The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus announced that it is working on a bill to ban P2P cryptocurrency transactions between individuals.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus in the Telegram channel on July 2, the ban on cryptocurrency peer-to-peer transactions will prevent the withdrawal of funds obtained by criminal means. The authorities cited the high level of cybercrime in the country, noting that since January 2023, local law enforcement agencies have stopped the activities of 27 citizens providing “illegal cryptocurrency exchange services.” Their total income amounted to almost 22 million Belarusian rubles (about $8.7 million).

The ministry emphasized that cryptocurrency P2P services are especially in demand among scammers who cash out stolen digital assets or organizers of criminal gangs. To prevent this illegal activity, the Belarusian authorities will allow individuals to exchange cryptocurrencies only through exchanges registered in the High Technology Park (HTP), a special tax-legal regime of Belarus. This will increase the transparency of financial transactions and strengthen control over them.

The agency also noted that due to the introduction of a practice similar to the procedure for exchanging foreign currencies, it will be unprofitable for fraudsters to implement their schemes. However, many cryptocurrency enthusiasts doubted that the Belarusian government is capable of banning P2P transactions with cryptocurrencies, wishing it “good luck in this matter.”

The statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus contradicts last year’s statement of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, according to which the free circulation of digital assets is not prohibited in the country. This is noted in the decree on the creation of a special registry, where cryptocurrency addresses that may be associated with criminals are entered.