The government of Belarus has blocked access to at least three major crypto exchanges, namely Bybit, Bitget, and OKX.

The decision to block access to the sites was taken by the Ministry of Information, which has yet to explain its reasoning, the Belarusian news outlet Onliner reported.

“Access to this information resource is restricted based on the decision of the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus,” a message reads when Belarusian users try to access the sites.

“This measure has been taken in accordance with the Mass Media Act.”

Searches of the State Inspectorate for Supervision of Telecommunications’ database of “restricted access” websites reveal that all three of the exchanges were added to the ministry’s blacklist on December 10. The inspectorate functions as Belarus’ online media censor.

Rival sites

DL News also discovered that the URLs of rival sites like KuCoin and Binance — both very popular among Belarusian crypto traders — have not been included.

The ministry has not made any comment on the matter and releases information only on its blacklisting protocols to government bodies, the judiciary, and officially sanctioned media outlets.

Users of Beltelecom, the nation’s state-owned telephone and internet provider, first reported being unable to log in to Bybit’s trading platform on December 10, the Belarusian media outlet Nasha Niva reported.

Some traders were reportedly able to bypass the block by using virtual private networks, or VPNs. But this could pose a problem for Belarusian traders, Onliner explained.

“Bypassing the block with VPNs may violate the rules of individual exchanges and lead to account blocking,” Onliner journalist Artem Begovsk wrote. “These platforms detect login attempts from restricted jurisdictions or masked IP ($2.03) addresses.”

The new blocks were added less than a week after the ministry added a bot-powered crypto-mining app, Smart Miner, to its blacklist.

Belarus bullish on crypto

The moves will come as a surprise to many, given the Belarusian government’s bullish stance on crypto this year.

In March, President Alexander Lukashenko ordered his government to develop the nation’s crypto-mining sector by installing data centres in areas with spare energy resources.

Lukashenko has also talked up the idea of creating a national crypto reserve.

However, last month, the Belarusian arm of the Russian website Sputnik reported that Vasily Gerasimov, chairman of the State Control Committee, said the government had introduced a centralised registry of crypto wallets it believes are used to launder the funds raised by criminal gangs.

Tim Alper is a news correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email at tdalper@dlnews.com.