Further adoption of Blockchain | Estonia's case

[Ultegra134]

Estonia is one of the most advanced digital societies, being one of the first countries to adopt the internet digitalization, invented 30 years ago, back when everyone was skeptical about it and called it a fad. In 2005, it integrated online voting, while most European countries still haven't even thought about it, we still use the traditional system in Greece too. On top of that, everything that has to do with taxes, is conducted online, even business registrations. Wi-Fi is also installed, from 2002, in all public areas, while there's great reception throughout the whole country.

Even more, Estonia was the first country to offer E-Residency, enabling you to become, as the name suggests, an electronic resident. Thus, it authorizes you to open and register your business in Europe, online, in a matter of minutes, paperless and digital. It's an astonishing accomplishment.

On the other hand, here in Greece, most work had to be done in person, up until Covid-19 came up, which forced the government to adopt service digitalization. Estonia is a leading example of the digital world, using top-notch encryption to ensure the safety of their citizens, while they've also setup their very own Blockchain, which processes vulnerable information.

What's your take on Estonia's approach? Should more countries adopt digitalization, and even blockchain technologies?

Sources:
https://www.gogoplaces.co/blog/15-interesting-facts-about-life-in-estonia/

https://www.xolo.io/zz-en/articles/e-residency

[Lucius]

I have no doubt that this is the right path on which every country should go, because all the important things should be available to everyone at any time online. I think this was especially evident during the pandemic, when waiting in long lines for a service is not only a time requirement, but can also be dangerous to health.

My country, which is a little further west, has also not yet enabled electronic voting because it is still too demanding (so the omniscient Prime Minister tells us), but for the first time we had the possibility of an electronic way to conduct a census (as an option), but it physically completely failed due to the lack of people to do it (benefits of emigration to the western EU).

Estonia is special in many ways, and I remember Tim Draper mentioning it many times as a real example where technology is seen as the key to success. They are an example that such things are possible, but also one of the exceptions that shows that intelligent politicians are a very rare occurrence.

Estonia, a northern European nation of forests, bogs, and medieval streets, was itself an unlikely startup success story to emerge along with Skype. Skype is now just one of FIVE unicorn startups born in Estonia, despite the country having a population of just 1.3 million people. After Skype came TransferWise, Playtech, Bolt, and now Pipedrive newly added to the list. Beyond that, Estonia has a thousand more promising startups – nearly five times the European average per capita – and they’re eager to earn this coveted title too.

[NeuroticFish]

All public institutions should allow one do all the needed operations online nowadays. Any institution that doesn't do that is obsolete/retarded/prone to bureaucracy and corruption.
The weaker the country is, the more the institutions "not online". I am from Romania. Most institutions are mimicking that they're online and evolved, but if you really need something, you have to go in person.

On the other hand, while doing everything online becomes a must, keeping at some extent the offline operations is also a must. People don't have to be skilled with computers, people don't have to connect to internet if they don't want to. It's ... backward compatibility.

On blockchain tech, the situation is more complicated. Blockchain is just a special database, which has limited use. Blockchain makes sense if more entities unrelated to each other will ensure its validity (mine it). If that doesn't happen, a database is just as good if properly made and maintained. So beware of buzz words. Blockchain is wonderful, but it needs to be correctly planned and balanced in order to be useful indeed.

Another point is that after everything is properly digitized, the next natural step is using CBDCs - digital fiat. And that has the potential to give too much rights to government's agencies over people's money.
And this is an interesting point in both Greece and Romania, countries where it's known that quite a good percent of businesses prefer cash payments to elude taxes. I won't judge them, it's not the point of this post, but may be a fact to be taken into account. Although the rights for privacy over your funds should be more important than "the opportunity to elude taxes" (to say it nice), some care more about what's in their pocket, so I think that it's good to know this.

[fiulpro]

This is undoubtedly a strong nation when we are talking digitally. Their blockchain KSI is very nice match for them since it's not only secure in terms of keeping data safe but at the same time it's introducing the concept of cryptocurrencies early to the people.
When it comes to bitcoins, it's not that easy, their anti money laundering policies are all set to make this whole thing more strict and there would be more regulations as well which does mean that it's not crypto heaven perse, but can be, hopefully the regulations are in check. Other than that the country is an amazing example of having a country, having a community flourish using Blockchain. Blockchain is not just limited to bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, it's a wide sector and have so many other applications.

