Bitcoin Forum

The president of Madeira (an autonomous region in Portugal) just announced "adopting bitcoin" as a legal tender. Some stats about the country:


Prospera (An island in Honduras) has also announced the same thing.

Obviously, these two are not as big as El Salvador, but it's still a big step forward. Your thoughts?

The announcements were made at the Bitcoin conference a few minutes ago.

Edit: You can read more about this here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninabambysheva/2022/04/07/two-new-territories-are-adopting-bitcoin/?sh=7fe4c5e2499a

It is a small region, but every new usage opportunity is a positive.   I see you updated with the Honduras stuff, and that is good too. 

It is good to see it in various countries because then you can have competition for freedom within countries, not just between countries.

Portugal has always been very crypto-friendly, knowing now that Madeira is doing doing the same that the city of Lugano (Switzerland) did is just great! Especially because at this point I hope those countries are using Madeira and Lugano as a test, so eventually bitcoin will be accepted on the whole territory!

That does seem slightly impressive and I, as a Bitcoiner am always proud and happy to see Bitcoin being adopted more and more. However 250k people is not all that impressive. I do hope bigger countries start jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon soon. Its obvious that Bitcoin will get adopted and turned into the world currency at some point. I just want that to happen sooner than later.

Small steps to world domination I guess :D

Every journey starts with small steps, so these announcements should be seen in that context, although Bukele announced a few months ago that two more countries will do the same as El Salvador - in fact, these are two islands that would be hard to find on a map without google. I hope this is not the only good news that will come from Miami :)

https://i.imgur.com/FdhEQAV.png  https://i.imgur.com/Uf4GAS6.png

Interesting, for sure, especially as the region is highly dependent on tourism (at least to my understanding). Plenty of lessons to learn already from El Salvador but I think a slow burn rollout, with pertinent thought to infrastructure and access, maybe we'll see a (better) success story.

The income tax benefit thing could be interesting for OTC auxiliaries, definitely for Localbitcoiners. Portugal itself is still a pretty easy place to do business, and it's pretty high on the ease-of-access list for freelancers and crypto peeps (comparative to rest of EU).

Edit: might be tiny but the city I come from, the capital of my island state, has a lower population. I bet it's a lot more developed.

These are autonomous regions so their decision doesn't stand in the eyes of law of the governing country. For example, Madeira is a part of Portugal, so the laws of Portugal applies on that region. So if Portugal makes bitcoin illegal, it will apply to Madeira as well.

But one positive is that, these regions are mostly visited by travelers of different nationalities. So such kind of adoption will make people intrigued about bitcoin and its usage. Might create some good amount of awareness if not volume.

I think these are great decisions, and now that there's an example of El Salvador, there will be a reference point for these regions, so it will be easier for them to build the infrastructure to stimulate Bitcoin adoption. Madeira has a great Internet penetration rate (much higher than in El Salvador, it seems), but I'm not sure about Prospera (31% is the rate for Honduras, and I can't find specifications).  Perhaps such things also affect how well the adoption goes, as when fewer people use the internet and fewer places have access points for it, this can be a huge obstacle for using Bitcoin.
I don't think this news will affect the global market much, but it's a nice local thing to happen.

I love it when warm countries adopt Bitcoin. Gives me an opportunity to choose when I finally decide to leave cold Europe for a better, friendlier climate.
I'm pretty sure other countries are watching it closely and gathering teams of analysts to tell them if it's a good idea. Big, prosperous countries will be scared of doing something like that but poor countries don't have much to lose, they might as well dip their toes.

I was thinking on celebrating when we hit 100k for BTC, so maybe I'll just do a tour around all the countries where Bitcoin is a legal tender? What do you think?  8)

this is good news....btw, this is my first time hearing about this country and as you said it is a small country but they have been worldwide since accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender there.  this is just the first step because, before 2022 ends, there will definitely be more countries that make bitcoin as their legal tender. 

Small steps could bring forth big problems and vice versa for success. The vice versa of the El-Salvador adoption is what we are seeing today with other nations looking towards the bitcoin adoption. This shows that, the lab rat experiment for which the rest of the world has turned El-Salvador into and have been observing them over, is producing good results that is resulting in more and more adoptions.
When these adoptions happens, surrounding nations and nations in same genre as the adopting nation would be puzzled and tend to evaluate reasons as to why and eventually, come up with same idea. The population is some worth low and that doesn't mean all are going to be arms open to the new development but, its good enough for BTC and cryptocurrency at large. It's a good one!

