Bitcoin Island could soon be a real place. A British property investor plans to turn a South Pacific idyll into a real-world paradise for bitcoin investors.
For the past decade, retired property developer Anthony Welch and his partner, Theresa, have called a 300-hectare island home. It is part of the Vanuatu archipelago between Australia and Fiji.
The couple plans to transform an island called Lataro into Satoshi Island. It is 90% virgin rainforest, but will become âa sustainable smart city.â It will have multi-storey apartment blocks and offices.
âWeâre trying to build a community,â Welch told The Guardian over satellite link from the island. The small paradise currently has no mains electricity, water, phone, or internet connection. âWeâre not trying to develop and make a profit.â
He said he had been approached by new partners who had seen his island advertised for sale on a private island real estate site.Â
Welch subsequently took the island off the market and collaborate with the pair and develop the plan further.
âThe crypto paradise they want to build is a really cool idea. It is a wonderful use of a place we have been able to live on for 12 years,â Welch said.
âThe team had been working to find a location for some time. The key issue was trying to find a government that would ⌠permit a society to exist on crypto transactions. Most countries in the world want to collect tax. Therefore, they donât want crypto transactions because they canât monitor whatâs happening. Vanuatu has no income taxes of any sort.â
Bitcoin Island investors
The trio is promising 21,000 investors that the Bitcoin island will âbecome home for crypto professionals and enthusiasts. It has a goal to be considered the crypto capital of the world.â
However, Welchâs plans mark something of a U-turn. In a previous attempt to sell the island for $12m in 2017, Lataro was described as an ecological paradise. âIt is covered with dense tropical forests, along with a wonderful array of flora and fauna.â
Indeed, the Welch family even went as far as petitioning the local government of Vanuatu to declare the island a wildlife sanctuary. This was to âprevent the extinctionâ of the rare coconut crab.
The Satoshi Island project is the latest scheme to attract crypto-holders to the region. Palau lies about 5,000km to the northeast of Vanuatu. The president plans to launch the worldâs first government-backed national stable coin by the end of this year.
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