Ukraine's crypto bill clears committee, taxes and licenses loom

Ukraine's crypto rulebook just cleared its first real hurdle. A specialized committee of the Verkhovna Rada approved draft law No. 10225-d, the bill that would regulate the country's virtual asset market. Twenty committee members raised their hands in favor, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak announced in a Telegram post.

The bill does three big things: it taxes crypto profits, forces market players to get licensed, and adds new shields for users. The National Securities and Stock Market Commission would run the show as the main regulator, while the National Bank of Ukraine keeps charge of electronic money, foreign exchange supervision and anything else already in its lane.

Exchanges, custody providers and other operators would need authorization to do business under the plan. It also sets rules for safekeeping customer assets, handling complaints and protecting users' rights, plus tighter financial monitoring and origin-of-funds checks.

Zhelezniak didn't sugarcoat the slog. He called it one of the most complex legislative processes of his career, with working group meetings piling up and a comparative table of amendments that ballooned to 1,301 pages. The final draft runs 264 pages, and the whole effort took roughly three years, according to tradersunion.com.

Lawmakers leaned on European Union best practices while drafting the framework. But Zhelezniak flagged that committee approval is only an intermediate step, with the final call belonging to parliament. A second reading is expected in November 2026, and if the bill is finally adopted, the rules take effect on July 1, 2027.

The committee vote lands as Kyiv tightens its grip on crypto flows it links to sanctions dodging. In October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sanctioned 28 individuals and 27 legal entities tied by authorities to Russian financial schemes. Earlier, Ukrainian law enforcement busted an underground crypto and cash exchange network and seized more than $15 million in assets.