Better To Mine Crypto Here Than Pick Strawberries In Poland, Says President Of Belarus

What Happened: Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, wants his government to get in on mining cryptocurrency.

Russian publication RBC news reported that the president of the Eastern European country presented crypto mining as a lucrative opportunity in a recent public gathering.

Lukashenko advocated for mining cryptocurrency on the home ground rather than seeking low-paying farming jobs overseas at the opening of the Petrikovsky mining and processing plant earlier this week.

He urged employees of potash fertilizer production company Belaruskali, to start mining “cryptocurrency or whatever it’s called”  using the country’s spare electric resources.

“We must understand, they are not waiting for us anywhere. And if someone is waiting […] Maybe on the plantations, as Ukrainians often say, the Poles there or the Germans have to squirm, pick strawberries,” he said.

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Lukashenko suggested crypto mining as a suitable alternative to searching for these jobs abroad. He emphasized that there was enough electricity in the region to power crypto mining activities.

“Create something with electricity. In the end, start mining cryptocurrency, or whatever it’s called. There is enough electricity in the country.”

Belarus has one of the most crypto-friendly laws of any country across the globe. In 2017, the country legalized trading Bitcoin BTC/USD and other cryptocurrencies and has even waived related taxes on crypto until 2023.

Price Action: At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $48,900, gaining 0.16% over the past 24-hours. The market-leading digital asset had a 24-hour trading volume of $39.54 billion and accounted for 41.8% of the crypto market at the time of writing.