In Estonia, you may receive a national cryptocurrency for "electronic citizens"

For several years now, Estonia has been heading towards becoming an electronic state. Last year, quite extensive material was published on Geektimes with information about the system of e-citizenship, online voting, government e-services and much more. As for e-citizenship, Estonia proposed a program for the development of this area three years ago.



Virtually any foreigner (with a few exceptions) can receive an electronic residence (or citizenship, although this is not an entirely correct term), after which a large number of business opportunities in many countries become available to this person. In particular, an “e-citizen” can open an account in an Estonian bank, register a company, get an electronic signature to verify its documents anywhere in the world. And now this country is considering another interesting bill - the release of its own cryptocurrency, which, if it appears, will be called estcoins.



All the same "electronic citizens" will be able to use this cryptocurrency. Any foreigner, having received e-residence, will be able to start working with Estonian cryptomonet. If everything goes as planned, then soon a new cryptocurrency (its appearance is not 100% reality) will go through the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) procedure. Estonians promise a minimum of bureaucracy and a maximum of effective work.



This is probably another step aimed at attracting new virtual citizens who can support the Estonian economy by, as mentioned above, opening accounts in Estonian banks with conducting commercial operations.



By 2025, the Baltic state, with a population of only 1.3 million people, hopes to receive 10 million electronic citizens. Now there are not so many of them, only 22 thousand. But these people are entrepreneurs who already have a positive impact on the economic infrastructure of the country.







By the way, if it is interesting, then in the first place in the list of countries from which the “electronic citizens” came - Finland. Then follow Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom. As you can see, the e-citizenship program attracts many, and not in vain. More and more people began to look for an opportunity to legally conduct business abroad, with the most simplified system for registering such a business and security guarantees. Someone just wanted to get international status, and someone put obstacles put by the government of their own country. “Country as a service” - and Estonia, it seems, is turning into such a country (in the most positive understanding of this term)



The reasons that encourage representatives of other countries to register in Estonia as its residents, even electronic ones, are understandable. These are geographic independence, minimum bureaucracy, low costs, and access to various services, as mentioned above.



In turn, services for e-residents are gradually developing in Estonia, and business representatives are investing heavily in these services. Many countries work with the program, including the US government.



The traditional scheme of entrepreneurship is changing thanks to Estonia, where people who “want to work without problems around the world without having problems with accounting, bureaucracy of bureaucrats and other complicated things, receive“ shelter ”. The Estonian President recently said that all this is not enough, and if the country wants to keep up with the digital age, something more is needed.

And where is cryptocurrency?

Electronic residents of Estonia, despite the fact that they can work anywhere and everywhere, are still limited in their actions. We are talking about currency restrictions and all that is associated with currency exchange and related banking transactions. But what if there is an electronic currency that also has no geo-referencing? For example, like Bitcoin. This, no doubt, is very convenient.



In fact, cryptocurrencies are ideal for electronic residents, since the idea behind these coins is the same - the lack of geographical boundaries and minimal control over operations. Some countries, realizing that there may be a future for cryptocurrencies, have been developing their own versions of Bitcoin alternatives for some time. Especially China has succeeded here.



But in Estonia - the perfect combination of factors for the emergence of its own cryptocurrency. No other country came close to what has already been done in this Baltic country. There are technologies here, people who are ready to use new ideas, and most importantly, legislation that allows them to quickly introduce electronic innovations. In some countries, these factors exist separately, and in Estonia they are brought together.



It is clear that the development and introduction of its own cryptocurrency will take time and here, this is not a project for the weekend. But this is not a long-term job.



Well, since Estonia may have its own cryptocurrency, you can talk about Initial Coin Offering (ICO). This process helps companies to raise funds for the implementation of their own cryptocurrency. There are already a lot of examples of ICO, they were conducted by a number of startups, who considered that their coins were the best. Well, if so, why should the Estonian government not conduct an ICO to avoid additional costs for the implementation of such a project?





E-citizens gathered at e-residence conference



After all, the same entrepreneurs who are electronic citizens of Estonia may well invest their money in this idea.

But how will the estcoins work?

Everything is as usual. The ICO is held and further the formation of cryptocurrency begins. There are several methods for implementing this plan, but all of them ultimately lead to the fact (at least, the authors of the very idea of ​​introducing Estonian cryptocurrency think so) that investors, that is, e-citizens, and the country themselves benefit.



Many representatives of the cryptocurrency sphere have already expressed interest in this project. For example, the creator of the “ether” Vitalik Buterin considers the idea quite viable and is ready to support it. He believes that with the help of the new cryptocurrency, the country will receive substantial support and will continue to develop.



“The ICO in the e-citizenship system will allow you to create a strong system that, in addition to the economic aspect, will allow e-citizens to feel as one as they do something together,” said Buterin. He also added that since the estcoins will be part of the blockchain, Estonia will be able to gradually introduce smart contracts, which will undoubtedly have a positive effect on business in this country and abroad.



Well, the estkhoins themselves can serve as something like the “oil fund of Norway”, where the money received from trading oil from the moment of its value increase goes. It would be quite reasonable to create such a fund. Again, it would have a positive effect on the economic situation in the country. Well, the country itself could already invest in various promising areas - from the same smart contracts to artificial intelligence.



Estkoinah could be used as a means of payment - both in small business and large, both within the country and outside it. Based on the Estonian cryptocurrency and blockchain, one could create a reliable digital infrastructure that is used simultaneously in many areas. These are e-government, voting system, banks, insurance, etc. A new cryptocurrency, like e-citizenship, could well go beyond the borders of the country and become an international phenomenon.



In general, the idea is really interesting. It may well be that, together with e-citizenship, the new cryptocurrency will create a powerful node of technology and finance, which will allow Estonia to move forward even faster. Unfortunately, it is not yet clear when the cryptocurrency will be submitted. Representatives of the Estonian government say that now only presented the idea of ​​creating a national cryptocurrency. After that, a relatively long period of gathering opinions and responses will follow. And only then there will be an official presentation, an ICO, and everything connected with this.