approved white paper, with exceptions being made in regard to those digital assets that have an approved subsequent white paper, that have a white paper approved in an EU member state, and those that are being traded on a large scale on the global market in line with EU AML /CFT rules.
The LDA prescribes licensing requirement for provision of services connected to digital assets and those services are the following: receipt, transfer and execution of orders for purchase and sale of digital assets on behalf of third parties; purchase and sale of digital assets for cash and/or funds on the account and/or electronic money; exchange of digital asset for other digital asset; the safekeeping and administration of digital assets on behalf of users of digital assets and thereto related services which includes control over the means by which digital assets are accessed (e.g. cryptographic keys), as well as related services (e.g. administration of collateral); services related to the issuance, offer and sale of digital assets, with the obligation of their purchase (underwriting) or without that obligation (agency); keeping a register of pledges on digital assets; digital assets acceptance / transfer services (meaning a service provided by a digital asset service provider to a merchant, by accepting from the consumer the appropriate value of the digital asset, corresponding to the price of goods sold and/or services provided to that consumer, converting such digital asset into appropriate amount of legal tender and transferring that amount to the merchant’s account); digital asset portfolio management; organizing a platform for trading in digital assets (which includes, among other, connecting of supply and demand for digital assets on a platform for trading in digital assets, in line with the platform’s rules, and in a manner that leads to the conclusion of valid contracts; keeping and publishing of information related to such digital assets tradable on the platform, etc.).
For providing of the above services in Serbia, a company would have to be locally established and would have to obtain an adequate license from SEC (in case such services are connected with tokens) or the NBS (in case such services are connected with cryptocurrencies). Under the LDA, the minimum capital for provision of services connected with the digital assets ranges from EUR 20,000 to EUR 125,000, depending on the type of service provided.
Classification of token/coins in the jurisdiction
LDA defines digital asset as: “a digital value record that can be digitally bought, sold, exchanged or transferred and that can be used as a medium of exchange or for investment purposes, where digital assets do not include digital currency records that are legal tender and other financial assets regulated by other laws, except when otherwise regulated by these legal services”. Digital assets comprise virtual currency and digital tokens.
Digital token is defined as: “digital token is a type of digital asset and means any intangible property right that in digital form represents one or more other property rights, which may include the right of the user of the digital token to be provided with certain services”. Virtual currency is regulated as: “virtual currency is a type of digital asset that has not been issued and which value is not guaranteed by the central bank or other public authority, which is not necessarily tied to legal tender and has no legal status of money or currency, but is accepted by natural or legal persons as a medium of exchange buy, sell, exchange, transmit and store electronically”.
In practice, it is very difficult to draw a clear line between virtual currencies and digital tokens. Based on the published view of the SEC, if a digital asset gives certain rights (e.g., the right to participate in transaction validation or