Bulgaria’s Minister of Finance, Assen Vassilev, stated the country is looking into the possibility of implementing a crypto payment system. Although, he said Bulgaria was unlikely to become a major hub for crypto miners.
According to a Bloomberg story published on Friday, Vassilev said the government was in talks with the Bulgarian National Bank and industry players to investigate crypto payments “in the near to medium term.”
However, he said that Bulgaria was unlikely to become a big crypto mining centre, citing reports that many are considering leaving Kazakhstan due to political unrest and Internet outages.
Following the seizure of 213,519 Bitcoin (BTC) from an underground crime network before the 2017 bull run — valued at around $3.5 billion at the time, but more than $8.2 billion at the time of publishing — the Bulgarian government may still be one of the world’s biggest HODLers. It’s unclear whether officials sold or auctioned the crypto at the time, or if they still have them.
Bulgaria, although a member of the European Union, is one of only eight nations that has not accepted the euro, and hence would not benefit from the adoption of a digital euro by participating central banks. The government and the Bulgarian National Bank announced in June 2021 that they planned to adopt the euro in 2024.
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde stated in March that the digital currency may not be implemented until 2025, if at all.
Rossen Iossifov, the owner of the Bulgarian crypto exchange RG Coins, was found guilty of conspiracy to conduct racketeering and money laundering by a federal jury in the United States in 2021.
The Bulgarian national was involved in a conspiracy that cheated 900 Americans out of more than $7 million. He was given a ten-year prison sentence.
