L&M Finance Group
2020-05-01 14:42

UKRAINE LAUNCHES A MECHANISM FOR REGULATING THE VIRTUAL ASSETS MARKET

On April 28, 2020, the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention and Counteraction to the Legalization (Laundering) of the Proceeds of Crime, the Financing of Terrorism and the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction" (hereinafter referred to as the "Law") came into force, which has a direct impact on the development and regulation of the virtual market assets.
In addition to all the innovations of the Law, it is the area of virtual assets that attracts particular attention, because despite its popularity and widespread use, it is still unregulated by law. The lack of necessary legal norms, procedures and rules stimulate the use of virtual assets for adverse or criminal purposes. It is this fact that is the reason that the term “virtual asset” is enshrined primarily in the law “On Prevention and Counteraction of the Legalization (Laundering) of Incomes ...”, taking into account which, corresponding rules and regulatory procedures will be developed in the future. Thus, the Law reflects the following innovations important for the market for the turnover of virtual assets:
  1. The concept of “virtual asset” is fixed, according to which a virtual asset is a digital expression of value that can be traded in a digital format or retold and which can be used for payment or investment purposes.
  2. According to the Law, the provider of services related to the circulation of virtual assets is any individual or legal entity that carries out one or more of these types of activities and / or operations for another individual and / or legal entity or on behalf of such person:
— exchange of virtual assets;
— transfer of virtual assets;
— storage and / or administration of virtual assets or tools to control virtual assets;
— participation and provision of financial services related to the issuer's offer and / or sale of virtual assets;
  1. Service providers associated with the circulation of virtual assets will be the subjects of initial financial monitoring.
  2. Financial transactions with a virtual asset in the amount of over 30 thousand UAH must be properly audited by the primary financial monitoring entity.
  3. In addition, the Law increased the threshold for financial transactions that are subject to mandatory monitoring - from 150 thousand UAH. up to 400 thousand UAH., which also applies to virtual assets.
  4. A list of information that must accompany the transfer of virtual assets has been approved.
According to the Law, state regulation and supervision in the field of prevention and response in relation to service providers related to the circulation of virtual assets will be carried out by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. It is reported that in the near future the Ministry will provide a profile law on the implementation of virtual assets, which will fix the legal status and classification of virtual assets, the requirements for the issue and circulation of certain categories of virtual assets and other issues of state regulation.