Aurimas Niekis

I had a great lunch with Zilvinas Bartkus today, where we shared worrying insights about the slowness of MiCA implementation in Lithuania. We are concerned not only as industry specialists but also as citizens of this country. Blockchain for MiCA licences is already moving forward elsewhere: - Blockchain.com secured a MiCA licence via the Malta Financial Services Authority, positioning Malta as a clear hub for EU crypto expansion. - Revolut has just been granted a MiCA licence in Cyprus through the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, enabling regulated crypto-asset services across 30 EEA countries. Meanwhile, Lithuania — a country with more than a decade of fintech experience and world-class talent — seems to be overcomplicating the process. Why are other jurisdictions moving faster and more decisively? Why is Lithuania slowing itself down when the expertise, people, and ecosystem are already here? And if the regulator needs help, why not ask for it — from people in the market who understand MiCA, fintech, blockchain, and digital assets inside out? And here’s another angle: Latvia is moving strategically. Its 2025–2027 fintech plan aims for: - 30 % growth in fintech firms - 15 % increase in investment - 18 % growth in fintech jobs. The Bank of Latvia has already introduced pre-licensing for crypto firms, a "small bank" licence pathway, and direct access to payment systems for fintechs. When Lithuania stalls, Latvia streamlines. Lithuania has the people, the ecosystem, and the track record. What’s missing is regulatory agility and clarity. If Malta can move, if Cyprus can move, and if Latvia is positioning itself as the next fintech magnet — why can’t Lithuania act faster? #MiCA #Fintech #Blockchain #Lithuania #Latvia #Malta #Cyprus #Revolut #BlockchainDotCom #Regulation #Crypto #DigitalAssets #Innovation #EUFintech #Policy #Compliance

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💡 A €20,000 server that did… absolutely nothing Yes, you read that right. Our Centric IT Solutions Lithuania team recently helped a well-known Lithuanian company save €20,000 per year. How? By running a simple IT infrastructure audit. And what did we find? A cloud server that had been quietly running for years… doing literally nothing. No applications. No services. No value. Just sitting there, burning money month after month. The company once needed it, then didn’t, and it simply remained forgotten in the cloud. Annual cost? €20K. Audit cost? About 10 times less. Not a bad return, right? 🙂 This post isn’t meant to promote our services (well… maybe just a tiny bit), but rather to highlight something important for business leaders: Do an IT audit at least once or twice a year. It’s one of the easiest ways to: -uncover security gaps, -identify unnecessary expenses, -confirm what’s actually needed (and what isn’t), -and avoid paying for “ghost infrastructure”. Because let’s be honest – as long as everything “works,” we rarely feel the need to check what’s under the hood. But that mindset can be very expensive. So, here’s your friendly reminder: Review. Audit. Optimize. Your future IT budget will thank you. P.S. The photo is just an illustration – a tiny snapshot of our amazing team.

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Lithuania is best in the world at distribution 🇱🇹 Spent the last week in Vilnius and one things clear: most Lithuanian startups don't have a distribution problem. Why? They're home to the biggest E-comm successes in the world. NordVPN bootstrapped the world's largest VPN solution to €3Bn+ valuation and is synonymous with the biggest Youtubers out there. Kilo Health scaled to €500M revenue and is one of the biggest e-comm retailers in the world - without external capital. These giants have served as "growth universities" and built an ecosystem of digital agencies around them - that are now spinning out high growth startups: sintra.ai going from $0 to $12M ARR in 12 months with the most distinct branding and meta ads campaigns I've seen (shout-out Aleksandras) NordVPN founder Tomas Okmanas now running it back again with nexos.ai (Creandum Family 💚) ...and many more. Huge thanks to Practica Capital, FIRSTPICK, and Shapers for hosting a founder dinner with us this time around! Pre-seed ecosystem for startups in Vilnius is tremendous. Excited to see what's coming out of Lithuania right now!

