In a recent interview, the head of Belarus' Investigative Committee claimed that the country's officials have perfected the seizure of cryptocurrency.
The state has already taken crypto assets worth millions of dollars, according to a high-ranking law enforcement official.
Dmitry Gora, the chairman of Belarus' Investigative Committee, told the state-run ONT station that the country had to deal with the problem of how to seize cryptocurrency when they were first employed in drug trafficking and afterward in economic crimes. He went on to say that law enforcement officials had to figure out a way to capture such digital assets and that they had previously seized cryptocurrency worth hundreds of millions of Belarusian rubles.
A presidential decree that went into effect in May 2018 allowed numerous crypto operations in the former Soviet republic, which is a close ally of Russia. In attempts to expand the country's digital economy, the agreement proposed tax discounts and other incentives for crypto firms operating as residents of the Hi-Tech Park (HTP) in Minsk.
President Alexander Lukashenko warned in March 2021 that the country's crypto rules would be tightened, citing China as an example. HTP officials, on the other hand, later stated that Belarusian authorities had no intention of enacting harsher regulations for the business. In addition, the finance ministry recommended changes that would allow investment funds to purchase digital assets.
The Ministry of Justice enacted a legislative mechanism authorizing the seizure of crypto money as part of administrative procedures in April of this year. It follows Lukashenko's February edict, which mandated the creation of a separate register for crypto wallets used for illegal reasons.
Dmitry Gora then quoted his "advanced subordinates," who claimed that cryptocurrencies were nothing more than "digital rubbish." "I set the task based on this: our state requires money to compensate for the damage it has created. Let's consider how to make money from waste. I won't get into specifics, but we've figured it out..." He went on to say, "There are methods that allow us to deal with these challenges successfully." Government authorities and private entities are both involved in the process, according to the law enforcement official. As a result, "regular funds are available on the Investigative Committee's accounts, which are already in good shape," Gora explained.
