Belarus legalizes cryptocurrency, mining and tokens

Local reports tell that the President of the Republic of Belarus had signed the legislation which allows to possess, trade and exchange cryptocurrency, while also allowing mining absolutely tax-free. The decree mentions that cryptocurrency can be traded only through cryptocurrency exchanges, which is quite obvious — probably, this is due to the fact that there was an event when some people mistook fake physical bitcoins with the real ones in the neighboring Russia.

Companies will be able to issue their own tokens as long as these companies are registered in the local tech park (the decree itself describes this Park of High Technologies as well). Vsevolod Yanchevsky, leader of this park, confirmed that Alexander Lukashenko indeed endorsed the bill and told that his country is planning to become one of the leaders in the IT sphere.

Russian officials are much more skeptical about ICOs and especially cryptocurrency, some of them still call them pyramid schemes, but other civil servants in this country tell that it’s possible to allow cryptocurrency trades and ownership while completely banning its use as a means of payment within the country borders.