Belarus banks should use more crypto
Because the country is hard-hit by sanctions, leader Lukashenko—no longer recognized as legitimate by the West—presses Belarusian banks to use more crypto.
Because the country is hard-hit by sanctions, leader Lukashenko—no longer recognized as legitimate by the West—presses Belarusian banks to use more crypto.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly urged the country's banks to expand crypto usage. The reason: the sanctions have dealt a heavy blow to the economy.
During a meeting, Lukashenko told leaders of the Belarusian central bank and commercial banks that the use of digital tokens should be expanded. That was reported by Belarus's state news agency on Tuesday.
“In the past five years, the national economy and the Belarusian banking sector have faced unprecedented challenges,” Lukashenko said. “The government and the National Bank have received the necessary instructions. Now they must act.”
Lukashenko’s latest initiative comes a few days after he urged lawmakers on Friday to set clear rules for the crypto market. The country’s economy has contracted due to declining exports amid EU and U.S. sanctions over support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Cryptocurrencies could help Belarus bypass the sanctions. Projections show the total number of crypto users in Belarus in 2026 will exceed 855,000, in a country of 9.1 million.
Lukashenko claims that all active exchanges in the country, such as Binance, OKX and KuCoin, are well on track to double the number of external payments by year-end.
“Today, crypto-based transactions are more active than ever, and their role in facilitating payments is growing,” he said.
“In the first seven months of this year, the volume of external payments via crypto exchanges was $1.7 billion. Experts say it could reach up to $3 billion by year-end.”
In September last year, Lukashenko signed a law banning individuals from buying and selling crypto outside Belarusian exchanges.
An adviser to Putin said yesterday that the U.S. would like to unwind its debts with a “crypto cloud.”
