Financial authorities in Serbia to implement crypto monitoring system

Financial authorities in Serbia are strengthening government oversight over the trading of major cryptocurrencies and stablecoins in the country.

The regulators in Belgrade now seek to implement a mechanism that will allow them to immediately flag suspicious transactions and identify wallet owners.

Serbian government to amplify crypto supervision

Serbia’s financial intelligence body has announced a public tender for a system that can scan cryptocurrency trade, local business media reported.

According to the procurement’s technical specifications, the new platform should allow authorities to continuously monitor transfers on major blockchains.

It is also expected to be able to recognize transactions related to Serbian residents and automatically notify government analysts about any suspicious movement of funds.

The official documentation, published by the Serbian Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering (APML), also requires:

“The proposed solution should combine publicly available blockchain data, network monitoring and advanced analytics to enable an official request for the identity of the wallet owner to be sent within minutes of a suspicious transaction being detected.”

The system should be capable of monitoring transactions with 10 leading stablecoins and cryptocurrencies by trading volume, eKapija and BiznisKurir revealed this week.

The list approved by the agency includes Tether (USDT), Circle’s USDC, First Digital USD (FDUSD), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), BNB, Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP, and Sui (SUI).

The tender expires on November 10, 2025, the economic news outlets noted in their reports.

Cryptocurrency trading is legal in Serbia

The APML, which is part of the administration of the Serbian Ministry of Finance, acts as the Balkan country’s financial intelligence unit.

Its responsibilities include collecting, analyzing, and disseminating financial information to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

It gathers reports of suspicious transactions from various obliged entities, including banking institutions, insurance companies and accounting firms. The watchdog’s activities are mainly governed by the Republic of Serbia’s Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.

The popularity of cryptocurrencies has been growing among Serbs over the past years, and crypto investing is legal in the Southeast European nation, which took steps to place its crypto space in order well ahead of many others in the region and across the Old Continent.

The market was regulated with the Law on Digital Assets, which was adopted in 2020 and went into force in mid-2021. The legislation covers activities like coin trading and mining. It defines digital assets and divides them into two main categories – virtual currencies and digital tokens.

The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) and the Securities Commission (SC) were granted powers to oversee the industry built around them. Service providers, such as cryptocurrency exchanges, need to obtain a license from the NBS to operate and meet minimum capital requirements.

The Tax Administration of the Republic of Serbia, which is also subordinated to the finance ministry, is the body that collects taxes on crypto-related income and profits. The latter are considered capital gains in the country and taxed at a 15% rate.