The Bank of Lithuania (BoL) will launch a pre-sale of its CBDC, called LBCOIN, on July 9. The coin itself will be issued and sold on July 23.
While LBCOIN is technically a CBDC based on the NEM blockchain and issued by the central bank of Lithuania, the financial institution prefers to call it:
“the world’s first blockchain-based digital collector coin”
LBCOINs will actually be issued for collectible purposes as part of the country’s larger research on blockchain and its capabilities.
Board Member @MariusJurgilas for @Reuters: At a time when central banks are beginning to change their thinking on digital currency, #LBCOIN is probably the most advanced experimental playground to test different reincarnations of CBDCs.#blockchain #NEMhttps://t.co/BtuZRPhq5G — Lietuvos bankas (@Lietuvosbankas) July 3, 2020
The BoL intends to sell 24,000 LBCOINs and will come in packs of six at a cost of 99 euros.
Each token will feature a portrait of one of the 20 Lithuanian historical figures who signed the country’s declaration of independence in 1918 divided into six categories:
Priests
Presidents
Diplomats
Industrialists
Academics
Municipal servants
Having acquired a token from each of the six categories, collectors will be able to exchange them for a physical silver coin.
Unlike the tokens, such silver coins will be considered legal tender and amount to €19.18. However, their use as a means of payment “will not be encouraged”.
This experience will help the BoL to continue researching blockchain.
Pavel Lipnevič, LBCOIN project manager told:
“LBCOIN helps to gain practical hands-on experience in issuing a (kind of) retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in a real environment – in this case the niche area of numismatics – which will work as a “playground” with controlled risk for the central bank and retail users.”
At a time when financial institutes across the globe are turning to digital currencies, Marius Jurgilas, deputy governor of the central bank in a recent interview for Reuters called LBCOIN:
“probably the most advanced experimental playground to test different reincarnations of the CBDCs”
The pre-sale is scheduled to start on July 9. A representative of BoL told:
“We are calling it pre-sale as the buyers will be asked to register in advance as it will take time to go through KYC procedures to prepare and make it as smooth as possible on the sales day.”
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Pixabay