Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council chief on Thursday announced plans to form a government working group to craft regulation on cryptocurrencies, citing a current legal vacuum over the swiftly developing market that "poses a threat to the economy and security of the state," according to The Financial Times.
The comments made by Oleksandr Turchynov come two weeks after an armed gang kidnapped and later released bitcoin businessman Pavel Lerner in what local authorities have dubbed as a "bitcoin kidnapping and extortion," The Financial Times said.
In a separate incident last December, Ukraine's SBU state security service claimed to have uncovered a "Russian citizen who organised a mechanism of money laundering with the use of cryptocurrency for transferring [illicit funds] to the Russian Federation," eastern regions controlled by Russian-backed separatists and "occupied Crimea."
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Summing up the need for action, Turchynov added: "Given the rapid development of cryptocurrencies in the world, this issue cannot be left out of the state's attention."