Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will review the bill defining the legal status of Bitcoin. Allegedly, it will be submitted in January, 2016. Michael Chobanian, the founder of Bitcoin Foundation Ukraine told Cointelegraph about his attempts to develop the text of the bill together with a team of lawyers. If it passes, the bill will help to establish the legal status of Bitcoin in the country. Therefore, ukrianian companies will get the opportunity to make Bitcoin payments and transactions freely.
Bitcoin foundation Ukraine works hard to promote Bitcoin in the country, raising people’s awareness of the currency and attempting to clarify its legal status. Their latest achievement was in making Privatbank accept Bitcoins. The biggest Ukrainian commercial bank now allows companies and merchants to make payments in Bitcoin.
The founder of Bitcoin Foundation Ukraine, Michael Chobanian stated to Cointelegraph that “Privatbank had offered them some variants of Bitcoin legalization”. The testing of the system is finished and it is available for merchants that want to accept Bitcoin payments.
Public discussion of the bill will start in January. Chobanian’s team plans to finish the text of the bill at the end of February. Michael hasn’t revealed any details about this bill yet as it is still at the development stage. The name of the Deputy that will enter the bill to Verkhovna Rada is also kept secret. However, Chobanian told Cointelegraph about the aim of their efforts:
“We want to make Bitcoin a legal payment instrument for private individuals and legal entities, with proper regulation and taxation scheme, allowing ukrianian companies to work with Bitcoin freely”.
The status of Bitcoin in Ukraine is still not clear. Government doesn’t pay much attention to it though security services sometimes investigate Bitcoin activity as the currency may serve as an instrument for financing terrorism and other illegal activity due to its anonymity. Hopefully, Chobanian’s bill will change the situation in the Ukrainian crypto market. It will establish proper regulation, which will ease suspicions about Bitcoin and incentivise companies and merchants to accept the currency as a payment option.
