cryptovibes.com
Belarusian chemicals firm, Grodno-Azot, has announced plans to start accepting cryptocurrency payments. This comes when Belarus is facing tough economic times following sanctions levied against the country by the United States.
The announcement was published in a blog post on the company’s site by Dmitry Goroshko, the Director-General for Economics and Finance at the chemicals firm. According to the publication, the firm was evaluating the feasibility of cryptocurrency payments to make the company digital-savvy.
Grodno-Azot Looks into Crypto Payments
Grodno-Azot is a state-managed chemical firm in Belarus that produces nitrogen compounds. The firm has more than 7000 employees, and its CEO, Igor Lyashenko, was included in the SDN list on August 2021. The firm has also been facing US sanctions.
Lukashenko imprisoned several employees of the chemicals firms after they were suspected of revealing the firm’s strategies to bypass sanctions. It is currently not yet clear whether Grodno-Azot will be planning to adopt crypto payments to bypass these sanctions.
Lukashenko has been very secretive about the country’s economic plans. Hence, it is not clear whether the chemicals firm was looking towards crypto adoption as a way of helping the country’s ailing fiat and economy.
Crypto Framework in Belarus
Belarus legalized cryptocurrencies in 2017. The country’s president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, issued Decree 8 that legalized cryptocurrencies. However, the president’s tenure is among the reasons the country was imposed with US sanctions, as he is not considered a legitimate president in many countries.
Despite the political and economic turmoil going on in Belarus, the crypto sector in the country is still booming. Towards the end of 2021, Belarusbank, a leading bank in Belarus, partnered with WhiteBird to offer cryptocurrency trading services.
The cryptocurrency services offered by Belarusbank will be available to the bank’s clients in Belarus and Russia, but plans are underway to roll out these services globally. The firm is also planning to add other supported digital currencies into this product offering.
Belarusbank is a state-owned financial institution, where the government owns 99.95% of the stake. The bank will now allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies using Visa cards. Belarusbank merged with Sberbank of Belarus in 1995 in a reorganization plan.