Ukrainian officials bought around $7 million in Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies in 2017, spending more on them than on any other type of asset, according to the Ukrainian investigative organization BIHUS.info, which studied Ukrainian officials’ electronic declarations of assets for last year.
Odesa City Council deputy Dmytro Fisinchuk, obtained 7,700 Bitcoins in August, paying Hr 58 million, or about $2 million for the cryptocurrency. This is the record amount of money spent on cryptocurrency in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Fisinchuk, of the Doviryai Spravam party, who goes by the name of Palpatine, officially earned about $7,300 in 2015. He didn’t declare his official salary in 2017.
The second place went to Odesa City Council deputy Denys Gryhoryev, a member of Petro Poroshenko Bloc, who bought cryptocurrency this year in November. He spent Hr 31 million, or $1.1 million, buying Bitcoins.
The Kyiv Post reached out to both Gryhoryev and Fisinchuk (Palpatine) for comment, but has not received a reply. At the same time, it is impossible to verify if those who have declared cryptocurrencies actually own them.
The next most popular asset bought by officials is real estate, although they spent much less on it – only $236,000 million. Meanwhile, officials spent $57,000 million on luxurious watches.
Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies are virtual money, and while they don’t exist physically, they are reckoned to be worth more than oil and gold. Cryptocurrency transactions take place anonymously and without the involvement of third parties such as banks.
They are mostly unregulated by the world’s governments, but due to the anonymity they offer they are suspected to be used by criminals to buy weapons and drugs, and to fund terrorism.
The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by Ciklum. The content is independent of the donors.
