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Ukraine to block crypto wallets and seize illegally obtained assets

Image by Roberto Maldeno from Flickr

Mon, 27 Jan 2020, 05:10 am UTC

Cryptocurrency transactions are now subject to financial monitoring in Ukraine as the country passed the Financial Monitoring Bill into law in December.

In the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine report (SFMS), Oksana Markarova, the country’s Finance Minister said (via online translation:

"We have introduced cryptocurrencies in the law on financial monitoring and have started the process of implementing them in the legal field in accordance with the European directives and recommendations of the FATF."

With this updated law, Ukrainian authorities will now be able to block crypto wallets to seize the crypto assets that are obtained illegally, Cointelegraph reported. Markarova, who has served as Ukraine’s Finance Minister for almost two years, believes that it is not possible to halt crypto transactions, but he is positive that blocking wallets is doable through private keys.

“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,” Markarova said (via Cointelegraph).

Companies providing crypto services such as exchange, storage, sale or transfer and now subject to financial monitoring. In addition, for payments made in cryptocurrencies worth more than UAH 30,000, the updated law requires such transactions to be verified along with detailed customer information.

Markarova also revealed that an Interagency Working Group has been set up under the VRU Digital Transformation Committee to develop a special law on regulating the circulation of virtual assets in Ukraine over the next four months.

Ukraine has been trying to establish cryptocurrencies rule with the help of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In November, Binance confirmed in a press release that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation to create a regulatory framework that would help the country oversee the evolution of digital assets.

In December 2019, Ukraine has finally passed an anti-money laundering law for the crypto space. They also tapped the help of Belarus-based cryptocurrency exchange Currency.com in acquiring more knowledge on how to properly manage the disruptive crypto space.

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