Lithuanian Crypto and Banking Sectors Start Talking With Each Other

A dialog among the Lithuanian banking, crypto sectors and local financial watchdogs has been established in order to understand each other better, The Baltic Times reported, citing Jekaterina Govina, fintech strategy coordinator at the Bank of Lithuania.

Officials from the Finance Ministry and the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) were also invited to a recent round-table discussion, according to the report.

“Blind denial, reluctance to understand and to work with the cryptocurrency world leads nowhere,” Govina was quoted as saying.

Vytautas Kašėta, head of the Lithuanian Association of Crypto-Economy Market Participants, said that crypto related companies have difficulty obtaining banking services, according to the report. While the Lithuanian Banks’ Association (LBA) stressed that consumer protection, money laundering and terrorist financing prevention is a priority that must be ensured.

Lithuanian projects last year attracted more than 10% of all Initial Coin Offering investments, the report said, citing Eglė Nemeikštytė, CEO of Blockchain Center Vilnius, a not-for-profit knowledge hub.

Despite its conservative position towards the crypto sector, the Lithuanian central bank has proven their optimism in regards for crypto earlier this year when they announced their intention to create a blockchain sandbox platform, dubbed LBChain, as part of the bank’s strategic directions in the field of innovation and FinTech. Also, the bank is planning to issue a one-of-a-kind digital collector coin already this year.