The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus has announced its intentions to launch a pilot program for their central bank digital currency (CBDC). Pavel Kallaur, Chairman of the National Bank, said that a decision will be made by the end of the year by the head of state. If the project is approved, the CBDC will be tried out with a limited number of banking and individual users.

Kallaur referred to the digital currency as a “third form of money” that could be seen as an extension of currently existing non-cash money. It will, however, have the added feature of being both online and offline, making cross-border payments more viable. Changes to the civil code and banking and tax codes have been proposed in order to facilitate the introduction of the CBDC.

The Republic of Belarus is keen to establish itself as a modern financial centre. The nation has taken steps such as launching a High-Tech Park economic zone, and are looking into ways to develop crypto mining and exchange operations.

Over the last few weeks, sanctions on crypto activity in both Belarus and Russia have been considered, as well as Crypto.com users being chased for loan payments. Lastly, US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order on crypto assets. Taking all of these measures into account, it appears that the nation is proactively positioning itself for the future of digital currency.



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