Several weeks after Estonia announced that they are launching their own national cryptocurrency, the officials of the European Union responded to that move and the response is not what many have expected. The president of the European Central Bank has clearly stated that other countries in the European Union will not allow Estonia to launch national cryptocurrency as it could potentially compete with Euro.
Mario Draghi, who is currently the president of the European Central Bank, has said that they, as well as other institutions of European Union, will not allow the introduction of any national currencies, including cryptocurrencies because Euro is the only official currency of the European Union. Because of that, the European Union and the European Central Bank have been under huge criticism from people who are already involved in the business of cryptocurrencies.
New Cryptocurrency to Further Support Investments
Several weeks ago, Estonia announced their national cryptocurrency called Estcoin. This cryptocurrency would be regulated by the Republic of Estonia and it will be possible to use this cryptocurrency to launch Initial Coin Offerings. Besides that, the initial plan of Estonia was to offer this cryptocurrency to investors through their e-residency program which enables people and companies from all over the world to get an Estonian digital address. This e-residency program was introduced in an effort to attract as many investors as possible from all over the world.
Peter Ehrlich, another European Central Bank official, has stated that the legal framework of the European Union for the countries that have introduced the single currency restricts any possibility for those countries to introduce other national currencies. Besides that, he also said the European Central Bank is the only institution in the European Union that has the authority to influence and change the monetary policy of the EU or a country that has introduced Euro as their official currency.
Estonia Sticking to its Guns
Even though the criticism from the European Union has been significant, Estonia is still not giving up on their idea to launch a national cryptocurrency. One of the ways that Estonia could do this is through a private-public partnership. Officials of the European Central Bank have said that they will not be commenting on any idea that a private sector might introduce but their biggest problem is the Estonian government’s involvement in the process of launching this new cryptocurrency.
Arnaud Castaignet who currently runs the Estonian e-residency program stated that the Estonian government will continue their efforts to introduce Estcoin. However, he did not comment on criticism coming from the European Union or on the potential consequences that the introduction of the country’s national cryptocurrency might have on the country. The criticism from the European Central Bank has been characterized as another sign that the European Union has gained too much control and that member countries are losing their sovereignty to officials in Brussels.
On a large scale, the criticism of Estonia and their plans has been seen as another attempt of the established financial institutions to undermine cryptocurrencies. Besides that, many believe this to also be a sign of the fact that those financial institutions have realized that cryptocurrencies are a big threat for them and they are on a mission of ruining the entire market of cryptocurrencies once and for all.
Written by Ivan Potocki
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