According to the Serbian Economist, the exchange of cryptocurrencies for cash in Montenegro is massively going into the “gray zone”: transactions are conducted through unregulated dealers, forums and Telegram groups, with multi-million dollar transactions taking place without any government oversight. This is according to an investigation by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).
According to BIRN, Montenegro still does not have a separate law on digital assets, although the development of such a document was announced back in 2020. The cryptocurrency market was only partially affected by the February amendments to the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, which provided for the creation of a register of service providers related to digital assets.
Due to the lack of clear regulation, citizens and residents widely use so-called OTC-trading: exchange of cryptocurrency for cash through intermediaries, announcements on forums and Telegram chats, with personal meeting and settlement in cash, without applying customer verification procedures (KYC). Ivan Jolicic, a cryptocurrency expert and creator of Montenegrin digital currency Perper, told BIRN that in addition to local dealers, foreigners are active in the market – in particular, Russians, Ukrainians and Turks, for whom it is often the only way to make money to live in the country amid the difficulty of opening bank accounts.
BIRN journalists identified a number of crypto exchanges on Telegram, operating both throughout the Balkans and only in Montenegro. One of the largest groups – “Currency Exchange Montenegro” – has more than 7 thousand participants, communication in it is conducted in Russian; the ads indicate the amount of exchange (from hundreds to tens of thousands of euros), rates, commissions and specific places of cash transfer. The symbolism of the group’s administrators overlaps with that of the libertarian community Montelibero, but its representatives told BIRN that they are not affiliated with this Telegram channel.
The Montenegrin police told BIRN that the Financial Intelligence Sector has the technical capabilities to analyze blockchain transactions and uses Chainalysis Reactor software solutions and the Kodex platform to obtain off-chain data from crypto service providers. However, the IRS noted that until a separate digital asset law is passed, it cannot actually act on such transactions, as taxation is only possible on legally recognized assets.
Amendments to the AML law, passed by Parliament on February 28, provide for the creation of a register of service providers with crypto-assets and mandatory KYC procedures for every transaction over €1,000. At the same time, experts, including Jolicic, believe that the current regulation remains fragmented and does not cover mass “street” OTC trading, due to which a significant volume of crypto transactions continues to pass “under the radar” of state authorities.
https://t.me/relocationrs/1908
