Bitcoin Forum

Hello, friends!

What kind of future do you predict for cryptocurrencies in the European Union?

In order to answer this question we need first to define the future of the EU itself. Recently, we see that contradictions in the EU are increasing and the country is not ready to agree among themselves. It is very difficult to combine the interests of different States. Russia is also actively buying European politicians. Cryptocurrencies can be another stumbling block.

Wait what do you mean with Russia actively buying European politicians. This is quite a hefty accustation and I'd appreciate it if you would atleast back up your accusations with a trustworthy source.
As far as I know the European Union hasn't officially disclosed their stance on crypto currency and I don't really think it's necessairy. Member States should make up their own mind.

I think every country of the EU will show it's position to crypto soon. I suppose in such loyal countries like Sweden and Nederlands bitcoin will be welcomed, but other countries probably will follow by the way of banning and/or regulation. 

I think that Europe will never develop a common position on the use of cryptocurrencies. Too different countries belong to a Union. But I don't see any problem with it. Now, each country determines the rules of the use of cryptocurrency and it does not create any problems. Around bitcoin more rumors than truth.

True, even matters such as restrictions on cash transactions differ vastly between EU member states. However I guess it will largely on whether member states develop a strong stance regarding cryptocurrencies. If they don't, any attempt at central regulation will likely find little to no resistance. And with money laundering being sort of a boogie man, I wouldn't be surprised if the EU will make an attempt at central regulation sooner or later.

I think it is very difficult because in the European Union there are a lot of problems when you leave the union and want to play alone, the problem of crypto is difficult to find a common voice. Hopefully in the next few years they will gradually put electronic money into the transaction I think will be Russia because the country is having policies to support electronic money

You sign an agreement that if you leave you have to pay them a lot of money. That's why member countries are scared of leaving, but it will have to happen sooner or later. EU can't agree on anything because different countries are ruled by different parties. For instance France Sweden and Germany are extremely leftist, while Hungary and Poland are more conservative. This is just an example, but extreme left will never find common ground with extreme right.
As for BTC, most EU countries have some laws concerning it and I haven't heard any of them being totally against it. People have been trading it in Germany, Italy, GB, there are registered exchanges in those countries and ATMs in the streets. It should be fine :)

What does Russia have to do with the EU? Probably all Russian fanatics. Which electronic money is backed by Russia? Putin is obsessed with the creation of crypto ruble. In order to run into him he'll try to strangle all competitors. Wait the strict prohibitions. For Europe you can not survive. Despite all existing differences, European politicians know how to negotiate. The Russians didn't have enough money to bribe all.

Bitcoin will continue to dominate as the world looks on in amazement because they do not "get it." And never will!

Cryptocurrencies in the European union is I think well known already for most parts of it because many people there are so many kinds of accessing power in the internet so they have a large percentage of people that is aware in crypto so as well in trading it. If their government will not full support Bitcoin to trade or become a legal tender to their services then I think it will affect the future of Bitcoin there but I don't see that it will be the reason for the growth of Bitcoin in the future as it is an international digital currency and not serving a specific country in the world.

I can still see a good future for cryptocurrency in the whole of the Eurozone but it is not as exciting as those somewhere else like maybe Asia and Africa. Russia can even be a better market maybe starting next year. As to countries belonging to the European Union there seems to be some kind of fear and timidity in dealing with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency though there are also countries that are now embracing cryptocurrency fully but overall things need to be work out a lot. As of now, there is a brewing interest coming from the people but it has not yet achieved the so-called critical mass so maybe it would take some more years before we can finally see a big boom for cryptocurrency in this side of the planet. Now, since the EU is a big market, there would always be entities who will exploit the existing market and then help expand it albeit slowly at first. Hope there is a big impetus that can really push Bitcoin into bigger adoption in these countries.

There are a lot of countries in EU with a different legal system and different attitude. For instance i never heard about Polish, Romanian, Czech, Slovakin people who are active users  of cryptocurrency, maybe it is not spread on  territories of those countries ???.But of course a great number of cryptocurrency wallets are in the Nothern EU countries. I've heard about rising  interest in Ukraine and a huge number of people who are interested and save cryptocurrency are in Russia

Bitcoin and Ethereum will be the prominent play in near future.

