Vladimir Pachesny, a member of the Virovsky Village Council, has found himself in the global headlines after an interesting declaration of his crypto investment and shareholdings became public.
Through an obligatory asset statement, Mr Pachensy declared 500 shares of the Tesla corporation and 124 BTC under his name.
And this comes after another lawmaker in Kyiv, Ukraine, found it hard to prove possession of her crypto holdings.
The Investment from Virovsky Village
According to media reports, Vladimir Pachesny is not only a member of the Virovsky Village Council but also its deputy.
The 36-year-old Ukrainian politician revealed that he owned 124 BTC which he acquired in February 2013. A value of which was 73,920 hryvnia at the time of purchase, a little over $2,800.
As of the time of writing, this once-laughable amount of $2,800 had grown to over $8.4 million.
Moreover, the local deputy also declared that he bought and owned 500 shares of Tesla in January 2019; a U.S. electric vehicle company that is worth remembering for holding, accepting and transacting in Bitcoin earlier this year.
This declaration was filed back in July 2021. But the local and international media has drawn attention to it only now.
Ukrainian Officials Declare Crypto Assets
Recently, crypto investments have been generating a heightened sense of interest among a peculiar group of investors, the politicians.
In 2020, the Ukrainian Parliament set a bill in motion to legalize and regulate cryptocurrency. The Bill laid down some neat ground rules for the cryptocurrency market, which existed in a grey area until then. Thus, it became mandatory for staff members in the state and local government to declare their crypto investments.
According to a report from April, it was revealed that the quantity of BTC held by government workers and politicians was 46,351 BTC. This stood at an equivalent worth 75 billion hryvnias at the time (more than $2.6 billion). And Mishalov Domitrovich, a member of the Dnipro City Council, was reported having the most extensive stash at 18,000 BTC.
In 2020, public officials admitted holding 46,351 Bitcoins and various other digital currencies like Ether, Litecoin, bitcoin cash and XMR. Opendatabot platform that monitors public registries in Ukraine provided this data and noted that the most significant number of crypto owners were working in city councils, the Ministry of Defense, and the National Police.
And since not all of the officials have been able to provide the necessary documents proving their control over the coins, the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) promised to look into the numbers.
Conclusion
Bitcoin and other flagship assets’ have turned many investors into millionaires with their gain in prices.
In the beginning, it seemed like the crypto industry didn’t stand a chance against the Fiat economic model, but some still put their money into it. Governments and tax authorities were also sceptical, and so there was nothing to declare.
But now, things are changing, and governments are finding ways to monitor crypto’s movement within its borders.