Former Estonian Prime Minister Becomes Blockchain Startup Advisor

A former Estonian prime minister has signed on as an advisor to a blockchain startup that wants to encourage people to exercise more.

Taavi Rõivas

, who ran the Estonian government as prime minister from 2014 to 2016 and currently serves as a member of the country's parliament, has joined cryptocurrency startup Lympo as chairman of its supervisory board. Lympo aims to incentive exercise and active lifestyles through its LYM token, the company announced in a press release.

Rõivas confirmed the move on Twitter, saying that he was "excited to help one of the most promising Baltic startups to grow and pursue the mission of motivating people to excercise more and better."

Lympo says it tracks and aggregates users' health and medical information, issuing tokens in order to reward individuals that complete various physical activities. These activities may be announced or potentially sponsored by companies working with Lympo, according to its white paper.

In turn, the companies may receive parts or all of the aggregated data from participants, though the whitepaper emphasizes that users maintain ownership over their data, and certain forms of sharing would be restricted under the E.U.'s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

While Lympo originally built its LYM token on the ethereum protocol, the startup intends to move its token ecosystem to another blockchain – most likely NEO, CEO Ada Jonuse said in an FAQ published last month.

Taavi Rõivas image via Sven Tupits/Wikimedia Commons