At this point, cryptocurrencies will play a major role in the global financial industry soon. Millions of people are already using them, and these digital assets had a massive breakthrough in 2021. What’s even more important is that many companies and countries are starting to accept them.
In a world’s first, El Salvador became the only country to fully adopt Bitcoin and even use it for various trading purposes. That allowed the cryptocurrency to grow and stabilize itself even more. Even though many would think that El Salvador will be leading the pack in the crypto world, that did not concern Europeans too much.
Why? Because they already have a country that kind of regulates these digital assets and allows them to trade with them. That country is Estonia, and, in this article, we’ll be looking at why Estonia is considered the crypto capitol of Europe. Let’s dive into the details.
First, Estonia was among the first countries in the world to start regulating cryptocurrencies. It started accepting them around a decade ago and since then, became a haven for all crypto traders. That ‘tradition’ was kept over the years as all new traders in the continent are advised to invest in crypto here.
Aside from trading and making a profit, crypto users keep these digital assets to pay for services/products and for entertainment. One of the most popular entertainment types that you can participate in with crypto is online gaming, specifically casino sites.
Since online casinos operate on the Internet now and cryptocurrencies are fully optimized for online use, they were more than fond of allowing registered players to deposit and withdraw money with them.
Next up, Estonia is well-known for leaning towards technology. After all, apart from being known as the first country in Europe to regulate cryptocurrencies, it is also the first country in the world to introduce the e-Residency program, which is like digital citizenship.
This allows participants to use numerous services from the government, including starting an EU-based company without the need of travelling to Estonia.
When it comes to cryptocurrencies and payment methods, one interesting fact about Estonia is that it is a cashless society. Statistics show that 99% of all transactions are conducted digitally. Residents here are always looking for more efficient online payment methods and that is what led the country to cryptocurrencies.
As you may know, crypto transactions are instant, whereas transactions with regular payment methods can take up to a few days to be completed. That makes these digital assets perfect for paying online and conducting business.
Lastly, the Estonian government has recently tightened regulations as the Financial Intelligence Unit, which is under the wing of Estonia’s Finance Ministry, is now able to revoke crypto licenses in efforts to fight money laundering.
That makes this country extremely safe for all those who are willing to invest in cryptocurrencies. Extra security is always welcomed, especially in times when online scams are proving to be a massive problem. As data shows, more than $240 million has been lost in scams so far in 2021. Millions of people fall victim to this problem and all of us want that extra security layer.
Thanks to the fact that cryptocurrencies utilize cryptography, which provides a certain level of online anonymity, users are safer, but with Estonia’s regulations, that security is taken to the next level.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Guardtime, a blockchain platform for ensuring the integrity of systems, is now working together with the Estonian eHealth Foundation to develop a blockchain network to secure one million patient medical records.
eHealth will use the Guardtime’s KSI (Keyless Signature Infrastructure) into its database to improve the security and the real-time availability of patient medical records.
Guardtime aims at protecting those records with an “independent forensic-quality audit trail”, so it will be impossible to edit the information.
During a recent interview conducted by Coindesk, a spokesperson for Guardtime said:
“In guarding sensitive records, the danger is that they could be altered, deleted, improperly changed or updated, affected by hackers, malware, system issues, etc. The blockchain in this case can prove the integrity of the record, and everything that has happened to it over time”
Maybe you are asking yourselves why this kind of innovation is being conducted in Estonia.
Well, Estonia is already famous for its e-government system which use a chip-embedded ID card that allows citizens to access government services including filing taxes and voting online.
In 2007 Guardtime invented a “Keyless Signature Infrastructure”, a blockchain platform created to ensure the integrity of systems, networks and data at industrial scale.
Keyless Signature Infrastructure (KSI) is designed to provide scalable digital signature based authentication for electronic data, machines and humans. KSI uses only hash-function cryptography, allowing verification to rely only on the security of hash-functions and the availability of the blockchain.
According to the company itself, Guardtime’s method is similar to the one used by the blockchain startup Factom. In both cases, in fact, every time a file changes, a new signature is generated and stored in the blockchain.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.