The central bank of Ukraine has modified the fixed rate of the national currency in U.S. dollars, and additional restrictions on hryvnia transactions for people have been put in place. According to a representative of the local cryptocurrency industry, the steps are probably going to encourage more Ukrainians to use cryptocurrencies.
New regulations have been made by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in reaction to the country’s economy’s shifting fundamentals as a result of a protracted armed war with Russia. On Thursday, the monetary authorities put new restrictions on banking activities using the national fiat currency and depreciated the Ukrainian hryvnia by 25% versus the strong dollar.
Banks can only sell non-cash foreign currency to their clients per the new regulations for private people, which went into effect on July 21, provided the sums are deposited for at least three months with no provision for contract termination.
The previous weekly withdrawal cap of 12,500 hryvnias ($340) has been replaced with the last cap of 50,000 hryvnias. The fee for peer-to-peer transfers from Ukrainian bank-issued cards to other countries has been reduced from 100,000 hryvnias ($2,700) to 30,000 hryvnias ($800).
However, they have a significant impact on Ukrainians, particularly the millions of people who were compelled to flee and are now unable to do so.
According to Mikhail Chobanyan, the creator of the Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchange Kuna, the most recent NBU limitations may spark a boom in interest in cryptocurrencies among Ukrainians. 100,000 hryvnias is nothing in Europe, the businessman said.
Chobanyan, who characterized the central bank’s strategy as aggressive and warned that Ukrainian banks and the state budget will suffer, stated, “Now we will entirely move these flows to cryptocurrency.”
