SERBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Željka Motika, Ivana Bulatović and Jovana Spasojević Gligorijević, Motika i partneri
10.9 Decentralised Finance (DeFi) There is no specific regulation governing DeFi in Ser - bia; however, the trading of digital assets is regulat - ed under the Law on Digital Assets. Consequently, only legal entities registered in Serbia and holding a licence issued by the competent regulatory authority may provide services related to digital assets in the Serbian market. This means that online DeFi proto - cols available to Serbian residents do not exempt their operators from complying with the applicable legal requirements. 10.10 Regulation of Funds The activities of investment funds are governed by the Law on Open‑Ended Investment Funds with Public Offering (UCITS) and the Law on Alternative Invest - ment Funds (AIFs). Under these regulations, UCITS funds and public AIFs may invest only in assets explicitly listed in the applicable rules, which current - ly exclude crypto‑assets and other blockchain‑based assets. Private AIFs intended for professional or semi‑profes - sional investors may invest in other types of assets if such investments are expressly permitted by the fund’s rules and approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, investing in digital assets remains challenging in practice. Every fund must appoint a custodian – typically a bank – and under the Law on Digital Assets, banks are not permit - ted to provide services related to digital assets. This limitation significantly restricts the ability of funds to hold or manage digital asset investments. 10.11 Virtual Currencies Virtual currencies are a type of digital asset that are neither issued nor guaranteed in value by a central bank or any other public authority. They are not nec - essarily linked to legal tender and do not possess the legal status of money or currency. However, they are accepted by individuals or legal entities as a means of exchange and can be bought, sold, exchanged, transferred, and stored electronically. Accordingly, virtual currencies represent one of the two regulated types of digital assets in Serbia.
are required to meet capital, staffing, and technologi - cal standards. In contrast, peer‑to‑peer trading between holders of digital assets – when carried out without the involve - ment of an intermediary – is not regulated and can be conducted freely without any licence. 10.6 Staking Staking is not specifically regulated under Serbian law, but may be classified as a type of digital asset service provided by licensed digital asset service providers. Licensed providers operating in Serbia may include staking services within their service offering. 10.7 Crypto-Related Lending A provider of services related to digital assets who holds a licence to provide portfolio management of digital assets, operate a trading platform for digital assets, or offer services involving the receipt, transfer, and execution of orders for the purchase and sale of digital assets on behalf of third parties, is permitted to lend funds or digital assets to its clients solely for the purpose of providing financial leverage in digital asset trading, in accordance with an agreement with the respective client. The lending of funds and digital assets may be carried out by the digital asset service provider exclusively from its own assets, and not from the assets of its clients. 10.8 Cryptocurrency Derivatives Cryptocurrency derivatives are not regulated as a dis - tinct type of digital asset. Depending on the rights and obligations they embody, they may be classified into one of two categories of digital assets: • virtual currency; or • a digital token. Each type of digital asset may be offered publicly, pro - vided that a White Paper for the issuance of the digital asset has been approved by the competent regulatory authority.
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