A rising variety of officers in Ukraine are investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) whereas the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether (USDT) is the preferred retailer of worth among the many digital belongings of their possession.
Declarations of presidency staff reporting crypto holdings have greater than doubled for the reason that starting of Russia’s full-fledged invasion of the nation three years in the past. In line with a brand new research, such filings have elevated by 10% solely in the middle of the previous 12 months.
Over 2,000 Ukrainian officers declare crypto belongings in 2024
Ukrainians working for the federal government are more and more reporting cryptocurrency holdings on annual declarations required by nationwide regulation. 2,113 such filings have been registered in 2024, the crypto information outlet Forklog unveiled, quoting a just lately revealed research.
In line with the knowledge gathered by the general public registry information monitoring service Opendatabot, the variety of crypto declarations filed final 12 months was 2.2 occasions larger than earlier than the beginning of the full-scale warfare with Russia in early 2022, confirming a rising pattern.
In 2024 alone, declarations mentioning cryptocurrency elevated by 10% over the earlier 12 months – 1,917 had been filed in 2023. The quantity jumped from 960 in 2021 to 1,481 in 2022, the 12 months when the armed forces of the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine by land, air and sea.
The report reveals that the USD-backed stablecoin Tether, listed in a bit greater than 6% of the declarations, has been the preferred alternative final 12 months. In the meantime, Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, comes second with 5.5%, adopted carefully by Ethereum at 5.4%. One other 3.1% of the officers hold cash in XRP and a pair of.4% have invested in DOGE.
“Officers most regularly declare Tether (USDT), with 802 authorities staff reporting holdings. Regardless of market fluctuations, Bitcoin (BTC, XBT) stays in second place, showing in 731 declarations. Ethereum (ETH) follows carefully, declared by 713 officers,” Opendatabot detailed.
Prime talked about cryptocurrencies in officers’ declarations. Supply: Opendatabot.ua
Ukraine cops most lively in declaring crypto holdings
Officers from regulation enforcement companies account for the biggest share of filed crypto itemizing declarations, the authors of the research discovered. With 322 filings, 15% of the overall, the Nationwide Police of Ukraine leads the chart, adopted by the Prosecutor’s Workplace with 240 crypto homeowners, or greater than 11%.
An identical variety of declarations have been submitted by representatives of the judiciary, 227. Of the women and men serving within the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU), 77 declared proudly owning cryptocurrency. Crypto holders working for the Nationwide Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU) had been solely 38.
When it comes to geographical distribution, the Ukrainian capital metropolis and the encircling Kyiv area lead with 582 and 185 officers having digital belongings of their wallets, respectively, adopted by Kharkiv Oblast with 172. The areas of Dnipropetrovsk, 167 declarations, and Lviv in Western Ukraine, with 133, are within the high 5 as nicely.
Opendatabot has listed a number of the authorities officers with the biggest declared crypto holdings. Amongst them is Oleg Bondarenko, head of the parliamentary Committee on Environmental Coverage, who owns 80 BTC valued at 279.4 million Ukrainian hryvnias (practically $6.8 million) as of April 1, 2025.
Chief amongst Ethereum traders is Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Maizel along with his 200 ETH, value 15.5 million hryvnia, (over $376,000). Vitalii Brovko, who heads a division on the Prosecutor Common’s Workplace, has declared 847,908 USDT or round 35 million in Ukrainian fiat (virtually $850 million).
“Some former officers reported shedding entry to their holdings,” the info monitoring service famous. These embrace Roman Saramaha, who had over 380 BTC when he was deputy head of the State Geological Service again in 2021, and Ihor Osipov, a member of a district council in Odesa who claimed to have misplaced some 1,800 ETH that he had placed on his final declaration.
