3 digital currency license applications under review in Serbia

Some digital currency exchanges have decided to seek government backing in Serbia, and three of them recently applied for licensing. Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali announced the applications of the said three digital currency exchanges, local media reported.

“I expect that we will issue the first licences in the next few weeks, that is very important for us,” he said.

He also mentioned that four digital token issuers had paid the license application fees.

The finance minister noted that Serbia is among the first nations to regulate the digital currency space, and slowly but surely, the digital currency space is evolving in the country.

Serbia is planning to launch its digital token trading platform, currently in development, sometime in 2022. Mali said the government will adopt the growth strategy of the Belgrade Stock Exchange, which the prime minister said is “…the right instrument to support the development of our financial market.”

In June 2021, Serbia enforced the digital currency law. The legislation of Serbia views digital currency such as Bitcoin as digital records and virtual assets of value that can be purchased, transferred, sold, and exchanged.

Serbia is a nation of about 7 million population located in Southeast Europe. The recent regulations and the investors have recently resulted in more Serbs holding digital assets. According to a recent media report, an estimate of 200,000 residents of the Southeast European country now holds one or more digital assets.

“Every month this year we have had a serious growth in the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies. The market in Serbia is definitely growing and we are not lagging behind some developed world markets,” Marko Zivkovic, director of marketing at the digital currency exchange ECD, told media.

Although the digital asset trading platform is yet to obtain a permanent permit, it offers its users the option to buy and sell coins. At the time, they were planning on obtaining the license from the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) in the first months of 2022.

Zivkovic also said that once ECD is fully licensed, it will process digital asset payments for goods and services.

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