With small countries it is an easy thing to adopt bitcoin. It is true that small droplets make an Ocean. Here small countries adopting bitcoin as legal tender will make big change when large nations step into adoption of bitcoin as legal tender. Euro being the official currency used in Madeira there will be political pressure in the coming days. Madeira is recorded as one of the poorest region of Europe. In contrary to the same it is the second richest region of Portugal.

In the case of Madeira, which is part of Portugal and is in the Eurozone its very surprising
to hear that they seem to be acting independently of both Portugal and the European central bank.

I can understand El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as an alternative to the US $ and to reduce
remittance fees for example but what I wonder does Madeira have to gain from this?

It will be interesting to see how this one progresses.

According to a survey in 2019,
Madeira household internet penetration statistics (http://"https://estatistica.madeira.gov.pt/en/dre-2/cooperacaoestatistica/216-press-release/information-society-press-release/2264-21-11-2019-in-2019-86-1-of-the-private-households-of-the-autonomous-region-of-madeira-had-an-internet-connection-at-home.html")

This shows that the amount of people with access to internet is pretty significant compared to the % in El Salvador - which definitely caused a hindrance for them, atleast as of yet. Madeira also has a smaller area and way less population than El Salvador so implementation and raising awareness for adoption shouldn't be as hard. This definitely shows more promise, but it has to be implemented properly - otherwise it will probably end up like the current state in El Salvador, many shopkeepers have stopped using it stating that its more of an inconvenience, and people don't really see it as a viable currency because of poor implementation. Bitcoin ATMs are like kilometers away.

If all that gets fixed and properly done in Madeira, maybe we'll see much better results!

Not every small country is easy to adopt BTC. It purely depends on the perception of the government related to Bitcoin. But this news should bring a good impact, whether small country or big country, people will see it as great progress in Bitcoin adoption. People around the world will be more optimistic to buy and hold Bitcoin because they know more countries or areas or locations to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender.

Any news about adoption or making Bitcoin as a legal tender would always be considered as a good one and thanks for sharing up on this one buddy! This news proves out that El Salvador did really make out some
initial step on which other countries or places in the globe would really make out on the same decision as they did on where making bitcoin as a legal tender.We know on whats the stance of government
when it comes to bitcoin or cryptocurrencies which is surprising that there governments on other places which do really see the other way around which is something impressive.

Is Prospera even an island?
Wiki says it's a special economic zone on one of the islands in Honduras, a city of some 10k on paper.

But I think Madeira is a bit different, yes it's small, it is poor by EU standards but still 5x times wealthier per capita than Salvador, it's a pretty well-known destination for a lot of tourists and it got twice as many tourists as Salvador, probably a far better influence.
Plus it's still EU territory, it has a representative in the EU discussions as well as two MEPs, it is inside the VAT area and the Schengen, pretty good.  

At least we have something finally! ;D


Not really that simple, as far as I've seen from their Consitution they have complete autonomy on administration as well as taxes and quite some interesting legislative powers till they hit the limit of national unity. Portugal is not that anti-crypto at all, they use the Euro so there is no pressure in that direction either that would have come if they would have used a national currency, so I doubt they will say much.

That free zone might be a thorn, I see there are some decisions about breaking EU state aid rules, but that's a different thing, not concerning BTC

Portugal itself is already extremely crypto-friendly, there are several people who moved to Portugal because unless you're a professional trader (or a company) you don't pay any tax on your gains. But of course what is happening is on another level. Portuguese government is pretty smart.

You're right, it's not even an island, but according to Wiki it's a private city and a special economic zone on the island of Roatán.



Finally, we in the EU will have the opportunity to go on holiday and pay for everything with Bitcoin, and not only is it relatively close to us, but it is (hopefully) much better in terms of lower crime rates and security in general. I can already see some BTT members gathering on the island, and some may move permanently if conditions are favorable 8)

Wait, that's not true.
No one there is making Bitcoin legal tender. That's not what the president said! What he said is that he will work towards making the financial and economic ecosystem Bitcoin friendly by making sure, among other things, not taxing profits from Bitcoin and also keeping the corporate taxes one of the smallest in Europe! The host was who said something like "adopting Bitcoin", but this expression is vague and doesn't mean specifically making Bitcoin a legal tender!

If this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etAWNO8H4Eg) is the video of the speech from Bitcoin conference that started this news and that you are referring to, I must say that I agree with you. Madeira president didn't say anything about bitcoin becoming legal tender so I have no clue how could someone get that impression. Unless he said more things that are not in that YouTube video.

Samson said "Madeira will accept Bitcoin"... This is very vague expression and many understands it as "making Bitcoin as legal tender somewhere". But it is not the case here. However, I am happy that more people from the politics environment are boarding up, embracing the tech and keeping their minds open to the potential change!

