Regulatory Alerts2019-01-21
Opinion of the Bank of Lithuania on questions related to virtual assets and initial coin offering
The Bank of Lithuania clarifies that supervised financial market participants are generally prohibited from providing virtual asset services or accepting payments in virtual assets, requiring strict separation of such activities from regulated financial services. The regulator mandates that security tokens granting ownership or profit rights are treated as securities, necessitating prospectus approval and compliance with securities laws, while non-security tokens used for donations or technology use face different regulatory treatments. Additionally, the document emphasizes that virtual asset activities pose higher money laundering risks, thereby prohibiting simplified due diligence and requiring robust anti-money laundering measures and clear customer risk disclosures.