The DLT Stock Exchange

• Published date: 15 September 2021
• Subject Matter: Finance and Banking, Financial Services, Commodities/Derivatives/Stock Exchanges
• Law Firm: Kalo & Associates
• Author: Kalo & Associates

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) stock exchange is a centralized or decentralized DLT stock exchange, in which: Digital Tokens (DT) of services, DT of payments and DT of assets can be listed and traded. In addition, exchanges between FIAT money and/or virtual currencies against DT of services, DT of payment and DT of assets and vice versa may also be performed and DT of securities can be listed and traded or exchanged between, in accordance with the Albanian Law 66/2020 "On financial markets based on DLT" (the "Law").

Decentralized DLT stock exchange is a stock exchange that uses DLT technology, where the private key to access DT and/or VC, which are subject to transactions on this stock exchange, is held by the stock exchange users themselves. On the other hand, centralized DLT stock exchange is a stock exchange that uses DLT technology, where the private key for accessing DT and/or VC, which are traded on this stock exchange, is held by the DLT stock exchange itself.

DLT stock exchange licenses are divided into three categories, as follows:

Category "A" includes licenses of the centralized and decentralized DLT stock exchange, where only "DT of services, and/or DT of payments, and/or DT of assets can be traded;

Category "B" includes licenses of the centralized and decentralized DLT stock exchange, where, in addition to the activities listed in category "A", exchanges between

FIAT money and/or virtual currencies against DT of services, DT of payment and DT of assets and vice versa may also be performed;

Category "C" includes licenses of the centralized and decentralized DLT stock exchange, where, in addition to the activities listed in category "B", DT of securities can also be traded;

Any legal entity that wants to operate as a DLT stock exchange, in accordance with the Law, must obtain the relevant license issued by AMF and AKSHI, and may only operate during the period of validity of the license, as well as be registered in the register of DLT stock exchange licensed in accordance with the Law. In addition to the licensing requirements, specific licensing requirements of DLT are provided in article 51 of the Law.

For any DT and Virtual Coin (VC) to be listed on a DLT stock exchange, the latter must declare that it is independent from the issuer of the DT and/or VC and that it is not in a position of conflict of interest with the issuer in question and/or with the relevant STO or ICO. This self-declaration must be attached to the application for the...