Ukraine's central bank refuses to back the crypto bill heading for a second reading, warning of risks to monetary sovereignty

Ukraine's central bank has come out against the country's latest crypto bill. The National Bank of Ukraine said it will not back draft law No. 10225-d in its current form and wants lawmakers to revise it before a final vote, CoinDesk reported on Thursday. The bank said the market's development "should not create threats to monetary sovereignty, price and financial stability."

The bank says it supports crypto rules based on the EU's MiCA framework and IMF recommendations but that the bill lacks key safeguards. It received the final version late on Tuesday, shortly before a parliamentary committee approved it for a second reading, and called the drafting process "not sufficiently transparent."

Its concerns include foreign-issued tokens that could enter Ukraine without supervision at home, some of which could function as e-money; it wants the same power to assess and restrict them that it has over Ukrainian-issued ones. It accepted a compromise limiting the market at first to three competitively selected trading-platform operators, but objects that the final draft leaves the number during the first five years to the securities regulator, the NSSMC, which it says raises concentration and corruption risks.

On tax, the original draft proposed 18% personal income tax plus a 5% military levy. The updated bill sets a 5% transitional rate for existing crypto assets through the end of 2028 and exempts crypto-to-crypto trades. Ukraine's 2022 virtual assets law never took effect.