Hello HODLers,
I have to say I did not see that one coming.
After receiving millions of dollars in crypto donation following the Russian invasion. After they claimed they would launch their own NFTs to draw more attention. Ukraine is now banning cryptocurrency purchases in local currency?
Not a nice way to thank all of us for our support.
Well, it is not so black and white.
First, this is for purchases in Ukrainian local currency (hryvnia).
For foreign currency, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said citizens can now:
"only buy crypto using foreign currency up to a value of 100,000 Ukrainian hryvnia ($3,400) per month"
I understand that this is done to prevent capital flight (financial assets leaving the country) but this is exactly what authoritarian regimes do (Venezuela, Russia, Turkey, etc...).
"The National Bank of Ukraine clarified restrictions on cross-border operations of citizens in order to prevent unproductive outflow of capital from the country under martial law,"
Not to mention that Ukraine is in the top 3 in terms of % of the population having a cryptocurrency account. For such a tech savvy population, I believe they will find easy ways to circumvent this.
Well, most of the Ukrainians probably already acted before this came into a law. In addition, I wonder how the government will try to enforce this while fighting a war. It is more PR than anything.
Stay safe out there,
