The inability to cashless hryvnia operations on exchanges is potentially linked to anti-money-laundering and tax-evasion efforts in the gambling sector. ForkLog reported this in a comment by Mikhail Chobanian, founder of the Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna.
According to him, the problem of depositing and withdrawing hryvnia on trading platforms began around September 2022, and by the end of December the restrictions had tightened.
«NBU banned P2P- and A2C-operations by financial companies, and because all crypto exchanges operate through them, the latter lost access as a result», said Chobanian.
He did not specify concrete reasons for such restrictions, but cited a post by MP Alexey Zhmerenetsky about the annual laundering of 54 млрд гривен through a shadow gambling industry. Part of this amount, according to the deputy, is withdrawn through digital assets.
In a ForkLog comment, Alexey Zhmerenetsky confirmed the link between the fight against illegal gambling and restrictions on crypto exchanges.
«Crypto has nothing to do with this at all; it is only tangentially involved. But when the entire market was shut down, crypto also shut down because it used the same mechanisms», added Mikhail Chobanian.
He also called the outcome of this crackdown a new NBU regulation concerning the re-licensing of financial service providers in the country.
According to Kuna’s founder, the P2P market in Ukraine will remain in a pared-down form, but he does not yet see grounds for a complete ban on person-to-person exchange operations between private individuals.
«We will have to deal with P2P, or completely resort to cash. I forecast that a variety of alternative channels outside Ukraine will begin to emerge, converting to the currency at the NBU rate,» he forecast.
Overall, Chobanian believes the new NBU restriction will inflict significant reputational damage on Ukraine, which in 2020 held a leading position in the global cryptocurrency adoption index by Chainalysis. It will also affect the activity of local small and medium-sized businesses and crypto donations.
He added that in light of the new restrictions the Kuna-founded exchange intends to pivot toward European users.
As ForkLog went to press, the National Bank of Ukraine had not provided a comment.
As previously reported, since 16 March 2022 PrivatBank has temporarily prohibited its clients from заводить гривны на криптовалютные биржи. The restriction is tied to the NBU’s decision and applies during martial law.
Monobank told ForkLog UA at the time that cross-border transfers were restricted, but within Ukraine, hryvnia operations should not pose any difficulties.
At the end of April, the NBU, aiming to reduce capital outflows from the country, restricted cryptocurrency purchase operations to up to 100,000 hryvnias per person per month.