News

Bank of Lithuania updates position on virtual currencies and ICOs

Monday 18 February 2019 00:26 CET | News

The Bank of Lithuania has updated its position on virtual assets and initial coin offering (ICO) taking into account current market developments and evolving regulatory regimes.

The central bank has substituted the term ‘virtual currency’ with ‘virtual asset’ and has clarified how and when virtual assets may be used for payment. It has also specified that in the case of investment funds which are prevalent in other countries; having completed the notification process, their investment units may be marketed in Lithuania.

The bank clarified that financial market participants should not participate in activities or provide services associated with virtual assets. As such, financial market participants are prohibited from receiving payments in virtual assets, issuing virtual asset loans, or accepting virtual assets as collateral (except for cases where virtual asset tokens are considered to be securities).

The central bank, however, added that financial market participants may hold a small quantity of virtual assets for the purposes of using blockchain technology in their activities.


Free Headlines in your E-mail

Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.

Subscribe now

Keywords: Bank of Lithuania, cryptocurrency, ICO, crypto, virtual assets, Lithuania, investors
Categories:
Companies:
Countries: World