CRYPTO LOANS WITH PERCENTAGE IN HRYVNIA. THE BITCAPITAL SERVICE DISGUISED A MICROCREDIT BUSINESS AS A CRYPTOCURRENCY, THE NBU SAYS. WHAT SHOULD TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS DO?

Oleksii Nekrasov comment for Forbes

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BitCapital is a service owned by a foreign company that specialized in issuing loans in the USDT cryptocurrency. However, as the NBU found, the loan was actually provided in the national currency, hryvnia, in violation of the legislation on the protection of financial services consumers. In other words, it can be said that BitCapital took advantage of the lack of legal regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Ukraine and, as a result, the lack of consumer knowledge about the specifics of such a virtual asset as cryptocurrency and deceived consumers by offering “draconian” loan terms in hryvnia. 

From now on, taking into account the NBU's position, consumers should file lawsuits to invalidate loan agreements and return the percentage paid (if any) as having been concluded as a result of fraud, and should also raise the issue of criminal liability of BitCapital, as their actions have signs of fraud. Lawsuits can be filed at the consumer's place of residence. We believe that the judicial prospects of such claims are quite high, as the NBU has already pointed out the illegality of concluding agreements and, consequently, charging huge percentage rates. This also applies to military personnel, who were not entitled to interest at all.

Unfortunately, consumers of such services are currently among the least protected, as on the one hand there is no clear state regulation of cryptocurrency, and on the other hand there are a large number of “financial institutions” that are guided by the public's ignorance and are actually engaged in collecting and extorting money.