Belarusian President Lukashenko tells new energy minister to develop crypto mining

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has instructed the country’s energy minister to develop the cryptocurrency mining industry in the country. Lukashenko was speaking on March 4 at the government meeting at which Alexei Kushnarenko was appointed to the top energy position.

“We have an excess of electricity. Let them make this cryptocurrency and so on. You see the way the world is going. Especially the largest economy in the world,” Lukashenko said at the meeting with a nod to the U.S. proposed cryptocurrency reserve.

Lukashenko is bullish on Belarusian crypto mining

“Maybe we should do it ourselves. Why do we attract some investors, sell them electricity? Although I don’t rule it out. But you have to do it yourself. There are such proposals,” Lukashenko said. He ordered the minister to “step over the bureaucracy” and report on what needs to be done to encourage the crypto industry.

Lukashenko was reelected in January and is assembling his government now.

Belarus has a surplus of power thanks to the launch of the second unit of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant in May 2023. The construction of a second nuclear power plant has also been under discussion.

The power grid was still an issue though, Lukashenko noted at the March 4 government meeting, referring to the wind storm that killed six and left 330 towns and villages in southern Belarus without power.

Belarusian interest in crypto mining is not new

Interest in crypto is not new in Belarus. Former energy minister and current deputy prime minister Viktor Karankevich announced in December 2023 that crypto mining farms were already active in the country. Interest in crypto mining was increasing among Russian and Chinese investors and the power system was ready to handle it.

The reaction to foreign investors’ interest was slow-paced. In December 2024, Deputy Energy Minister Denis Moroz said there was lively interest in crypto mining in Belarus, which already consumed 120 MW. Meetings were being held with investors and consultants. 

“We see huge prospects, there are many requests. I think that we will see the implementation of new projects in the near future,” Moroz said. Crypto industry investors can enjoy favorable rates on energy due to their high consumption. 

Belarus to have a CBDC?

Lukashenko said in January that Belarus may create its own national cryptocurrency. Experts and the government were already looking into it. “It suits us to make payments in cryptocurrency. We are working on a cryptocurrency in Belarus. We have extra electric energy. We are making the best of it,” he said.

According to the Russian information service RBC, Belarusian citizens have legally owned and traded cryptocurrencies since 2017. In September, Lukashenko signed a decree banning the use of foreign crypto platforms for peer-to-peer transactions as a way to avoid scams. Trading on those platforms was not banned. 

Crypto firms in Belarus are required to be residents of the Belarus High Technology Park. The country’s largest bank, state-owned Belarusbank, teamed up with park resident WhiteBird in 2020 to offer crypto services. Park residents are given preferential tax treatment.

Russian financial group Finam declared its interest in opening crypto services in Belarus in December 2023. It is not clear if those plans ever came to fruition.

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