The Central Bank of Ukraine issued a resolution to suspend the foreign exchange market and operations with electronic money, as well as restrict the withdrawal of cash in local currency. The measure is part of the Martial Law decreed after the armed attacks by Russia on several cities in that country.
According to information broadcast this Thursday by local media, Ukrainian bank users will only be able to do cash withdrawals up to 100,000 hryvnia (UAH), the legal tender in Ukraine. The amount is equivalent to EUR 3,000 or USD 3,345.
The resolution explicitly mentions the suspension of the issuance of electronic money, as well as the replenishment of balances in digital wallets and any other form of electronic money distribution.
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Additionally, the issuing entity interrupted the foreign exchange market, therefore, banking users they will not be able to make cash withdrawals from their accounts in foreign currency. The statement clarifies that the sale of foreign currency to banks in exchange for local currency will be allowed. This implies that users will have to deal exclusively with Ukrainian cash.
And Bitcoin?
The text of the resolution does not mention transactions with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoindespite the fact that operations with these and other digital assets were legalized last year.
As CriptoNoticias reported, Ukrainians had been exchanging cryptocurrencies on a daily basis but there was no legal framework for this activity. It was even known that public officials from that country would be holding more than 46,000 bitcoins.
Earlier this month, a report by Elliptic revealed that Ukrainian defense and rebel groups received donations in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to finance their purposes.
As for Russia, the Executive has taken some steps to facilitate Bitcoin mining operations in that country and is working on a bill that legalizes its circulation as an investment instrument, despite the refusal of its monetary authority.
Could Russia be kicked out of the SWIFT system?
With regard to the launch of a Russian military operation on Ukraine, the President from the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, requested this Thursday to apply the so-called SWIFT sanction to Russiawhich would leave that country disconnected from the international payment system.
“I think the time has come to resort to much harsher sanctions than originally planned, and I am thinking in particular of the so-called SWIFT sanction, an international banking or financial network that would have led to the exclusion of the Russian Federation from the payment system. », declared the Czech president.
However, just a couple of days ago, a report of the EFE news agency pointed out that «EE. usa go unlikely to get Russia out of the Swift system in case of invasion of Ukraine. According to the information, although the White House assured to keep all the options on the table, it does not contemplate the expulsion of Moscow from the Swift system among the first sanctions.
