Albanian Crypto Law to Come into Force in September

TIRANA, July 21

The Albanian law on blockchain and digital currencies will come into effect on 1 September.
The law ‘On financial markets based on distributed ledger technology’ was published on the Official Gazette on Tuesday, issue No. 136. The publication of the law follows a parliamentary decision that annuls a previous decree by the President’s Office. The latter issued the decree that revoked the law on June 25th. The decree pointed out that the law would increase the risks that cryptocurrency transactions in Albania could be misused for illegal activities such as money laundering, terrorism financing, and tax evasion.
The recent decision of the Albanian Parliament that nullified the President’s decree was published in the same issue of the Official Gazette.

The law consists of 107 articles. Article No.1 defines: “The object of this law is the regulation of the issuance of digital tokens and/or virtual currencies, licensing, monitoring and the supervision of entities that exercise the activity of distribution, trading and storage of digital tokens and/or virtual currencies, of the digital tokens agent, of the provider of innovative services and collective investment schemes.

The law adopted by the Parliament defined a legal framework for cryptocurrencies that would place Albania among the countries that support cryptocurrencies.

Source: Official Gazette