UUkraine is now the fifth country to legalize Bitcoin (BTC), a sign that countries around the world are evolving their payment infrastructures. In a historic and almost unanimous vote, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill to legalize and regulate all virtual financial investments.
“The development of a new industry will make it possible to attract transparent investments and strengthen our country’s image as a high-tech state,” said Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Digital Transformation.
The bill, which went into effect in 2020, provides protection for owners, merchants, and businesses associated with cryptocurrencies. Before that, crypto was a legally ambiguous area in Ukraine, a situation similar to the US where it is not clear whether the asset is legal or not.
An act of capitalizing on crypto popularity
Dubbed the hotbed of crypto adoption, Ukraine has been very open to cryptocurrencies and ranked first in 2020 in terms of crypto adoption based on the value of the chain transferred from a country, the value of the cryptocurrency received in of the chain, peer-to-trade volume of the peer exchange and the number of cryptocurrency deposits in the chain.
From July 2019 to June 2020, Ukraine received $ 8 billion worth of cryptocurrency and sent $ 8.2 billion.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, the tech-savvy population, a large blockchain developer community, and the lack of the stock market are the main reasons why crypto is popular in the country.
During his visit to the United States earlier this month, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted the importance of building a legal digital asset market in Ukraine. Speaking to the Silicon Valley Accelerator and venture capital fund, the Ukrainian President said that his country had made a real breakthrough in the digital space last year.
Who will follow
Aside from Ukraine and El Salvador, several other countries are starting to incorporate Bitcoin into their national law.
Latin American countries are at the forefront when it comes to adopting crypto.
Countries like Paraguay and Panama are likely to adopt cryptocurrencies. This week, a Panamanian congressman, Gabriel Silva, tabled a bill to regulate cryptocurrency and make the country compatible with the cryptocurrency, blockchain and the internet.
Paraguay, a landlocked country between Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia, has already worked on regulating the emerging market. Additionally, Brazil is partnering with payment technology companies like Visa to bring cryptocurrency services into the homes of 211 million people.
Additionally, Eduardo Abreu, Vice President of New Business at Visa, recently said he plans to incorporate Bitcoin as a payment method or as a way to store value.
“The great advantage of introducing Bitcoin is without a doubt its ease,” he said. “Without having to exchange a fiat currency, there is an optimization of the exchange when using Bitcoin. Brazilians already have the culture to receive card points, miles, discounts, etc. “
In August, Cuba, another Latin American country, announced that it would regulate the crypto markets, citing “reasons of socio-economic interest”.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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