6 ms·

Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

226 points by anorsich 9y ago

anorsich 9y ago
No taxes (until 2023) on mining, selling/buying tokens. Here are details: • The rights of physical and legal entities in terms of token circulation are defined. Legal entities are entitled to possess tokens, create and list their own tokens through HTP residents; buy, exchange tokens and perform other operations using tokens only through the cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency exchange operators. • Individuals are entitled to possess tokens; perform mining; exchange tokens, buy and sell them for Belarusian rubles, foreign currency, e-money, as well as present and bequeath tokens. The mining activity of individuals, tokens purchasing and sale shall not be considered entrepreneurial activity. • Tokens and revenues from operations with them shall not be subject to declaration by the individuals. • Turnovers, profits (income, proceeds) from various operations with tokens are not recognised as taxable items until January 2023.
- neals 9y ago
  So we're all setting up shop in Belarus to get our Crypto profits tax-free?
  - charlesdm 9y ago
    There are plenty of European countries and other tax havens that offer tax free gains with a much better track record of trustworthiness.
    - ceasarby 9y ago
      Like who? Can you provide tax rates and track record, please?
      - charlesdm 9y ago
        Nothing an afternoon of Googling can't tell you. Too much work to list them all. Current and previous British crown dependencies (also the UK) are generally good. Unless you're an American. You'll probably be out of luck then.
        KamelAufAbwegen 9y ago
        Yes, a lot of companys stopped do business with Americans. They are all afraid about the crazy US law system. Special in the last recent years, when the US government likes to see everybodys underwear, if you do business with US customers.
  - anorsich 9y ago
    you got it
  - lowry 9y ago
    Belarus is finishing its first nuclear power station and wants to use the surplus capacity. Initially, they planned to sell it to Baltic countries, but these are in the EU, so it is not yet sure they will cut a deal. EU has a huge anti-nuclear, pro-carbon lobby.
    - imhoguy 9y ago
      Nuclear powered ASICs and GPUs without intermediaries, that would be a thing!
    - rsynnott 9y ago
      More like the EU has a huge anti-Belarus lobby (and for very good reasons). The Baltic countries mostly have their own nuclear plants, with no plans to close them; not that much anti-nuclear sentiment.
      - lowry 9y ago
        Dude, you are lying. Lithuania closed its last nuclear reactor, which had been generating 70% of its electricity, at the end of 2009, due to EU pressure. Latvia and Estonia never had one.
        rsynnott 9y ago
        Lithuania's one was two elderly Chernobyl-style reactors which were already past their design life; shutting them was fairly reasonable. I thought Estonia had a couple, but apparently not.
    - ceasarby 9y ago
      Yeah, Lithuania making big deal out of this nuclear station. They aren't happy that it's based close to the border and they trying to say that it's not safe, blah-blah-blah, nobody will buy electricity and so on. Other countries don't have issues with this station though, EU checked it and found everything within norms. But every time something happens at the construction, like they pour concrete at the wrong spot, Lithuania blows the whistle. Lukashenka said that it will be build no matter what, and neighbors will have to deal with it.
  - briandear 9y ago
    At such odds with the standard HN complaints about people not paying their “fair share” of taxes.
- pzduniak 9y ago
  Some oligarch must've invested into cryptocurrencies, otherwise they wouldn't give a crap about it.
  - anorsich 9y ago
    We don't have oligarchs in Belarus :) Victor Prokopenia (https://www.facebook.com/viktor.prokopenya https://www.facebook.com/viktor.prokopenya), one of the most famous investors and businessman from Belarus is the one who actually influenced these changes.
    - Turbots 9y ago
      so he's the oligarch...
    - lowry 9y ago
      Victor Prokopenia was jailed in 2015 and detained for many months. Once he was released, he started consulting president's inner circles. This policy of carrot and stick is what prevents the appearance of oligarchs in Belarus. They are intimidated before they become too powerful to ignore. Very little information leaks about the reasons of such detentions and liberations.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - ceasarby 9y ago
