A Ukraine government agency has just announced that it has no plans to regulate cryptocurrency mining in the country, according to local news portal CryptoRussia.ru.
The State Service for Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine made the announcement after a request to clarify the status of crypto mining by the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), an organization which promotes economic freedom and efficient regulations in the country.
As Bitcoin News reported recently, Ukraine has seen increased activity recently in its cryptocurrency industry. In 2018, numbers of enthusiasts have significantly risen with a staggering 72% of citizens asked, at least aware of cryptocurrency basics, with only 5% having not having heard the word cryptocurrency.
Along with up to 95,000 Ukrainians owning some kind of cryptocurrency, crypto mining has become another significant factor of cryptocurrency activity in Ukraine with a recorded USD 80 million invested in this area.
But miners are apparently keeping a low profile, according to BRDO official Igor Samokhodski, due in part to the unpredictability of government reactions to cryptocurrency and the risks of major fines being handed out to exchanges, possibly even having their mining equipment confiscated.
According to local news source BitNovosti, recent comments by the government have indicated that it supports the idea of including crypto mining into the ‘Classifier of Types of Economic Activity’. Minister of Development and Trade of Ukraine, Stepan Kubiv stated:
“Such an addition to the Classifier will allow us to solve the problem of crypto mining market decentralizing, attract additional revenues to the state budget, reduce skilled personnel outflow and relieve the pressure on [the] crypto community.”
Ukraine still hasn’t endorsed legislation to legalize cryptocurrencies despite increased activity in the country’s crypto space; legislation talks which are reported to be looking at blockchain and the storage and trading of cryptocurrencies are long awaited by exchanges and miners.
In an unusual backstory to the government’s current stance on mining, not to mention an embarrassment to officials working on the current plans to regulate cryptocurrency, it was reported recently that employees of the National Police of Ukraine had reportedly set up a cryptocurrency mining farm at the Rivne Oblast regional police headquarters’ communications department, and mined cryptocurrencies for four months before they were caught.
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