The Bank of Lithuania is to issue the world’s first digital collector coin in a project seen by the central bank as an opportunity to start discussions on digital money.
The blockchain-based LBCOIN consists of six digital tokens and one physical silver collector coin. The Bank of Lithuania will issue 4,000 LBCOINs, that is, 24,000 digital tokens and 4,000 physical collector coins.
“The main benefit of this project for the Bank of Lithuania is in that it will help understand how the processes required to launch such a coin work,” Marius Jurgilas, a member of the central bank's board, told a news conference on Thursday.
“We hope this attempt will be a success, but if it fails, we will have learned the lessons and we'll will try again,” he added.
“The entire central banking community, not just the European Central Bank or China's central bank, is now ripe for a discussion on whether or not we need digital money,” he said. “We have no answers, but we are preparing for that.”
The coin is dedicated to Lithuania's Act of Independence of February 16, 1918. Each token features one of the Act's 20 signatories.
The digital collector coin will be issued on July 23, the Bank of Lithuania said in a press release.
“After purchasing LBCOIN, collectors will get six randomly selected digital tokens which they will be able to exchange for a physical collector coin, store in a dedicated e-wallet on the e-shop, send as a gift, swap with other collectors or transfer to a public NEM wallet,” the bank said.
The LBCOIN system will be disabled in 30 months, meaning that no tokens or physical coins will be available.
The price of LBCOIN is 99 euros. The physical silver collector coin bears an unconventional denomination of 19.18 euros and resembles a credit card in size and form, according to the press release.
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