Estonia, the European province, is famous for its supreme understanding of technology (Skype was invented in the country and internet is apparently a human right there); and therefore, when a Bitcoin Castle was reported to be coming up in the old city of Tallinn, we weren't surprised.
In February, Risto Pietilä - a Finnish silver investor and Bitcoin millionaire - purchased a 600-year-old castle in Estonia's capital Tallinn and announced plans of converting the place into a Bitcoin innovation center. He bought the castle for bitcoins worth one million euros and at that time, it was deemed the most valuable bitcoin purchase of the world.
"I bought the castle with the money that I earned from bitcoins at the end of last year. Their value had just increased ten-fold," Pietilä was quoted by Coin Telegraph.
"I wanted something that would be the opposite of Bitcoin. And I thought that it would certainly be a castle. If bitcoin continues to rise, I can end next year up to ten times richer than I am now. If it collapses completely, I still have the castle," Pietilä added.
There are several Bitcoin innovation centers in the world, so what makes this project different?
Location! Location! Location!
The castle - Malla Manor - is located in a secluded serene countryside environment in the Malla village, unlike the savvy business parks and financial centers that sit right in the middle of concrete jungles.
The residence has been destroyed and re-built several times and currently has 13 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms.
Pietilä hopes to make it a central Bitcoin location that will draw cryptocurrency investors and enthusiasts from all over the world. He plans on starting renovations on the castle once the Bitcoin values rise.
"I have already held several meetings there, and the reality is that currently the customer base is indeed very small. This is intentional and will change dramatically when Bitcoin makes its next rise to about 5000-10000 dollars. Then everybody will want to come. And only then will I have the funds to proceed with the renovations, so the demand and supply will go neatly hand-in-hand," Pietilä explained.
Pietilä alos explained that the most prestigious suite of the manor will be named after the so-called Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto.
But, how easy or difficult will the task of developing a Bitcoin incubator be? Especially, with the Estonian government's tough stance on the virtual currency, will this be possible?
It is rather ironical that a country so advanced and accepting of technological changes resists to Bitcoin - one of the most popular cryptocurrencies of our time. In February this year, the Estonian police force stopped BTC.ee, a local bitcoin trading website, from trading, Coin Desk reported.
The move came after the Estonian central bank called Bitcoin a "Ponzi scheme" and asked officials to exert caution while trading in the virtual currency.
Bitcoin gained notoriety for not having any government control and being utilized in Silk Road, the online black market for illegal trade, transactions. Recently, the U.S. Internal revenue Service announced that Bitcoins will be taxable in the country and will be treated as "property" rather than a "currency".
The Consumer Financial protection Bureau of the U.S. also issued an advisory against Bitcoin and announced that it will start accepting consumer grievances against the currency.
The current rate is $473.60 for each bitcoin.
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