        The reasons are well known, budget needs money and rich people are good source of it.
    - bpicolo 9y ago
      That's a weird set of colleges attended. 7 degrees, with Stanford and Full Sail both in the mix?
      - anorsich 9y ago
neals 9y ago
There's some interesting chances here for governments. In the 80's, Luxembourg introduced some progressive tax-incentives for space companies. The inflow of business related to space (mainly satellite parts and software suppliers) has had and enormous impact on the economy of Luxembourg. I think there's chances in the Crypto/blockchain space for small economies as well.
- John_McT 9y ago
  Certainly! Estonia has taken a very progressive stance on cryptocurrency and tech development as a whole and it's great to see other countries do the same! I was at a blockchain conference last weekend in Minsk and nearly every speaker ended their presentation with an open call for developers to apply for their projects. Politics and underlying motivations aside, it gives a lot of people work opportunities as the field continues to grow.
- thierryzoller 9y ago
  In 2016, Luxembourg became the first country of the EU to deliver a state licence to a cryptocurrency exchange. Luxembourg has regulated Blockchain tech since years, we have quite a few blockchain based startups running under a license issued by the regulator. Example: https://blog.crypto.tickets/crypto-tickets-sent-the-description-of-its-business-model-to-luxembourgs-cssf-1a9fb8f912c2 https://blog.crypto.tickets/crypto-tickets-sent-the-descript...
imhoguy 9y ago
So Belarus becomes tax heaven for crypto-currencies, but is it safe heaven? One can transfer money out of Belarus but then one's country tax collector will knock the door. And what if one day Mr Alexander decides to nationalize these companies including foreign currency assets?
- anorsich 9y ago
  Nothing is safe. A fact, that validity period of HTP's special legal status will be extended until Jan 2049, give us some level of confidence. It won't be that easy to turn around.
  - imhoguy 9y ago
    But it would be better the government be driven by long-term and wider improvements like overall business law stabilization. This case is narrow short-term opportunity. Anyway I wish you guys good luck!
    - anorsich 9y ago
      I agree, but they're making quite good steps now. This document also declares: `Investment according to English Law will be allowed.` The process takes time but Belarus slowly removes borders and getting better. From 2017, residents of 80+ countries (including entire EU and US) were allowed to enter Belarus without a visa for 5 days (subject to be extended even further)
      - ishtu 9y ago
        No investor in their mind would believe this. Belarus needs structural reforms first.
        ceasarby 9y ago
        Actually, there will be risk takers on top of existing ones. Belarus is the source of great engineers that created Viber, Juno, MSQRD, WoT to name a few. PVT revenues will reach $1 bln. in 2017. This decree just added more perks to already existing tax privileges. The system is stable and growing, why kill the cash-cow? IT enterprise is not and oil factory that you can nationalize. Engineers will take the laptop and fly away same day and your seized company will turn into empty building with zero profit. Even dictators understand it.
myth_drannon 9y ago
Just FYI Belarus is not a democracy and the laws change at the whim of the rulers. Read the journal of this blogger who got arrested there https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/blogs-trending-38804499 https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/blogs-trending-38804499, the people(the foreign nationals) who were in jail with him...
- lowry 9y ago
  Just FYI, Belarusians often refer to Donald Trump as the american Lukashenka. They share quite a few traits.
  - vim_wannabe 9y ago
    I knew this was somehow his fault. Thanks, trump. Looks like their crypto currency plans are going to be similar too...
  - docdeek 9y ago
    I imagine all leaders share some traits no matter how good, evil, or truly monstrous they are. The reality is, however, that Americans can vote their leader out of office in a couple of years while in Belarus they just cannot.
    - vbezhenar 9y ago
      Of course they can. They just chose to re-elect him. Belarus is a democratic republic with proper election system.
      - kbart 9y ago
        It's not hard to choose when there's only 1 real candidate. USSR had elections too.
        vbezhenar 9y ago
        There were 4 candidates on the last elections. More than in US, AFAIK.
pedrocr 9y ago
