Ukraine’s Largest Bank Suspends Money Transfers to Crypto Exchanges – Transfers of national currency to digital asset exchanges have been temporarily suspended by Privatbank, Ukraine’s largest commercial bank. The financial firm justified the move by citing the country’s central bank’s restrictions imposed as a result of the country’s ongoing martial law.
Privatbank, Ukraine’s largest bank by assets, has prohibited its customers from sending payments in Ukrainian hryvnia, the country’s fiat currency, to cryptocurrency exchanges. On March 16, a temporary ban was implemented.
The measure derives from a resolution provided by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Feb. 24, the day Russia launched its armed invasion of the nation, according to a statement quoted by the crypto news outlet Forklog.
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The document controls the operation of the banking system under martial law and introduces tighter requirements for bank operations, despite the fact that it does not directly reference crypto-related activities.
Cash withdrawals, for example, were capped to 100,000 hryvnia (about $3,400) every day, and the hryvnia’s exchange rate was fixed.
According to Privatbank’s notice, banks are prohibited from doing cross-border currency transfers on behalf of clients in Ukraine. The bank went on to say that transferring funds for use on bitcoin exchanges is no exemption.
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Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, had also confirmed the news of Privatbank’s decision regarding hryvnia deposits, according to the report. Users are being warned that other banks may follow suit, and are being advised to use peer-to-peer trading instead.
In the face of advancing Russian soldiers and mounting humanitarian needs, Ukraine has been taking cryptocurrency donations to pay its defense efforts. Despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approving the country’s new “On Virtual Assets” law this week, the prohibition remains in place.
