The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation, and Customs Policy, Danilo Hetmantsev, reported that the National Bank of Ukraine and the State Tax Service have submitted numerous proposals regarding the cryptocurrency taxation bill. According to him, the preparation of the document for the second reading will take at least 2-3 months.
This is reported by Finway
Key Amendments and Position on Benefits
In September, the Verkhovna Rada approved the bill No. 10225-d in the first reading, aimed at regulating the taxation of virtual assets. Hetmantsev called this step significant for the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine, but noted that due to the large number of amendments, the document requires substantial revision. In particular, the National Bank submitted 300 pages of proposals, while the tax service provided an additional 50 pages.
“We received amendments from the National Bank on 300 pages, and from the Tax Service — 50 pages of proposals. This essentially indicates that we will need to rewrite the bill almost completely before the second reading,” the MP noted.
The main goal of the new bill is to legalize the cryptocurrency market, guarantee the protection of owners’ rights, and ensure the taxation of profits. At the same time, Hetmantsev emphasized that the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions should not be preferential, although the current version provides for a transitional personal income tax rate of 5% (plus 5% military tax). According to him, cryptocurrency transactions are already taxed under general rules — 23% of income.
Budget Losses and Future Status of Cryptocurrency
Hetmantsev is confident that the lack of regulation in the cryptocurrency market has already led to significant financial losses for Ukraine. Each year, according to his estimates, the state loses 15-16 billion UAH, which amounts to about 50 billion UAH over three years. This is also confirmed by a report from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI): in recent years, the country has lost at least $10 billion due to the absence of necessary regulation, and the market remains vulnerable to abuses.
The head of the finance committee reiterated that cryptocurrency in Ukraine will not become a legal means of payment, although exceptions may be defined by law for certain specific operations. In his opinion, the National Bank should act as the market regulator, as the National Securities and Stock Market Commission has not managed this function.
Danilo Hetmantsev also does not rule out the emergence of a cryptocurrency in the near future that will be issued by Ukrainian businesses or investors.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the final adoption of the bill may be postponed to the next parliamentary session, as the politician notes, the cryptocurrency market remains insufficiently understood by lawmakers, and quality preparation requires more time than is usually spent on approving similar documents.
“We are very afraid, to be honest, of ‘missing the mark,’ because the market is not sufficiently clear to us. […] But it is important to understand that regulating the market completely in 2-3 weeks, as we are used to doing with the adoption of some other bills, will not be possible for objective reasons,” he concluded.