The Bank of Greece has at last decided to publish a short statement on Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. The report has been presented to the auditory on the 11th of February and has an already traditional structure of similar issues.
The points of consideration mentioned in the document mirror many existing, as the Bank of Greece references the fact of price fluctuations that might lead to risks and full losses of invested funds. The auditory addressed are both private users and legal entities that are or might be engaged in the Bitcoin economy. The Law Library of Congress (USA) approves that the current statement is the first form the country. It also seems to be based on the statement published by the European Banking Authority some time earlier, also mentions tax implementation and possible consequences according to the policy of the country. The Bank has proven the willingness to provide some comments on the issue, while adding itself to the list of other European countries already decided on the state of Bitcoin.
However, the reaction of the society was not inflamed due to several reasons. The current users from Greece believe that the media and social awareness of the existence of the coin was not sufficient and such accusations will not influence experienced users. Further it might hit potential newcomers and maybe harm the image of the virtual currency. George Zervos, a computer scientist and Bitcoin enthusiast is sure that the most people of the country have minimal or none information or education on or about the coin and its counterparts. He even believes that the authority sees a competitor in the cryptocurrencies as its popularity reduced to tax evasion and other financial problems of the country.
Many analysts see the routes of the popularity of Bitcoin in the financial crises that occurred in Cyprus, Italy, Spain and also Greece. While the country was trying to improve the ratio between the national debt and existing GDP values, the cryptocoin entrepreneurs and activists were promoting them as salvation methods for economies struck in a dead-end. Being rather separate from the official world of finance, Greek Bitcoin users are unable to believe in particular alterations or harm in their online activities. Mr. Zervos adds:
“We all know that banks are fighting Bitcoin in one way or another. Personally I think not much has changed since this warning.”
Yorgos Ntovas, Bitcoin developer and miner, seems to react unanimous with Zervos:
“I do not think that the Bank of Greece has any impact in Greece’s Bitcoin ecosystem. The Bank of Greece has a bad reputation in Greece, and for that, users do not pay any attention at all.”
Cointelegraph will monitor the development of Bitcoin system in Greece and definitely report on the most interesting fulfillments.