Zelensky Withdraws Cryptocurrency Bill: Reasons Revealed

The Office of the President of Ukraine has blocked the consideration of a bill regulating cryptocurrencies in the country, as reported by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak on Telegram.

According to him, President Volodymyr Zelensky has withdrawn the document from consideration indefinitely.

“The bill disappeared from the Verkhovna Rada’s agenda after a meeting at the President’s Office. It was personally withdrawn by the president,” Zheleznyak stated, citing informed sources.

The MP believes that the head of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), Ruslan Magomedov, is manipulating the president’s opinion through the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak.

“He is the only state representative who had such significant objections to this bill that he demanded its withdrawal. The Ministry of Finance, financial monitoring, and the National Bank of Ukraine also have comments, but they are ready to submit them for the second reading without blocking the process. The Commission’s position is different — to withdraw the bill and do nothing,” Zheleznyak shared.

Among the objections to the document, Magomedov cited:

• non-compliance with MiCA — the definition of tokenized securities is not assigned to the capital market regulator, which will hinder European integration and “violates the principles of regulatory integrity in the capital market”;
• its text is not approved by the Financial Stability Council and Ukraine’s foreign partners;
• the bill contains provisions suggesting the automatic admission and operation of non-authorized service providers in Ukraine. This allegedly creates a loophole for Russian financial institutions registered in other countries.

Additionally, the head of the NSSMC demanded that the text be sent for evaluation by law enforcement agencies, particularly the SBU, to control sanction policies.

Zheleznyak called Magomedov’s arguments “manipulation” and “a super pass to the SBU and their cover-up of all illegal activities.”

He emphasized that the lack of cryptocurrency regulation harms the state, as it does not receive taxes, market representatives are “constantly visited by various law enforcement officers,” and the Web3 sector is not developing.

“We will fight for the bill, just as we did with the law on the Commission’s reform. We will find a way to make the authorities forget about their corrupt streams and properly adopt the text,” Zheleznyak added.

In April, the tax committee reviewed the “On Virtual Assets” bill and recommended it for the first reading in the Verkhovna Rada.

Earlier, ForkLog provided a detailed analysis of the document’s provisions.