The tough stance on crypto by the Ukrainian Parliament has taken a solid turn with the passing of a bill that aims to criminalize the inaccurate disclosure of crypto holdings and other digital assets.
The bill, which can become an official law if approved, would punish by way of fine or jail time of up to two years those proven to have violated its provisions.
In Ukraine, crypto adoption is mostly driven by retail investors that are seeking an alternative source of value. Since the country does not own its stock market and has an unstable economy but with a tech-savvy population, it presents a perfect hub for cryptocurrencies.
Ukraine is recognized as the leader of the pack in crypto adoption in Eastern Europe.
Explaining the future law’s measures
Coinmarketcap.com cited the comments of a member of the Dnipro City Council in an attempt to explain further what is to be expected once the bill becomes law.
Vyacheslav Mishalov said, “When checking the declaration, we will see whether the declarant really owns the specified number of crypto tokens, whether the money for its purchase was really transferred and whether the declarant can explain the origin of the money spent on the purchase of tokens.”
The above comment is also true for the civil servants of the country.
Civil servants and their Bitcoins
A transparency report from Opendatabot cited on the same site revealed that the civil servants of Ukraine have reported owning $2.6 billion of Bitcoin.
The figure is somehow surprising, considering Bitcoin is not a legally recognized tender in the country. However, there are plans for a future regulation bill.
As for public officials, in line with the proposed bill that also targets retail investors, they need to provide accurate information about their cryptocurrency holdings, or they could face legal consequences.
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