Cryptocurrency in Belarus: zero percent, if you use the right exchange
In short. Belarus legalised crypto by decree in 2017 and left individuals untaxed on it for seven years. That changed on 1 January 2025, and the new rule turns on which route you use. Trade through a resident of the Hi-Tech Park and your income stays exempt. Go around that channel and you meet 13%, or 26% if the tax office treats the income as undeclared. Reaching a foreign exchange from inside Belarus is barred outright.
- THROUGH HI-TECH PARK RESIDENTS
- 0%those operations stay exempt
- OUTSIDE THAT ROUTE
- 13%on declared income, since 2025
- UNDECLARED OR UNLAWFUL
- 26%double the ordinary rate
- MINING BY INDIVIDUALS
- Not taxedthe exemption survived 2025
- FOREIGN PLATFORMS
- Only while abroadusing them from Belarus is barred
- LEGAL TENDER
- Nothe rouble stays the only legal money
Where the rules come from
Presidential Decree No. 8 of 21 December 2017 gave Belarusians the right to own tokens, to buy, sell, exchange and mine them, and to pass them on by inheritance. It also built the Hi-Tech Park into the centre of the arrangement, with resident companies operating the exchanges and exchangers.
Individuals paid nothing on any of it until the end of 2024. Officials wrote the exemption as temporary and extended it more than once, and for seven years a private Belarusian trader owed the state nothing.
From 2025 the exemption has a condition
Article 202¹ of the Tax Code has governed income tax on token operations since 1 January 2025, and the tax ministry set out how it works in a clarification that same month.
Income from exchanging tokens and from selling them for roubles, foreign currency or electronic money became taxable at 13%. Operations carried out through Hi-Tech Park residents stay exempt, which leaves the legal domestic route at zero. Income the ministry treats as undeclared, or as the product of unlawful activity, meets 26%.
Mining kept its exemption. What an individual mines is not taxed, whatever happens to it afterwards.
Gifts and inheritance sit outside as well: tokens from close relatives pass free, and gifts from anyone else are free up to an annual threshold of 11,516 roubles.
You may not use a foreign exchange from Belarus
Buying and selling crypto for money is reserved to Hi-Tech Park residents, and using foreign platforms from Belarusian territory is prohibited. The one exception is geographic: a Belarusian may transact on a foreign platform and withdraw money while physically located in another country, and the domestic rule returns on arriving home.
The tax rates follow the same logic. Belarus charges nothing for owning crypto and charges 13% or 26% for leaving the channel the state can see.
Crypto banks arrive in 2026
Decree No. 19 of 16 January 2026 laid the groundwork for what Belarus calls crypto banks, a new category of financial organisation.
Every step since 2017 has pointed the same way: the activity stays legal, and it stays inside licensed domestic infrastructure. Anyone planning around the new category should watch how the implementing rules land, since the decree sets a foundation rather than a finished regime.
What this means if you are moving there
Belarus still offers zero percent, on condition that you use one of its own exchanges.
Trade through a Hi-Tech Park resident and you pay nothing, which few places in Europe match, and mining stays untaxed on top of that. The conditions are strict: your exchange has to be a domestic licensed one, reaching a foreign platform from Belarus is barred, and stepping outside the approved route costs 13% or 26% depending on how the tax office finds out. Check that your chosen exchange holds Hi-Tech Park residency before you move funds.
Allowed
- Own, buy, sell, exchange and mine tokens under the 2017 decree
- Pay nothing on operations carried out through Hi-Tech Park residents
- Mine as an individual without tax on what you produce
- Receive tokens by inheritance, or as a gift within the annual threshold
Restricted
- Using a foreign exchange from Belarusian territory
- Treating income outside the Hi-Tech Park route as exempt, since it meets 13%
- Leaving that income undeclared, which doubles the rate to 26%
- Paying in crypto as of right, since the rouble remains the only legal money
How the rules took shape
Decree No. 8 legalises tokens, builds the regime around Hi-Tech Park residents and exempts individuals from tax.
The exemption holds and gets extended, leaving private traders paying nothing.
Article 202¹ takes effect: 13% outside the Hi-Tech Park route, 26% on undeclared or unlawful income, mining still exempt.
Decree No. 19 lays the foundation for crypto banks as a new kind of financial organisation.
Implementing rules for crypto banks decide how much the 2026 decree changes in practice.
Worth knowing
A 2017 decree on the High-Tech Park made the country one of the first anywhere to permit crypto operations outright and exempt them from tax; in 2026 the status of crypto bank was added.
Common questions
Do I pay tax on crypto in Belarus?
Not if you operate through a Hi-Tech Park resident. Income outside that route meets 13%, and undeclared or unlawful income meets 26%.
Is mining taxed?
No. What an individual mines stays outside the tax, and that exemption survived the 2025 changes.
Can I use a foreign exchange?
Not from Belarusian territory. You may transact on a foreign platform and withdraw while you are physically in another country.
What changed on 1 January 2025?
Article 202¹ of the Tax Code began taxing income from token operations, ending seven years in which individuals paid nothing regardless of route.
What are crypto banks?
A new category of financial organisation founded by Decree No. 19 of 16 January 2026. The implementing rules will determine what they can actually do.
Sources
Other countries
Updated 21.08.2026 · this is reference material, not investment or tax advice