The blockchain hype seems to have some parallels to the Second Life[1] one. The technology isn't quite there, the valuations are immense, and it all seems like a real life implementation of a Neal Stephenson novel. Second Life doesn't seem to have gone anywhere but it doesn't mean cryptocurrencies won't as well. From the outside they do look just as niche and generally lacking in use cases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life
- KasianFranks 9y ago
  You're just in the middle of being disrupted with whats called a black and white swan event.
  - dfee 9y ago
    I assume you mean just “black swan”? I was curious about the white swan bit - maybe it was an orthogonal concept? But I settled on the regular kind. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory
    - valvar 9y ago
      They might mean a swan that is black on one side but white on the other, i.e. gives the appearance of being an extremely rare or a very common event, while in fact being the opposite.
      - concerto 9y ago
        Surely that's even more rare than a black swan?
        sdfadfa 9y ago
        Lol Ironically, a black swan isn't really at all - just unknown. Which really is Taleb's point: black swans aren't as rare as they are priced to be.
emptyfile 9y ago
"I am the last dictator in Europe" Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko
- donquichotte 9y ago
  "No you're not." Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
  - lowry 9y ago
    Geographically, Turkey is not Europe, right?
    - cies 9y ago
      Mostly not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Thrace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Thrace Then again, what is Europe, geographically? If I count continents, I count something often call "eurasia" as one continent, not two. I think cutting it in two over some mountain rig is a bit, well, arbitrary.
      - donquichotte 9y ago
        In 2015, the "European" Games were held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Another dodgy president (Ilham Aliyev), if you count Azerbaijan as Europe.
        cies 9y ago
        As stated I do not see a "geographical europe" on the map. I see eurasia. And being "european" definitely has nothing to do with having clean politicians.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - nasredin 9y ago
        Russians are always caught in the middle. Not quiete European, and they don't want to be, but not quite Asian. Always a clash of values there.
Whackbat 9y ago
Many of the bold claims in this document are completely unsubstantiated. Question 7: How does the Law regulate Blockchain and cryptocurrencies? It can't. The principle argument that deals will be safe because the HTP residents are 'trusted and respectable companies' is naive and invalidates the fundamentally trustless model of blockchains. Question 8: How is the mining activity of individuals regulated? Won't they launder funds through Belarus? Money laundering happens every day with fiat currency, and with cryptocurrencies this is even easier. Exchanging currencies across both blockchains and boarders introduces innumerable difficulties for detection of money laundering.
- drvdevd 9y ago
  The more blockchain regulation I see, the more I have to question the technical competence of regulators or the actual policy and implementation goals they have in mind. Do they have technologists telling them, “yes we can track this.” Or do they not actually care about what they claim to, eg: money laundering...?
alex_veremeenko 9y ago
Viva Dictator!
koskeller 9y ago
If you need help in Belarus or have questions – ping me in telegram/facebook: koskeller
hugodiaz 9y ago
In the last pages, it seems he wants to upset his Russian and Ukrainian neighbors. Even there are a graph how the US investments fell.
pleasecalllater 9y ago
Cool country. Is the 11 year old president son still wearing a general uniform? Come on. This regulation movement is made only to have bigger control over the people. Nothing more.
- nasredin 9y ago
  Ding, ding ding. We have a winner! I think people in the West who do not have to experience having one guy as "president" for 20+ years are either naive or ignorant of how these autocrats or kleptocrats operate. --- Fun fact: Belarus still has the KGB and a lot of Soviet era imagery on emblems and such.
  - ceasarby 9y ago
    It's sad fact :(
kirylpl 9y ago
JFYI, in Belarus we are not "White Russians", but we historical Lithuania. Please not blame us with moscowitians. We are not so wild. http://history-belarus.by/images/img-events/blood_potop/hmelnicky_1648-54.jpg http://history-belarus.by/images/img-events/blood_potop/hmel...

