Estonian Supreme Court Questions Government About Bitcoin Status

The Supreme Court of Estonia is considering a case on the legality of bitcoin. In this context, it has asked the country’s central bank, two of its civil ministries and its top financial regulator to answer questions related to the digital currency, CoinDesk reported.

According to a translated version of the court’s 19th November decision, the questions primarily focus on the nature of bitcoin, its legal aspect and regulations, potential use for money laundering and terrorism financing and overall stability of financial system.

Eesti Pank, the Interior and Finance Ministries, and the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority have to respond to the court’s request by 11th January.

The developments come after a lawsuit was filed last year by a Dutch Bitcoin trader Otto de Voogd, operator of bitcoin trading platform BTC.ee, who was asked to supply information on all his website's users by the Estonian government. He decided to pursue legal action to clarify the status of Bitcoin, The Baltic Times reported.

De Voogd announced on his Facebook page: "The Estonian Supreme Court made a preliminary decision in my Bitcoin case. It ordered the Estonian Ministry of Finance, the Interior Ministry, the Estonian Central Bank, and the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority to answer several difficult questions.

From their answers, due by January 11th, we can see if these Estonian government institutions will double down on their anti-Bitcoin attitudes and continue to support the current policy of keeping Bitcoin heavily restricted in Estonia."