The Ukrainian government plans to legalize cryptocurrency

The Ukranian government has plans to legalize cryptocurrency, according to a report in the independent Ukrainian news publication Ligamedia.

Incoming Digital Transformation Deputy Minister Alexander Bornyakov said in a recent presentation that Minster Mikhail Fedorov will authorize the legalization. Bornyakov stressed that cryptocurrencies are not currently illegal in Ukraine. But taking the step to explicitly legalize cryptocurrencies will benefit Ukraine and it's government via taxation. According to Bornyakov "People who [are engaged in cryptocurrencies] should get out of the gray zone and start paying taxes." In the future, he sees Ukraine being able to "earn from cryptocurrency traders" as well.

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The move to legalize cryptocurrency comes as Ukraine's Digital Transformation ministry aims to make working with the Ukrainian government as easy as interacting with a digital service. Per Fedorov, interacting with the government should be "convenient and un-intrusive… so that when you [interact] with the state, you feel comfortable, just like [when] you order Uber, Booking or Airbnb.”

As part of the plan, the Ukraine will also transfer public registries and documents to a public distributed ledger managed by the government.