Belarusbank – the largest bank in Belarus, is reportedly considering launching its own cryptocurrency exchange.

Belarusbank is the leading banking institution in the country in terms of its volume of equity, assets, loans, and deposits. Owned by the State Property Committee of Belarus, its operating assets reportedly topped an estimated $13.51 billion in 2017.

Speaking to local news outlet BelTA on 28 January, chairman of the bank Viktor Ananich first shared details of the firm’s exploration into the viability of setting up such an exchange.

He explained that as banking and traditional finance sectors are evolving very fast, the launch of the cryptocurrency exchange would be a way to keep ahead of the game, with digitization being a top focus in the coming year. Notably, Ananich also outlined Balarusbank’s virtual cards scheme which will replace physical debit and credit cards in the next a few months.

Belarus is home to a number of other crypto-related enterprises with the country benefiting from regulation formulated by the Belarus High-Technologies Park (HTP) – dubbed as the country’s Silicon Valley. According to the regulatory documents constructed by the HTP last year, local crypto-related business, including startups offering initial coin offerings (ICOs, were granted complete legal regulations for their operations.

As reported by The Crypto Sight earlier this month, a blockchain startup named Currency.com has launched a new platform for trading tokenized securities. It is providing its services by leveraging its sister company Capital.com, which is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission(CySEC).