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Belarus boosts the economy by confiscating millions of dollars in crypto

TL;DR

  • The Belarusian government has managed to master the seizure of digital currencies.
  • The government has already seized millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency.
  • Earlier this year, the Belarusian government enacted a new law that allows the authorities to seize digital currency assets.

Dmitry Gora, the director of Belarus’ investigative committee, told the country’s top officials that they are having a problem with how to seize cryptocurrencies. The digital assets were first used in drug trafficking and then in economic crimes. According to Gora, law enforcement needs to discover a mechanism to confiscate digital assets. They have also confiscated crypto worth a couple hundred million Belarusian rubles.

As an ally of Russia, Belarus legalized a wide range of crypto activities in May 2018 through a presidential decree. The goal was to boost the country’s digital economy. The doc introduced tax discounts and other incentives for crypto entrepreneurs operating in Minsk’s Hello-Tech Park (HTP).

The presidential decree on crypto laws

During a speech in March 2021, President Alexander Lukashenko said that he would tighten the country’s crypto laws, citing China as an example. As a result of the HTP officers’ claims, the Belarusian government later stated that it had no intention of enforcing tighter trade regulations. Additional reforms proposed by the finance ministry would allow investment funds to gain digital property.

The Ministry of Justice permitted the seizure of digital assets money as part of enforcement procedures in April of this year. In February, Lukashenko issued an executive order directing the creation of a special register for cryptocurrency wallets used for illegal purposes.

Superior subordinates,” according to Dmitry Gora, referred to cryptocurrencies as “digital rubbish. Gora stated that the government was seeking monetary compensation to make up for the devastation they had caused.

Let’s look at some simple ways to make money from garbage. I’m not allowed to get into specifics, but we’ve figured out how to accomplish

Dmitry Gora

some procedures allow the country to deal with such issues quickly and effectively.

According to Gora, law enforcement officials have discovered that public and private entities are taking part in the investigation. Therefore, funds in the Investigative Committee’s accounts are in excellent, regular cash.

Belarus’ Justice Ministry controls the seizure of digital coins

According to the cryptopolitan, Belarus’ Ministry of Justice established a legal framework for confiscating bitcoin funds back in April. With this move, President Alexander Lukashenko was following through on the order he issued about the country’s crypto space. 

The Belarusian president signed it in February, ordering the formation of a separate register for cryptocurrency wallet addresses used for illegal reasons.

The justice ministry also stated that the authorities would account for the seized or forfeited digital assets’s money in charge of the criminal proceedings. Also, they can seize digital assets as part of a debtor’s property confiscation in a document dated April 14, which also governs their valuation.

The ministry gave the Minsk government three months to implement Lukashenko’s latest crypto-related decree, which would become effective.

Presidential decree reform aims to boost the country’s digital economy

With a presidential decree signed in late 2017 and put into effect the following May, Belarus allowed a variety of crypto operations. In an effort to boost the country’s digital economy, it granted tax discounts and other incentives for digital asset firms working in the Hi-Tech Park (HTP) in Minsk.

The former Soviet republic, a strong Russian ally, still prohibits cryptocurrency usage in payment transactions. Despite this, according to Chainalysis’ Crypto Adoption Index, Belarus is the third most crypto-adopting country in the area. It is because of the country’s active peer-to-peer market.

In March of last year, Lukashenko hinted at a future tightening of the country’s crypto legislation linked to China’s policy. It gradually became clear that the Belarusian government would not implement stronger regulations for the business. The Ministry of Finance also suggested reforms in February of this year to allow investment funds to purchase digital assets.

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Nellius Irene

Nellius Irene is a cryptocurrency investor and journalist who has been in the nascent space since 2018. She has researched and written on several crypto-related topics including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), fundraising, mining, etc. Her major focus is covering regulatory events that are capable of shaping the entire crypto ecosystem.

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