[2017-10-09] Vanuatu offers citizenship in exchange for 44BTC

[Embeco]

Apparently Vanuatu offers citizenship in exchange for Bitcoin now. You could buy citizenship before for ~200.000USD.
While many believe Bitcoin may make illegal business easier, they say it offers loads of transparency due to its fully transparent and consistend ledger.

http://www.businessinsider.de/vanuatu-accepts-bitcoin-for-citizenship-payment-2017-10?r=UK&IR=T

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[Almat]

What the hell lol. I wonder how they came to this? Still, if you're rich and you're looking to live a simple life, this might be an attractive offer. It might also work if you're trying to run away from the law or something lol.

[peter0425]

What the hell lol. I wonder how they came to this? Still, if you're rich and you're looking to live a simple life, this might be an attractive offer. It might also work if you're trying to run away from the law or something lol.

They want to be a safe haven for crypto enthusiast who wants to run away from government than are becoming hard-liners against bitcoin. But the question is, will someone take the bait? And I'm not sure if this news will bring positive outcome to the ecosystem. The government might be doing to attract people to their country, and hope that those who will avail of this setup will put investment in this Pacific island. So its gonna be beneficial for both parties.

Vanuatu also advertises its low taxes for citizenship buyers, offering a second passport in a country that levies no capital gains or income taxes. Potential citizens don't need to live in Vanuatu, or even visit the country once.

source: http://uk.businessinsider.com/vanuatu-accepts-bitcoin-for-citizenship-payment-2017-10

Who wouldn't love this perks? 

[TraderTimm]

Every country has a method for investing towards full citizenship.

It takes a substantial amount, but most give it to you under the quarter-million range. This isn't anything new.

[Kprawn]

" Vanuatu also advertises its low taxes for citizenship buyers, offering a second passport in a country that levies no capital

gains or income taxes. " ....This might be a tax haven for some people, who wants to convert their BTC to Fiat, but who are

hesitant, because of the tax implications of doing that. These islands will soon be under water if you believe all the hype

surrounding climate change, so I hope you live on a yacht. 

[Embeco]

" Vanuatu also advertises its low taxes for citizenship buyers, offering a second passport in a country that levies no capital

gains or income taxes. " ....This might be a tax haven for some people, who wants to convert their BTC to Fiat, but who are

hesitant, because of the tax implications of doing that. These islands will soon be under water if you believe all the hype

surrounding climate change, so I hope you live on a yacht. 

If I paid 44BTC for a citizenship I could buy a yacht as well
But on a serious note: I think this is actually interesting, especially in high-tax countries. No need to ever be there, just make sure you are not in one country for more than 6 months a year and you're alright...

[Lucius]

This is good news for BTC,they offer citizenship before only for fiat and now accept cryptocurrency so it will certainly attract some attention with this move.Since they are members of Commonwealth you get visa free travel to 113 countries and low taxes with pleasant climate,beautiful beaches,clean air and much more for only some 40+BTC

I believe somebody else will follow this example,it is always good to see that something can be pay with BTC and buying citizenship is a pleasant surprise.

[Embeco]

This is good news for BTC,they offer citizenship before only for fiat and now accept cryptocurrency so it will certainly attract some attention with this move.Since they are members of Commonwealth you get visa free travel to 113 countries and low taxes with pleasant climate,beautiful beaches,clean air and much more for only some 40+BTC

I believe somebody else will follow this example,it is always good to see that something can be pay with BTC and buying citizenship is a pleasant surprise.

I certainly hope so. If nations start to accept BTC surely smaller businesses might follow.
About the benefits of Vanuato: Keep in mind, even if you do not want pleasant climate, beatiful beaches, clean air and low taxes (who wouldn't want that anyway?) you do not even have to be there. I really like this concept.

[buwaytress]

Well, aside from the fact that only really wealthy people (or very lucky early adopters) would be able to afford this incredible opportunity, this has always been one of the diversification strategies of such small island nations in the Pacifics. A lot of them are losing ground annually (literally) and with their main economies dwindling (some agriculture, fisheries) they have no choice but to get creative to survive.

I say good on them for embracing this opportunity while Bitcoin is still (!) bursting with potential. Perhaps in ten or twenty years, they may have a small fortune enough to find alternatives to help stave off their threat of climate change.

[bitcoinisbest]

I had never heard of this country before and now they are offering a crazy thing to get the citizenship of that country you have to pay 44 BTC in exchange. Just wondering how can a country without knowing anything of the man or without he serving his country before they can directly offer such the citizenship. Quite strange and shocked to hear this.