226 points by anorsich 9y ago

No taxes (until 2023) on mining, selling/buying tokens. Here are details: • The rights of physical and legal entities in terms of token circulation are defined. Legal entities are entitled to possess tokens, create and list their own tokens through HTP residents; buy, exchange tokens and perform other operations using tokens only through the cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency exchange operators. • Individuals are entitled to possess tokens; perform mining; exchange tokens, buy and sell them for Belarusian rubles, foreign currency, e-money, as well as present and bequeath tokens. The mining activity of individuals, tokens purchasing and sale shall not be considered entrepreneurial activity. • Tokens and revenues from operations with them shall not be subject to declaration by the individuals. • Turnovers, profits (income, proceeds) from various operations with tokens are not recognised as taxable items until January 2023.

neals 9y ago
So we're all setting up shop in Belarus to get our Crypto profits tax-free?
- charlesdm 9y ago
  There are plenty of European countries and other tax havens that offer tax free gains with a much better track record of trustworthiness.
  - ceasarby 9y ago
    Like who? Can you provide tax rates and track record, please?
    - charlesdm 9y ago
      Nothing an afternoon of Googling can't tell you. Too much work to list them all. Current and previous British crown dependencies (also the UK) are generally good. Unless you're an American. You'll probably be out of luck then.
      - KamelAufAbwegen 9y ago
        Yes, a lot of companys stopped do business with Americans. They are all afraid about the crazy US law system. Special in the last recent years, when the US government likes to see everybodys underwear, if you do business with US customers.
- anorsich 9y ago
  you got it
- lowry 9y ago
  Belarus is finishing its first nuclear power station and wants to use the surplus capacity. Initially, they planned to sell it to Baltic countries, but these are in the EU, so it is not yet sure they will cut a deal. EU has a huge anti-nuclear, pro-carbon lobby.
  - imhoguy 9y ago
    Nuclear powered ASICs and GPUs without intermediaries, that would be a thing!
  - rsynnott 9y ago
    More like the EU has a huge anti-Belarus lobby (and for very good reasons). The Baltic countries mostly have their own nuclear plants, with no plans to close them; not that much anti-nuclear sentiment.
    - lowry 9y ago
      Dude, you are lying. Lithuania closed its last nuclear reactor, which had been generating 70% of its electricity, at the end of 2009, due to EU pressure. Latvia and Estonia never had one.
      - rsynnott 9y ago
        Lithuania's one was two elderly Chernobyl-style reactors which were already past their design life; shutting them was fairly reasonable. I thought Estonia had a couple, but apparently not.
  - ceasarby 9y ago
    Yeah, Lithuania making big deal out of this nuclear station. They aren't happy that it's based close to the border and they trying to say that it's not safe, blah-blah-blah, nobody will buy electricity and so on. Other countries don't have issues with this station though, EU checked it and found everything within norms. But every time something happens at the construction, like they pour concrete at the wrong spot, Lithuania blows the whistle. Lukashenka said that it will be build no matter what, and neighbors will have to deal with it.
- briandear 9y ago
  At such odds with the standard HN complaints about people not paying their “fair share” of taxes.
pzduniak 9y ago
Some oligarch must've invested into cryptocurrencies, otherwise they wouldn't give a crap about it.
- anorsich 9y ago
  We don't have oligarchs in Belarus :) Victor Prokopenia (https://www.facebook.com/viktor.prokopenya https://www.facebook.com/viktor.prokopenya), one of the most famous investors and businessman from Belarus is the one who actually influenced these changes.
  - Turbots 9y ago
    so he's the oligarch...
  - lowry 9y ago
    Victor Prokopenia was jailed in 2015 and detained for many months. Once he was released, he started consulting president's inner circles. This policy of carrot and stick is what prevents the appearance of oligarchs in Belarus. They are intimidated before they become too powerful to ignore. Very little information leaks about the reasons of such detentions and liberations.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - ceasarby 9y ago
      The reasons are well known, budget needs money and rich people are good source of it.
  - bpicolo 9y ago
    That's a weird set of colleges attended. 7 degrees, with Stanford and Full Sail both in the mix?
    - anorsich 9y ago

neals 9y ago

There's some interesting chances here for governments. In the 80's, Luxembourg introduced some progressive tax-incentives for space companies. The inflow of business related to space (mainly satellite parts and software suppliers) has had and enormous impact on the economy of Luxembourg. I think there's chances in the Crypto/blockchain space for small economies as well.