The Czech Republic is the birth place of mining pools and home of SatoshiLabs, creator of the Trezor -- the first hardware wallet. So I think there are at least some people who are active users of cryptocurrency in the Czech Republic ;)

It seems to me that bitcoins are primarily interested in the inhabitants of countries with weak economies. Therefore, in the most developed countries of Europe the low interest in bitcoin. But the governments of these countries have already made attempts to legalize the use of bitcoin.

No intentions to offend anyone but to tell the truth, EU is always high on themselves, they don’t want others to dictate them but the other way. Even though I have big hopes that the cryptocurrency will still find its way to that countryside but we can’t do much about it. This might be a conflict policy to each member country if the bitcoin use is prohibited or banned.

Europeans are much more careful than Americans who are more risk takers and most Asians does. I’m not generalizing all but most of them.

DEUTSCHE BANK (Germany’s leading bank, with a strong position in Europe and a significant presence in the Americas and Asia Pacific): We may be looking at 'the start of the end of fiat money' http://www.businessinsider.com/deutsche-bank-end-of-fiat-money-2017-11?r=UK&IR=T (http://www.businessinsider.com/deutsche-bank-end-of-fiat-money-2017-11?r=UK&IR=T)

"Ukraine drafts law to make cryptocurrency profits tax free"
https://www.cryptomartez.com/2017/11/ukraine-drafts-law-to-make-cryptocurrency-profits-tax-free.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cryptomartez+%28Cryptomartez%29 (https://www.cryptomartez.com/2017/11/ukraine-drafts-law-to-make-cryptocurrency-profits-tax-free.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cryptomartez+%28Cryptomartez%29)

Surprisingly I have yet to see a European country that made Bitcoin an illegal currency. From what I know of some European countries are supporting Bitcoin without even the approval or the go signal of the European Union. Countries like Sweden and Poland does not see Bitcoin as some kind of treat for them but an opportunity for people who are willing to pay with Bitcoin. They don't see Bitcoin as a threat to their Euros as it is highly unlikely that it will takeover as the most popular payment method in Europe.

You got a good news here, I think this news should be disseminated well, EU Countries are opening up the possibilities of the usage of cryptocurrency. This is a great time to create ICOs on EU to be a pioneer of altcoin on EU Countries. If this will push through , we will have more countries that will support the Bitcoin System and  there will be new Bitcoin Community Members.

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has announced that it intends to integrate Blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) to its electronic payment system.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/cyprus-securities-and-exchange-commission-plans-blockchain-based-electronic-payment-system (https://cointelegraph.com/news/cyprus-securities-and-exchange-commission-plans-blockchain-based-electronic-payment-system)

In my opinion, the use of blockchain technology is one of the ways to cryptocurrency recognition.

Blockchain technology attracts really much interest and I think it is going to be used in many areas of our life's soon. But governments are still careful with cryptos. I suppose every EU country will take it's own strategy about cryptos and it's use on the territory of the concrete country and if the experience will be positive - the use of cryptos is going to be accepted by all EU with same terms.

In an interview published on Oct. 29, Benoît Cœuré, one of the central bank's executive board members, elaborated briefly on the bank’s views on the subject, telling Le Journal du Dimanche it is following their development and spread.
The ECB is not "ignoring" the spread of cryptocurrencies, he said. Yet, at present, he does not consider them a risk to the bank or the euro.

https://www.coindesk.com/european-central-bank-member-arent-ignoring-cryptocurrency/ (https://www.coindesk.com/european-central-bank-member-arent-ignoring-cryptocurrency/)

Related to topic. Russia starts blocking cryptocurrency-focused sites...

https://coingeek.com/unlucky-13-russia-starts-blocking-cryptocurrency-focused-sites/ (https://coingeek.com/unlucky-13-russia-starts-blocking-cryptocurrency-focused-sites/)

About blockchain technology and where it could be used. Do you know about this project https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2370547 ? I've found it at this forum and it seems for me very attractive.

