Belarus formalizes state‑supervised 'cryptobank' model to fold crypto into regulated banking

Belarus has moved to embed digital asset operations inside its regulated banking system by creating a legal category for institutions that mix token-based services with conventional banking. The new decree sets corporate and supervisory prerequisites, requiring these entities to register with the central bank and to obtain resident status in the state technology zone known as the Hi‑Tech Park. Officials framed the change as an effort to permit financial innovation under a predictable regulatory umbrella while pruning off-ramp channels for unlicensed crypto activity. Operationally, the framework imposes dual obligations: firms must follow norms applied to non-bank credit and financial bodies and implement oversight decisions from the Hi‑Tech Park governance structure. That layered architecture places technology governance alongside financial supervision, aiming to manage both systemic risk and technical integrity. Practically, the decree narrows the field to joint‑stock companies willing to operate inside the state’s parameters, rather than letting exchanges or miners operate in a gray area. Recent actions that limited access to some offshore trading platforms signaled a preparatory phase; the decree now supplies the legal scaffolding to absorb permitted crypto services into licensed entities. For the country’s strategy, this preserves centralized control while offering a pathway to product innovation such as tokenized payments and custody services through regulated banks. The move should improve legal certainty for firms that opt in, but it also raises barriers to entry and increases compliance burdens compared with purely decentralized alternatives. Internationally, the policy is likely to be read as a pragmatic, security‑focused approach to digital assets rather than a liberal open‑market stance. For users and counterparties, the key change is that crypto services will become available only through state‑recognized financial operators subject to national oversight. The decree therefore marks a consolidation of crypto activity under existing financial infrastructure, with implications for cross‑border flows, sanctions evasion risks, and domestic market structure.