Regulation of cryptocurrencies in the EU using the example of Greece

We continue the series of publications on the legal status of cryptocurrencies in the EU zone. Today the object of our research is Greece. A country that will very soon be chosen for so-called bitcoin tourism.

As a result of the financial crisis and the collapse of the banking system, which overtook Greece in 2015, the majority of Greek business representatives were unable to pay their foreign counterparties. The reason was the strict state control over the circulation of capital introduced at that time. As a result, services on credit and debit cards were suspended, as well as bank accounts were frozen.

Today, the banking system has been restored in Greece, but money transfers abroad are still prohibited in order to avoid capital outflow.  At the same time, the daily limit on cash withdrawal remains within 60 euros. As of November 2017, banks used limits of €1,000 per month for transfers in SEPA jurisdictions. Restrictions also affected access to exchanges popular among Europeans: Kraken, BitStamp and CoinBase. As a result, some crypto buyers were forced to resort to the services of local exchange offices, which began to charge a higher commission compared to exchanges (from 5 to 10 percent).

Thus, due to the catastrophic decline in confidence on the part of the Greeks in the traditional banking system, bitcoin and altcoins became almost the only alternative to ordinary fiat money. From now on, bitcoin in Greece is not just a buzzword, it is rather a natural trend. When innovation becomes the best way to solve everyday human problems caused by government restrictions. 

Thanks to the absolute disregard by the Greek authorities for issues of cryptocurrency regulation, since 2013 the popularity of bitcoin and other digital money in Greece began to grow literally exponentially. 

Local owners and employees of Bitcoin companies began to note that over the past 3 years, user interest in their platforms has increased sharply. At the same time, the banking crisis further fueled the already increased “appetites” of the Greeks for digital currency, which the local population began to use more often both for long-term investments and for short-term storage of their savings. 

For example, in August 2015, Bitcoin payment provider "Cubits" signed a contract with a local network of exchangers "Bitcoin BTCGreece", within the framework of which it was planned to install more than one thousand bitcoin ATMs throughout Greek territory. This solution was supposedly intended for the field of e-commerce and tourism, and was also intended to help entrepreneurs in solving problems with sending electronic payments abroad.

Meanwhile, compared to other countries, Greece still lags behind in the number of working bitcoin nodes, which probably indicates that the role is still insignificant bitcoin in the life of this country. Thus, in the Greek segment of the Internet there are only about 23 nodes, which is negligible compared to Germany, where more than 1800 bitcoin nodes are located. For example, in nearby Bulgaria and Romania, countries with less developed economies, there are respectively 56 and 46 full-nodes that are actively involved in bitcoin mining.

As of the end. In 2017, even more prepaid bank cards became available to EU residents, issued under the brands of a variety of cryptocurrency online services (Xapo, Wirex, CryptoPay, etc.), which in turn opened up even more opportunities for Greeks to withdraw cryptocurrency into fiat, even if local banks were completely closed. There is an opinion that as the volume of bitcoin turnover in European countries increases, the volume of trading in the currency pair also increases. btc/euro.

In turn, analysts continue to express concerns that if Greece leaves the eurozone, it is not known what currency the state will be forced to replace the Euro with, and whether it will even follow the path of developing innovation and the cryptocurrency market in order to somehow revive the collapsed economy.

Be that as it may, today Greek citizens are still among the first to gain real access to a network of crypto-ATMs in the largest cities (Thessaloniki, Athens, etc.), the most popular and accessible coins among which were Bitcoin, Litecoin, DogeCoin, Ethereum, Dash, Cash, ZCash and Monero.

Although the peak of bitcoin popularity in Greece occurred in 2015, that is, at the height of the banking crisis, the history of the development of this state once again demonstrated the full potential of Blockchain, which is truly capable of saving an entire country in the event of the collapse of its financial system.