Montenegro has no data whatsoever on transactions in virtual currencies. Bitcoin, being the most popular of crypto-currencies, is thus completely under the radar of the Central Bank of Montenegro. When asked about the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, the CB told Pobjeda daily that the new amendments will stipulate that both legal and private entities trading in any and all virtual currencies will have to report transactions over 15,000 euros.
“The CBCG department in charge of statistics does not have data related to virtual currencies, that is, information on how many individuals or legal entities deal with the issuance and management of virtual currencies, nor the frequency of such transactions. Data collected for the purpose of compilation of balance of payments statistics are at a higher aggregate level than the level of individual transactions, such as trading in virtual currencies, and therefore these transactions cannot be separated”, the Bank said. Perhaps you managed to understand what they meant, other than – they don’t have a clue.
The draft law already entered the parliamentary procedure and the MPs are expected to vote on it sooner rather than later.
But perhaps if we knew how bitcoin worked, we wouldn’t be so hard on the Central Bank for not knowing what is going on. No one does. So, here goes:
Bitcoin (₿) is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or single administrator. The system works as a peer-to-peer network, in which transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary. These transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.
