Belarus Aspires to Become next Crypto and Blockchain Nucleus

By Ravindra Chagetha

Belarus, a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, is known for its Stalinist architecture, grand fortifications and primaeval forests. The country is led by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994 with the only European country led by a dictator.

After the triumphant success of Crypto valley in Zug, Switzerland followed by Malta, recently, there are many countries lining to welcome the Blockchain technology. The latest entry to the list is Belarus.

A large part of the economy is controlled by the central government. Belarus has the lowest Democracy Index in all of Europe. In spite of the dictator led and Soviet-era planned economic system yet it has the most hospitable environment for business innovation and technologies which may come as a surprise.

There have been few world-famous tech innovations from the country. The online game World of Tanks was a citizen of the same country, he also became country’s first billionaire due to this. Facebook bought a mobile app MSQRD developed in the country and another startup that specialized in video transformations was snapped up by Google.

With these, the country may have a drag due to the business side. There are plenty of startups in the country, however, the competition for space in the capital city of Minsk is acute. A word from a startup owner who says that “everything’s been rented out, the industry is developing even faster than we expected.”

One might wonder if Belarus has enough fuel to power the Blockchain technology and achieve what their leaders are dreaming of, the leaders are confident over their dream to make the country a crypto and blockchain hub for sure.

A managing partner at Elysium Venture Capital, Nikolai Oreshkin, says that “Belarus has good tech schools which educate talented engineers, but there is a gap in the business component. That is why we see a number of great outsourcing companies and freelancers out of Belarus, but not that many HQs of large tech companies.”

One can only hope that Belarus becomes the next Zug or even greater, however, the future is uncertain but that does not seem to dissent the vision that country’s leaders have for its generation.