MINSK, 5 September (BelTA) – At a meeting on developing the digital economy, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that cryptocurrency fraud is unacceptable.
The president announced plans for new regulations designed to protect legitimate businesses and bona fide foreign investors and to uphold the country’s status as a secure “digital haven”.
Following an unscheduled inspection, the State Control Committee reported that crypto platform operators require further regulatory fine-tuning, having discovered violations in financial transaction registrations. Addressing these concerns, Aleksandr Lukashenko posed a logical question: “Why were these processes violated? What was the reason?” He further emphasized that funds transferred abroad by Belarusian investors are not returned in half of all cases, which is unacceptable.
The president emphasized that the legal framework for cryptocurrency must prioritize protecting both state and citizen interests. To prevent Belarusians from being defrauded, Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that organizations handling cryptocurrencies must be strictly controlled. The entity responsible for this domain is the management of the cryptocurrency exchange created within the Hi Tech Park.
The president issued a stark warning, stating that negligent officials should face prison, not a presidential meeting. “Then everything will be fine,” he said. He revealed being overwhelmed by contradictory reports, describing some documents as alarmist and fear-mongering. “They say ‘If we do not make a decision today, tomorrow we will collapse. No potatoes, no grain, nothing will be left’,” he said.
Head of the Belarus President Administration Dmitry Krutoi confirmed that 1,600 individuals suffered financial losses while attempting to profit in what he described as an “inherently risky market”.
Furthermore, Vasily Gerasimov cited another instance where three out of six token-issuing organizations had collapsed.
“Someone must be held accountable for this. We created a crypto exchange in the Hi Tech Park. Is there a designated person responsible for this? There is. Where is this person? At large. To put it bluntly, maybe this individual shouldn’t be kept in prison, maybe they should be ‘hung’, maybe ‘shot’. I’m saying this publicly. Where have you been until now, why haven’t you held them accountable? Why should the prosecutor general and our special services or the Ministry of Internal Affairs look for someone, spend money?!” asked Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Revealing the scale of the problem, Vasily Gerasimov stated that outstanding debts reached $14 million.
“This whole crypto exchange... You know what to do until the money is returned. We have a practice for this. I want to make it clear that the current situation is untenable. This applies not only to this exchange and banks,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
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