A bill has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada to rename the "kopek" to "shah"

A bill to rename Ukrainian coins from "kopiika" to "shah" has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, UNN reports.

Reasons for renaming the kopeck

The explanatory note to draft law No. 140993 states that the 1996 monetary reform, which experts call one of Ukraine's most successful achievements since independence, laid the foundation for the functioning of Ukraine's own and identical national currency – the hryvnia, but at the same time failed to definitively break the connection with Russian traditions of monetary circulation.

As a result, in Ukraine's monetary circulation, even 34 years after the declaration of independence, there is a denominator that still unites our country with Russia – this is the name of the small coin "kopiika", which is enshrined at the legislative level.

The bill states that in the context of large-scale Russian aggression, replacing kopecks with shahs is an important and necessary step, because today kopecks remain in circulation only in states hostile to Ukraine. Of the 15 countries that were part of the USSR, the kopeck remained only in three: Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and also in the so-called "Transnistria". To ignore this fact is to maintain a connection between Ukraine and hostile narratives.

Instead, the return of the name "shah" for the modern small coin of Ukraine will serve to restore historical justice and de-Sovietize monetary circulation.

The authors of the bill state that by the 30th anniversary of the monetary reform and the introduction of Ukraine's own monetary unit, which will be celebrated in 2026, it is time to finally cleanse Ukraine's monetary sovereignty of the slightest kinship with anything Russian and post-Soviet and change the name of small coins from "kopiika" to "shah", enshrining in Ukrainian legislation the specifically Ukrainian name for one hundredth of a hryvnia.

How the renaming of the kopeck to shah will take place

The bill states that after the National Bank introduces small coins of the denomination

50 shahs, there is no immediate withdrawal of 50 "kopiika" small coins from circulation, as of September 1, 2025, there are 1.4 billion pieces of coins of this denomination in cash circulation. At the same time, the planned volumes of production of small coins of this denomination for 2025 are 20 million pieces.

The bill "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the De-Sovietization of the Name of Ukraine's Small Coin" also proposes to establish that:

• the procedure and terms for withdrawing the "kopiika" small coin from circulation, as well as the procedure for conducting settlements during the simultaneous functioning of the "kopiika" and "shah" small coins in circulation, are determined by the regulatory acts of the National Bank;

• the ratio between the "kopiika" small coin and the "shah" small coin is 1:1."

It is proposed that coins of the new and old design will circulate in parallel. Accordingly, according to the National Bank's estimates, there will be no additional costs associated with the disposal of 50 "kopiika" coins and the production of 50 shah small coins to replace them. The costs associated with the production of 50 "shah" small coins are operating costs in accordance with their planned production volumes for 2025.

In addition, it is noted that the National Bank does not foresee additional production or organizational and technical costs associated with the production of small coins of a new design, as the same equipment will be used while maintaining the mass-dimensional characteristics, color, and metal of the blanks.

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Addition

Last year, the National Bank of Ukraine proposed to replace the name of Ukrainian coins "kopiika" with "shah" to restore historical justice.  

The Institute of National Memory supported the renaming of kopecks to shahs.