Ukraine’s losses from cryptocurrency exchanges have become known

The Bureau of Economic Security (BES) will check the activities of cryptocurrency exchanges whose beneficiaries are residents of Ukraine. This was announced by the new head of the agency, Andriy Pashchuk, in an interview with Forbes.

According to him, back in August, the regulator found out that over the past 10 years, the Ukrainian state budget has lost at least UAH 3 billion (about $ 81 million) in taxes due to the activities of crypto exchanges. These calculations are based on the use of analytical and search engines, as well as OSINT (open source intelligence) methods.

As a result of the inspection, the experts established the total turnover of cryptocurrencies by root wallets on exchanges and compared it with the declared income of owners and founders who have the status of a resident of Ukraine. Based on the data obtained, the analysts established the total amount of risky transactions and the amount of possible losses to the state budget. Currently, the BES is conducting a pre-trial investigation into the activities of persons involved in the cryptocurrency market.

As a reminder, in June it became known that Ukraine may legalize cryptocurrencies and introduce an 18% tax on investment income and a 1.5% military tax in the fall. The draft law by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) states that only investment profits will be taxed.

If the bill is passed this month, it will come into effect next year. According to Yuriy Boyko, a member of the NSSMC, the National Bank of Ukraine and the NSSMC will become the regulator of the cryptocurrency market in Ukraine.

In May, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Oleksandr Borniakov noted that for the full-scale launch of the bitcoin industry in the country, only the basic and most important EU crypto regulation MiCA (Market in Crypto Assets) should be adopted.

The main reason for the introduction of MiCA is that Ukraine needs to adapt its cryptocurrency legislation to the European market regulation, as it is a candidate for EU membership. To comply with European standards, the authorities have hired Ernst & Young, a Big Four audit firm.