Serbia is not the only Western Balkan country where crypto business is discussed, but it is the country where the discussion is about a real licensing regime: the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has been issuing licences for virtual-currency services since 2021, and compared with the record-based models of its neighbours this is a full licensing system. That contrast shapes this page: where some countries in the region sell what is merely an entry in a list under the name of a "licence", in Serbia a licence is a licence — granted by decision, with conditions and with ongoing supervision.
We tell you honestly, up front, what is not in our official material: the licence fee amount and the statutory processing time are not fixed in the sources this page is built on — both are to be confirmed with the regulator, and we do not print unofficial numbers. Nor do we invent capital thresholds. What is confirmed — the legal basis, the shape of the process, the logic of NBS screening and the public register — is detailed below.
The Legal Basis: the Digital Assets Law and the NBS Decision
The regime rests on two acts: the Law on Digital Assets (Serbian Official Gazette 153/2020) and the NBS Decision on issuing the licence for virtual-currency services (Official Gazette 49/2021). On this basis the NBS issues a licence (dozvola) for services connected with virtual currencies. An important boundary exists as well: services around digital tokens that are not virtual currency fall to the Serbian Securities Commission — so the exact classification of your business model decides which regulator your route runs to, and that classification is the first item of analysis.