Photo: PixabayThe digital token, the first in Serbia, will go on sale in mid-June. The token was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission to the company "Finspot". Marko Janković, President of the Securities Commission and Director of "Finspot" Ognjen Kurtić, spoke for RTS about the benefits and security of digital token buyers, and the financial system and economy.
The digital token is reminiscent of traditional financial instruments, and those who buy it earn from the profit, ie the interest paid to them by the company that issued the token. For small and medium enterprises, it can be an alternative to bank loans, because they often do not have adequate access to sources of financing, experts say.
A digital token is a form of digital property that represents any type of intangible property right that represents one or more of those rights in digital form, including the possibility for the token user to be provided with a service, said Marko Janković, a guest on RTS's morning program.
"If we are talking about a specific token approved by the Commission, we are talking about a security token that is a quasi-financial instrument, which is mostly reminiscent of traditional financial instruments, and users of this digital token have the right to participate in profits. which issued the token to pay off ", explains Janković.
He states that various types of digital services are increasingly participating in our lives.
"Fintek represents the impact of the development of IT companies on the financial industry. They complement the financial system and provide innovative solutions that should bring these services closer to the clients of traditional financial institutions and facilitate access to these financial services. "As IT develops, it will probably start competing with traditional financial institutions at some point," Janković emphasized.
What "Finspot" does
When someone wants to collect the invoice three months before the deadline, they can send a request to the company, and receive 80 percent of the money in a very short time, and the rest when the debtor pays.
"We started working in January 2021. Since then, we have financed nine million euros in invoices. We have more than 100 clients from all over Serbia. With this growth, we have proven the assumption that such a service is needed in the country because small and medium enterprises do not have adequate access to sources of financing. We felt it on our skin, because as a small company we can hardly reach the source of financing through banks. Our mission is for small and medium enterprises to solve this liquidity problem ", states the technical director of" Finspot "Ognjen Kurtić.
What a digital token allows
Kurtic notes that the digital token is a great tool for that.
"It enables us to take money from investors, from individuals and legal entities, without major obstacles, and we pay compensation to investors because we use their money," Kurtić emphasizes.
The value of the token will be 1,000 dinars and at least 10 will be bought.
"Like every investment and purchase, it carries certain risks that are given in the white paper, and it was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission." We think that it can give investors additional security because we work in a strictly controlled area, we have a license from the Ministry of Finance, an audit obligation and we publish that audit on our website. "Token buyers get the opportunity to invest in a company that has a proven business model, potential for growth and thus make a profit," adds Kurtić.
Fees for the purchase of a digital token
The money they collect by issuing tokens, he adds, goes directly to the economy by financing invoices, helping companies to develop their business.
"After buying tokens on our platform, buyers have several investment options. It all comes down to deciding how much money they want to give us for use, for which we then pay various fees. The white paper will be published today, and I invite everyone to read that document and get additional information, "said Kurtić.
Are tokens digital stocks or bonds
Marko Janković notes that a specific token is a digital bond.
"With the Law on Digital Assets, we have defined a financial instrument that has practically all the characteristics of a bond, ie a debt instrument by which a company collects money for its business, as does" Finspot ". The white paper defines the purpose of the money, as well as all the rights of the customer, the flow of the digital token. "Tokens can resemble traditional financial instruments in their characteristics, in this case a digital bond," said Janković.
According to him, our law is technologically neutral.
"As regulators, we are not interested in which technology the token works on. Finspot uses Polygon's network, which in turn uses ether's smart contracts. It is a decentralized network that provides a dose of security to users that their data will be protected, since no one can collect all the data on the instrument itself in one place, "says Janković.
Digital token as a competition to loans and banks
He adds that tokens, if viewed from the angle of a company trying to finance business, are in competition with loans and banks.
"Banks dominate our financial market, and innovative instruments complement what banks provide. We have companies that are small, innovative, but do not have what banks like to see the most - collateral when approving loans. In that case, tokens are a good alternative, and investors can invest in those companies only on the basis of business models and confidence that through the growth of that company they will be able to finance obligations to investors, "Janković points out.
No cryptocurrency licenses yet
For now, he notes, no license for cryptocurrencies has been approved.
"The team of the Commission worked diligently and I hope that we can have the first results very soon. We had a variety of requirements there, from quality companies to those who may not have taken the licensing process in the most serious way. Of course, not all companies will get licenses to do these jobs. And with tokens, we have different examples. From Finspot, who took the whole process very seriously and passed the procedure quickly. On the other hand, we have potential issuers who took the whole process of issuing paper a little less seriously. "Our task as a regulator is, above all, to protect investors, and in that context we try to ensure that everything that goes public is of sufficient quality to provide investors with all the information to make a quality decision," says Janković.
Will Serbia introduce the digital dinar?
Jankovic states that he cannot agree with the statement of the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, that cryptocurrencies are not worth anything.
"Usually, central bankers have access to cryptocurrencies, which is a priori negative. Cryptocurrencies, no one guarantees them, we do not have a state or investment behind them. And I understand their fear for the stability of the financial system due to the emergence of a cryptocurrency that can shake that stability. At the end of the day, the market still determines the value of everything that is on it ", notes Janković.
According to him, the EU is seriously considering the introduction of the digital euro.
"We are seriously discussing the possibility of Serbia introducing a digital currency one day." This is still in the phase of theoretical discussion. "If we look at the EU and the amount of energy they spend on their activities, I think that is something that should be seriously considered," Janković concluded.
Source: rts.rs
