Belarusian Currency.com to open reserve office in Lithuania amid political instability

Belarus-based cryptocurrency exchange Currency.com said it plans to open a reserve office in Vilnius due to rising political instability, reports the local publication TUT.BY.

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According to an internal email circulated by the CEO, Jonathan Squires, staff were invited to “take a creative leave” and temporarily leave Belarus.

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“Offices in Minsk will continue to operate and will retain licences from the National Bank and the Hi-Tech Park (HTP), and the decision to relocate is voluntary,” said Squires.

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The exchange’s CEO also left it to employees to decide for themselves whether to participate in local protests or abstain. However, he recommended not wearing company-branded clothing in public places.

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The choice of Lithuania as a reserve jurisdiction is due to the country’s geographical proximity and the presence of family ties among some employees, the publication notes.

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“We have indeed been considering opening a small office in Vilnius since the start of the year, also due to the need to obtain another European licence,” said Nikolai Markovnik, the exchange’s Director of Growth, in a ForkLog interview.

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According to one Currency.com employee, the move is likely to affect the most “important and highly paid departments”, such as developers. Details will be announced at a meeting in a few days.

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Currency.com, the exchange based at the Belarus Hi-Tech Park, began operations in January 2019. The platform trades tokenised assets linked to commodities, equities and indices tied to the underlying market value of traditional financial assets.

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Trading platform offices are located in Belarus, Gibraltar, the United States, the United Kingdom and Cyprus. In the first two countries Currency.com holds licences to operate a crypto exchange.

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Against the backdrop of protests linked to Belarus’s presidential elections, residents of the country were cut off from the Internet from August 9 to 11.

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The Netherlands-based non-profit Belarusian Solidarity Foundation has begun paying compensation in Bitcoin to Belarusians fired from enterprises for active civic stance and participation in protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.

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