Ukraine’s legislature has approved a series of amendments that permit the use of “virtual assets” as a legal form of payment, while also creating a clear method for anti-money laundering regulation.
A draft law on the prevention of funding crime and terrorism received a majority vote by the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s legislative body. According to the final version of the law published on Dec. 6, virtual assets are now considered to be a store of wealth and must be regulated as such for their potential use in financial crimes and money laundering.
The bill is aimed at making virtual assets and their providers, such as crypto exchanges, compliant with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “Trave Rule” which is set to go into effect in 2020.
Transactions under 30,000 hryvnias ($1300) will require the government to collect the public key of the sender, while larger transactions will necessitate verification from both the sender and receiver. Authorities will also need to be provided with identity verification, including the nature of the business relationship.
Virtual asset service providers (VASPs), will also share in the responsibility of transaction verification, providing authorities with information on traders when amounts exceed 40,000 hryvnias ($1,600).
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