No, I think they are looking at it cautiously but not a final statement, exactly I think they have a potential share in accepting bitcoin legal tender. We'll need to wait for more information, that's for sure a big reason that could represent the next trend after El Salvador.
yes, Maybe it's an important sideline, I don't think there can be any relevant statement on this inside the Miami bitcoin conference.

Oh shit! Again!
Right now I'm furious, and 99% of that anger goes towards myself for spending hours looking at the politics of Maderia and the constitution of Portugal and their rights and I've not spent minutes listening to the declaration itself again, indeed there is no mention of anything other than no taxes.
But cryptos were not taxed in Portugal to begin with, damn!


Oh, reading the above and listening to the news I'm not sure about the everything part anymore, if bitcoin is not legal tender de jure and only more like de facto you can't force anyone to accept it, not under EU laws.
Luckily it's still April, let's wait to see till June-August when the tourist season begins, things can change for the better, after three fucking years of only stupid things happening it's time for something actually good.

Again, if the words the president of Madeira said are the ones he really meant to say, no one said anything about legal tender, no matter what Forbes is saying! Forbes says de facto legal tender, whatever that means. I think this is like binary. It is either legal tender or it is not. I'm not sure there can be an in-between state. And to do what it looks like to me (almost forcing it to be a legal tender) is just not good. Because if people start believing that, then they may get surprised when they want to do something as that said "legal tender" and their are not allowed. Then the fault is that "ahh, Forbes said...".

I think we need to be careful here and be cautious with what we read and how we interpret it! I think if it was for Madeira to make it legal tender, president wording would be clear in that direction. No need to be ambiguous or hiding true meaning in obfuscated wording choice.

Edit, after reading Forbes article, they then say what in fact president of Madeira said. If that's what is considered de facto legal tender, then ok... So be it. I just don't get along very well with this in between expressions of de facto legal tender and legal tender alone!

I'm a little confused at this point, so what are exactly the big news regarding Madeira if bitcoin is not (yet) accepted as legal tender? Because as you pointed out cryptos (for the moment) are not taxed in Portugal unless you're a professional trader, so what are we talking about?

Congratulations to the government and people of this country. Even though it is a small country, it has taken a big step.Such a move plays a very important role for cryptocurrency. If every country makes such a decision, then cryptocurrency will be on everyone's doorstep.But we must believe that one day this cryptocurrency will become very popular with everyone and bitcoin will be legalized in every country.

El Salvador is an example or a trigger for the continued adoption of bitcoin.
Even though Madeira and Prospera are only small countries, they are able to take big steps to start using bitcoin or start implementing bitcoin in their economic sector.

This adoption by several small countries is good news for bitcoin. this being a real example of using bitcoin in real life, El Salvador seems to be successful in their bitcoin adoption so many are interested in starting it.

But Adoption will not be done that easily, there will be many pros and cons as well as some problems that will occur. So it all depends on how the country manages bitcoin and innovates with bitcoin.

Actually they are not countries: Madeira is an autonomous region in Portugal while Prospera is a jurisdiction in Honduras. They are more independent but they're still part of the mainland countries since both of them, if I'm not wrong, are islands. At least it's a first step but for the moment El Salvador is still the only country using bitcoin as legal tender.

Thanks a lot to them though. They have taken a much better step. There are many big countries but they have not yet been able to legalize bitcoin.We want bitcoin to be legalized in every country. No country like Salvador has ever legalized bitcoin in this way. But Salvador has shown the world with legal legitimacy.In any case, such a step should be taken by every country.

From the video you can clearly hear the presenter saying Madeira will be adopting btc before welcoming the president to the stage to make a statement base on that and the president acknowledge it and said no income tax. They will adopt btc for now perhaps legalize it as legal tender later.
One step at a time, the president looks very happy about btc so I think in the near future there will be more achievement.

I hope you didn't start packing your bags too in order to move to Madeira. :D


Yep, that's the thing; what Madeira president announced doesn't differ much (if any) from the rest of Portugal when it comes to pro-crypto laws so and his speech would go completely unnoticed if media didn't misinterpret what that host said. On top of that, I seriously doubt that Madeira president has authority to declare bitcoin being legal tender before Portugal does the same (or unless they allow them) as from what I read, they don't even have autonomy on their own budget.

