Ukraine’s central bank opposes crypto bill, citing monetary sovereignty concerns

Ukraine has tried to legalize crypto since September 2021, when Zelensky signed a 'Virtual Assets' law that never took effect because parliament failed to pass the accompanying tax code changes. Bill 10225-d is the latest attempt to finish that job, four years on, with Kyiv also trying to align with the EU's MiCA framework as it pursues accession talks. The National Bank's Nov. 4 objection shows that basic question of who regulates crypto, and under what constraints, is still unresolved.

Until the bill is reworked, exchanges and wallet providers operating in Ukraine stay in the same legal gray zone they have occupied for years, unable to get clean banking relationships or licensing certainty. Lawmakers now have to decide whether the central bank or the securities regulator controls market access, a split that determines which firms can register and which get shut out. Traders and remittance users, many relying on crypto under wartime capital controls, gain nothing new from this version of the law. (per crypto.news)

The NBU's complaint is really about who keeps control of monetary policy when a population already uses crypto to dodge hryvnia capital controls imposed since the 2022 invasion. Framing the fight as 'monetary sovereignty versus MiCA alignment' is fair, but it also lets the central bank claim broad veto power over any access rules it dislikes. A regulator asking to keep tight control over market entry is not obviously the same thing as protecting financial stability, and the bill's drafters have reason to push back.

The committee's Nov. 4 vote sent the bill back to the floor rather than killing it, so the next marker is whether a revised draft restores the safeguards the NBU says were dropped before a second reading is scheduled. If lawmakers rewrite the text to satisfy the central bank, Ukraine could finally get a working crypto law years after the 2021 version stalled. If they don't, the bill risks another indefinite delay in the Rada. (per coindesk.com)