Floreat Estonia

“And nowhere in the world all round
Can ever such a place be found”

So runs an extract from the National Anthem of Estonia which is turning out to be an absolute corker of a digital country.

My thanks to Fred Dart who pointed out yesterday that Estonia is initiating a new move in the digital playbook – a national digital currency called the ‘Estcoin’.

The idea comes from the same fertile brain, Kaspar Korjus’, which spawned Estonia’s eResidency programme under which, for a hundred euros, a company can buy eResidency in Estonia which gives it the benefits of being inside the Single Market and Customs Union.

Korjus recalls how, three years ago, he asked the question: “‘Estonia has just 1.3 million residents, but what would happen if our country had 10 million digital residents too?”

“At that time, every citizen and resident could already obtain a secure digital identity that enabled them to access Estonia’s public services entirely online,” says Korjus, “this minimised bureaucracy and made every day life easier, especially for entrepreneurs. So then we wondered — why stop there? Our digital infrastructure can handle far more ‘users’ than the current population.”

It can take only 18 minutes to register a business in Estonia. Tax returns, 99.8% of bank transfers, voting in elections, signing documents and getting prescriptions are all done on-line. Checking company, property and legal records can all be done on line using a government-issue ID card.

Korjus says that the UN is now partnering with Estonia’s e-Residency programme to launch ‘eTrade for All’.

Moving on from eResidency, Estonia is now contemplating the Estcoin, and Vitalik Buterin, founder of the world’s second most valuable crypto-currency – Ethereum – is also behind the Estcoin.

“An ICO (Initial Coin Offering) within the e-Residency ecosystem would create a strong incentive alignment between e-residents and this fund,” says Buterin, “if these Estcoins are issued on top of a blockchain it would become easy and convenient to use them inside of smart contracts and other applications.”

The ICO would raise money which could be put to work in Estonia for the public good.

Estonia is unusual, and extremely fortunate, in having a president – Kersti Kaljulaid  (pictured)  – who believes that governments must keep innovating to ensure that countries remain relevant in the digital age.

Another initiative Estonia is innovating is the concept of ‘data embassies’ which will support Estonia’s digital infrastructure abroad with the same diplomatic protection as any other embassy.

It is all part of Estonia’s vision of allowing its economy and eResidents to operate worldwide. As the anthem rightly runs: ‘‘Nowhere in the world all round can ever such a place be found.’

To become an Estonian eResident go to:  e-resident.gov.ee/estcoin.