Best EU country for a bitcoin startup?

[Parsons]

London has quite a good Bitcoin community which is a factor that hasn't been at all considered in this thread. I'm in Shanghai so can't comment on other European communities particularly well but spent a lot of time over last year in LDN with Bitcoin enthusiasts.

[MakeBelieve]

London has quite a good Bitcoin community which is a factor that hasn't been at all considered in this thread. I'm in Shanghai so can't comment on other European communities particularly well but spent a lot of time over last year in LDN with Bitcoin enthusiasts.

London has been recommended a few times but people call it england and not london or UK as london is not the country. UK is probably one of the better choices because of no taxes.

[ForgottenPassword]

UK is probably one of the better choices because of no taxes.

... I'm not sure where you heard that, but you're very wrong. At the very least you are liable for capital gains taxes and others depending on the business itself. There is also council tax that I think you'd have to pay (though I'm not sure of all of the details regarding that). Taxes vary between England, Scotland, Whales and Northern Ireland too (UK != just England).

[bitcats]

For example, in Germany if you go into a store to buy a laptop and you tell the salesperson you are going to use it for hacking, they must not sell it to you. If they do they are guilty of a crime.

In fact, the German vendors dont give it a shit.

Additionally simply possessing any "hacking tools" is an offence, including port scanning software which has more legitimate uses than illegitimate.

Simply wrong!  

They also apparently treat Tor exit node operators really badly over there, there have been some scary stories.

I can't agree: The Chaos Computer Club operates exit nodes in Germany and is quite reputable.

[Onestopbrokers Directory]

I can suggest Cyprus.
Perhaps, it is a small market but undiscovered from the view of Bitcoin. Ok, there was a bad incident on past http://www.onestopbrokers.com/2014/04/22/bitcoin-promoter-breaks-silence-on-cyprus-fraud-allegations/ with a company with crypto currency  but people there are curious for something new, so, Cyprus can be a good country for Bitcoin startup. Further to this, in Cyprus, for the moment there is no specific regulation as far as I know. Also, a university in Cyprus was maybe the first educational organization which accepted Bitcoin as a payment asset for tutorial fees. 

[bitcats]

I can suggest Cyprus.

But the living standard is rather low compared to Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark.

[Onestopbrokers Directory]

I can suggest Cyprus.

But the living standard is rather low compared to Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark.

Yes, I can agree with you in part. But on the other hand, in Cyprus exist a big community of Russian people and a lot of other foreigners that those people may be a target market. Please have a look on this report http://www.onestopbrokers.com/2014/07/23/the-central-bank-of-the-russian-federation-published-external-trade-in-services-of-q1-2014-2/ from the Russia central bank that shows that Cyprus is the 3rd biggest exported in Services to Russia. This indicates the big community of Russian people in Cyprus.
Further, people in Cyprus has a tend to invest and Bitcoin as an investment asset can be a good investment.
Definitely, what you said is true. But also, think that is a market with no competition on crypto currencies, so, a startup has great chances to succeed. But offcourse, to succeed need many other factors.
Thanks for your reply!!!

[bitcats]

I can suggest Cyprus.

But the living standard is rather low compared to Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark.

Yes, I can agree with you in part. But on the other hand, in Cyprus exist a big community of Russian people and a lot of other foreigners that those people may be a target market. Please have a look on this report http://www.onestopbrokers.com/2014/07/23/the-central-bank-of-the-russian-federation-published-external-trade-in-services-of-q1-2014-2/ from the Russia central bank that shows that Cyprus is the 3rd biggest exported in Services to Russia. This indicates the big community of Russian people in Cyprus.

Would you seriously like to live in a poor country within a bunch of Russian people?

[ForgottenPassword]

For example, in Germany if you go into a store to buy a laptop and you tell the salesperson you are going to use it for hacking, they must not sell it to you. If they do they are guilty of a crime.

In fact, the German vendors dont give it a shit.

Additionally simply possessing any "hacking tools" is an offence, including port scanning software which has more legitimate uses than illegitimate.

Simply wrong!  

They also apparently treat Tor exit node operators really badly over there, there have been some scary stories.

I can't agree: The Chaos Computer Club operates exit nodes in Germany and is quite reputable.

I'll just post my sources here.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/08/new_german_hack.html
http://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities---threats/another-researcher-hit-with-threat-of-german-anti-hacking-law-/d/d-id/1135605?

And about the Tor exit node thing, I'm unsure of the specifics, but it seems much more Tor exit node operators in Germany get prosecuted than anywhere else in the world, here are just some stories:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2007/09/tor-node-operator-after-run-in-with-police-i-cant-do-this-any-more/
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121127/13221421157/german-court-holds-internet-user-responsible-passing-unknown-encrypted-file.shtml (not Tor related, but still relevant)
http://itnomad.wordpress.com/2006/09/10/germany-crackdown-on-tor-node-operators/

There are plenty of other stories on the Tor mailing list, thats where I read most of them. There was even one of a German man who was questioned for running a Tor middle node, though no charges stemmed from it.

[deepestfear]

I would go with Germany or the UK

[Edward_Cryptonit]

There were quite a few references concerning UK above. Would like to elaborate a bit on that.

@thread starter: UK is indeed a home for a lot of companies operating in the Bitcoin industry. It really depends on the nature of your business. In case it's in financial services field (involving FIATs besides cryptos), then you will need to deal with a set of procedures to get your business running undisturbed. This includes, but is not limited to things like: getting FCA lincensing/no action response, HMRC MLR, ICO. This certainly requires certain amount of financial and time resources. Besides this you are obliged to follow the development of new laws and take appropriate action to stay compliant.

In case your project is solely technical/product oriented - then procedures should be way quicker and easier. As it was mentioned above UK has a great crypto community.

Regards
Edward

[Onestopbrokers Directory]

I can suggest Cyprus.

But the living standard is rather low compared to Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark.

Yes, I can agree with you in part. But on the other hand, in Cyprus exist a big community of Russian people and a lot of other foreigners that those people may be a target market. Please have a look on this report http://www.onestopbrokers.com/2014/07/23/the-central-bank-of-the-russian-federation-published-external-trade-in-services-of-q1-2014-2/ from the Russia central bank that shows that Cyprus is the 3rd biggest exported in Services to Russia. This indicates the big community of Russian people in Cyprus.

Would you seriously like to live in a poor country within a bunch of Russian people?

:-) Cyprus is not a poor country, at least it was, until the Banks bail out happened on March 2013. But ok yes, your point is good :-)

[dKingston]

In my opinion UK is very bitcoin friendly, you could have an UK bank!

[arnuschky]

You could have a not UK bank. In my opinion, UK is very bitcoin friendly.

Good, because we decided on the UK in the end. 

[5000Bitcoins]

Probablyy Cyprus looking at laws but not sure how you will be perceived there by the community since the last fiasco.

[Onestopbrokers Directory]

Probablyy Cyprus looking at laws but not sure how you will be perceived there by the community since the last fiasco.

yes, before the fiasco, a University in Cyprus was the first in the world among the educational institutes, if I'm right, that started to accept bitcoins as a payment mean. And people thought that perhaps this asset maybe a good investment alternative also due to the real estate bubble. But then happened that fiasco.