2023-07-03 19:14:00
Decidedly, Belarus has been at the heart of the news lately. But not necessarily for good reasons. While she has just welcomed Evgueni Prigojine, the boss of the Wagner militia, following his rebellion once morest Vladimir Putin, she has just expressed its rejection of peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchanges. Its Minister of Foreign Affairs has just announced a bill aimed at banning them. As a reminder, the P2P exchange is part of the original idea and essence of Bitcoin, as written in its white paper by its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The reason given? Crypto crime is spiraling out of control. Explanations.
Cybercrime is the reason Belarus is banning P2P cryptocurrency exchanges
On July 2, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Telegram the preparation of a law to ban the exchange of cryptocurrencies in P2P.
The Ministry justified this decision by the high level of cybercrime in Belarus. He mentions that local prosecutors have already convicted 27 individuals involved in “illegal crypto exchange services” since January 2023. Their cumulative illicit income is said to amount to nearly 22 million Belarusian rubles (equivalent to $8.7 million). .
The ministry said that P2P cryptocurrency services were “popular with fraudsters who use these platforms to collect and convert stolen funds, and transfer money to organizers or participants in criminal activities”.
In order to combat these illicit activities, the ministry has decided to prohibit individuals from carrying out P2P exchanges and to compel them to trade cryptocurrencies only through platforms registered with the Belarus Hi-Tech Park (HTP). “Under such conditions, it will simply become unprofitable for IT fraudsters to operate in Belarus,” he says.
An astonishing decision in a country that until then seemed crypto friendly. Indeed, last year, President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree affirming “the country’s formal support for the free circulation of crypto-currencies like Bitcoin”. A hell of a turnaround, which leaves the world of cryptos skeptical.
Can we effectively ban P2P exchanges?
“Good luck applying this measure,” said a crypto lover on Twitter, for example. Because prohibiting P2P exchanges seems very difficult, if not impossible. Samson Mow, CEO of Jan3, said in June to Cointelegraph that many users in China continue to use P2P channels to exchange their cryptocurrencies, despite banning all crypto transactions for users in the country since 2021.
Banning P2P crypto exchanges seems like a surprising idea, especially coming from a crypto-friendly country. A country subservient to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Remember that many rumors had attributed the rise of bitcoin in March and April 2022 to a massive purchase of these cryptos by Russian and Belarusian oligarchs, who had seen their assets frozen by Western countries. Between Russia, Belarus and cryptos, it’s a bit … “I love you, me neither”.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Coindesk, Cryptobriefing
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