Belarusbank, one of the largest banks in Belarus, partnered with the White Bird company to create a Bitcoin buy-out service, as revealed by an announcement made on Monday.
For the time being, purchases will be made through credit cards that are issued in either Belarus or Russia (the financial systems of the two countries are well interconnected). However, in the longer term, the bank plans to extend the service to other countries from the former Soviet Union, such as Ukraine, Georgia etc.
As the Belarusbank spokesperson Alexei Kulik revealed, users will thus be enabled to withdraw Bitcoin to their wallets “with no middle-man whatsoever.” The service will be provided using White Bird’s standing online infrastructure. It is expected Litecoin and Ether to be added to the service soon.
Belarus legally regulated crypto transactions back in 2018. Bitcoin is now a key tool for helping Belarusians who went unemployed amid the COVID pandemic and the protests against the rule of President Alexander Lukashenko that rocked the country in August and September this year.