John_McT 9y ago
Certainly! Estonia has taken a very progressive stance on cryptocurrency and tech development as a whole and it's great to see other countries do the same! I was at a blockchain conference last weekend in Minsk and nearly every speaker ended their presentation with an open call for developers to apply for their projects. Politics and underlying motivations aside, it gives a lot of people work opportunities as the field continues to grow.
thierryzoller 9y ago
In 2016, Luxembourg became the first country of the EU to deliver a state licence to a cryptocurrency exchange. Luxembourg has regulated Blockchain tech since years, we have quite a few blockchain based startups running under a license issued by the regulator. Example: https://blog.crypto.tickets/crypto-tickets-sent-the-description-of-its-business-model-to-luxembourgs-cssf-1a9fb8f912c2 https://blog.crypto.tickets/crypto-tickets-sent-the-descript...

imhoguy 9y ago

So Belarus becomes tax heaven for crypto-currencies, but is it safe heaven? One can transfer money out of Belarus but then one's country tax collector will knock the door. And what if one day Mr Alexander decides to nationalize these companies including foreign currency assets?

anorsich 9y ago
Nothing is safe. A fact, that validity period of HTP's special legal status will be extended until Jan 2049, give us some level of confidence. It won't be that easy to turn around.
- imhoguy 9y ago
  But it would be better the government be driven by long-term and wider improvements like overall business law stabilization. This case is narrow short-term opportunity. Anyway I wish you guys good luck!
  - anorsich 9y ago
    I agree, but they're making quite good steps now. This document also declares: `Investment according to English Law will be allowed.` The process takes time but Belarus slowly removes borders and getting better. From 2017, residents of 80+ countries (including entire EU and US) were allowed to enter Belarus without a visa for 5 days (subject to be extended even further)
    - ishtu 9y ago
      No investor in their mind would believe this. Belarus needs structural reforms first.
      - ceasarby 9y ago
        Actually, there will be risk takers on top of existing ones. Belarus is the source of great engineers that created Viber, Juno, MSQRD, WoT to name a few. PVT revenues will reach $1 bln. in 2017. This decree just added more perks to already existing tax privileges. The system is stable and growing, why kill the cash-cow? IT enterprise is not and oil factory that you can nationalize. Engineers will take the laptop and fly away same day and your seized company will turn into empty building with zero profit. Even dictators understand it.

myth_drannon 9y ago

Just FYI Belarus is not a democracy and the laws change at the whim of the rulers. Read the journal of this blogger who got arrested there https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/blogs-trending-38804499 https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/blogs-trending-38804499, the people(the foreign nationals) who were in jail with him...

lowry 9y ago
Just FYI, Belarusians often refer to Donald Trump as the american Lukashenka. They share quite a few traits.
- vim_wannabe 9y ago
  I knew this was somehow his fault. Thanks, trump. Looks like their crypto currency plans are going to be similar too...
- docdeek 9y ago
  I imagine all leaders share some traits no matter how good, evil, or truly monstrous they are. The reality is, however, that Americans can vote their leader out of office in a couple of years while in Belarus they just cannot.
  - vbezhenar 9y ago
    Of course they can. They just chose to re-elect him. Belarus is a democratic republic with proper election system.
    - kbart 9y ago
      It's not hard to choose when there's only 1 real candidate. USSR had elections too.
      - vbezhenar 9y ago
        There were 4 candidates on the last elections. More than in US, AFAIK.

