Cryptocurrency in Ukraine: the law, the tax bill and the wait
In short. Ukraine passed a law legalising virtual assets in 2022, and it has never taken effect. The law starts only once parliament amends the tax code, and the bill carrying those amendments cleared its first reading in September 2025 and has waited between readings ever since. You can hold and trade crypto today without breaking any law. What you cannot do is get a Ukrainian licence or pin down your rate.
- PROPOSED RATE
- 18% + 5%income tax plus the military levy, on profit
- TRANSITIONAL RATE
- 5% + 5%for coins bought before the law starts
- COIN FOR COIN
- Not taxedthe bill leaves swaps outside the tax
- LICENSED MARKET
- Nonethe bill has not passed its second reading
- 2022 LAW
- Never in forceit waits on the tax code amendments
- LEGAL TENDER
- Nothe hryvnia stays the only legal money
A law that has waited four years
Parliament adopted the law on virtual assets in February 2022, weeks before the full-scale invasion. The president signed it, and it has never entered into force.
The law itself sets the condition: it starts once parliament amends the tax code to say how virtual assets get taxed. Those amendments never came. Ukraine has carried a complete legal framework for crypto for four years without it binding anyone.
The bill that would switch it on
Deputies registered bill 10225-d on 24 April 2025, and on 3 September 2025 they adopted it as a basis by 246 votes. Parliament has recorded no vote on it since.
The bill does two things. It rewrites the law on virtual assets, defining what a virtual asset is and requiring every service provider to hold an authorisation: exchanges, wallets, exchangers, custody, transfers and advice. It also rewrites the tax code.
Nobody has settled which body will supervise the market. The securities commission is working on the text for the second reading, the central bank has its own claim, and the IMF is providing technical assistance to both.
What the bill would charge you
Sell virtual assets for money and the bill takes 18% income tax plus the 5% military levy, so 23% of your profit.
A transitional rate softens the start. Coins you acquired before the law takes effect and sell inside the first year meet 5% income tax plus the same 5% levy. The bill wrote that window as calendar 2026, which the delay has already overtaken, so expect the dates to move when the text returns to the floor.
Exchanging one virtual asset for another produces no tax event under the bill. Poland and France work the same way, and Spain does not; for anyone who rebalances a portfolio, that clause decides more than the headline rate does.
Nobody licenses anything yet
Ukrainians have ranked among the world's heaviest crypto users for years, and owning crypto here breaks no law. The country still has no regulated market.
No Ukrainian company can obtain a crypto authorisation, because the body that would issue one has no legal basis to act. Ukrainians trade on foreign platforms instead, and the tax service applies general income rules to what it can see, without a framework built for the asset.
The central bank adds its own layer under martial law. It restricts hryvnia transfers abroad, and that reaches the card payments people use to fund accounts on foreign exchanges.
What this means if you are moving there
Treat every number here as a proposal, because none of them binds anyone yet.
Twenty-three percent with untaxed swaps would put Ukraine mid-table in Europe, and the transitional 10% is a real opening for anyone sitting on coins bought years ago. Against that, you cannot plan around a text that changes between readings, you have no domestic platform to use, and the version that passes may name a different supervisor with different reporting. The second reading is the thing to watch.
Allowed
- Own, buy and sell virtual assets: no law forbids it
- Trade on foreign platforms, which is where the market sits
- Expect swaps between virtual assets to stay outside the tax under the bill
- Follow bill 10225-d, which carries both the market rules and the tax rules
Restricted
- Obtaining a Ukrainian crypto authorisation, since no supervisor can issue one
- Treating the 2022 law as operative: it has never entered into force
- Planning around the bill's dates, which the delay past its own start has overtaken
- Paying in crypto as of right, since the hryvnia remains the only legal money
How the rules took shape
Parliament adopts the law on virtual assets. It never enters into force, because the tax code amendments it depends on never arrive.
Deputies register bill 10225-d, joining the market rules to the tax rules in one text.
Parliament adopts the bill as a basis, 246 votes in favour, and sends it to committee for the second reading.
The bill's own start date passes while it waits. The securities commission continues work on the text.
The second reading and the president's signature, after which the 2022 law can begin.
Worth knowing
In the first weeks of the 2022 war the country's official crypto wallets received about $100 million in donations; the single largest, $5.8 million, came from Polkadot founder Gavin Wood.
Common questions
Is crypto legal in Ukraine?
Owning, buying and selling it breaks no law. What Ukraine lacks is a working regulated market, because the 2022 law has never entered into force.
What tax will I pay?
Under the bill, 18% income tax plus a 5% military levy on your profit, with a transitional 5% plus 5% for coins bought before the law starts. None of it binds you until the second reading passes.
Do I owe tax when I swap one coin for another?
The bill leaves such exchanges outside the tax. Only converting into money creates the taxable event.
Can a Ukrainian company get a crypto licence?
Not yet. The bill would require every service provider to hold an authorisation, but no supervisor has the legal basis to issue one until it passes.
When will the rules take effect?
Nobody can say. The bill cleared its first reading in September 2025 and has waited for the second ever since.
Sources
Other countries
Updated 20.08.2026 · this is reference material, not investment or tax advice