Belarus is facing too much chaos amongst the masses and politics. The mass protest is against the sitting President, Alexander Lukashenko. People are not able to access the internet. They can’t post on social media about the political agendas.
Amid all this disturbance, some businesses are not able to operate. Cryptocurrency companies are also one of them. But these companies are not ready to step back during this time. Some of the crypto-related companies are planning to shift to other countries.
Currency.com, for instance, the company that has its headquarter in Minsk is planning to set up a new office in Lithuania. The crypto trading company is doing so to provide a safer place for its employees to work.
A report about Currency.com was provided by a local news agency TUT.BY that the crypto trader is shifting some of its employees to Vilnius. It is done by the company just to keep the employees safe and working in a peaceful environment. Since the current election has interfered with the peace in Belarus.
When asked the CEO about the sudden shift. Jonathan Squires said that it is temporary. Currency.com has offices in Minsk, but if any of the employees wish to relocate, there will be an option, said Squires.
Squires also added that there is no restriction on the employees to stay away from the protests. They can take part in the mass protest if they wish to. But Currency.com has advised the employees to not wear any clothing that reveals the name of Currency.com or its sister cryptocurrency brand, Capital.com.
Capital.com is also a part of Currency.com. It is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority. The brand doesn’t want to get involved in political activities.
Someone from the Currency.com has also made it clear that the company is not closing its Belarus office. It is just another small office of Currency.com in Vilnius. The leading cryptocurrency trading company is also willing to get another European license. Thus, this additional office is also a part of the plan.
Selecting Lithuania as an additional location for Currency.com is not plan, however. It is chosen as an additional location because it is not much far from Minsk. The distance between both locations is just 120 miles. And the firm also has other business connections in the country.
Many well-known games and applications are created in Belarus. Such as Viber, World Of Tanks, and more. This political unrest has shaken the ground for many IT firms. Some have shifted their entire offices, while some are shifting their servers to other countries.
It all happened when Belarus citizens considered Lukashenko’s victory as invalid. Some citizens started to protest peacefully but armed violent policemen evoked even more disturbance. As a result, government authorities blocked internet usage throughout the country.
Some policemen even entered the offices of tech firms and arrested their employees. Not only this, the armed policemen raids have been reported. They’re entering into the offices of some of the renowned IT companies like Yandex, Uber, and whatnot. The response of police personnel is brutal.
Some of the IT workers and protestors even reported torture by the authorities. It is frightening to hear but some protestors have also been killed by the police. The protest started peacefully but it is the authority that is not responding accordingly.
The internet outage is just adding fuel to the situation. IT companies are dependent on the internet and this blockage has led to a halt of major processes. The government, however, doesn’t understand that this situation has given a home to economic losses.
The IT industry is responsible to generate billions for the Belarus economy. With this discontinuation of the IT sector operation, a gross loss of $56 million can hit the economy of Belarus.
On August 9 alone, 9.5 million people could not have access to a proper internet facility. It was the day when Alexander Lukashenko won the elections with an 80% ballot. IT firms and cryptocurrency-related companies are facing a huge challenge during this time. They find it difficult to sustain the work under such poor internet connectivity.
The police raids are not limited to particular companies. The violence has affected even the internet giant Yandex. Yandex is a Russian company that also has its office in Belarus. According to a report, the employees working in the Minsk office of Yandex have relocated to Russia. The decision was followed by the police raids in the Minsk-based office of Yandex.
Belarus, a place that has made the citizens independent in terms of owning cryptocurrency, is now making it hard to survive for the IT firms to operate. Some companies are keeping their employees safe by using decentralized methods such as moving servers or offices to other countries. The state of Belarus is yet unconfirmed and unhealthy for the tech sector to thrive.