[hugeblack]

The country’s adoption of digitization does not mean that it should adopt blockchain or cryptos (Bitcoin.) It is not a network upgrade like the 5G network or a real technical development.
Also, the use of the blockchain has no real benefit in many financial, agricultural and other aspects, but rather the use of less efficiency in many areas and the highest efficiency in financial aspects and decentralized economy.

I have not heard that Estonia has adopted Bitcoin or will rely on Bitcoin to conduct transactions in the future.
Thus, they should not anticipate the blockchain to prove that they are technologically advanced.

[Fortify]

Estonia is one of the most advanced digital societies, being one of the first countries to adopt the internet digitalization, invented 30 years ago, back when everyone was skeptical about it and called it a fad. In 2005, it integrated online voting, while most European countries still haven't even thought about it, we still use the traditional system in Greece too. On top of that, everything that has to do with taxes, is conducted online, even business registrations. Wi-Fi is also installed, from 2002, in all public areas, while there's great reception throughout the whole country.

Even more, Estonia was the first country to offer E-Residency, enabling you to become, as the name suggests, an electronic resident. Thus, it authorizes you to open and register your business in Europe, online, in a matter of minutes, paperless and digital. It's an astonishing accomplishment.

On the other hand, here in Greece, most work had to be done in person, up until Covid-19 came up, which forced the government to adopt service digitalization. Estonia is a leading example of the digital world, using top-notch encryption to ensure the safety of their citizens, while they've also setup their very own Blockchain, which processes vulnerable information.

What's your take on Estonia's approach? Should more countries adopt digitalization, and even blockchain technologies?

You highlighted a very interesting point that might have been missed on a wider scale - Covid has really pushed forward the adoption of electronic services, if we were to look for some sort of silver lining from it all. Moving stuff online that previously required in person transactions can save so much money and increase efficiency for any government or company that adopts it properly, however it'll always be good to have an "offline" backup ready as a fallback solution. You're definitely right that Estonia is a little silicon valley in Eastern Europe and lots of tech companies are using it for low cost, knowledgeable and skilled staff. Anything that can help push tech adoption forward should be applauded.

[Ultegra134]

Estonia is one of the most advanced digital societies, being one of the first countries to adopt the internet digitalization, invented 30 years ago, back when everyone was skeptical about it and called it a fad. In 2005, it integrated online voting, while most European countries still haven't even thought about it, we still use the traditional system in Greece too. On top of that, everything that has to do with taxes, is conducted online, even business registrations. Wi-Fi is also installed, from 2002, in all public areas, while there's great reception throughout the whole country.

Even more, Estonia was the first country to offer E-Residency, enabling you to become, as the name suggests, an electronic resident. Thus, it authorizes you to open and register your business in Europe, online, in a matter of minutes, paperless and digital. It's an astonishing accomplishment.

On the other hand, here in Greece, most work had to be done in person, up until Covid-19 came up, which forced the government to adopt service digitalization. Estonia is a leading example of the digital world, using top-notch encryption to ensure the safety of their citizens, while they've also setup their very own Blockchain, which processes vulnerable information.

What's your take on Estonia's approach? Should more countries adopt digitalization, and even blockchain technologies?

You highlighted a very interesting point that might have been missed on a wider scale - Covid has really pushed forward the adoption of electronic services, if we were to look for some sort of silver lining from it all. Moving stuff online that previously required in person transactions can save so much money and increase efficiency for any government or company that adopts it properly, however it'll always be good to have an "offline" backup ready as a fallback solution. You're definitely right that Estonia is a little silicon valley in Eastern Europe and lots of tech companies are using it for low cost, knowledgeable and skilled staff. Anything that can help push tech adoption forward should be applauded.

Covid-19 for most countries was the triggering event to move online, something that should have been conducted many years ago, I guess it's better late than never. It was highly incovenient, since for a single document I'd have to head over to a citizen service center, or to the bank itself, and so on.

Digital adoption is a convenience for most, it saves time, money and resources, it's a win-win situation. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that offline/in-person transactions should be abolished, there is a decent percentage of the population who are not accustomed to internet services (older generations, elderly etc.).

[stompix]

Estonia is special in many ways, and I remember Tim Draper mentioning it many times as a real example where technology is seen as the key to success. They are an example that such things are possible, but also one of the exceptions that shows that intelligent politicians are a very rare occurrence.

There is one major aspect that poeple need to understand and which is a bit essential when it comes to implementing stuff fast, Estonia has one million citizens, half of them in the capital, it's one thing to do this in Germany or the US and a different thing in a country that is 1/10 the size of California and has 1/40 of the population.

