Bank of Lithuania: 6 digital tokens for a silver commemorative coin
- December 11, 2019
- by
- Pierre
The first digital collection medals in the world created by the Bank of Lithuania are dedicated to Lithuania’s declaration of independence on 16 February 1918 and its 20 signatories (Editor’s note: Only the silver coin “Declaration of Independence” of €19.18 is legal tender, in Lithuania, digital tokens are not legal tender).
The medals are scheduled to be issued in the spring of 2020. NUMISMAG had already presented this project to you and interviewed the head of the Bank of Lithuania, so that they could explain to us the technical aspect of this first numismatic.
Interview of Egidijus Paleckis,
“This innovative piece will feature the signatories because of their important role in the country’s history and their contribution to restoring our independence. Many of them can be described as the innovators of their time, because they created and brought progress to Lithuania,” said Marius Jurgilas, member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania.
In his view, the realization of this unique idea has provided (and will continue to provide) the Bank of Lithuania with valuable experience and knowledge in the creation of virtual currencies. “This is all the more important now that central banks tend to discuss these issues more openly and the contours of these currencies are slowly beginning to emerge,” Jurgilas said.
Obverse and reverse of the €19.18 silver collector’s coin
exchangeable for 6 digital tokens of 6 different categories
It is also expected that the digital tokens will turn a qualitatively new page in the history of Lithuanian numismatics and that young people will participate in the coin collection.
The Bank of Lithuania plans to release 24,000 collection tokens created using “block chain” technology.
Digital tokens, 6 tokens from 6 different categories = one silver coin
The tokens will highlight the 20 signatories of the declaration and collectors will be able to collect the whole. The tokens will be divided into 6 categories according to the areas of activity of the signatories, with 4,000 tokens allocated to each of them.
The token-for-money exchange mechanism
According to Giedrius Šniukas, Spokesman of the Bank of Lithuania, the Central Bank will first sell an option on a silver coin, materialised by 6 digital tokens. The tokens will be available for purchase and storage in the Bank of Lithuania’s online shop.
To obtain a silver coin, the collector will have to exchange with other collectors to get 6 tokens, from 6 different categories.
Once he has acquired 6 different tokens, he can exchange them at the Bank of Lithuania for a silver coin. Only the silver coin with a nominal value of €19.18 will be legal tender, only in Lithuania, and not in the rest of the euro area.
It is in honour of this milestone that the physical silver coin will have a non-conventional face value – 19.18 euros (1918 = year of signature of the Declaration of Independence).
Its size and shape will be identical to those of a credit card, illustrated by the declaration of independence and its signatories.
“I tried to take a modern look at the historical photography of the Lithuanian Council, which many people remember in history books. The digitized image has more than 36,500 pixels, the approximate number of days since the law of February 16,” said Giedrius Paulauskis, designer of the digital collector’s item.
Digital tokens will be a new step in the implementation of the Bank of Lithuania’s strategic orientation in the field of innovation and financial technologies, which aims to help Lithuanian and international companies to acquire knowledge and conduct research focused on the “block chain”.
This is a full-scale test for a future virtual circulating currency in euros!
Collectors are therefore used as pilot customers for this digital token exchange experience.
Feel free to give us your opinion as a comment following this article.
Sources: Central Bank of Lithuania and NUMISMAG.