Cryptocurrencies are increasingly becoming part of the global financial system, and countries in the Balkan region are demonstrating a variety of approaches to their regulation.
Serbia
Status: Officially recognized and regulated.
Legislation: Law on Digital Assets (2020).
Regulators: The National Bank of Serbia and the Securities Commission.
Taxes:
Capital gains tax: 15%.
Income tax: 15%.
Penalties: Up to 5 million dinars ($46,400) or 20% of annual income for operating without a license.
Croatia
Status: Not recognized as legal tender, but not prohibited.
Regulation: There is no special law, operations are regulated by general rules.
Taxes: Income from cryptocurrencies is subject to capital gains tax.
Albania
Status: Regulated by law (2020).
Regulators: Financial Supervision Authority and National Agency for Information Society.
Taxes:
Capital gains tax: 15%.
Corporate tax: 15%.
Sanctions: Administrative fines and restrictions on activities.
Status: There is no special legislation, operations with cryptocurrencies are not prohibited.
Warnings: The central bank notes the risks associated with cryptocurrencies.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Status: Not legal tender, no exchange for official currency is possible.
Taxes: The tax on income from transactions is 10%.
Regulation: There is no legislation, but trading and buying cryptocurrencies is allowed.
Republika Srpska (part of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Status: Cryptocurrencies are legalized (amendments to the law on the securities market, 2022).
Supervision: Securities Commission.
Taxes: Income tax is 10%.
North Macedonia
Status: Not recognized as legal tender.
Regulation: There is no regulation, cryptocurrency activities are not prohibited.
Kosovo
Status: Not recognized as legal tender, no special legislation.
Restrictions: A complete ban on mining has been introduced since 2022 due to the energy crisis.
Approaches to cryptocurrencies in the Balkans vary:
Serbia and Albania establish a clear legal framework, ensuring the legality of operations.
Montenegro and North Macedonia have no special regulation, but do not prohibit its use.
Kosovo restricts activities due to the energy crisis.
It is important for potential users and investors to study local laws and consult with experts to work safely and legally with cryptocurrencies in the region.
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs/434
The administration of the new US President Donald Trump is taking the first steps to change the regulation of the cryptocurrency market. During his election campaign, Trump promised to create a more friendly environment for crypto assets.
Mark Ueda, the acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced the creation of a working group to “develop a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
“The task force will help the SEC define clear regulatory boundaries, propose realistic pathways for registration, develop reasonable disclosure schemes, and prudently allocate resources for enforcement,” the regulator said in a statement.
Ueda is acting as SEC chairman temporarily while Trump’s nominee, lawyer Paul Atkins, awaits confirmation by the Senate.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank, Brian Mefford and Maxim Urakin, released a video analysis of what changes await US domestic and foreign policy under Trump, the video is available on the Experts Club YouTube channel – https://youtu.be/W2elNY1xczM?si=MM-QjSqGce4Tlq6T
US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, the market capitalization of which quickly soared to several billion dollars, the BBC reported on Sunday.
“Trump is launching $Trump meme coin as he prepares to take office as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, January 20. The venture is being coordinated by CIC Digital LLC, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, which previously sold Trump-branded shoes and perfumes,” the BBC said.
It is noted that meme coins are used to increase the popularity of a viral Internet trend or movement, but they have no intrinsic value and are extremely volatile investments.
According to CoinMarketCap.com, by noon on Saturday, a few hours after the launch, $Trump had reached almost $5.5 billion.
CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight Fight LLC, founded in Delaware earlier this month, own 80% of the tokens. However, it is unclear how much money Trump can make from this venture.
“My new official Trump meme is here! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: victory,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social page, announcing the meme coins on the evening of January 17.
About 200 million digital tokens have already been issued, and another 800 million will be issued over the next three years, according to the cryptocurrency’s website. “This Trump meme honors a leader who doesn’t back down despite adversity,” the site says.
The BBC report also states that “the message also contains a disclaimer that the coin is ‘not intended to be the target’ of an investment opportunity or security, and ‘is not political’ and ”has no connection to any political campaign, political office or government agency.”
Such digital tokens are notorious for speculators using the hype to drive up the value before selling at the top of the market, leaving latecomers to count their losses as the price plummets. However, cryptocurrency investors are hopeful that the Trump administration will promote the industry.
President Joe Biden’s regulators have expressed concerns about fraud and money laundering as they cracked down on crypto companies by suing these exchanges.
In the past, Trump has not shown much favor for cryptocurrencies, but last year at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, he said that America would become the “crypto capital of the planet” when he returned to Washington.
His sons Eric and Donald Jr. announced their own cryptocurrency venture last year.
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) remained unchanged due to the event and surpassed the $68,000 mark for the first time since late July.
Italian Deputy Finance Minister Maurizio LEO said the government will raise taxes on capital gains in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin from 26% to 42%, Reuters and Bloomberg reported.
According to Bloomberg, the Italian cabinet made the decision because “this phenomenon is spreading,” the LEO said of Bitcoin during a conference call on Wednesday.