It's the same with a lot of small states that have achieved some success like Singapore or Hong Kong but it's different when you want to expand all to a huge country. Costs pile up for every extra citizen and extra mile for anything that requires either infrastructure or administration or anything else.
It's a bit like the bitcoin blockchain, while we had 10k transactions a day there wasn't a problem, once we went past it, all the drama began.

The country’s adoption of digitization does not mean that it should adopt blockchain or cryptos (Bitcoin.) It is not a network upgrade like the 5G network or a real technical development.
Also, the use of the blockchain has no real benefit in many financial, agricultural and other aspects, but rather the use of less efficiency in many areas and the highest efficiency in financial aspects and decentralized economy.

Yeah, the fact that almost all of the basic layout was completed before there was even a mention of blockchain is future proof that you don't need one for every problem in the world, databases are all the same, you can make them distributed in a thousand nodes and open readable even without a blockchain.

This is undoubtedly a strong nation when we are talking digitally. Their blockchain KSI is very nice match for them since it's not only secure in terms of keeping data safe but at the same time it's introducing the concept of cryptocurrencies early to the people.

KSI has nothing to do with cryptocurrencies, and if you look at the timeline, it's the other way around

[jaberwock]

Estonia is a leading example of the digital world, using top-notch encryption to ensure the safety of their citizens, while they've also setup their very own Blockchain, which processes vulnerable information.

Even I am not fully aware of this specific application of blockchain which is adopted by Estonia, I am sure that it will definitely benefit them as blockchain must be one of proven way to save/manage database against counterfeiting as distributed way of managing data is multilevel secured one compared to centralized database servers. I just come to know about the Estonia's leading history in adopting new technologies; only very few countries are doing that as far as I am concerned and I guess that must be purely depending on high level politicians dependent and in my country we cannot even imagine about that as of now.

[Ultegra134]

Estonia is a leading example of the digital world, using top-notch encryption to ensure the safety of their citizens, while they've also setup their very own Blockchain, which processes vulnerable information.

Even I am not fully aware of this specific application of blockchain which is adopted by Estonia, I am sure that it will definitely benefit them as blockchain must be one of proven way to save/manage database against counterfeiting as distributed way of managing data is multilevel secured one compared to centralized database servers. I just come to know about the Estonia's leading history in adopting new technologies; only very few countries are doing that as far as I am concerned and I guess that must be purely depending on high level politicians dependent and in my country we cannot even imagine about that as of now.

Neither do I, I'm not familiar with Blockchain technologies, what their purpose is and how others can actually benefit from it, except cryptocurrencies. I'm mostly pointing out that Estonia is an example other countries should follow, using the emerging new technologies such as Blockchain, into a further advancement of digitalisation. It's the perfect case of a skeptical at first technology (the internet), which was adopted since the early days of its invention, by Estonia, now a leading example of technological advancements.

Cryptocurrencies are not confronted with the similar skeptical attitude, I'm aware that change is sometimes difficult, but it's usually for the best.

[stompix]

Even I am not fully aware of this specific application of blockchain which is adopted by Estonia, I am sure that it will definitely benefit them as blockchain must be one of proven way to save/manage database against counterfeiting as distributed way of managing data is multilevel secured one compared to centralized database servers.

The KSI blockchain is distributed but it's still centralized in operation as all the copies of the blockchain are held by the government and of course it's not a permissionless chain.

Neither do I, I'm not familiar with Blockchain technologies, what their purpose is and how others can actually benefit from it, except cryptocurrencies.

KSI was initiated in 2007, and developed from 2008 so about the same time or even before the invention of Bitcoin, and this shows just how blockchains are an example of using a distributed database for a specific purpose and cryptocurrencies are one of the applications of blockchains.

[redsun114]

Yes, I believe that we would all like to see improvement in a lot of areas where that is needed. The reason why we should be adopting all these technologies is to make Life easier for us. Just look at how things work these days, before you would have to have gone to the bank and stand in the queue waiting for your turn to make a transaction to someone who is in a different location or make a deposit to your bank account, but this time around all these things has been digitalized and you can just stay anywhere and make a deposit to your account or send money to anyone.

Since, Bitcoin was created it has made all these things to also be a lot more easier and faster, now you can send money quickly to a far distance without having to rely on the bank or anything, you can just do it at the comfort of your home by just making use of Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency of your choice. So in other areas where all these technologies are necessary, to ease the way things are being done, I believe that it should be adopted.

