A former finance minister and current member of parliament, Boris Lalovac of the SDP party, on Wednesday pointed to a strong growth of the cryptocurrency market, while the general public had little knowledge of it, calling for its regulation.

During a parliamentary debate on draft amendments to the Capital Market Act, Lalovac, who welcomed the proposed changes, said that he himself was surprised by the forecasts that the cryptocurrency market would exceed HRK 2.2 billion by the end of this year, and that in 2022 its value could exceed the value of the strictly regulated capital market.

This SDP parliamentarian believes that a shift would occur in savings and that citizens would turn to the capital market and investments funds, which have higher yields than savings accounts.

The yields on savings in bank accounts range between zero and 1%, whereas the capital market enables higher yields, he noted and added that yields on the cryptocurrency market were even higher, but that market had not yet been regulated.

The finance ministry’s State Secretary, Stjepan Curaj, said that currently in Croatia there were 26 providers of investment services and six investment companies. Their assets totalled HRK 67.5 million in 2020, with a profit of HRK 2.7 million.

When it comes to credit institutions, primarily banks, they had HRK 462 billion in assets and a profit of HRK 2.7 billion, while insurance companies had assets worth HRK 48 billion and a profit of HRK 700 million, according to Ćuraj.

HNB warns Croats about risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies

Later on Wednesday, the Croatian National Bank (HNB) issued a statement in which it highlighted risks associated with investments into cryptocurrencies.

The central bank alerts potential investors that they can lose a part of the whole amount of their investments in cryptocurrency for several reasons, as this is a form of speculative investment.

The HNB provides no guarantees for this form of investment.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)