Business news

12 Apr 2019

Belarusian crypto currency exchange to become fully operational in Q2 2019

MINSK, 12 April (BelTA) – The world’s first crypto currency exchange developed in Belarus will become fully operational in Q2 2019. The crypto currency exchange project was presented as part of an exhibition of products developed by leading resident companies of the Hi-Tech Park. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko went on a tour of the exhibition on 12 April, BelTA has learned.

Development Director of Currency.com Company Dmitry Ogiyevich told media that the crypto currency exchange is now working in a test mode in the format of a private release. “It was launched on 15 January 2019 in order to demonstrate the product to the audience, get feedback, and make adjustments. On the whole, the release was quite successful,” the executive said. “In the first two weeks we had over 100,000 people lining up for registration. There is a huge interest in this matter. We are getting ready for a public worldwide release.”

In his words, exchange trade industry leaders have spoken positively about the crypto currency exchange developed in Belarus. “We’ve seen very positive publications about our country in world mass media. They say Belarus has created the most up-to-date regulatory framework for digital assets,” he stressed. Investors from CIS states as well as Western Europe have already become participants of the crypto currency exchange.

The key advantage of the crypto currency exchange is offering kind of a bridge between conventional finance and digital currencies. “If you have digital currency to spare, you can get registered with the crypto currency exchange, you will be able to buy shares of, for instance, Apple and other companies and vice versa. If you have conventional money to spare, you can get access to trade in digital currencies. All of it is completely legal and, that’s very important, transparent. We aim to help investors, members of the general public to get to know these things, help them understand where risks are and enable absolute transparency,” the expert explained.

As far as enterprises and companies are concerned, they also show a strong interest in the crypto currency exchange. It opens up huge opportunities for raising investments for them. They can also use the exchange platform to issue tokens – digital analogs of conventional stock. “A company can issue tokens and get funding both from Belarus and abroad,” Dmitry Ogiyevich noted. “We believe it will bring many useful projects to Belarus. We already have very many applications for registration with the crypto currency exchange from our companies. Mostly from retail, trade, but there are also financial and leasing organizations. But this opportunity will become available after the public release of the project.”

According to the expert, the releasing of tokens is already a global trend. Tokenized shares are rather popular in the USA. They are issued by many innovative companies, for instance, pharmaceutical ones. The technology’s success stems from the fact that it rules out mediators. “In order to sell conventional shares, you need a chain of contractors such as banks and brokers, you need special accounts. When you buy a token, you have to deal only with the trade platform of your choice. Everything is transparent,” he specified.

Dmitry Ogiyevich drew attention to the fact that the crypto currency exchange was created and launched in Belarus. “It is the world’s first exchange for tokenized assets. We take immense pride in the fact it has been created in Belarus. We are fully integrated into the world financial system,” he stressed. Moreover, Belarus has become the leader in the legislative regulation of digital economy. The adoption of the Digital Economy Development Ordinance created the regulatory framework for the development and introduction of innovative digital technologies in finance.

“It is a new thing. The mechanics is different from that of conventional financial tools. Other countries are trying to rely on existing regulations, trying to adapt them to the crypto world. It always makes things difficult. Such regulations don’t work. You just have to build a new legal environment from scratch the way it was done in Belarus,” Dmitry Ogiyevich noted.

BelTA reported earlier that Currency.com Company launched a regulated fully functional trade platform for tokenized exchange assets in January 2019. The project allows trading in, investing in conventional financial assets using crypto currencies. Currency.com received the Hi-Tech Park’s first license to perform activities of a professional crypto currency market player in line with the Digital Economy Development Ordinance.