Heard about it for the first time. Time to check it out! thanks, mate ;)

No ban or regulation has come from other european countries, yet the support given by Russia to Etherum is known by everyone.

French banking major Societe Generale CEO Frederic Oudea says that the digital currencies like Bitcoin face an uncertain future because of their anonymity. He claims that the virtual currencies are unlikely to survive in the long term as governments around the world introduce steps to regulate them.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/cryptocurrencies-face-no-future-due-to-their-anonymity-says-french-banking-exec (https://cointelegraph.com/news/cryptocurrencies-face-no-future-due-to-their-anonymity-says-french-banking-exec)

This article just illustrates the lack of Frederic Oudea´s understanding of Bitcoin.

If I would be a criminal the last thing that I would want is for my transactions to be stored on an immutable ledger that
is stored for eternity. Cash is much better for illegal transactions related to crime than Bitcoin transactions. This
is especially true for larger amounts of money that are increasingly hard to liquidate without having access to an exchange
or a OTC trading desk. Both of these "exit gateways" require extensive verification if you want to cash out non negligible amounts,
which again makes it unappealing for people with nefarious purposes.

This is a false accusation. They have nothing to do with reality. Only underscores the fact that the notion of "Bank secrecy" from corrupt bankers no longer exists. Bitcoin is not completely anonymous. If you wish, you can always find the user. But even this imaginary anonymity scares them. Better to let banks die than bitcoin.

I think Europe will manage to adopt a common policy. It's already legal in most of the european countries. There's an increasing interest in the crypto and the bitcoin, UE will have to deal with it.

But i propose that in EU there will be accepted ETH and Bitcoin. But not something really new in 2 or 3 years. Of course there needed a structural economic reforms in the euro area economy.

Bitcoin Break all rules so no one can stop it , about governments they can ban it but can’t stop it

Europeans are not as risky as USA citizens, so it could be that they will recognize only the main crytocurrencies.

Great news from Israel!

https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/hauser-israel-not-going-ban-icos-altogether/ (https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/hauser-israel-not-going-ban-icos-altogether/)

If the misunderstanding between the members of European Union continues and mostly politically the council itself would be irrelevant in due time. The countries as a member of Eu must follow accordingly to the decision about anything regarding and economically. If some will legalize or might thinking to legally used cryptocurrency then more will follow regardless if it is approved or not.

The Russian Association of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (RACIB) has reportedly received 40 applications from companies and individuals from European Union countries and China to place mining equipment in Russia to mine bitcoin. This was conveyed to Ria Novosti by the association’s president Yuri Pripachkin last week.

https://news.bitcoin.com/companies-china-eu-mine-bitcoin-russia/ (https://news.bitcoin.com/companies-china-eu-mine-bitcoin-russia/)

It sounds good. Thanks for that. I think in any EU there will be familiar position about this.

same hope there haha!

In fact, there is the fact that the European Union countries have to gather and determine a general road map about crypto money, that the European Union countries are the first countries to use digital techs.

I can't understand why they need to deliver such applications. It is clear that it is profitable because of cheaper electricity. But I think that this activity does not require a separate permission. I feel sorry for these people. In Russia, a lot of criminals. They all work under the guise of law enforcement. I think that all these cranks lose their equipment and maybe even life.

Join us live and find out why the ICO hypetrain is slowing down. Ivan on Tech is here!
Link:  https://youtu.be/O-5XHDPlOaw‬ (https://youtu.be/O-5XHDPlOaw‬)

Some say a month in Blockchain ecosystem is like a year in others. We stand by this saying and continue to make educational events for the community.

In "Turing meets Crypto" series, we will be discussing various aspects of blockchain. Today, we feel there is a big understanding gap of what an ICO really is (or rather, should be). Panel discussion will touch upon what a true ICO should be, what does it mean to run a "healthy ICO" and why money is the last thing you should care about while running it.

