Belarus says it has enough power to support domestic Bitcoin mining

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has urged his countrymen to stay in the nation and build cryptomining operations, rather than “pick strawberries in some foreign country”.

Concerned about Belarusians emigrating to “fill low-paid farming jobs in Poland and Germany”, Lukashenko stressed the landlocked republic had enough surplus electricity to power cryptocurrency mining.

During a meeting at the state-owned enterprise JSC Belaruskali – one of the world’s largest producers of potash fertilisers – Lukashenko stated the available surplus electricity should be used to mine cryptocurrency.

‘Create something on electricity’

The president visited Pietrykaw – a town in the southern Gomel region – where he also attended the opening ceremony of a mining and processing plant. He pointed out that the area has a lot of empty industrial sites and called all workers to use the available space and extra energy to build greenhouses, for example.

“Create something on electricity,” he urged.

“In the end, start mining cryptocurrency or whatever it’s called – there is enough electricity in the country.”

Cryptocurrencies have been regulated in Belarus since 2017 and, for now, there is one locally registered crypto exchange called Currency.com.

It was recently reported that, in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lukashenko planned to sign a package of “roadmaps” for deepening the integration of Russia and Belarus.