Central bank approves two cryptocurrency banks to operate in Belarus

Officials in Belarus have registered two crypto banks to provide coin-related services as residents of the fintech hub in the capital Minsk. This is the first such move since the nation introduced the new type of entities that will combine cryptocurrency operations with traditional banking activities. Crypto credit institutions to launch operations in Belarus The Supervisory Board of the Belarus Hi-Tech Park (HTP) has approved the registration of the two crypto banks at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Alexander Turchin. The body convened to further the implementation of the presidential decree, which legalized the activities of such organizations, the hub’s press service announced Monday. The authorization, which was granted after the meeting, will allow the institutions to conduct operations with digital assets within the framework of the IT hub’s special legal regime. Anna Ryabova, head of the HTP Supervisory Board’s Secretariat, described the development as a “significant milestone,” noting it took over six months to establish the necessary regulations. “Today, two crypto banks are launching their operations in our country,” she stated, highlighting the extensive collaboration with the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) in that regard. They have already assembled teams of qualified specialists with practical experience in the crypto space and built the infrastructure needed to function properly, while undergoing technical and legal audits. However, the process is not over yet. In order to commence full-scale operations, the two entities still need to be added to the monetary authority’s registry of crypto banks, the announcement emphasized. Belarus pioneers crypto banking in its region Belarus’s long-term leader Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No. 19 “On Crypto Banks and Certain Issues of Control in the Sphere of Digital Tokens” on January 16, 2026, as reported by Cryptopolitan. Since then, the HTP and the central bank have adopted a number of specific requirements for this category of service providers, a list of permitted transactions, as well as accounting and reporting rules. All these are part of the comprehensive legal framework that will govern the activities of Belarusian crypto banks, which will be overseen jointly by the High-Tech Park and the National Bank. Thus, they will be subject to both the laws and regulations governing banks, financial organizations and non-bank credit institutions and the decisions of the supervisory board of the HTP in Minsk. The dual approach will improve the efficiency of the Eastern European nation’s financial market and diversify available instruments, according to Dmitry Kalechits, deputy head of the board’s secretariat. It should also create additional opportunities for protecting savings and conducting a wide range of financial transactions, ultimately contributing to the growth of citizens’ prosperity, he elaborated. The executive then pointed out that the new framework will bridge traditional finance and crypto business, boost confidence in financial firms, and create conditions for attracting investment. Belarus is a regional leader in terms of crypto regulation in the post-Soviet space. It legalized key activities such as mining and trading years ahead of its ally Russia , which only legalized them this summer. It all started with another presidential decree, No. 8 “On the Development of the Digital Economy,” which was issued by Lukashenko in late 2017 and entered into force in the spring of 2018. In the past few years, and especially since Belarus was also targeted with Western sanctions over its participation in Moscow’s war on Ukraine, the popularity of cryptocurrencies has grown significantly. This was recognized by Lukashenko himself, who admitted in the fall of 2025 that Belarusians were making billions of dollars worth of cross-border crypto payments and pushed for a real regulatory update. In mid-May, it became clear that Belarus would permit its new crypto banks to process transactions involving 26 approved digital coins, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether’s widely used stablecoin USDT. Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free .