The Ukrainian government is requesting financial data from the domestic cryptocurrency sector.
Trading volumes on the Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna have shrunk 90% since March 2023 due to government policies, the CEO said according to the Bittimes.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) had demanded four local crypto firms, Kuna, CoinPay, GEO Pay and Qmall — to provide financial statements for the first two quarters of 2023. The NBU has demanded the crypto businesses to provide the financials within seven days.
Kuna founder and CEO Michael Chobanyan shared the news of this latest request from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on July 3, citing a document circulated by a Ukrainian news network.
Per the document, NBU asked the crypto firms to provide data on operational volumes and details about the receipt and transfer of funds.
The Ukrainian crypto companies have also been asked to issue statements for all accounts since the start of 2023.
According to The Bittimes, Kuna CEO Chobanyan subsequently confirmed the news on his own Telegram channel, hinting that the reasons for the latest action from the NBU are unclear.
“There is no such information in Ukraine and has never been,” argued Chobanyan, adding that searches taught him that back in 2015, before the launch of Kuna. He went on to say that the direction of the “so called” government is clear.
“Over the past two weeks, the first wave of searches in exchanges took place in Kiev and across Ukraine, which were triggered by the actions of the NBU, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Security Service of Ukraine. […] There will be more searches and exchanges,” said the Kuna CEO Chobanyan.
Chobanyan told Cointelegraph that Kuna exchange left its business-to-customer market in Ukraine in March 2023 due to “predatory actions” by the NBU.
“They are very consistent in killing the potential of my country in crypto and Web3 space,” said Chobanyan, noting that Kuna’s exchange volumes have shrunk 90% over the past few months. Previously, Kuna lost about 60% of its volumes when it had to leave the Russian market after Feb. 24, 2022, the CEO told Cointelegraph.
According to the report on the VOI website, although Ukrainian authorities are thought to be increasingly hostile to the crypto industry, Chobanyan is still seeing some advantages in the latest actions by the government.
“Now we are focusing on the European market and especially the b2b market,” he said. He added that Kuna recently launched the crypto acquisition service, KunaPay. “I don’t know if this is related to the fear that we will launch this service in Ukraine or not,” said Chobanyan.
“I thank NBU for stimulating me to become a successful European company than a typical Ukrainian player,” he added.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Eunice Anyango Oyule and Judy J. Rotich
