Albania’s financial regulator has approved a new licensing regime targeting cryptocurrency exchanges.
Law refers to the distributed ledger technology
The new law, in turn, refers to exchanges that use the distributed ledger technology. These are exchanges that use the blockchain in conjunction with digital tokens, digital assets, and those that use both digital assets and fiat currency.
According to the licensing regime, DLT exchanges fall under one of 3 categories; those who only use digital assets and digital tokens, those who use fiat and virtual currencies, and those who trade digital securities.
The licenses will be issued on the basis of the submission of detailed documentation, including business organization, business plans, source of capital and reputation. Once the application is submitted, the authorities pass the file on to a specially established committee to review and evaluate it in accordance with the law.
Protecting investors and the public
All decisions regarding applications will be based on protecting investors and the public. In addition, it is based on promoting stability and transparency of financial markets, ensuring legal compliance, adequate security systems and protection against cyber-attacks. The company’s administrator, board of directors, supervisory board and other key stakeholders will also be assessed under the ordinance.
In order to obtain a license, companies must also have sufficient capital. Although the first version of the law came into effect on September 1, 2020, not all necessary statutes have been implemented yet. As a result, the law is not yet enforced. However, this is expected to happen in the near future.