[Lucius]

There is one major aspect that poeple need to understand and which is a bit essential when it comes to implementing stuff fast, Estonia has one million citizens, half of them in the capital, it's one thing to do this in Germany or the US and a different thing in a country that is 1/10 the size of California and has 1/40 of the population.

It's the same with a lot of small states that have achieved some success like Singapore or Hong Kong but it's different when you want to expand all to a huge country. Costs pile up for every extra citizen and extra mile for anything that requires either infrastructure or administration or anything else.
It's a bit like the bitcoin blockchain, while we had 10k transactions a day there wasn't a problem, once we went past it, all the drama began.

I will not say that there is no truth in that, but it is not all about the size of the country and the number of inhabitants - there is still something about the people who make key decisions. I live in a country that has x3 inhabitants compared to Estonia, but things like that happen there are unthinkable in my country. Not only do most politicians not have a high enough IQ to understand Bitcoin or blockchain, but their only goal is to get as many people out of the country as possible so that they can win the next election with their army of voters.

We can have half the size of the country and half the population, but if there is no political will to start such things, nothing will happen.

[Ultegra134]

There is one major aspect that poeple need to understand and which is a bit essential when it comes to implementing stuff fast, Estonia has one million citizens, half of them in the capital, it's one thing to do this in Germany or the US and a different thing in a country that is 1/10 the size of California and has 1/40 of the population.

It's the same with a lot of small states that have achieved some success like Singapore or Hong Kong but it's different when you want to expand all to a huge country. Costs pile up for every extra citizen and extra mile for anything that requires either infrastructure or administration or anything else.
It's a bit like the bitcoin blockchain, while we had 10k transactions a day there wasn't a problem, once we went past it, all the drama began.

I will not say that there is no truth in that, but it is not all about the size of the country and the number of inhabitants - there is still something about the people who make key decisions. I live in a country that has x3 inhabitants compared to Estonia, but things like that happen there are unthinkable in my country. Not only do most politicians not have a high enough IQ to understand Bitcoin or blockchain, but their only goal is to get as many people out of the country as possible so that they can win the next election with their army of voters.

We can have half the size of the country and half the population, but if there is no political will to start such things, nothing will happen.

My point here isn't mainly the adoption of Bitcoin and Blockchain technologies, it's the endorsement of new technologies and innovations. It's astonishing to say the least that quite a few countries were far from digitalisation, up until Covid-19 appeared. Greece at least, offered limited services online, having simple documentation offered only in person.

[DrBeer]

I've been "observing" Estonia for many years
I often go there, conduct my IT business with them, I adore Olde Hansa, and ... advanced solutions that this small and not the richest country was able to implement ahead of many "giants" and "rich". The level and quality of digitalization - many people should learn! What is just beginning to become a mass service in our country, for example, online services of most government services or unified digital services for public and municipal transport, there, in Estonia, it has long been the norm and routine! By the way, I recommend not only reading about this country, but also be sure to visit it - it will always remain in your heart!

[The Sceptical Chymist]

The "e-residency" thing sounds pretty neat if you're a business, though it does make me think that Estonia is hard up for money if they're offering that a service like that which could obviously be abused or used for nefarious purposes.  Maybe that's the case, maybe that's a cultural difference in that they value freedom more so than, say the US. 

It would be a hell of a lot better if Estonia offered real citizenship for a set amount of bitcoin, though.  I might not have enough to pay for it, but it's something I'd certainly be interested in.  My country is rapidly going down the tubes, and other countries and their way of living are starting to look a whole lot better than they used to.  I'm not kidding about that, either.  Of course, Estonia isn't exactly an enormous country, so I'm sure they can't offer real citizenship for a fee.  Who knows how many people would take them up on the offer, or how it would change the lives of native Estonians.  Probably not for the better.

[Hydrogen]

What's your take on Estonia's approach? Should more countries adopt digitalization, and even blockchain technologies?

It is claimed in Kevin Mitnick's book The Art of Deception more than 80% of businesses with an online presence will be electronically compromised at some point in time. With the majority of successful attacks being carried out by insiders or disgruntled former employees.

While digital technologies offer advantages in convenience and ease of use, I think it is important to maintain a paper trail for important documents like birth certificates, land deeds and key legal artifacts which should not be available to being altered or deleted electronically. A case could also be made for power grids, military defense systems and key infrastructure not being easily accessible via remote means.

Estonia's location on russia's border could be a cause of concern for residents, translating to them making a stronger effort to offer terms and conditions favorable to residents. Estonia's contrast with greece could very much boil down to location, with greece being better insulated geographically from political concerns stemming from russian incursion.