Bitcoin Trader Case: In Estonia, The Verdict Is In

By April 13, 2016Bitcoin Business

Recently, Estonian courts ruled in the Bitcoin case of Otto de Voogd . The recent environment in Estonia surrounding digital currency has been negative and the ruling did not come as a complete surprise. Nonetheless, there are serious implications for the cryptocurrency community locally and abroad.

Late last year here at CCN, we reported on Otto de Voogd’s case . The case was centered around De Voogd’s Bitcoin trading site BTC.EE which he ran in Estonia. The site was shut down by officials due to De Voogd’s refusal to relinquish sensitive information about his Bitcoin-related clients. The charges leveled against De Voogd carried a €32,000 fine and potential jail time.

Many observers and analysts in the cryptocurrency community had hope that a favorable ruling by the Estonian Supreme Court would not only establish a precedent for dealing with cryptos in Estonia but also serve as an important link for the entirety of the European Union in building a consensus around how to handle cryptocurrencies.

As evidenced in a recent Reddit post , De Voogd’s ruling was anything but favorable. According to De Voogd, not only did the courts rule against him regarding releasing the information of his clients, but they also levied additional restrictions and hurdles to conducting Bitcoin business within the country.

As Voogd states,

The court decided to apply extra regulation to Bitcoin trading that does not apply to other economic activities. Including the requirement to meet customers in person (face to face), as well as the requirement keep IDs of ALL customers and report those who trade more than 1,000 Euros more per month.

No other economic activity is subject to such strict requirements, the normal reporting limit is 15,000 Euros not 1,000. Estonia is also the only EU country to apply special strict requirements to Bitcoin, most […]

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