Banks, Cryptocurrencies, Financial Services, Lithuania

"It will not be a cryptocurrency but a digital numismatic coin. It’s a commemorative coin, and the issue will be limited. It will be legal tender, just as all commemorative coins issued by the Bank of Lithuania, but nobody uses them as legal tender as their market value is higher," Marius Jurgilas, a board member of the Bank of Lithuania, told.

"We want it to have a game element. We want to cheer up numismatics which is a dying area. Probably, a very small number of young people are now interested in collecting, but this is what central banks do, and we think of ways to remain in this changing environment," he added.

More and more central banks are getting involved in digital currency projects, Jurgilas said.

"Several years ago, nobody was talking about central banks' virtual currencies. And now surveys show 70% of central banks are working with this technology. A third of them say it will happen, but it's unclear when," Jurgilas said during a fintech event in Vilnius on Friday.

"You already know that with the LBCoin the Bank of Lithuania is testing the cryptocurrency technology. It will happen this year," the Bank of Lithuania's board member said.