Ukraine is expected to legalize crypto in early 2025 and its taxation will follow the model used for securities. This is according to the Head of the Ukrainian Parliament Committee for Finances, Tax and Customs Policy, Danylo Hetmantsev.

As reported by local outlet Ukrainska Pravda, a draft law on the taxing of virtual asset transactions in Ukraine was registered in the country’s parliament in November last year. The adoption of this document would mark a significant step toward the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine.

Speaking at a forum on domestic investment in Ukraine, Hetmantsev said, “If we’re talking about cryptocurrency, the [parliament’s] working group is finalizing a draft law for its first reading.

“I believe the text, developed in collaboration with the National Bank and the IMF, will be ready after the New Year. We aim to pass this law and legalize cryptocurrency in 2025’s first quarter.”

Read more: Michael Saylor says he’s paying bitcoin taxes, unlike ‘crypto-anarchists’

Hetmantsev also noted that crypto taxation will follow the model used for securities. In other words, profits will be taxed when assets are converted into currency.  

“In consultations with European experts and the IMF, we are taking a very cautious approach to using cryptocurrencies for tax exemptions, as it could potentially facilitate tax evasion in traditional markets,” he explained.

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The post Ukraine to tax crypto like securities when it becomes legal next year appeared first on Protos.

Pro-Ethereum conglomerate Consensys has announced a mass round of layoffs that its founder and CEO Joe Lubin has primarily blamed on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) “abuse of power” and “attacks.”

In a blog post announcing the 162 “right-size” job cuts — 19.5% of its 828 employees — Lubin also called out Congress for its “inability to rectify” Consensys’ legal woes.

The SEC is suing Consensys for several profitable business units that allegedly violate US law. In its June 28 suit, commissioners explained that Consensys’ Swaps feature of its MetaMask software acts as an unregistered broker that effects securities transactions on behalf of investors. Moreover, they say Consensys also sold unregistered securities through its MetaMask Staking.

Read more: SEC tries to expand crypto jurisdiction with Consensys lawsuit

For its part, the firm primarily argues that users control MetaMask software and do not rely on Consensys for these transactions. The SEC has counterargued in detailed court filings that the conglomerate’s suite of code, hosted services, nodes, relayers, and human-directed choices not only make MetaMask indispensable for many users but also demonstrate the company’s willful and profitable violations of law.

The main lawsuit is ongoing in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The next meeting is scheduled for November 20 to set a schedule for evidence discovery.

Consensys has already lost one lawsuit against the SEC

Consensys has failed in many of its attempts to fend off SEC enforcement. Earlier this year, it preemptively sued the SEC after it received a Wells Notice.

On September 19, a federal judge dismissed that attempt. Lubin had asked a Texan court to rule that ETH transactions were somehow not securities transactions because they involved ETH, prohibit the SEC from suing companies for using ETH, and bless its Ethereum-friendly MetaMask wallet. The judge declined all of Lubin’s requests.

Consensys previously laid off 100 of its then-900 workers in January 2023. In 2018, when the company had some 1,200 workers, a layoff affected approximately 600 workers.

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Nader Al-Naji, the founder of BitClout and Basis, is now the subject of a civil complaint from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that alleges that he raised more than $257 million in an unregistered security offering.

He has also been charged with a criminal count of wire fraud in the Southern District of New York. 

The SEC complaint focuses on the offering of BTCLT, the token for BitClout, which the SEC alleges is an unregistered security. 

The SEC highlights that Al-Naji marketed BTCLT as an investment, even comparing it to a “stock that allows you to own a piece of the platform.” Additionally, he communicated with investors in a way that suggested investments would increase in value, noting to one investor that “our most valuable partners should in at the ground floor” because if it raised the funds it expected to then “the protocol price will easily be 4-8x what it is now.”

Read more: SEC gives up on proving BUSD is a security

Al-Naji apparently believed that the appearance of decentralization was important to avoid the attention of regulators, noting in one communication that his “impression is that even being ‘fake’ decentralized generally confuses regulators and deters them from going after you.”

To maintain this alleged facade, Al-Naji apparently reached out to a law firm to procure an opinion that would state BitClout was not a securities offering. In order to get this law firm to produce this opinion, he had to claim that, “no funds were raised or will be raised to finance the development or upgrade of the network” and that he would not “promote or support listing or trading.”

Humorously, Al-Naji allegedly used the idea that “no funds were raised or will be raised to finance the development” to convince investors to provide funds to finance the development. Additionally, the complaint alleges that Al-Naji used $15 million of the raised funds to get BTCLT listed on Blockchain.com. 

The complaint further highlights that despite marketing claims that BitClout was decentralized, Al-Naji controlled the treasury wallet, used the proceeds from the sale of BTCLT for his own benefit, and controlled which investors would have access to the token. 

The SEC also says that Al-Naji claimed he would not use treasury funds to pay salaries for the team, but despite those assurances, he used the funds to pay developers and to enrich himself and his family, including:

• renting a mansion in Beverly Hills
• paying off credit cards
• giving out $2.9 million in cash gifts to his family members
• paying for his other cryptocurrency investments

Al-Naji’s wife and mother, as well as the DeSo Foundation, are also named as relief defendants due to the alleged transfers of funds to them.

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