Ott Vatter, deputy director of Estonia's e-residency program, told BNS that a total of 37,437 e-residency applications have been submitted since the launch of the program in December 2014.

In the first quarter of 2018, a total of 7,272 applications were submitted and 688 companies established by e-residents. He added that the number of e-residency applications submitted last week totaled 753, this year's record thus far.

Based on these figures, Vatter explained, it can be forecast that Estonia may see more new e-residents this year than in all previous years of the program combined. "Compared to the first quarter of 2017, the number of companies [set up by e-residents] has doubled, and the number of e-residents has tripled," he noted. "Should this trend continue, it may indeed mean that more e-residents will be added this year than in all previous years."

According to the e-residency official, Estonia's e-residency program cooperates with several foreign pay offices to continue expanding its list of services. "In 2018, we are planning on launching several new opportunities which would result in a decline in the costs of payment services and offer e-residents a wider variety of options," he said.

Estonia currently has 35,453 e-residents, who have set up a total of 3,507 companies.