The Ukrainian cryptocurrency industry faces new challenges as the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) demands financial statements from four local crypto businesses for the first two quarters of 2023. The request has raised concerns with the nation’s crypto companies.
The NBU has approached four prominent local crypto firms, namely Kuna, CoinPay, GEO Pay, and Qmall, to submit their financial statements within seven days. In addition to financial data, the NBU is also seeking information about the operating volumes and the movement of funds in the crypto businesses since the beginning of 2023.
Kuna Exchange Founder’s Reaction
Kuna exchange founder and CEO Michael Chobanyan conveyed the NBU’s request, citing a document shared by the Ukrainian Telegram news channel, Politics of the country. However, Chobanyan expressed uncertainty regarding the reasons behind the NBU’s latest action. He asserted that such information was never present in Ukraine before Kuna’s launch in 2015.
Furthermore, he revealed that recent actions by the NBU, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Security Service of Ukraine have led to a wave of searches in exchanges across the country, indicating a growing hostile stance towards the crypto industry.
The NBU’s measures have had a significant impact on Kuna exchange, with its CEO disclosing that the exchange had to leave its business-to-customer market in Ukraine in March 2023 due to what he called “predatory actions” by the NBU.
Consequently, Kuna’s trading volumes experienced a sharp decline of 90% over the past few months, following a previous loss of about 60% when it exited the Russian market after Feb. 24, 2022.
Opportunities Amidst Challenges
Despite the challenges posed by Ukrainian cryptocurrency industry, Chobanyan remains optimistic and sees potential benefits in the recent government action. He shared plans to focus on the European market, especially in the business-to-business (b2b) segment.
Additionally, Kuna recently launched a new crypto-acquiring service called KunaPay, with Chobanyan speculating whether the government’s actions were driven by the fear of this service’s introduction in Ukraine.
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