In Ukraine, the number of cases where banks block individuals’ accounts due to suspicious financial transactions and the use of certain words in payment descriptions is on the rise. Ukrainian banks are actively responding to trigger words, such as “for crypto,” as well as to money transfers to brokers, exchanges, or through P2P transactions. Such actions are automatically recorded by specially configured software algorithms.
This is reported by Business • Media
Why Banks Block Ukrainians’ Accounts
The basis for such decisions is the resolution of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 65 on financial monitoring, which grants financial institutions broad powers to analyze financial transactions, block accounts, and close them without prior notice to clients. Most often, people find out about the restrictions only after attempting to access their own funds.
Lawyers highlight several main reasons for account blocking:
- Trigger words in payment descriptions, such as “for crypto,” “currency exchange,” “for goods/services” for private transfers, as well as “debt repayment” in the case of regular payments.
- Transactions involving cryptocurrencies: transfers or receipts of funds to exchanges, brokers, or other intermediaries that lack clear legal regulation in Ukraine.
- Discrepancies in the client’s financial profile, for example, a sudden increase in incoming funds without documentation or prior notification to the bank.
- Regular or numerous transfers from different individuals, which may indicate unregistered business activities.
- Frequent or atypical cash withdrawals, especially if the amounts exceed the limits set by the bank (from 10,000-20,000 UAH to 50,000 UAH and more).
- Lack of official documents confirming the source of income: banks may request certificates, declarations, documents regarding the sale of property, or inheritance receipts.
- Ignoring bank requests or providing incomplete or false information. For individual entrepreneurs, it is important to update tax declarations twice a year in the bank’s applications or online banking.
Automated Financial Monitoring and Risks for Clients
Today, banking software automatically analyzes all financial transactions and blocks access to accounts upon detecting risk criteria. Clients may not receive prior warnings about the block and may only learn about it after attempting to conduct a transaction. This applies even to those who do not violate the law but whose actions appear suspicious to banking algorithms.
According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, from July 2023 to July 2024, Ukrainians purchased bitcoins worth 882 million US dollars, indicating a strong interest in cryptocurrencies in the market.
“The main reasons for blocking are unverified sources of funds, discrepancies in the client’s financial profile, regular incoming funds from a large number of different payers, which banks interpret as unregistered business activity. Additionally, operations that exhibit signs of crypto activity (conversion of cryptocurrencies into fiat through P2P or unidentified intermediaries), as well as large one-time cash inflows without a prior history of similar transactions, can also be added.”
At the beginning of September 2025, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported a draft law on virtual assets in its first reading, which included over 2500 amendments. This indicates active efforts to establish a legal framework for cryptocurrency circulation, although full regulation is still a long way off.