BTC.ee owner alleges threats by Estonian police and moves business out of the country as Supreme Court of the country on Monday ruled against Bitcoin in a landmark case.
BTC.ee recently announced closure over threats by the Estonian police. The website had an ominous notice posted on it about the closure stating, “Apparently the Estonian police can re-interpret the law , keep their interpretation secret, and apply it retroactively and arbitrarily. Unfortunately the courts in Estonia do not appear to see a problem with that.”
Supreme Court rejected the claim by de Voogd that his activity could in no way be linked with Estonia as the portal was not located in Estonian servers. Also irrelevant in the opinion of the court was the fact that BitcoinCT r: 8 was created much later than Estonian laws treating the “alternative means of payment”. Intelligence asked owner to give info on customers
It all began in March 2014, when Dutch citizen resident in Estonia, Otto Albert de Voogd launched BTC.ee, a web based service that helped people buy and sell Bitcoin.
However, over the course of time the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) became interested in the operations of de Voogd’s bitcoin exchange service and asked him several oral and written questions.
FIU asked to be given information on BTC.ee customers: their bank account numbers and the destination of where the money was being sent.
The Postimees Estonian News reports that Otto Albert decided to contest the FIU’s competence to supervise Bitcoin transactions . We asked Otto Albert de Voogd of BTC.ee about exactly what happened and he said: “Back in February 2014 I received a threatening e-mail from Estonian policeman Urmas Pai, that suggested they could start a criminal investigation against me. Subsequently he demanded that I provide them with information. I was not inclined to […]
