Grigaliūnė, Gintarė

The article covers the analysis of Bitcoin usage opportunities in international settlements. Although the frequencies of Bitcoin usage for daily payments have significantly increased, imperfections of the legal framework still create the barriers to treat this cryptocurrency as an alternative to fiat currencies that are employed for settlements all over the world. Considering its legal framework, Germany can be treated as the country, most advanced in the area of Bitcoin usage regulation: business people, who operate in the territory of the country, or those who serve German consumers without registration of their businesses in Germany are obliged to obtain the licence (authorisation) from German Federal Financial Supervisory Agency (GFFSA). Provision of financial services without GFFSA licence is considered as law violation with imposed fines or imprisonment. The results of the research propose that, due to the small number of the locations, where settlements in Bitcoins are available, treatment of Bitcoin as a criminal currency (Russia, China) as well as poor measures of consumer protection, Bitcoin can be treated only as an alternative to traditional measures of settlement, but not as a substitute to them.

Constant changes in business environment determine the significance of receivables to business. The analysis of the current situation in Lithuania has revealed that a substantial part of business enterprises are facing the problem of overdue receivables. This issue emerged as extremely topical after the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008. A number of scientific studies confirmed that the level of receivables has a significant impact not only on smooth business operation but also on operational results and serves as the cause of numerous economic and social problems, faced by both business enterprises and the state. Rising level of receivables determines slower recovery of total economics because it has a negative impact on the sustainability of the public sector of the country. In addition, the scientists highlight economic problems such as production capacity losses, general decrease in competitiveness and failure to satisfy the debt claims. The social problems include the increase in unemployment rate, fall of living standards, dissatisfaction with poor economics of the country and uncertainty about the future. The aim of this article is to analyse the impact of receivables on business in Lithuania. The methods of the research include scientific literature analysis and statistical data analysis.

Rapid technologic advancement alongside with increasing individual needs determine popularity of information technologies. As a result, a number of newly-developed instruments that enable to make payments in the methods different from cash are introduced to consumers in the payment market. The aim of this article is to establish how widely cash is used for making payments in Lithuanian payment market. The results of the research have revealed that the number of cash settlements in Lithuanian payment market is decreasing. Although the number of newly issued debit and credit cards is increasing, cash remains the prevalent method of payment, which corresponds to the trends of payment in the EU payment market.

The aim of the article is to research the impact of the establishment of euro on macroeconomic indicators of Latvia and Estonia. The results of the research revealed that establishment of euro in Estonia have not had any significant impact on price increase (prices grew due to the trends of the global price increase), the inflation rate retained the tendency of decline and decreased by 0.86 per cent comparing the year 2011 and 2014. Percentage change of GDP during the same period made 0.77 per cent. The volumes of export decreased by 0.03 per cent while DFI increased by 2.45 per cent comparing the year 2011 and 2014. Reduction of export volumes is linked with the Russian embargo, which might also have had the impact on the negative percentage changes of GDP. Comparing the prognosticated inflation rate for the year 2014 and 2015 in Latvia, it has been found that inflation rate in the country should increase by 0.875 per cent, which is linked with the trend of price increase; Latvian GDP is prognosticated to decrease by 0.2 per cent, and DFI – to increase by 1 per cent. It can be concluded that establishment of euro has had the positive impact on DFI in Latvia and Estonia during the short evaluation term.