The Prime Minister of Estonia – Kaja Kallas – opined that the country should be very cautious about employing cryptocurrencies in its economic system. She added that even one of the leading digital asset exchanges – Coinbase – urged the government of the small Baltic nation to make Bitcoin legal tender. As of the moment, though, Kallas does not feel “positive about this.”
The recently elected Prime Minister of Estonia – Kaja Kallas – seems to have a rather negative stance on cryptocurrencies. The 44-year-old leader of the Reform Party believes that digital assets play a huge role in cyberattacks and ransomware. As such, the EU member is reluctant to embrace them at this stage:
“We are sensitive to these issues, and the cryptocurrency, how it is used, it’s a big problem, because you see the cyberattacks and how easily companies are paying out [ransom] money.”
Kallas also renounced the rumors that Estonia would be among the first countries in the European Union to regulate cryptocurrencies. While this could have been possible by the time of her successor, who was a “big proponent of crypto,” things look completely different now with her in charge.
The top politician was not supportive of El Salvador’s move to make Bitcoin legal tender, neither. Asked whether Estonia would copy the initiative, Kallas rejected this possibility quite desicively:
“Ha! How is that going by the way? What I see in El Salvador is not going that well, to my understanding.”
Moreover, the Prime Minister revealed that large cryptocurrency companies such as Coinbase pressured the Estonian government to legally recognize BTC as a payment instrument. Kallas, though, is a “bit reluctant to be positive about this.”
“Coinbase, and those big Bitcoin and big currency companies approached me, urging me, ‘make it legal in Estonia.'”
Unlike many other nations, the population of Estonia expressed a strong belief in its authorities in terms of digital asset regulations.
70% of the locals would prefer their government to set up rules for cryptocurrencies, while only 30% put their trust in the European Union. With this figure, Estonia ranked second in Europe in that statistics, while the Netherlands is first with 76%.
It is worth noting that rising proportions of Estonians are also in favor of creating national digital currencies as an option to gain monetary independence from the EU. The country is one of the top three nations in that statistic, with 39% supporting the initiative. Italy (41%) and Greece (40%) are respectively the leaders here.