Cryptocurrencies As A Financial Instrument: Ukrainian Securities Regulator
In the announcment of May 8th the Ukrainian National Securities and Stock Market Commission (SSMCS) is going to discuss the issue on accepting cryptocurrencies as a financial instrument.
Timur Khromaev who is the head of the commission, put his message in a Facebook post after the annual conference of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on crypto and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
As Khromaev mentioned, the crypto industry has highly developed over the last three years, challenging the crypto market to turn into an “integral part of economic and financial relations.” The commissioner of SSMCS underlined the usefulness of legitimate acceptance of cryptocurrencies and adapting the position of financial regulators. Khromaev said that, “the point of no return is in the past.”
Khromaev proposes to consider crypto assets and transactions within the existing legal scope based on the principles of underlying the asset, and not its form-paper or digital. He added that the new rules should take into consideration the dynamic nature of digital assets.
Khromaev says that new rules and regulations for cryptocurrencies will be defined on a national level as “it is still a long way for international standards.”
Ukraine took an indefinite position with respect to the cryptocurrency, especially with regard to the Central Bank of Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). In August 2017, the the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) published a statement on crypto, arguing that no other currency or substitute currency, other than the national one, can be issued or used as a form of payment in the country. In October, the NBU reported that its Supreme Council of Experts approved proposals for determining the legal status of cryptography.
In January 2018, the NBU said it was considering launching a digital version of its national currency, the Ukrainian hryvnia.
