Ukraine has been in all the Western media recently for President Trump related matters, but a recent article in Ligamedia has quoted Mikhail Fedorov, Digital Transformation Minister, as pointing to a move to regulate cryptocurrencies (translated version).
While cryptocurencies are not illegal in Ukraine (unlike in India which is seeing a "brain drain" as talent relocates out of that country), they have existed in a grey area. However, there seems a strong financial incentive behind Minister Fedorov's push:
People who [use cryptocurrency s]hould get out of the gray zone and start paying taxes
The Digital Transformation Minister has previously said he wants to digitize all government services within 5 years (translated version),which would require a substantial investment and overhaul of how the government interacts with citizens. The Minister said at his recent presentation:
[Registries m]ust be protected and defined
It will be interesting to track Ukraine's progress (with all the additional challenges they face with Russia and Crimea) with the progress of, say, Dubai's 2020 initiative, seeking to bring all government services onto blockchain by next year.
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