Under the new individual rules, banks can only sell non-cash foreign exchange to customers if they have deposited it for at least three months, without offering a termination clause.
The NBU initially reviewed the upper limit of 50,000 UAH for cash withdrawals from payment cards, and the weekly limit was 12,500 (340 U.S. dollars). It also reduced UAH 10,000 (approximately $200) to UAH 30,000 (about $800) for point-to-point transfers abroad on cards issued by Ukrainian banks. The hryvnia card cross-border settlement limit is $10,000 per month.
NBU Governor Kirill Shevchenko reiterated that all the measures taken since the beginning of the conflict are short-term, to facilitate economic survival.
Mikhail Chobanyan, founder of Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchange Kuna, said in a news blog that the new NBU restrictions could cause a surge in interest in digital currencies among Ukrainians. [We expect an increase in the sale and use of digital currencies. In Europe, 10,000 hryvnia is nothing," added the entrepreneur.
Chobanyan further pointed out that the new restrictions will make it difficult for volunteers to do their jobs, as most of the support is received through the use of Ukrainian bank cards.
[Now we will completely convert these cash flows into digital currency," Chobayan said, describing the central bank`s policy as aggressive and warning that Ukraine`s banks and state budget would be losers.
