Belarus is working on legislation to ban peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency transactions in an effort to reduce fraud. This information was shared in a Sunday Telegram post by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus​​.

Citizens of the Eastern European country will be allowed to conduct cryptocurrency transactions only through exchanges based in the Belarus Hi-Tech Park (HTP), for the sake of “transparency and control”. The ministry stated that it has identified 27 individuals who provide illegal cryptocurrency exchange services, which are used by fraudsters to secure the proceeds of their activities​​.

In a statement by the Belarus Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was noted that “The introduction of a practice similar to the procedure for exchanging foreign currencies will make it impossible to withdraw money obtained through criminal means. In such conditions, it will simply be unprofitable for IT fraudsters to operate in Belarus”​​.

CoinDesk reached out to the Belarus Ministry of Internal Affairs for more information but did not receive a response​.