Home
News
The year 2015 could be Greece’s most turbulent year in its decade-long government debt crisis with a rush on national banks being rampant, not to mention international spending on ordinary citizens, alongside some capital controls on withdrawals. However, Greeks looked for avenues and depended on different forms of financial stability as some of them resorted to decentralized answers for a centralized issue.
One of them is WeAcceptBitcoin.gr creator, Bitcoin (BTC) maxi, and Infosec consultant Dimitris Tsapakidis. He’s also one of the few organizers of the meet-up collective known as Blockchain Greece which is an online, in-person circle with more than 2,700 members under its belt.
Unfortunately, the ongoing global health crisis left them with no choice but to hold online meetings, though their in-person gatherings have drawn huge crowds, not to mention notable speakers like the British-Greek bitcoin advocate and “Let’s Talk Bitcoin” podcast host Andreas Antonopoulos.
Bitcoin to ‘get ahead’
Tsapakidis recalls bitcoin as a means for his fellow Greeks to “get ahead” during a time with very few alternatives. He said that BTC was deemed as a way forward and as some sort of securing tool. It was even utilized as a way to make payments overseas during that period. He remembers folks would purchase bitcoin and would, later on, be placed in a debit card abroad and pay with it, hence solving an immediate problem.
In line with this, face-to-face meet-ups around cryptocurrencies have also increased, as part of it can be credited to Antonopoulous, alongside local institutions that bear sentiments leaning towards both blockchain and cryptocurrency.
An example is the University of Nicosia in Cyprus as it has been rolling out crypto courses online for several years now and this has been attended by a significant number of Greeks who are interested to learn more about digital currencies. That said, Tsapakidis believes that Nicosia was the first in the world to give such a learning course as well as grant certificates that are entered on the blockchain.
Greeks sticking together
Come Together’s Head of Business Development – Anni Panagiotopoulou – gave her two cents about the robust community ties within the Greek crypto landscape. She said that Greece’s state of crisis is permanent adding that much has been mentioned about Grexit. She added that everything has generated “a climate of mistrust” of the system as of late and went on to say that the said climate has driven Greeks to find other options.
Panagiotopoulou pointed out, though, that the Greeks – as a culture – are folks who have this penchant for bringing people together. She believes that such a trait comes naturally whenever someone knows something, they’re eager to give it out. The same thing goes with crypto
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
