The Vice-Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania has claimed the country has “serious intentions” to invest in technologies distributed ledger technology like the blockchain and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

In quotes taken from The Baltic Review, an independent publication covering the Baltics, the Vice-Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania has spoken about the country’s interest in innovative technologies such as cryptocurrencies.

Lithuania, a country of nearly 3 million people and its capital city of Vilnius are looking to become the go-to destinations for international financial innovation, the Minister said.

As reported by the publication, Marius Skarupskas, Vice-Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania said:

We think that technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, and bitcoin are among the latest and most exciting financial innovations. Lithuania and Vilnius have serious intentions to invest into breakthrough[s] in this area and to become a leader on the regional and global scale.

The Vice-Minister also claimed the country’s encouraging R&D sector that has seen the arrival and investment of the likes of banks such as Barclays and remittance operators like Western Union.

Lithuania can be seen as one among a select group of small countries foraying to explore and implement newer, innovative technologies. Larger, traditional economies and their bureaucracies take longer to implement change while smaller economies aren’t burdened with the same constraints.

The quotes were revealed during the announcement of “the Bitcoin Conference 2016,” to be held in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, in association with the Vilnius City Municipality. The event is seen as the largest cryptocurrency conference in the Baltic states, to be held on April 8, 2016.

Featured image of Vilnius from Shutterstock.