A Belarusian citizen will have to pay a heavy fine for illegally organizing online cryptocurrency exchange. Law enforcement authorities in the country, where certain cryptographic activities are legal, do not plan to impose other sanctions in addition to the administrative measure.
Crypto Trader Attempts to Challenge Fine in Belarusian Court
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus rejected a Belarusian’s appeal against a lower court ruling ordering him to pay 2,700,000 Belarusian rubles (about $1 million) to the state for illegally trading digital assets.
The man, identified only by the initial ‘A’, is accused of using the Telegram messenger to set up an online cryptocurrency exchanger in January 2021. He allegedly earned 5,400,000 rubles as income from his illegal activities.
according to a to post by the Belarusian Ministry of Taxes and Duties, cited by crypto news outlet Bits.media, investigators were able to trace their transactions and submit the gathered evidence to the judiciary. The fine was imposed by the Minsk Economic Court.
The department believes the decision to forfeit half of his winnings is fair, since the court could have ordered him to part with the full amount. Although the merchant did not question the illegal nature of his business, he was not happy with the amount of the fine and decided to file a complaint with the higher court, which upheld the original sentence.
Belarus legalized cryptocurrency-related activities, such as mining and trading, with a decree signed by President Alexander Lukashenko that came into force in 2018, as long as they are carried out by entities registered under the Hi-Tech Park special legal and tax regime. from Belarus.
However, the government has been going after illegal cryptocurrency operations. In May last year, the head of the Investigative Committee revealed that the country’s law enforcement agencies had managed to seize millions of US dollars worth of crime-linked digital assets.
In August, Belarusian authorities issued an international arrest warrant for the owner of the country’s “largest cryptocurrency exchange,” Bitok.me. Following a two-year investigation against Vladislav Kuchinsky and three of his accomplices, he was charged with large-scale tax evasion.
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