Overview of the Blockchain Industry of Ukraine
The Ukrainian Blockchain Association (BAU) have released an Overview of the blockchain industry in Ukraine. This overview describes the stages of the formation of the industry and community, analyzes the companies operating on the market and looks at the areas in which they provide solutions. As part of the overview, the Association analyzed the level of business comfort with blockchain and the regulation of blockchain and cryptocurrency industries in Ukraine, as well as the expectations of market participants.
Blockchain technology is gaining popularity all over the world — the world’s leading banks, governments and global corporations are considering the prospects of applying the technology in various fields, from financial technology to registries and logistics. In the meantime, companies in the blockchain field offer new solutions and test products on real-life cases. Ukraine is no exception — the blockchain industry in the country is represented by companies in different fields of expertise, who interact with each other and form a small, but productive ecosystem.
As noted in the Overview of the blockchain industry in Ukraine, the formation of the community and system initiatives that focused on the development of the industry in Ukraine began in 2014 with the opening of Satoshi Square, the first in the CIS Bitcoin embassy and Bitcoin Foundation Ukraine. During this time, several people worked at the Bitcoin embassy, while enthusiasts and experts exchanged ideas at meetings in the square. Today, the amount of information and educational content created in Ukraine about blockchain and cryptocurrencies is huge, events are held every week, while community and other interested people can meet at the new physical location Blockchain Hub Kyiv.
According to the survey, the biggest group of companies were founded in 2017–32%, 20% in 2016, 14% in 2018, 12% in 2015, 8% in 2014 and 8% before 2014. Most companies’ founders come from development and programming backgrounds, or finance and investment, as well as cryptography and cryptocurrency, which indicates a strong expertise amongst the founders of the companies.
“Now is the moment when the hype around Bitcoin for $20k has already passed, and blockchain companies appear like mushrooms after the rain and I want to say that this is good! We are all on the threshold of a new technology that is developing smoothly. The bear market has hardened all of us, and it showed who is in the industry for more than just quick money, which means that the hardest part begins — bringing this whole blockchain machine to a bright future,” — Sergey Vasilchuk, Attic Lab CEO.
Today in the blockchain industry in Ukraine there are about a hundred companies and projects, of which more than half were included in the review. It is worth noting that the company’s presence in the Ukrainian market does not mean its registration in our country, but marks its interconnection with other market participants and the placement of the majority of their team in our country.
According to Roman Kravchenko, CEO 482.solutions, Ukraine is, according to a number of indicators, optimal from the point of view of the benefits of the location of R&D centers for technology companies. This is facilitated by a fairly high level of engineering and mathematical higher education, great scientific personnel and mental models, in general, which are developed to solve non-standard problems and tasks. All this is further stimulated by the difficult economic situation, which encourages more and more people to choose IT as a profession. “In these favorable conditions in Ukraine, an extensive crypto community emerged that has every chance to become a bridge for connecting the markets of Western and Asian capital and innovation. The key task is to unite us, as a fragmented community into a single ecosystem and ideological platform with global goals and ambitions,” — Roman explained.
The most extensive areas in the blockchain industry of Ukraine, represented by the largest number of companies, are the development and creation of products and platforms, whilst the third largest area by number of companies is occupied by financial services. Fewer companies are involved in the public sector, investment, law, media and education sectors. Individual companies include trading, mining, analytics, security, gaming, marketplace, locations and marketing companies. The review includes the largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
As for cryptocurrencies and virtual assets, they still do not have a special status in Ukraine,as noted in the overview by members of the Association, the law firm Juscutum. According to the Joint Statement of Financial Regulators on the Status of Cryptocurrencies in Ukraine, the notion “cryptocurrency” and regulation of operations connected with it do not fall under any of the current regulatory regimes. At the same time, several regulatory attempts were made, and in particular, several bills were registered in Parliament aimed at ending the regulatory vacuum in the field of virtual assets, and the Ministry of Economic Development tried to initiate the approval of its own concept of state policy regarding virtual assets. Hence, although all attempts at regulation have not yet succeeded, the use of virtual assets is not prohibited or limited by the state, so Ukraine can be considered as a jurisdiction with a neutral approach to the virtual assets.
“We see Ukraine going along with modern technologies and global changes. To implement this, we need to work to improve the conditions for doing business and to implement innovations and form an audience, thereby preparing the ground for digital transformation, by training developers and specialists who will create solutions and implement them. These are not fast complex processes, but they are necessary, and we are working on them with members of the Association,” — said Michael Chobanyan, Founder of Kuna Exchange and President of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine.
Today, the Association includes Kuna Exchange, 482.solutions, Attic Lab, Pandora Boxchain, Axon Partners, Juscutum and Dreamteam. BAU is an organization that coordinates and implements ecosystem projects for the development of industry and education with a wide audience on the subject of understanding blockchain technology and the nature of cryptocurrency.
