Ukraine to develop legal crypto market

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has said the launch of a legal digital assets market in the country is of ‘utter importance’.

During his official visit to the United States, Zelensky met with some of the biggest investors from the crypto industry and emphasised his country’s advances in the digital sector.

“Our meeting here in Silicon Valley is a great opportunity to discuss the prospects for the development of the IT sector and innovations in Ukraine,” he said.

“Our country is rapidly transforming and adopting innovations. Over the past year, we have managed to make a real breakthrough in the digital sphere. At the same time, we still need to do a lot.”

Speaking to venture capital funds and Silicon Valley accelerators, the Ukrainian president said he was thankful to talk about the possible development of the IT sector and innovations in Ukraine.

Ukraine – magnet for crypto developers

Zelensky met with representatives of the Stellar Development Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded in 2014 to support the development and growth of the open-source Stellar network, and expressed hope the institution can find more opportunities to expand its activities.

“After all, Ukraine is now the best magnet with blockchain and crypto specialists in Europe,” he added.

According to the leader, the income of the IT industry in Ukraine in three to five years could rise from $6 billion to $16.5 billion per year. The Ukrainian IT sector could also widen to 10% of GDP.

The number of jobs in the IT industry, Zelensky claims, is expected to grow to 450,000 by 2025.

He also said Ukraine would provide maximum assistance to foreign and Ukrainian investors, and noted the state was ready to address the concerns of investors and cooperate with them.

One of the main things, Zelensky stressed, was the launch and development of a legal innovative market for virtual assets in order to further develop Ukraine’s digital economy.

Law on virtual assets to be adopted this year

In August, Ukraine announced a new digital asset law aimed at providing a legal framework for day-to-day use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as well as a new digital hryvnia CBDC.

Earlier this year, Mykhailo Fedorov  of the Ministry of Digital Transformation signed a memorandum of understanding with the foundation aimed at supporting the ongoing efforts of the Ukrainian government to develop a legal framework. The agreement also covers Stellar’s participation in building the infrastructure for the Ukrainian national digital currency.

A draft law on virtual assets, which was recently revised, is expected to be adopted by the end of this year.

The minister added that Ukraine was developing a virtual asset market and had one of the world’s biggest blockchain developer communities. He said the National Bank of Ukraine would be allowed to issue digital currency.

During his working visit, Zelensky also met with Apple CEO Tim Cook regarding “expanding Apple’s presence in Ukraine”.

As the politician Oleksiy Honcharenko commented on a Telegram channel, “in his Plan of Transformation of Ukraine for 5-10 years, Zelensky presented 80 projects worth $277 billion. Zelensky wants Amazon, Google and, Microsoft to build large-scale data centers in Ukraine”.