Europe: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup 12th to 18th January 2019

Europe

Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here, we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news, continent by continent and country by country.

Denmark

Tax Agency to Get Data From Exchanges: Denmark’s tax agency will now have access to traders’ data from local crypto exchanges. This move has been adopted to audit tax payments from 3 exchanges, spanning back to 2016.

This development may be related to the recent reports from the Finnish authorities alerting their Danish counterparts of trades executed on Finnish exchanges by entities that originate from Denmark.

Switzerland

Expert Believes Stablecoins Are the Next Big Thing: Co-founder of Bitcoin Association Switzerland, Luzius Meisser, has said that stablecoins are the next big thing in the cryptocurrency sector. He opinionated while speaking at Crypto Finance Conference which was held in St Moritz.

He said, “Stablecoins are a precondition to enable average companies to bring their equity onto the blockchain, because if they issue bonds or shares they want to do so against US dollars, euros or Swiss francs, because those are the currencies they calculate in, not Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH).”

Russia

Government Denies Rumours That Bitcoin Is Being Purchased at State Level: Russian authorities have denied a buildup of rumors that the country was seeking investment in bitcoins as a way of circumnavigating economic sanctions imposed by the US government.

The news surfaced when a Russian economist, Vladislav Ginko, tweeted that the Russian authorities would be investing USD 10 billion from its 470 billion reserves in the cryptocurrency. “All over the world, a cryptocurrency is considered as a high-risk asset and a similar model, naturally, would not suit anyone.” said a Russian official in denial of any such activity.

Spain

Spain Energy Sector Is Rapidly Becoming One of the Most Blockchain Friendly Industrial Sectors in Europe: Iberdrola, an energy giant in the country, announced it will be using blockchain to track renewable energy delivery across the country. It has successfully completed a trial, providing energy from two wind farms and a conventional fossil fuel plant to send power to its biggest shareholder, a bank. Iberdrola seeks to bring increased transparency and cost reduction in its operations through blockchain.

Repsol is another giant in the energy sector in Spain that has been using blockchain and recently claimed EUR 40,000 worth of savings in a year. The company used the technology to bring improvements in the safety and quality certifications, allowing for the elimination of errors and faults. Normally, these would result in a reworking of the tests, causing an increase in unwanted expenses.

France

Yellow Vests Announce Bank Run:  Gilet Jaunes aka The Yellow Vests have been making headlines for their protest against the financial quagmire the country seemed to be getting into. In their latest attempt to pressurize the government, they asked people to participate in a “bank run”.

The run is a situation when people withdraw their money from banks in a single, massive move to put financial pressure on the authorities. The Yellow Vests suggested people convert their cash into cryptocurrencies so that they can continue to make payments and purchases, without the involvement of banks.

Bulgaria

Revenue Authority to Investigate Crypto Trading Firms: National Revenue Authority, the tax arm of the Bulgarian government, has announced that it plans to investigate the workings of crypto selling firms in the country. The investigations are being planned in a move to ensure that these trading platforms are in compliance with taxation laws with no evasions.

The authority has also set a nominal 10% tax on its citizens for gains made through cryptocurrencies. While the taxation is very low as compared to other countries, the law still does not take into account the volatility of cryptocurrencies.

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