Bitnation and Estonian government start spreading sovereign jurisdiction on the blockchain

Bitnation, the decentralised governance project which offers blockchain IDs and Bitcoin debit cards to refugees, has done a deal with Estonia to offer a Public Notary to e-Residents.

Starting December 1 2015, the blockchain notary service will allow e-residents, regardless of where they live or do business, to notarise their marriages, birth certificates, business contracts and more, on the blockchain.

The blockchain is a public ledger distributed across hundreds of thousands of computers around the world. The distributed and immutable nature of this public notary makes it more secure than any notary currently offered by traditional nation states.

The Estonian e-Residency programme is far and away the most advanced of its kind on the planet. This agreement takes that a step further into wholesale decentralisation.

Bitnation is doing for identity and statehood, what Bitcoin is doing for money. Bitnation CEO and founder Susanne Templehof has said, in reference to the current refugee crisis, that the project seeks to eradicate the most criminal part of our existing legacy systems – borders.

She told IBTimes in an email: "We have made a deal with Estonia, and the ultimate goal is to gain recognition for Bitnation as a sovereign entity, thus creating a precedent for open source protocol to be considered as sovereign jurisdictions."

Bitnation, as the world's first blockchain powered virtual nation, provides "DIY governance services", and has received international attention for providing refugee emergency response and world citizenship ID on the blockchain, as well as pioneering marriage, land titles, birth certificates etc.

On the subject of marriage, Templehof points out that in many countries gay marriage, for example, is illegal: "Blockchain doesn't give a s**t about that," she said.

Estonian e-Residency is an initiative that allows anyone around the world to take advantage of the secure authenticated online identity the Estonian government already offers its 1.3 million residents.

Kaspar Korjus Estonia's e-Residency program director, said: "In Estonia we believe that people should be able to freely choose their digital/public services best fit to them, regardless of the geographical area where they were arbitrarily born. We're truly living in exciting times when nation states and virtual nations compete and collaborate with each other on an international market, to provide better governance services."

If a couple get married on the Public Notary, it doesn't mean they get married in the jurisdiction of Estonia, or in any other nation state jurisdiction. Instead, they get married in the "blockchain jurisdiction".

The technology provides a worldwide legally binding proof of existence and integrity of contractual agreements for things like banking, incorporating companies quickly and cheaply, and generally empowering entrepreneurs and citizens around the world.

Tempelhof said she believes the Estonian government understands the dynamics of the globalisation era far better than any other government she can think of.

"I'm delighted to work with Estonia's e-Residency program to set a standard practice of competition of governance services on a global market, and to enable others to exercise self-determination and follow Bitnation's path to sovereignty" she said.