In May 2023, not far from the seaside resort town of Tivat on the Montenegrin Adriatic peninsula of Lustica, a conference on new technologies and blockchain was held that attracted little media attention at the time.
Some of the country’s most senior officials were there, including then-Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic and Milojko Spajic, who would take over the premier’s post in October 2023. Also in attendance was Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, the second-biggest cryptocurrency (by market capitalization) after Bitcoin.
Podgorica made it clear that Buterin was more than welcome….

