About two years ago, the Ukrainian government launched an electronic asset declaration system for all its civil servants. The e-declaration system currently in place aids in preventing corruption by giving the members of the public access to inspect public officials’ assets and incomes.
The execution of the mandate to declare personal assets was aimed at eradicating corruption. Interestingly, out of the 791, 872 civil servants that had declared their assets, about 652 included their digital assets. Remarkably, the rough estimate of those who declared their digital assets was found to be $2.67 billion worth of bitcoin as of today’s price. Most of the city officials that owned the cryptocurrencies are members of the national police, ministry of defense, city councils.
Only 3 public officials accounted for 60% of the digital assets
The record has it that Vyacheslav MIishalov, is officially the wealthiest crypto holder; he is a member of the Dnipro city council. Mishalov was said to account for 18,000 bitcoin, estimated at $1 billion, for the second year consecutively. In his custody, Petro Lensky, the first Ukraine’s embassy secretaries in Vietnam, followed him closely with 6,528 BTC. The third person in the row was Alexander Urbansky, deputy chairman of the Odessa regional council, who has 5,328 BTC.
An analytic data platform, Opendatabot, expressed that the number of civil servants in Ukrain investing in cryptocurrency is on the rise rapidly. It recorded that in 2018 just 71 officials acquired crypto; the number rose to 424 in 2019 and 2020, it totaled 653. 61% of the officials who declared their digital assets accounted for Bitcoin, 24% said they owned ether and other altcoins like Litecoin, Cardano, Stellar, and Bitcoin Cash.
A digital asset regulation law may arise
CoinDesk wrote an article about the youngest lawmaker in Kramatorsk. Rostislav Solod, a 19-year-old crypto millionaire. He had 185,000 Monero, which is about $24.5 million worth of the cryptocurrency. He made this known during his declaration of assets. With the rise in the number of individuals acquiring bitcoin and other digital currencies, Ukraine, considered to be one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency holders., is feasible to have digital regulation law enforced on it soon.
Currently, a digital asset regulation bill had been drafted. It is still undergoing hearing in the nation’s parliament. With the current rapid growth of crypto users, the bill has a strong chance of being passed as a law. The bill states that digital assets should not be considered legal tender in the country.
Speaking with the news spokesman, Solod admitted that he was not worried by the news at first. He said to him it was not a wrong move. He claimed that he used to see cryptocurrencies as an island in the sea where no sinful hand can reach, a platform that gives everyone total freedom to do whatever pleases them. He further said that he now realized, as a politician, that the bill will bring revenue into the country’s wallet.
