Cryptos are ‘promising,’ but not assets in their purest form, says Ukrainian Minister

Ukraine’s newly-nominated Finance Minister is in the news today after he put forward plans to regulate the country’s domestic crypto-market. While the minister did express concerns with regard to doubts about what was “backing” crypto, he also stressed on what he called crypto’s “promising” trend.

In an interview

“Cryptocurrency is a promising story. The only problem is that I do not fully understand the nature of how crypto is being backed. [Backing] is provided only by the virtual demand of various industry players. It is not backed by an economy, production, assets, or capital. Unlike stocks, bonds, or derivatives, which are underpinned by collateral assets, [crypto] is not an asset in its purest form.”

Marchenko also went on to highlight the necessity of a “deeper understanding” of the crypto-market and the usage of tokens for “calculations” in the future since he’s no “cryptocurrency specialist.”

The Minister also underlined crypto’s emerging role in the market in light of its growth without state support, adding that the asset class is a “rather interesting and promising story.” Having said that, the government official further conveyed his doubts about cryptos and advised citizens to be careful when dealing with them.

“In terms of [crypto’s worth as] a [tool for] investment, an asset and a means of value storage – well, everyone should make their own decision on this front, at their own discretion.”

Ukraine had its fair share of crypto-related developments in the past couple of months.

Just recently, the country’s Finance Ministry, in conjunction with NAEC Energoatom – the state-run nuclear energy firm that manages Ukraine’s four active nuclear power stations – agreed to allow a constructor to build a mining center at the site of its Rivne-based station.

What’s more, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine picked the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) to develop its central bank digital currency project (CBDC), with both parties signing a “Memorandum of Understanding” to deploy Ukraine’s crypto-strategy.