Ukraine Weighs Putting Bitcoin in Its War Chest

When Russia's foreign reserves were frozen overnight in 2022, the lesson landed hardest in the country next door. Reserves parked in someone else's banking system can be switched off by that someone else. Ukraine, three years into a war it did not start, is now weighing a reserve asset with no such off-switch.

Draft law No. 13356, filed in June with eight cross-party sponsors, would let the National Bank of Ukraine include virtual assets — bitcoin foremost among them — in its gold-and-foreign-currency reserves. Among the sponsors is Yaroslav Zheleznyak, first deputy chair of the parliament's finance committee, a signal the bill is more than a backbench gesture.

Permission, not obligation

The bill's language is deliberately permissive. It would grant the central bank the right to hold bitcoin, while leaving the timing, method and volume entirely to the bank's discretion. Nothing would force a purchase; the law simply removes the legal barrier to one. Zheleznyak has stressed that framing — an option, not a mandate.

Procedurally it is early. The finance, tax and customs committee has been named lead rapporteur, with digital-transformation, budget, anti-corruption and EU-integration committees reviewing alongside. The draft awaits a first-reading recommendation before it can reach a floor vote, and no timetable has been set. Reporting also indicates Binance has been assisting Ukraine's reserve efforts, with figures as large as 40,000 BTC floated in discussions — numbers that remain aspirational, not budgeted.

Why a country at war wants it

The case is not a bet on price. It is a bet on control. A bearer asset held in the central bank's own keys cannot be frozen by a foreign government, cut off from SWIFT, or made conditional on a correspondent bank's cooperation. For a state whose adversary has spent years trying to sever it from the global financial system, an asset that needs no one's permission to move is strategically distinct from dollars sitting in another country's vaults.

Ukraine has form here. It legalized virtual assets in 2022 and has since advanced tax and market rules toward EU standards; a separate bill proposes an 18% income tax plus a 5% military levy on crypto gains. A reserve provision is the logical next rung: from regulating citizens' bitcoin to holding some as sovereign money.

Reserves you hold in someone else's bank can be switched off. That is the entire argument, and a country at war understands it better than most.

The counter-case

The objections are serious and worth airing. Bitcoin's volatility is a real hazard for a wartime budget that cannot afford a reserve line swinging 20% between quarters; a hedge against seizure is not a hedge against drawdowns. A permissive law also does nothing on its own — without an actual purchase and a custody plan, it is a statement of intent, and intent is cheap.

There is a governance wrinkle, too. Leaning on a large offshore exchange to help build a national reserve raises questions about custody, counterparty risk and independence that a country seeking EU accession will have to answer. And a reserve seeded by donation or discretion is not the same as one bought with a disciplined strategy. Ukraine has published the permission slip. Whether it ever fills in the amount is the part that matters.

Editor's note: Draft law No. 13356 is early-stage and permissive — it authorizes but does not require the central bank to hold bitcoin, and no purchase or timetable has been confirmed. The 40,000 BTC figure and Binance's involvement come from secondary reporting. Nothing here is financial advice.