Agenda:
19:00 - 20:00 Announcements
20:00 - 21:00 Panel discussion + Q&A session;
21:00 - 22:30 Networking.

Speakers & Discussion participants:

Dmitrij Radin
CTO @ ORCA Alliance and Co-owner @ CryptoAd.Network

Anastasija Plotnikova
ICO and Tax law advisor, Partner@Crypto Tax&Legal

Rytis Bieliauskas
CTO at CoinGate & Member @ INFOBALT Blockchain workgroup

Tomas Gurvičius
Partner @ Crypto Tax&Legal

Ivan Liljeqvist ("Ivan on Tech")
Software developer, Blockchain influencer on Youtube

Moderator - Natan Avidan
CEO of ORCA Alliance

Event is organized together with ORCA Alliance.
Venue - Vilnius Tech Park.

The problem of most EU countries is, that legislation will be made finger crossed... Taxation of collected funds on beginning with FIAT tax would mean, that every ICO would have to sell a certain amount for Fiat soon after ICO to get money for VAT/profit tax. And that is impossible, as that would kill every ico at start. The good way would be to accept taxation based on production cycle and then it is reasonable, to have the same taxation as for the other things. But ICO or token generation itself is actually not profit but development costs, which would be spent in next years to develop product and to globalize it and in those years income would not be as high as an outcome... means such taxation is also not smart even from the view of governments.
Everybody agrees that reasonable taxation would be the best for EU and as such EU could become leading in crypto worldwide...
I think that legislation will be soon ready in Slovenia, which claims to be the most friendly country in EU for blockchain projects.

i think the major problem with the EU is immigration,once that is tackled it will be a much more  problem free union

In a move that may wrinkle some noses, the European Central Bank (ECB) has announced that they will no longer be offering protection for covered deposits and that withdrawals will be limited when a bank is on the verge of failure.

More @ https://cointelegraph.com/news/ecb-ends-covered-deposit-protection-free-withdrawal (https://cointelegraph.com/news/ecb-ends-covered-deposit-protection-free-withdrawal)

what do you guys think? ???

I think that such a law is adopted in the interests of the bankers. Perhaps this is an example of corruption, but it will be difficult to prove. Now the bankers will use the deposits for lending to their enterprises. When financing companies will exceed their cost, they will run away from the country and people will remain without money.

even if it is an union , there are so many financially different countries. it would be easy for Eastern Europe to accept the crypto currencies. in the same time, the Baltic Countries would welcome the crypto currencies.

I suppose everything here will be more loyal than in the United States, so I hope for better.

EU Commission Prepares Draft Tax Legislation on Digital Economy
https://cointelegraph.com/news/eu-commission-prepares-draft-tax-legislation-on-digital-economy-expert-blog (https://cointelegraph.com/news/eu-commission-prepares-draft-tax-legislation-on-digital-economy-expert-blog)

what do you guys think?

Many countries in E U with a different legal system s they have. There is a lot of hardless to clear. Hopefully in coming years government of these countries trying to attamp legalization the used Bitcoin.

In my opinion, we cannot predict what will happen exactly in the future because there are always unexpected events. Plus, the era of cryptocurrency has become very important in period, despite that rejection of many governments, especially for Bitcoin and their bad attempts to destroy it, but there is an acceptable development because some countries have become dependent on cryptocurrencies especially for blockchain technology.
As a matter of fact, I think that after a few years, most of the governments will recognize the digital currencies, and when this prediction will be achieved, then we will see the total success of cryptourrency.

It's very difficult to predict something regarding this.

While in the European Union, that is, in the leadership of this body and in its specific countries are rather positive about the crypto currency. Moreover, in Germany they declared that they had made a decision to recognize crypto currency as a legitimate means of payment, as well as the fact that the crypto currency is exempted from paying taxes for conducting transactions, based on the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of 2015. This means that all countries that signed the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms should take similar decisions in their national legislation. This is not only all the countries of the European Union, but also many other countries, they seem to be now forty one such country. So, in principle, in the European Union there is a good prospect for the introduction of the crypto currency.