Ukraine Has Now Legalized Bitcoin: Here are the Details

Takeaways~

Bitcoin is now legal in Ukraine
The law is designed to protect Bitcoin and crypto holders
Ukrainian officials already own more than 2.6 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin
Ministry of Energy mulling a large mining facility
Georgia may be next to adopt Bitcoin

The Ukrainian Parliament has now passed a law that legalizes Bitcoin in the country. This provides a certain clarity surrounding Bitcoin, which is what all regulation is intended to do. Regulation equals acceptance. Last night, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law that “legalizes and regulates bitcoin in the country”. The bill was actually drafted in 2020 and passed with 276 lawmakers supporting and only 6 against.

According to the law, the purpose of the bill is to provide clarification and actually protect those who own Bitcoin. Before the law, officials in the country basically treated crypto as illegitimate, and entities engaging with crypto were actually raided by authorities. With this landmark legislation, courts can now protect individuals and businesses that deal with crypto. It even officially allows crypto-related businesses to operate in the country. The legislation opens the doors for future Bitcoin legislation in the former Soviet-bloc country.

According to the text, the bill “gives the citizens “permission” to own and trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on exchanges”. It also makes clear what constitutes a wallet and private keys. Bitcoin is not legal tender in the country now, but it certainly opens the doors to mining adoption, something that could spur innovation in a country plagued by economic turmoil and corruption. Many argue that any regulation at all is a bridge too far, but clear guidelines for Bitcoin are basically an endorsement of the currency, and this is certainly the case with Ukraine.

It is no surprise that Ukraine has made this move. It was reported in April that Civil Servants in Ukraine reported owning $2.6 billion dollar worth of Bitcoin. That would mean that of the 700,000 civil servants who reported to the authorities, an average of 71 Bitcoin per person would be the average amount held. Ukraine also commissioned Stellar and Jed McCaleb to help build their CBDC earlier this year. They had been working with Stellar since 2019 to use a private version of their chain to create the CBDC.

Ukraine has also been considering building their own Bitcoin mining facility with nuclear power, something we have seen take root here in the States, in Upstate NY, for example. According to their ministry of Energy, the center could host as much as “two to three gigawatts”. Ukraine even mentioned that they would not “regulate the mining business” because it is self-governed by Bitcoin’s Consensus mechanism—an indication they have a robust understanding of Bitcoin and overregulation would be illogical.

The law states that Ukraine plans to “open up” the crypto market for businesses and investors by 2022. Crypto is already very popular among Ukrainians, according to Ukraine’s Minister of Digital transformation. He mentioned that this law will spur investment and that now “more Ukrainians will invest in it [crypto]”. He mentioned they are one of a handful of counties legalizing crypto, the others, according to him, being Luxembourg, Singapore, El-Salvador, and Germany.

The question is, which country will be orange-pilled next? Many are pointing to Georgia, another former Soviet satellite. All we know is that soon, there will be a race to get a piece of the 21 million

Call for leaders of two brotherly European countries Georgia ???? @GharibashviliGe & Ukraine ???? @ZelenskyyUa to follow lead of President @nayibbukele of El Salvador ???? making #Bitcoin country's legal tender. Will bring massive FDI, Investments & Innovation.https://t.co/ssdh8Yv7kt

— George Kikvadze ????? ???? (@BitfuryGeorge) June 10, 2021