A Finnish investor and Bitcoin entrepreneur has decided to turn a 600 year old Estonian manor into a Bitcoin innovation centre.
Risto Pietilä runs SilverBank.net, a silver investment company based in Estonia. And using the proceeds from this company, he’s decided to invest in the manor. Purchased back in February for around a million euros, it ranks as one of the largest Bitcoin transactions ever performed.
Malla Manor
Malla Manor is located on the northern coast of Estonia, in Lääne-Viru County. The most recent statistics (admittedly three years out of date) put its current population at 82.
Malla Manor first appears in the historical record in 1443, with a brief mention of a small castle located on the site. It was later purchased by Count Gustav Horn, a Scandinavian soldier best known for being the commander-in-chief of the Swedish forces in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War.
Horn had a new manor built on the site in 1654, but it was burned down during the Great Northern War of the early 1700′s. The current Malla Manor was built during the 1880′s.
It boasts 13 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, which were all renovated during the beginning of the 21st century.
What’s Pietilä Up To?
The choice is a little unusual, to be sure. And it’s not just because of the size of the place.
Malla Manor is located in a remote region of Estonia. Lääne-Viru County is home to fewer than 60,000 people, with only two more populated areas: Rakvere, with around 15,000 people, and Kunda, with 4000. The manor itself lies outside of any of these towns though; the closest, Kunda, is several kilometres away.
Places like Bitcoin Decentral in Toronto, on the other hand, are strategically located in an area where influencers can congregate.
Why so far out?
“I have already held several meetings there, and the reality is that currently the customer base is indeed very small,” Pietilä told the Helsinki Times. “This is intentional and will change dramatically when Bitcoin makes its next rise to about 5000-10000 dollars. Then everybody will want to come. And only then will I have the funds to proceed with the renovations, so the demand and supply will go neatly hand-in-hand.” (Thanks to Google Translate)
Pietilä seems to be relying heavily on Bitcoin to continue increasing in value as it did last year. And while we all hope it will become as valuable as Pietilä hopes it will, is this a wise strategy on which to bank such a heavy investment?
Regardless, Malla Manor can now be called the first Bitcoin castle, for what that’s worth.
The First Bitcoin Castle?
No comments:
Post a Comment