Belarus has approved the first two crypto banks in its history, Russian news agency Interfax reported Monday, roughly eight months after President Alexander Lukashenko signed the legal framework creating the institutions.

The banks have not yet been named. They will begin operations after obtaining accreditation from the National Bank of Belarus, according to Interfax. Supervision will be split between the National Bank and High-Tech Park, the special tax and legal regime in Minsk where digital asset transactions are already permitted.

"The practical outcome of today's discussion is the launch and registration of the first crypto banks in the country's history," the press service of High-Tech Park said in a statement quoted by Interfax.

What legal basis do the crypto banks rest on?

In January, Lukashenko signed Decree No. 19, "On Cryptobanks and Certain Issues of Control in the Field of Digital Tokens," which established the legal framework for Bitcoin and crypto banks in Belarus. The decree followed the president's public backing last September for a National Bank initiative to create such institutions.

Dmitry Kalechits, first deputy director of the High-Tech Park supervisory board secretariat, said the move would "improve the flow of the financial ecosystem" and drive foreign investment to Belarus.

How does this fit Belarus's broader crypto policy?

The crypto banks extend a regulatory line Belarus has pursued since 2017, when a decree legalized crypto mining and trading and temporarily exempted individuals' crypto income from tax and declaration requirements. That exemption was extended to 2025 and has since been narrowed — income from foreign platforms is now taxed at 13%.

Lukashenko has also repeatedly promoted Bitcoin mining as an outlet for the country's surplus electricity. In 2025, the Mogilev region began preparing sites for mining farms with the president's backing.

What changes for market structure?

For Belarus, the approval converts a permissive sandbox regime into a chartered banking model, placing crypto activity inside prudential supervision shared between the National Bank and the park's regulators. The unnamed institutions still face the operational gate of National Bank accreditation before they can launch, a step that will determine when the framework moves from statute to functioning infrastructure.