Promoting bitcoin among ordinary people is the only way to make the officials recognise the cryptocurrency, says Jure Pirc, president of Bitcoin Association Slovenia.

He shared this opinion in an interview to CoinTelegraph.

It is impossible to contact the government directly and organise a meeting on bitcoin and blockchain to make the officials more tolerant to digital money, said Pirc. Instead, it is necessary to raise the people’s awareness concerning bitcoin. Slovenia is a small country with a population of about 2 million, he said, and with 100,000 citizens having some digital currency in their bitcoin wallets the government will have to accept the new reality.

Meanwhile, only 9 to 10 thousand Slovenians are currently involved in the bitcoin community, noted Pirc. So the government is not very bitcoin-friendly, though formally Slovenia is not closed to the digital currency. The banking system doesn’t really welcome bitcoin owners as well. According to Pirc, one could hardly open an account for a bitcoin related company, especially in a large bank. The usual solution to this problem is either to get an account abroad or to give the company a neutral name that won’t imply any connection with bitcoin, he said.

Bitcoin Association Slovenia is an organisation promoting the digital currency in the country. Back in 2013 the Slovenian Ministry of Finance issued a statement regulating the status of bitcoin. According to the document, bitcoin miners are expected pay income tax, while bitcoin sellers are not.

Andrew Levich