pedrocr 9y ago

The blockchain hype seems to have some parallels to the Second Life[1] one. The technology isn't quite there, the valuations are immense, and it all seems like a real life implementation of a Neal Stephenson novel. Second Life doesn't seem to have gone anywhere but it doesn't mean cryptocurrencies won't as well. From the outside they do look just as niche and generally lacking in use cases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life

KasianFranks 9y ago
You're just in the middle of being disrupted with whats called a black and white swan event.
- dfee 9y ago
  I assume you mean just “black swan”? I was curious about the white swan bit - maybe it was an orthogonal concept? But I settled on the regular kind. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory
  - valvar 9y ago
    They might mean a swan that is black on one side but white on the other, i.e. gives the appearance of being an extremely rare or a very common event, while in fact being the opposite.
    - concerto 9y ago
      Surely that's even more rare than a black swan?
      - sdfadfa 9y ago
        Lol Ironically, a black swan isn't really at all - just unknown. Which really is Taleb's point: black swans aren't as rare as they are priced to be.

emptyfile 9y ago

"I am the last dictator in Europe" Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko

donquichotte 9y ago
"No you're not." Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
- lowry 9y ago
  Geographically, Turkey is not Europe, right?
  - cies 9y ago
    Mostly not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Thrace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Thrace Then again, what is Europe, geographically? If I count continents, I count something often call "eurasia" as one continent, not two. I think cutting it in two over some mountain rig is a bit, well, arbitrary.
    - donquichotte 9y ago
      In 2015, the "European" Games were held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Another dodgy president (Ilham Aliyev), if you count Azerbaijan as Europe.
      - cies 9y ago
        As stated I do not see a "geographical europe" on the map. I see eurasia. And being "european" definitely has nothing to do with having clean politicians.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - nasredin 9y ago
      Russians are always caught in the middle. Not quiete European, and they don't want to be, but not quite Asian. Always a clash of values there.

Whackbat 9y ago

Many of the bold claims in this document are completely unsubstantiated. Question 7: How does the Law regulate Blockchain and cryptocurrencies? It can't. The principle argument that deals will be safe because the HTP residents are 'trusted and respectable companies' is naive and invalidates the fundamentally trustless model of blockchains. Question 8: How is the mining activity of individuals regulated? Won't they launder funds through Belarus? Money laundering happens every day with fiat currency, and with cryptocurrencies this is even easier. Exchanging currencies across both blockchains and boarders introduces innumerable difficulties for detection of money laundering.

drvdevd 9y ago
The more blockchain regulation I see, the more I have to question the technical competence of regulators or the actual policy and implementation goals they have in mind. Do they have technologists telling them, “yes we can track this.” Or do they not actually care about what they claim to, eg: money laundering...?

alex_veremeenko 9y ago

Viva Dictator!

koskeller 9y ago

If you need help in Belarus or have questions – ping me in telegram/facebook: koskeller

hugodiaz 9y ago

In the last pages, it seems he wants to upset his Russian and Ukrainian neighbors. Even there are a graph how the US investments fell.

pleasecalllater 9y ago

Cool country. Is the 11 year old president son still wearing a general uniform? Come on. This regulation movement is made only to have bigger control over the people. Nothing more.

nasredin 9y ago
Ding, ding ding. We have a winner! I think people in the West who do not have to experience having one guy as "president" for 20+ years are either naive or ignorant of how these autocrats or kleptocrats operate. --- Fun fact: Belarus still has the KGB and a lot of Soviet era imagery on emblems and such.
- ceasarby 9y ago
  It's sad fact :(

kirylpl 9y ago

JFYI, in Belarus we are not "White Russians", but we historical Lithuania. Please not blame us with moscowitians. We are not so wild. http://history-belarus.by/images/img-events/blood_potop/hmelnicky_1648-54.jpg http://history-belarus.by/images/img-events/blood_potop/hmel...