Ukraine’s central bank has said it cannot back the current draft law meant to regulate virtual assets, arguing that the text in its present form could create risks for monetary sovereignty, financial stability and competition in the market.
The National Bank of Ukraine said it still supports the idea of setting rules for the country’s cryptocurrency sector and pointed to alignment with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. But it warned that the version prepared for a second reading in parliament contains problems significant enough to require revision.
NBU objects to the latest draft
According to the central bank, the legislation changed in ways that raised new concerns before the latest parliamentary stage. The NBU said the final text was delivered late and that several compromises previously discussed in a working group were removed from the version now under consideration.
That lack of transparency in the drafting process is one of the bank’s core objections. In its view, the way the bill evolved made it harder to preserve agreed safeguards in a law that could shape a sensitive part of the financial system.
Foreign token rules seen as too weak
A central issue for the NBU is how the bill would treat foreign virtual assets entering the Ukrainian market. The bank said the draft does not provide adequate oversight for those tokens, a gap it believes could affect monetary policy transmission and the stability of financial infrastructure.
The central bank also warned that the proposed framework leaves room for issuers to avoid obligations that would apply to domestic tokens. In practice, it said, that could produce unsupervised parts of the market and open the door to regulatory arbitrage, with participants choosing the lighter regime instead of complying with stronger standards.
Competition concerns around trading platforms
The NBU also criticized provisions affecting market structure. It said the final draft would give the National Securities and Stock Market Commission discretion over how many trading platforms may operate during the next five years.
In the bank’s assessment, the bill does not contain sufficient protections against anti-competitive outcomes. It has called for clearer and more transparent authorization rules, arguing that the framework should prevent monopolization rather than leave room for it.
What the central bank wants changed
The NBU urged lawmakers to revise the text before moving forward. Its recommendations focus on stronger supervision, fewer corruption risks and rules for foreign tokens that match the governance standards applied to domestic ones.
At the same time, the central bank said it remains ready to work on a regulatory model that allows innovation in the crypto market without weakening the hryvnia or undermining national economic security. The next confirmed step is further legislative revision as parliament considers whether the bill can be reshaped for second reading in a form the NBU can support.
Source: news.bitcoin.com