News date: 24 May 2024
Kostiantyn Kryvenko, Attorney at Law, Counsel at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, delivered a speech at the II White-Collar Crime Forum, held on 22 May 2024 in Kyiv. The event was organized by Yurydychna Praktyka Publishing House.
In his report entitled “The Greatest Cryptocurrency Crimes in the World”, Kostiantyn Kryvenko noted that Ukraine is one of the world leaders in the use of crypto-assets and ranked 5th according to The 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index world ranking. The lack of a legal framework in Ukraine for regulating this newest segment of the economy, however, has a negative impact.
As Kostiantyn pointed out, the adoption of the Law on Virtual Assets is a first step toward legalizing relevant legal relations between market participants, protecting their interests, and attracting investments. In connection with the adoption of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) by the European Union there is every reason to believe that Ukraine’s legislation will be adapted in accordance with this regulation.
“International practices show that cryptocurrencies are increasingly becoming both a target and method of committing crimes. In relation to the turnover of crypto-assets, there are three main categories of criminal offense: seizure of crypto-currency, money laundering, and use of crypto-assets as a method of payment for illegal products and services,” – Kostiantyn Kryvenko emphasized.
As part of the session, government officials and representatives of law firms discussed asset tracing, withdrawn assets and the difficulties in recovering them as well as issues involving international cooperation and tracing virtual assets.
The II White-Collar Crime Forum is a specialized event, serving as a platform for communication and exchange of professional experience between representatives of government agencies, business, judges and leading law firms, specializing in Criminal Law.