The National Bank of Ukraine stated that cryptocurrencies cannot be used as a means of payment

First Deputy Head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Ekaterina Rozhkova, expressed her position regarding crypto-assets. She emphasized that the NBU does not recognize cryptocurrencies as a means of payment and noted the importance of macroeconomic stability for Ukraine in the conditions of a real war.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) does not consider cryptoassets as a means of payment and does not plan to change this position in the near future. This thesis was expressed by the first deputy head of the regulator, Ekaterina Rozhkova.

“We are still on this path [of legalizing crypto-assets] where we were several years ago. We do not consider crypto assets as a means of payment. It's not money. On this issue, our position coincides with the opinion of our colleagues from the International Monetary Fund,” Rozhkova emphasized.  

According to her, during a war, any changes in the landscape and instruments of monetary policy carry certain risks.

In addition, Rozhkova mentioned a memorandum of cooperation between the Ukrainian authorities and the IMF. It, among other things, provides for an assessment of current legislation on virtual assets.

We would like to remind you that the National Securities and Stock Market Commission previously commented on the possibility of some amendments to it. The agency also emphasized that the bill proposed by the regulator takes into account the recommendations of the IMF.

“That is why the memorandum contains a separate clause that we, together with IMF experts, will study the main approaches and practices of the EU countries and the whole world to the regulation of crypto-assets, after which we will look at how to correctly implement this into our legislation,” Rozhkova emphasized. 

According to the deputy head of the NBU, this is not the agency’s main priority, since macroeconomic stability is now more important for Ukraine. Rozhkova said that this is one of the main factors in ensuring further recovery and budget revenues, which, in turn, will help finance the army.

Let us recall that earlier the editors of Incrypted published the final material on changes in the regulatory field of Ukraine regarding the regulation of crypto assets in 2023.