Punitive tax rates tarnish the crypto haven image of Belarus

Cryptocurrency investors residing in Belarus are now missing some of the tax benefits the country used to offer when it first pioneered crypto-friendly regulation in its region a few years ago.

While legalizing new Bitcoin business, most recently crypto banking, Minsk has been tightening control over the market, cutting flows to foreign platforms and curbing peer-to-peer deals.

Belarus is losing its Bitcoin-friendly status

Crypto holders and users in Belarus must file their annual returns by the end of March, and a tax chief has reminded them that a number of crypto transactions are not tax-free anymore.

The clarifications, provided by the top representative of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties, come amidst an ongoing reporting campaign for income received in 2025, including from operations with coins.

Commenting on the matter for the official BelTA news agency, the head of the department’s Main Directorate for Personal Taxation, Andrei Kovalevsky, stated:

Explaining the current tax situation, he further noted that while Belarus has legalized a long list of crypto activities, rules are strict, and some considerations need to be made.

The nation regulated operations with “digital tokens,” including mining and trading, with a decree signed by President Alexander Lukashenko in 2017, which went into force the following year.

The document exempted all legal cryptocurrency transactions from taxation. However, a later presidential decree, from September 2024, significantly limited the scope of the benefits.

Since the beginning of 2025, the latter applies only to assets bought and sold through domestic platforms registered as residents of the High-Tech Park (HTP) hub in Minsk.

If the transfers are made between private individuals or via foreign trading platforms, which is allowed in a limited number of cases, 13% is due of the turnover, excluding expenses and costs.

And if a taxpayer fails to submit their return and pay the levy, or is engaged in prohibited activities, the tax rate jumps to 26%, Kovalevsky emphasized.

Belarusians have fewer legal options to trade cryptocurrency

In fact, most coin transactions carried out outside the narrow legal regime of the closely monitored HTP have already been banned.

This is valid, for example, for any attempt to organize an unlicensed crypto exchange or help others with trading, which would result in administrative liability, at the very least.

Up to 100% of income generated in such activities can be confiscated by the state, and any that is not will be subject to the double tax rate, warned the government official.

Few exceptions are allowed, including for pure P2P trades or when a Belarusian resides outside the country for several months and trades on a foreign exchange using a bank card issued abroad.

Belarus remains a regional leader in crypto regulation

While not as crypto-friendly as it once was, Belarus is still the leader when it comes to crypto regulation in the post-Soviet space. The region’s largest economy, Russia, has only recently started to catch up with its ally.

In mid-January, Lukashenko signed another Bitcoin-focused decree that legalizes cryptocurrency banking and integrates it into the fiat financial system.

The document, which envisages the establishment of institutions combining the roles of traditional banks and crypto exchanges, is giving the state even more control over digital financial flows.

The order was issued after Belarus briefly blocked traffic to major global trading platforms in December, citing “inappropriate advertising” practices as the main reason.

Last fall, the country’s long-term leader highlighted the increasing importance of cryptocurrencies, as a growing number of Belarusian citizens and firms turn to digital money for cross-border payments under sanctions limiting their access to traditional financial channels.