Cryptocurrencies are becoming an increasingly popular payment method in the Baltic states, where they continue to be largely unregulated. Used by companies across multiple sectors, from hospitality to healthcare to online retail and real estate.
With numerous businesses located in the region offering their services globally, it is an exciting area for cryptocurrency adoption.
Widely accepted in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, cryptocurrencies are an increasingly normal way to carry out tasks as everyday as buying a cup of coffee or purchasing a newspaper. Accepted by bars, cafes, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, and more, the Baltic Tigers of the EU are quickly becoming the ‘Bitcoin Tigers of Europe’.
Selling Apartments With Bitcoin
Cryptocurrency payments are now frequently being accepted by real estate businesses, with multiple land plots and housing units in the Baltics recently changing hands in this way.
Similar purchases have been made in Latvia and Estonia, with the Latvian branch of Baltic Sotheby’s International Realty now accepting bitcoin payments for their penthouse apartments, and Estonia’s LAAM Kinnisvara doing the same.
A New Way To Update Your Wardrobe
Real estate is not the only commodity increasingly being bought with bitcoin. According to Coinmap, there are in excess of 30 locations in Vilnius that take cryptocurrency payments, a further 26 in Tallin, and 21 in Riga, as well as bitcoin ATMs scattered across the capitals of both Estonia and Lithuania.
Most of the businesses taking advantage of these technological advances hail from the hospitality industry, with bars, cafes, hotels, and restaurants some of the many who are accepting bitcoin payments.
Amongst them is the United Colours of Benetton’s Lithuanian arm, whose stores now accept bitcoin, dash, ethereum, NEM, and steem from those planning to update their wardrobes and splurge in-store.
A Lack Of Regulation
One might imagine that a region which has so heartily embraced cryptocurrencies would have extensive regulations in place, but none have yet been adopted in the Baltic states.
The furthest that Latvia has gone is the partial recognition of these currencies for taxation purposes, with authorities classifying them as a ‘means of exchange’, and able to levy a 20 percent capital gains tax on deals effected through crypto technologies.
Estonia, arguably the most digitally developed of the Baltic states, has similarly lax regulation. Now considering issuing its own cryptocurrency, it is currently at loggerheads with the European Central Bank over its commitment to proceeding with the project.
Lithuania is perhaps being the most proactive with regards to putting a regulatory framework in place, having begun consultations with representatives of the cryptocurrency sector to this end.
If nothing else, the trends set by Eastern Europe offers an interesting insight into what the rest of the world may one day look like: tech-savvy, crypto-friendly, and willing to try something entirely new. How soon might it be before we’re seeing similar set-ups elsewhere in Europe?