The move comes in the wake of Italy’s decision to strengthen its tax on digital services as part of plans to boost revenue in its 2025 budget.
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) was unchanged, posting a weekly gain of more than 12%, surpassing the $68,000 mark for the first time since late July.
Hackers stole more than twice as much cryptocurrency in the first half of 2024 as they did a year earlier, according to a report by analytics firm TRM Labs.
The size of thefts in January-June amounted to $1.38 billion compared to $657 million in the same period last year.
As a year earlier, the bulk of the volume was stolen in a small number of attacks. Five hacks allowed hackers to steal 70% of the total semiannual volume.
The largest of these was the hack of Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin, in which attackers stole more than $300 million worth of bitcoins.
That said, there were no fundamental changes in the security of the cryptocurrency ecosystem that could have contributed to the increase in thefts, TRM notes. The number of attacks has also not changed significantly over the year.
However, the average value of cryptocurrencies rose in the first half of the year, which may have affected the dollar valuation of thefts.
The number of declarations mentioning cryptocurrencies is growing from year to year. More than 1,400 such declarations were filed in 2022. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether are the most popular among Ukrainian officials. For example, in 2022, one of the Ukrainian MPs declared 121 bitcoins worth over UAH 195 million.
Ukrainian officials filed 1428 declarations with cryptocurrency assets in 2022. This is almost twice as many as in 2021: back then, crypto appeared in 788 declarations.
In the 2021 declarations, the most popular cryptocurrencies among Ukrainian officials were Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and others. In 2022, the top positions did not change radically: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) were still in demand, and Tether (USDT) joined the top three.
Which Ukrainian officials declared the most cryptocurrency?
First of all, it is worth noting that the declarants submit their assets both in hryvnia equivalent and simply by indicating the number of cryptocurrency units in their possession.
Bitcoins / Bitcoin (BTC)
In 2021, the largest amount of bitcoin was declared by Anna Pozdnyakova, Director of the Odesa City Heat Supply Utility, which amounted to UAH 53 million. A year later, Deputy Head of the Dnipro Regional State Administration Sergiy Karpenko took over the top spot. He owns bitcoins equivalent to UAH 41 million.
The largest amount of bitcoins in 2022 – 121 BTC – was declared by Mykyta Kuzkevych, a deputy of the Odesa Regional Council. In hryvnia equivalent, at the time of publication, this is more than UAH 195 million.
Ethereum (ETH)
Serhii Karpenko, the official from Dnipropetrovs’k region who declared the largest amount of bitcoins, has also been the record holder for the amount of ethereum for two years in a row. In his declarations for 2021 and 2022, the official noted that he had the same amount of equivalent for this cryptocurrency – UAH 14.6 million.
Crypto dollars / Tether (USDT)
Vitaliy Brovko, Deputy Head of the Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office, declared the most crypto dollars or stablecoins in 2021 – 774,500 units. The same official holds the record for the largest amount in equivalent – UAH 20 million.
The official also held the top spot among the declarants for 2022. The number of crypto dollars in his possession did not change, but their value increased to more than UAH 29 million.
At the same time, the largest amount of crypto dollars/stablecoins was declared by Maksym Kyselyov, Director of the State Enforcement Service Department of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, who earned UAH 25 million.
The biggest losses in crypto
It is also worth noting that there are several officials who have declared their crypto assets but have indicated that they have lost access to them.
380.95 bitcoins, a record amount among Ukrainian officials, were declared and lost by Roman Saramaga, Deputy Head of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine, in 2021. In hryvnia terms, at the time of publication, this is about UAH 615 million.
The largest amount of ethereum – 1,800 units or more than UAH 160 million – belongs to Ihor Osipov, a deputy of the Podil District Council of Odesa Oblast. In 2021 and 2022, the official stated in his declarations that he had lost access to cryptocurrency.
“Having analyzed a large number of declarations, first of all, it is worth noting their poor quality. It seems that officials spend 5 minutes on declarations on the last day of submission. Despite the fact that there is already a special section where it is necessary to indicate assets in crypto, almost all crypto holdings are filled in differently, with errors and in different parts of the declarations.
Overall, the statistics show that ownership of such an opaque asset as cryptocurrency is not something risky or suspicious for officials. After all, the number of such officials has almost doubled over the past two years,” comments Oleksiy Ivankin, founder of Opendatabot.
Context.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the mandatory verification of officials’ declarations has been temporarily canceled. Despite this, the obligation of officials to report on their property status and changes in it has not been canceled.
Last fall, the verification of declarations was resumed. Therefore, Ukrainian officials had to catch up with the previous period (2021 and 2022) by the end of January 2024.
The deadline for submitting declarations for 2023 remains the same – April 2024.
As a reminder, you can check your MP’s declaration using the Opendatabot. To do this, add the OpenDataBot to your favorite messenger and enter the name of the official.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/crypto-officials-2022
Bitcoins, CRYPTOCURRENCY, cryptocurrency assets, CryptoDollars, Ethereum
