Ukraine Pushes for Membership in European Blockchain Partnership

Activists and lawmakers in Kyiv are urging the EU to accept Ukraine as a member of the European Blockchain Partnership. They believe the recently adopted law “On Virtual Assets” opens the way for the country to become a blockchain leader on the Old Continent.

Kyiv Officials Hope Blockchain Technology Can Help Post-War Reconstruction of Ukraine

Members of the “Virtual Assets of Ukraine” public union and Blockchain4Ukraine, an inter-factional association of Ukrainian lawmakers, are lobbying for Ukraine’s full membership in the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP). Representatives of the two organizations have urged EU institutions to allow their country to participate in the initiative.

Letters with the appeal have been sent to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the head of her cabinet, Bjoern Seibert, and Anthony Whelan, who works as a digital policy adviser to the executive body in Brussels, the crypto news outlet Forklog reported.

The authors of the correspondence say that blockchain technology can significantly contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine by facilitating the provision of cross-border services, after the military conflict with Russia ends. “EBP will accelerate this recovery, as well as support the further integration of Ukraine and the EU,” they have been quoted as stating.

Ukraine, a leader in terms of crypto adoption in Eastern Europe, was on the path of comprehensively regulating its crypto space when the Russian Federation launched its military invasion in late February. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, passed the bill “On Virtual Assets” earlier that month. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed it into law in mid-March.

The Ukrainian government has been relying on cryptocurrency donations to address defense and humanitarian challenges. The officials behind the initiative to join the EBP are also convinced the new legislation will allow Ukraine to become a “European blockchain leader” in the future.

Last summer, Bjoern Seibert announced that the EBP member states were ready to explore granting Ukraine observer status. However, the full membership, which the Ukrainians insist on, would link the country to the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) that provides access to broader cross-border electronic services.

Do you expect the EU to accept Ukraine as a full member of the European Blockchain Partnership initiative? Tell us in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’s quote: “Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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