Ukraine Probes Local Crypto Exchanges for Tax Evasion

• Unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges in Ukraine have resulted in an approximate loss of $80 million in uncollected taxes.
• Ukraine's Economic Security Bureau (ESB) is investigating local cryptocurrency exchanges to address this issue.
• The ESB is using data services like Chainalysis and Crystal Blockchain to track cryptocurrency transactions and assess overall turnover within digital wallets.
• The investigation focuses on trading platforms with locals as beneficiaries, but specific details about the current stage of the pretrial investigation are not provided.
• Ukrainian crypto exchanges have accumulated approximately $445 million in trading fees over the past decade, with transactions involving Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether totaling more than $55 billion from 2013 to 2023.
• The issue of how these transactions should be taxed remains unresolved, leading to significant monthly tax revenue losses for the state.
• In 2022, Ukraine passed the "On Virtual Assets" legislation to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, but implementation has been delayed, causing confusion among the crypto community regarding retroactive tax obligations.

The article highlights the negative impact of unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges in Ukraine, leading to significant tax losses. The sentiment is primarily negative due to the loss of revenue and the confusion caused by delayed implementation of regulations.