Well, this opens up more Bitcoin tourism destinations for people where Bitcoin is banned or restricted in their countries. Why should you pay taxes in your own country on Bitcoin, if it is restricted or even banned. Just take a Bitcoin holiday in one of these countries where Bitcoin is accepted as legal tender and spend to your hearts content.  ;D ;D

Just another way to give the finger to the countries that are protecting their own Fiat currencies and a thumbs up to the countries that embrace and support it.  ;D   (My next holiday will be booked in Madeira now)  ;)

I don't think either, even if they're autonomous they are still part of Portugal, and something important like the national currency is something above them. The only direct way would be to become totally independent, but it wouldn't make sense. Let's see if in the next days there will be more declarations from Madeira's president.

Maderia and prospera fall under outermost regions of European community. Beautiful places, but they had their unique issues of development due to topographic limitations. They have higher school drop rates, emigration of skilled population and  to seek better work opportunities in mainland Europe, leaving only lesser skilled  natives in the region. These regions are embracing bitcoin to stimulate their own economy, by offering a crypto friendly place to highly skilled crypto experts. This will lead to immigration of highly skilled and high earning techies to maderia, this will help to increase GDP, diversify work opportunities and developments in these regions 

Of course this would be an extraordinary thing if the municipality really wanted to adopt bitcoin widely.even though Madeira is a small town in Portugal but the city has a very good impact and is known by the public.of course this will be a distinct advantage for bitcoin. if the city is really serious in the process of adopting bitcoin, we also really hope that this is not just a mere discourse that the city of Madeira wants to adopt bitcoin in the city

Making it crypto friendly will attract more investors, but how far the framework is being developed. If it consists of a large number of restrictions, then this won't be more attractive. Companies always wants the easiest access as well as the support from the government. Every form of investment/business is risk involved. Every business investor will look for the settlement of recovery funds. If someone have invested and hasn't made the expected profit, the business will leave the country. By the time the investor should be settled within few months. Policies need to be made in such a way.

As long as there's a community or a country that adopts bitcoin.

It will always turn into good news. That's what we all like, to see those cities, places, and everywhere start to adopt bitcoin. Although for the others, the size does matters for the adoption but every big adoption is coming from small ones.

Madeira is indeed part of the EU (Portugal), but Prospera is located in Central America on the island of Roatán off the coast of Honduras. The difference is not only in the geographical position, but also in the fact that Madeira is an island, and Prospera only one town on the island.


Maybe that’s really their goal, but this isn’t the first time some islands or small countries have tried to create a crypto paradise, let’s just remember Malta or Gibraltar and their attempts. Their problem, as well as the problem of the island of Madeira, is that they are too small to make some major changes that would attract people to move in and start a business. In addition, the EU has a not very friendly attitude towards cryptocurrencies, as they have been showing lately.

Move? No way!
I wouldn't move to any EU country just for bitcoin being legal tender, I have a family with a little kid, I have friends, trading an average EU capital for one of the poorest regions in the western part for that alone? I've been to Funchal (ok, for one day only :)) but I wouldn't spend my life there, a small city, indeed clean and neat but still probably I would get bored in a month or so, not for me. Living on an island where you have to get used to what's available or fly to Lisbon every month does not match my plans for a comfortable easy lfie.

But the thing about it's legal tender no it's not still pisses me off even now, one week after.  >:(


Bruh, we're talking about an island of 250k population and a capital city of 100k, just because they have no tax on crypto do you see people flocking to that en masse so that a company would have a big enough highly qualified pool force to rely on?
There are countries who have tried this with no tax on income completely and no tax on the business itself and failed to attract anything, if it were[ that simple the world would look completely different now in terms of GDP distribution.


Nice, I was getting bored with people calling Madeira a country, now it's a city, that's something else. ;D

once they implemented it, we will know in the next coming years or months if they are successful with this venture. a small state/county/region is easier to manage with the new financial protocol or at least addition of it. they will see the impact in shorter time as well. if they can improve the financial transactions, why not? even if we say, they can't attract new investors or new money.

Although it is small areas, but it is very encouraging and promising news, acceptance of Bitcoin in small areas around the world will encourage other countries and provinces to take the same step, and this will lead to an increase in the spread of Bitcoin around the world and will be an advanced step towards global adoption of Bitcoin. I am sure that in the next period we will witness an increase in the number of countries that will join the Bitcoin club.

These are good steps to attract digital nomads to their territories. Portugal in special is a good destination for this kind of public, because life quality there is pretty decent and the living costs affordable when compared to neighboor european countries. The only cons is the low wages offered there, but since digital nomads have their income from the internet and deal with cryptocurrencies it's not an issue at all.

It's a win win situation for every parts: for the government it's good, because income from taxes is going to increase when the appeal for the region rises and for crypto enthusiasts it's great, because they will be able to use bitcoin for every products and services disponible around.