These conditions are provided for in the Regulations on the sale of LBCOIN. The regulations also stipulate that after another 6 months, i.e. as of 23 January 2023, the Bank of Lithuania’s e-shop dedicated to the sale of LBCOIN – lbcoin.lb.lt – will be shut down and all the digital tokens contained therein will be destroyed. Therefore, any tokens purchased until then should be exchanged for a physical silver collector coin or transferred to a digital wallet on the public NEM blockchain network.
Each digital token features one of the 20 signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania. Digital tokens are divided into six categories depending on the occupation of signatories (priests, presidents, diplomats, industrialists, academics, and municipal servants) with 4,000 tokens allotted to each category. When purchasing LBCOIN, the buyer receives six randomly selected digital tokens that may be exchanged for one physical silver collector coin, stored in the Bank of Lithuania’s e-shop, sent as a gift, exchanged with other collectors or transferred to a digital wallet on the public NEM blockchain network.
The physical collector coin is silver, in a denomination of €19.18. It is minted at the Lithuanian Mint.
The size and shape of the coin resemble a payment card depicting the Act of Independence of Lithuania and its signatories. The Lithuanian flag on the reverse of the coin depicts the national anthem inscribed in a binary code. The obverse of the coin bears the Vytis – the coat of arms of the Republic of Lithuania – incorporated in a QR code which is linked to the e-shop. The weight of the coin is 36.36 g, quality – proof-like. The physical collector coin and digital tokens were designed by Giedrius Paulauskis.
LBCOIN is the first digital coin issued by a central bank not only within the euro area but across the globe. The coin has garnered a lot of attention at the international level and helped to promote Lithuania as an innovative country.
The Bank of Lithuania developed LBCOIN as part of its strategic direction in the field of innovation and fintech. The creation of the coin has helped Lithuanian and foreign companies gain knowledge and carry out blockchain-oriented research, thus adapting and testing blockchain-based services in the financial sector. The issuance of this coin has also allowed the Bank of Lithuania to acquire practical knowledge in the field of digital currencies, and the experience of the LBCOIN project feeds into exploring practical possibilities of the digital euro.