Ukraine plans to restrict crypto wallets for illegal funds, says finance minister

Looks like a lot of countries are gearing up to spend more on tracking cryptocurrencies and trying to put a stop to them. So, the report suggests that while stopping cryptos entirely is a tall order, they can actually block wallets using private keys. Not clear if they’re talking about central platforms or tracking transactions and currency bans. This is all part of the anti-money laundering laws that Ukraine passed back in late 2019.

'It is impossible to stop operations now, but it is possible to block crypto wallets and remove illegally obtained crypto assets. This can be done by gaining access to the crypto's private keys as a result of complex investigations.' Well, if they kick your door down and stomp on your face until you give them up then they are correct. Beyond that I've zero idea what they think they're smoking. Overall I have to say I'm pretty disgusted at the attitude law enforcement has to any type of online theft. They really don't seem to give a fuck, but they will run you over and stick a dog on your throat if you steal something with 1/100th of the value in the real world. Going on that attitude I reckon crypto scum have a bright future.

I understand that Ukraine is one of the most popular crypto-friendly countries in Europe but it does not mean that the government is not doing its "normal" surveillance job especially with people or organizations suspected of doing illegal things like money laundering, drugs, human trafficking and similar crimes. Of course, there will always be debate if the government has the right to get into this relative to cryptocurrency but there is nothing we can do here to stop any government body from doing what they want. What we can do then is to be careful not to be subjected on its sovereign power and reach. In my view, this same trend can be happening in many countries as well as the cryptocurrency industry continues its progress and influence. This means that even the government is now feeling the importance of this industry, otherwise they won't bother with anything at all.

You get it totally wrong, where you read that Ukraine is "one of the most popular crypto-friendly countries in Europe"? As far as I know, there are no good laws and regulations that would classify this country as "crypto-friendly". It is possible that you were thinking of Belarus, which has some benefits (0% tax) and plans to build crypto mining farms near the new nuclear plant. What they can do is just block the accounts on crypto exchanges if they find some suspicious transactions, how they will block your coins in hardware or desktop wallet, maybe by adding your coin/s address to some blacklist? There is a link from posted article which explains the new law a little better, and by that new law all transaction above $1300 will need to be conducted with obligatory KYC.

Well, if I am using an wallet where I own the private key associated to it, how on earth Ukrainian government is planning to obtain it? Unless and until they start a full scale investigation and cease your laptops/data storage devices, it won't be possible! That means, a random commoner would not be affected by this step of the government. Only serious financial frauds will be investigated that way! I certainly condemn the attemp of using cryptos in illegal ways. So it is a good step towards better governance!

We shall not say that Ukraine is a crypto-friendly country. It isn't. What's happening is that Ukrainians cannot trust their currency (like Russians). Most property deals in Ukraine are made with US $, and the biggest banknote in Ukraine is less than $20. Yes, some rich Ukrainians own some BTC, but they didn't invest in cryptos because they believe in the technology; they bought some to safeguard their assets against government's failure, or Putin starting a full on war. Besides AML, this is about currency control, preventing money fleeing the country.

This is possibly the direction other countries will try to go.

Well, it sounds like a very long term of the project for me! Well, you don't even need to get scared of this law if you're not doing a dark thing here. Ukraine could definitely block the wallet but they just have to make sure to justify it by making sure the ones who operates the keys are doing such money laundry and so on. The KYC AND AML really are a good thing, --but the essence of the Bitcoin just got removed by those regulations. Indeed, I guess Bitcoin is just like the normal payment method now. It has no difference at all, just the volatility.

I think other countries have been implementing this sort of snipping bitcoin wallet ever since the 2017 all time high. US has been doing it, U.S. Exposes Bitcoin Addresses of Sanctioned Iranians. But as far as Ukraine government, I don't know if they have the capacity to track down everything as this is much complicated as hunting offline criminals. You just don't do staking the house of a suspect here, because bitcoin addresses have no names to begin with. I guess its more of trying to prevent capital flight.

In Ukraine, no laws on the regulation of cryptocurrency have been adopted, other than the above. At the same time, the bills proposed for adoption by the country's legislative body are loyal to cryptocurrency, some even offer the absence of any taxes on profit in cryptocurrency. In addition, the country does not have any body that advocates tightening the rules for cryptocurrency circulation in Ukraine. This still makes it possible to classify Ukraine as a cryptocurrency-friendly state. As for the definition of the body that will oversee the legality of the use of cryptocurrency, this is a common and necessary practice.