Major cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Ukraine have temporarily suspended operations with Hryvna bank cards. This action was due to restrictions imposed by the country’s central bank, Binance and Kuna indicated in comments to the crypto media.
Ukrainians will no longer be able to trade crypto assets using their own currency cards
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and Kuna, Ukraine’s leading exchange, have announced a temporary suspension of operations with Ukrainian Hryvnia bank cards. Both trading platforms confirmed that issues related to such transactions.
Restrictions imposed by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) have restricted the processing of deposits and withdrawals in the country’s currency, a representative of Binance told crypto news outlet Forklog. The exchange advises traders to use the peer-to-peer market.
“Currently, input and withdrawal through fiat channels, i.e. bank cards and other payment services, is temporarily suspended among cryptocurrency exchanges across Ukraine,” the trading platformsaid in a telegram post on Thursday,Bits. media quoted.
“Regarding the Flivna card and input/output to the trading platform. Yes, it does not work … Simply put, we are looking for a way out of the situation under the threat of stopping the whole crypto/card UAH market in Ukraine,” Kuna founder Michael Chobanian saidon his Telegram channel.
On Friday, Chobanian suggested that the difficulties with non-cash hryvnia transactions may be related to Ukrainian authorities’ efforts against money laundering and tax evasion through online gambling sites.
He referred to recent statements by a Ukrainian deputy who claimed that sales of this kind amounted to 54 billion hryvnia (about $1.5 billion) annually. This deputy, Oleksiy Zhmerenetsky, later confirmed that he sees a connection between the two.
hryvnia regulation of exchanges, likely to affect crypto donations to war-torn Ukraine
The problems with deposits and withdrawals of hryvnia on crypto exchanges began last September, and since the end of December, the restrictions introduced by the Central Bank have become stricter, explained Chobanian. He elaborated further.
The NBU banned P2P and A2C trading for financial companies and all crypto exchanges operate through it, so as a result, everything is gone for them.
Chobanian believes that this regulation will cause reputational damage to Ukraine, a leader in crypto adoption in the region and beyond. He also believes that this situation will affect not only cryptocurrency donations, but also the activities of small and medium-sized businesses.
A recent report by Elliptic and Chainalysis, two blockchain information companies, found that since the beginning of R