Key Highlights
- Two companies have been registered as High-Tech Park residents eligible to become Belarus’ first crypto banks after more than six months of regulatory work.
- The two companies still need National Bank accreditation and must enter the official crypto-bank register before starting operations.
- Belarus’ new framework allows crypto banks to offer services involving deposits, lending, staking, exchanges, storage and other digital-asset activities.
Belarus has registered two companies as High-Tech Park residents eligible to become the country’s first crypto banks after more than six months of work to establish the regulatory framework.
According to a local report, the development was announced on September 28 at a High-Tech Park (HTP) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin in Belarus.
The report says the meeting focused on putting Belarus’ new crypto-bank system into action. Turchin said the government, National Bank and HTP had spent more than six months preparing the laws, rules and other steps needed to make the system work.
He said the process had now reached the point where the first two crypto banks could be registered within the HTP.
The banks still need national approval
The two companies cannot yet operate as registered crypto banks. Anna Ryabova, head of the HTP Supervisory Board Secretariat, said the companies first become HTP residents.
They must then receive accreditation from the National Bank and be added to the regulator’s official crypto-bank register before they can begin operating.
This means the registration at the HTP is an important step, but it is not the final stage. The National Bank still has to complete its part of the process.
Dmitry Kalechits, first deputy head of the HTP Supervisory Board Secretariat, said the companies had already done much of the work needed to prepare for the launch. They have built professional teams, set up their IT systems and completed technical and legal audits.
HTP and National Bank will oversee operations
Kalechits said the two companies are already known in the cryptocurrency market and have practical experience in the sector.
Their activities will also be supervised by both the HTP and the National Bank. The two regulators will therefore have separate roles in overseeing the new crypto banks.
Belarus builds its crypto-bank framework
The plan comes after Belarus created a formal legal system for crypto banks earlier this year. President Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No. 19 on January 16, 2026, creating rules for crypto banks to operate alongside the country’s existing financial system.
Under the framework, a crypto bank must have HTP resident status and be included in the National Bank’s crypto-bank register. The rules also set out what these institutions can do with digital assets.
Earlier government rules allowed activities such as crypto deposits, loans backed by digital assets, staking, transfers, exchange services, digital-asset storage and token issuance.
The system also includes a list of approved cryptocurrencies that crypto banks can use, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Toncoin among the assets mentioned in earlier announcements.
The government has said the list can be changed as the crypto market develops. This gives regulators a way to add or remove digital assets without changing the entire system.
The next step is National Bank approval
The creation of crypto banks is part of Belarus’ wider effort to bring cryptocurrency activity into a regulated financial system. In April, National Bank officials said major foreign financial institutions had shown interest in setting up crypto banks in the country.
For now, the first two companies have crossed the HTP registration stage. Their next step is National Bank accreditation and entry into the official register. Once that is completed, they can begin operating as crypto banks under Belarus’ new rules.
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