respective services in Russia to the most important tech and digital companies.

In the last few hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law “on virtual goods”, aimed at creating a legal framework in which the various players of the crypto world can legally operate. The sector will be managed by the National Commission of Securities and Stock Market of Ukraine , which will be responsible for determining the country’s policies on digital assets, the issuing of licenses to companies dedicated to virtual currencies but also the monitoring of cash flows.

Furthermore, as anticipated by Coindesk, companies that own digital assets and cryptocurrency exchanges will have to register in a government portal to continue operating legally, while credit institutions will be able to open cryptocurrency accounts to companies that request it.

The acceleration on cryptocurrencies comes some time after the law approved by the Ukrainian parliament last September and blocked immediately after by Zelensky himself, since Ukraine at the time could not face the establishment of bodies dedicated to the regulation of digital currencies. The Russian invasion and the consequent upheaval of national daily life, with the flight abroad of more than 3 of the 42 million Ukrainians and the need to secure as much income as possible to contribute to the resistance against the enemy, has canceled the stalemate and convinced the government to ride the crypto wave .

Strategies born of numbers, since as reported by Cointelegraph , already on March 9 the cryptocurrency donations traced for Ukraine reached almost 98 million euros . Following this path, therefore, the Ukrainian government has collaborated with the two crypto exchanges FTX (of Bahamas) and Kuna (the main reference for Ukrainians), together with the Everstake platform (which allows institutional investors and those who own tokens to obtain profits from digital assets) to create Aid for Ukraine and collect donations from people from all over the world. The goal is to reach $ 200 million and at the time of writing the bill it exceeded 55.6 million; donations can be made via Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Terra, Polkadot, Solana, Cardano, Dogecoin, Monero, ICON and Casper.

Donate crypto to ukraine

While not a country priority at the moment, trying to look beyond the current drama that plagues the country, the legalization of cryptocurrencies could represent a potential turning point for Ukraine. The large community of blockchain developers, the strict regulations until a few months ago for export and import transactions, combined with the absence of a stock market, have enticed a large portion of the population to try digital assets.

Thus the conditions were created for the spread of cryptocurrencies in the country, so much so that Ukrainians were the most active users in the retail sale of digital currencies already in the autumn of 2020 (ahead of Russians, Venezuelans, Chinese, Americans and Kenyans , according to Chainalysis reports ). A surprising escalation that rests on fertile ground, as highlighted by the New York Times which last November defined the country as ‘ the cryptocurrency capital of the world‘. “We believe this is the new economy and something that can increase our economy,” said Alex Bornyakov., Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

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