Estonia may prove to be the greatest governmental ally cryptocurrency has ever seen if some of it's leaders have their way and they become the first nation to port their national currency over to a blockchain and exchange paper and digital currency for its successor.

According to a recent article entitled 'This European country may hold an ICO and issue its own cryptocurrency' published by TechCrunch this proposal may not be simply a possibility but rather a soon to be future probability.

We’ve officially hit peak ICO. Estonia, a small country in Northern Europe, just floated the idea of potentially raising money by issuing a token called “estcoins“.

The idea to create a national token called an 'Estcoin' has been proposed already.

The country is pretty forward thinking when it comes to technology – they are first nation to offer an e-Residency program. The program is almost like a digital citizenship, and lets participants take advantage of a host of government services, including start a European Union-based company without actually setting foot in the country.

In a medium post today, Kaspar Korjus, the director of Estonia’s e-Residency program, floated the idea of issuing crypto tokens via an initial coin offering (ICO) to raise money for the nation. Without committing to anything just yet, Korjus outlined what he sees a potential ICO looking like, and said the next step may be a white paper outlining the value of the tokens and what the investment would be used for.

A governmental official in Estonia has formally submitted a proposal to launch an 'ICO' to raise money for the nation. This is the point where my jaw dropped...

The government already is asking for feedback from the technology world, and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin is an advisor to the project.

Vitalik is advising Estonia in this possible transformation of currency. This brings the possibility to life...

Korjus said that the money raised in the offering could be used for a fund jointly managed by the government and outside private companies. This fund would be used to invest in new technologies for the public sector as well as invest venture capital into Estonian companies founded by both natives and e-Residents. Eventually Korjus sees the tokens holding value and being used as a payment method for public and private services both within the country and globally, which would provide a return on investment to ICO participants.

This paragraph seals the deal. The tokens would be used as a legal payment method and they would be accepted nationwide. Furthermore the currency would appreciate in value based on transaction fees that were associated with it.

Good job Estonia!

This subject absolutely fascinates me. What do you guys think about this recent development? Please leave your thoughts, comments and feedback below.

Thanks for reading!

Sources:

This European country may hold an ICO and issue its own cryptocurrency - TechCrunch