Dmitry Gora, the chairman of Belarus’ Investigative Committee, stated in an interview that the country had to deal with the problem of how to collect crypto when they were used in drug trafficking and afterwards in economic crimes. He went on to say that law enforcement officials had to figure out a means to capture such digital assets, and that they had previously seized cryptocurrency worth hundreds of millions of Belarusian rubles (millions of U.S. dollars).
Dmitry Gora then quoted his “advanced subordinates,” who said that cryptocurrencies were nothing more than “digital rubbish.” He remarked:
“Based on this, I set the task: our state needs money to compensate for the damage caused. Let’s think about how to make money out of trash. I will not go into details, but we have learned how to do it… There are mechanisms that allow us to deal with these issues, and quite successfully”.
A presidential decree that went into effect in May 2018 allowed numerous crypto operations in the former Soviet republic, which is a close ally of Russia. Within attempts to expand the country’s digital economy, the agreement proposed tax discounts and other incentives for crypto firms operating as residents of the Hi-Tech Park (HTP) in Minsk.
President Alexander Lukashenko warned in March 2021 that the country’s crypto rules would be tightened, citing China as an example. HTP officials, on the other hand, later stated that Belarusian authorities had no intention of enacting harsher regulations for the business. In addition, the finance ministry recommended changes that would allow investment funds to purchase digital assets.
The Ministry of Justice established a legislative mechanism authorising the seizure of crypto money as part of enforcement procedures in April of this year. It follows Lukashenko’s February edict, which mandated the creation of a separate register for crypto wallets used for illegal reasons.
Both government authorities and business groups are participating in the process, according to the law enforcement official. As a consequence, “the amounts that are already in the form of good, normal money are in the accounts of the Investigative Committee,” Gora stated.
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