Best Bitcoin Exchange for Lithuania

Lithuania becomes crypto: payments in business have long been normality

The fashion brand United Colors of Benetton now accepts a number of crypto currencies in its store in Lithuania. These include Ethereum, Bitcoin, Dash, Steem and NEM.

In the future, payments with crypto currencies will be ubiquitous”, Arturas Zuokas, co-owner of the fashion franchise in Lithuania, is firmly convinced. He believes in the future of crypto currencies and supports “the idea of freedom [behind crypto currencies] and a variety of different payment methods”.

The Blockchain revolutionizes one branch after the other. The Liechtenstein stock corporation edeXa is just starting one of the first digital IPOs on the Blockchain. Investors can purchase shares directly via the edeXa homepage. No trading fees, no deposit fees. Only your investment. The Future is now.

The acceptance of crypto currencies is not Lithuania’s first blockchain-relevant project: last year, a multinational logistics project was presented at the Europe 2017 block show, in which Lithuania, among others, was also involved.

The Lithuanian Minister of Economic Affairs, Virginijus Sinkevičius, recently opened an innovation centre in the capital city around blockchain technology. Start-ups, companies and researchers will be given a hub there to jointly develop solutions. “The potential is enormous, so Lithuania should become an important part of the global blockchain industry,” hopes Sinkevičius. In a few countries, ministers are currently so vocal behind crypto currencies and blockchain projects.

CopPay – Acceptance of crypto currencies from Lithuania

CopPay is one of the many start-ups from Lithuania. The company offers companies solutions to accept crypto currencies in business. CopPay is the European answer to the American counterpart Bitpay. Companies offer their customers payment via crypto currencies, but receive the equivalent in Euro directly from CopPay. For entrepreneurs this is especially necessary in volatile times to be able to plan safely. United Colors of Benetton has recently become one of the Lithuanians’ customers.

The Italian fashion label is known for provocative and partly macabre advertising campaigns, which have caused a lot of sensation in the past. This is part of the company’s marketing concept. United Colors of Benetton has around 500 stores worldwide. The branch in the Lithuanian capital is the first and so far only branch to accept crypto currencies.

The Lithuanian population is proud of the development in recent years. Many see it as a great opportunity for the domestic economy. Crypto currencies and ICOs are understood much more as a symbol for economic progress and not as a tool for crime or simple speculation. The monthly contribution to the fitness centre can easily be paid with Bitcoins and the bill in the restaurant can be settled with Ethereum.

Lithuania and the Baltic States in general are very liberal about technical innovations. This attracts many start-ups and companies to the country. The comparatively small European states are highly flexible and innovative. So far, Lithuania often lies in the shadow of its similarly large but even more innovative neighbour Estonia. With its openness to crypto currencies, Lithuania would like to demonstrate an equally high level of innovation.

Lithuania: Fear of Russian Crypto Invasion

Lithuania has proved to be extremely active in the field of crypto currencies: Around half a billion US dollars were collected in the Baltic state with ICOs. The fact that the money also comes from Russian investors causes some frowning.

One of the most sceptical of these is Marius Jurgilas, member of the board of the Lithuanian Bank (Lietuvos bankas). He expressed his concern to the news platform Politico:

If 70 percent of an ICO’s investors come from Russia, this is “not in the sense of our national interests”.

The main concern is that the crypto market could develop into a huge money laundering machine for Russian criminals. The fears are not for nothing: the crisis-ridden neighboring country Ukraine has already been called the Wild West of crypto currencies. Last year, a leading blockchain expert was kidnapped and released for a million US dollars ransom. In Kiev, the authorities seized mining equipment worth over four billion US dollars during a raid on a semiconductor factory. The proceeds flowed into Russian accounts. But that’s not all: the Ukrainian authorities stated that the mining profit had helped finance the Russian separatist movements in Donetsk and Lugansk.

New ICO guidelines

So it’s no wonder that in the face of such news, the heads of people in Lithuania are also rising: Since the end of the Soviet Union, the Baltic state has had a tense relationship with its big neighbour in the east. Possibly the ICO guidelines published earlier this month by the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance can help to contain the fears of a Russian crypto invasion.

In addition, both the existing Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Act on the Financing of Terrorism are to be expanded. The new paragraphs will concern crypto exchanges and providers of crypto wallets. The guidelines state that the aim is to increase transparency and stabilise the market. To this end, the Ministry of Finance intends to cooperate with the Lithuanian Bank and the Financial Criminal Law Authority.

This is entirely in line with the Lithuanian bank’s intentions: the bank last announced in April that it wanted to look into crypto currencies more closely. It also wanted to promote dialogue between traders, banks and regulators.

About Lithuania

Lithuania is located in Northern Europe and belongs to the three Baltic states. It is the southernmost of the three Baltic states. It borders the Baltic Sea to the west and shares borders with Latvia, Belarus, Poland and the Russian oblast of Kaliningrad. In the course of EU enlargement in 2004, Lithuania became a member of the European Union and a member of NATO. Lithuania has been the 19th member of the Eurozone since 1 January 2015.

Climate

The climate in Lithuania is a temperate continental climate. The prevailing westerly wind on the coast carries warm and humid air from the Baltic Sea inland. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of 17 °C, the coldest month is January with an average temperature of -5.1 °C. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of 17 °C, and the coldest month is January with an average temperature of -5.1 °C. The average annual temperature is 6.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 661 mm, significantly higher in the southwest and lower in the north.