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If you’re just getting into Data Tables in n8n, this video is a great place to start. Bartlomiej Slodyczka breaks down how Data Tables work within your instance, showing how they handle data storage, access control, and dynamic interfaces using form nodes. He also compares Data Tables to Google Sheets, Airtable, and Supabase, covering where each fits best and what Data Tables can already do. A clear, technical walkthrough for anyone exploring how to manage structured data directly inside n8n. 👉🏻 Watch here: https://lnkd.in/eQZqe43B

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In my circle, this is already the second time I’ve seen people with zero IT background become developers A few years ago, a friend from university was working as a beer salesman. After one conversation, he decided to start learning Swift in the evenings. Honestly, I didn’t think he’d stick with it. But he did. Today he’s a strong engineer, earns a solid salary, and even leads a small team The second story happened here in Chile. A friend of ours, an English teacher, decided to try programming – just out of curiosity. And to everyone’s surprise, she ended up liking it even more than teaching English. Just recently, she shipped her first app to the App Store Both stories have one thing in common: neither of them started in tech. They had no skills, no experience. What they did have was curiosity, the willingness to learn, and the discipline to take small steps consistently And here’s the most important part – they proved that you can break into this industry from any profession, even without a technical background. Sometimes, all it takes is giving yourself a chance.

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👑 Tech Zity set to crown Lithuania’s bustling startup scene. Deutsche Welle's latest feature explores how Lithuania’s startup scene is about to reach a new milestone with Tech Zity. The €100 million development will blend office space, labs, cafés and living quarters to foster innovation and community in Vilnius. But the article digs deeper to explore how bold regulatory moves and tight connections between startups and government have led the way for Lithuania’s fintech sector. Tech Zity’s founders point to design choices like high ceilings to promote creativity - the so-called “cathedral effect” - and the hope that proximity among creative minds will generate sparks of new ideas. If you’re curious how a small nation is rethinking its future through startup culture and design thinking - this is a read worth your time. ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/daW3N_RM

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🚀 Transforming public services with secure and scalable API management! Latvia’s State Regional Development Agency (VRAA) implemented WSO2 API Manager to modernize and secure data exchange across its government services.  🔹 Over 110 million transactions in H1 2024 alone 🔹 890,000+ unique users 🔹 40+ institutions publishing APIs 🔹 100+ organizations subscribing to services 🔹 Self-service portal for seamless API lifecycle management With WSO2, VRAA achieved streamlined data exchange, improved security, and reduced operational overhead. 📖 Read how they did it: https://lnkd.in/gF7hvD32 ?utm_source=li&utm_medium=orgpost&utm_campaign=li_orgpost_CaseStudyforAPIM_250723

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🚀 Lithuania’s ICT sector is booming — and the numbers prove it. Why do we say this? Because of the recent report by INFOBALT, with insights from Gurtam, Inovacijų agentūra, and Invest Lithuania, which reveals record growth in GDP contribution, exports, talent, and productivity. The sector our company is a part of now drives 5.4% of Lithuania’s GDP, with exports up 5x and foreign tech talent growing fivefold since 2020. At Gurtam, we’re proud to help shape this ecosystem — and its future. Read our blog post and access the full report: https://lnkd.in/dk7yW9zj #ICT #Lithuania #Gurtam #INFOBALT #TechGrowth

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#On #this #day 5 year ago Lietuvos bankas | Bank of Lithuania issued the first #digital #collectable (aka #NFT before it was cool) called #LBCoin. It was as much dearing as innovative implementation that set the tone for financial sector innovations. What followed requires a separate post in itself, but suffice it to say that Binance (its subsidiary) is now the 5th largest tax payer in Lithuania. 🚦Today marks another important milestone for digital finance in Lithuania and in EU. More details soon. Here is a flashback from those early days on #SNL: https://lnkd.in/diGvjY_x More details on LBCoin here: https://lnkd.in/dNc4hPwA

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Helping Lithuanian startups thrive with Open Banking High fees, slow settlements, and clunky integrations are still a reality for many businesses. But they don't have to be. We've partnered with Startup Lithuania to introduce modern Open Banking solutions to the local ecosystem, offering no setup fees and personalised integration support. Read more: https://lnkd.in/d25yfaF3 Let's build the future of finance together. #Noda #OpenBanking

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