[cr1776]

I had never heard of this country before and now they are offering a crazy thing to get the citizenship of that country you have to pay 44 BTC in exchange. Just wondering how can a country without knowing anything of the man or without he serving his country before they can directly offer such the citizenship. Quite strange and shocked to hear this.

Many countries do it too, search for "economic citizenship programs" or "citizenship by investment programs."  Countries in the EU offer it.  The US EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program is essentially one.  Countries in the Caribbean and Pacific do.  Russia, iirc.

e.g.
http://www.businessinsider.com/buy-citizenship-to-these-countries-2017-3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB-5_visa
http://premieroffshore.com/10-best-second-passports-and-citizenship-by-investment-programs/
http://www.goldenvisas.com/category/investor-visa/citizenship/

[Embeco]

I had never heard of this country before and now they are offering a crazy thing to get the citizenship of that country you have to pay 44 BTC in exchange. Just wondering how can a country without knowing anything of the man or without he serving his country before they can directly offer such the citizenship. Quite strange and shocked to hear this.

Many countries do it too, search for "economic citizenship programs" or "citizenship by investment programs."  Countries in the EU offer it.  The US EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program is essentially one.  Countries in the Caribbean and Pacific do.  Russia, iirc.

e.g.
http://www.businessinsider.com/buy-citizenship-to-these-countries-2017-3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB-5_visa
http://premieroffshore.com/10-best-second-passports-and-citizenship-by-investment-programs/
http://www.goldenvisas.com/category/investor-visa/citizenship/

True, I have found out some countries offer it for a tiny fraction of what Vanuatu offers... Something like 2.000USD. Within the EU.

[BitHodler]

The only thing that makes it at least a bit worthy of posting it as news, is the fact that you can use Bitcoin now to achieve the same you can with fiat.

It may attract certain folks actually use Bitcoin instead of fiat, but they will remain a far minority. I see it as some sort of a last resort option, in case you for whatever reason can't or just don't want to use fiat.

I am already at a point where I don't want to use my Bitcoins for spending purposes, and I am fairly sure that a lot people think the same about it ~ the roughly $200k worth of Bitcoins will likely surpass the $500k in a year or two.

Unless it's an extreme necessity, I don't see why anyone would be foolish enough to do this.

[Embeco]

The only thing that makes it at least a bit worthy of posting it as news, is the fact that you can use Bitcoin now to achieve the same you can with fiat.

It may attract certain folks actually use Bitcoin instead of fiat, but they will remain a far minority. I see it as some sort of a last resort option, in case you for whatever reason can't or just don't want to use fiat.

I am already at a point where I don't want to use my Bitcoins for spending purposes, and I am fairly sure that a lot people think the same about it ~ the roughly $200k worth of Bitcoins will likely surpass the $500k in a year or two.

Unless it's an extreme necessity, I don't see why anyone would be foolish enough to do this.

Sorry if I did not fulfill your criteria for this being news-worthy. As you can see I am rather new here (although I've been in the market for quite a while now) and to me it is quite news-worthy when a state accepts Bitcoin.

I share your concerns regarding spending this much Bitcoin for something, but then again I think this is not a feature but a problem of Bitcoin. But this is probably worth a totally separate thread... if you consider it worthy, that means

[veleten]

I wonder what preferences do I get if I buy their citizenship?
as far as I know its not exactly the best country to have a passport of
doesn't offer much,just visa free travel to the UK and Commonwealth countries
its an island in the Pacific,must be the weather  or the taxes,or both
all in all 44 btc seems too steep there are much cheaper and better offers (Spain,Thailand to name a few)

[Samarkand]

I wonder what preferences do I get if I buy their citizenship?
as far as I know its not exactly the best country to have a passport of
doesn't offer much,just visa free travel to the UK and Commonwealth countries
its an island in the Pacific,must be the weather  or the taxes,or both
all in all 44 btc seems too steep there are much cheaper and better offers (Spain,Thailand to name a few)

Vanuatu is a member of the Commonwealth and citizenship provides visa-free travel to 113 countries including the UK, Russia and European Union states.

You are able to travel visa-free to more than 50 % of the globe with a passport issued by Vanuatu.
This could actually increase the travel options for people from certain countries. E.g. if you have a passport from
a country that is on a list of sanctions from the European Union, you would have trouble entering most
European countries (unless you enter illegally using one of the many smuggler routes).

With the Vanuatu passport you suddenly would be able to enter the EU visa-free and without any problems.

Additionally, I expect that due to the likely BTC price increase the citizenship will be available
for much less than 44 BTC in the future. E.g. if BTC is going to reach 100000 $ per Bitcoin, you will likely
be able to obtain citizenship for 2 BTC.

[Spaffin]

What the hell lol. I wonder how they came to this? Still, if you're rich and you're looking to live a simple life, this might be an attractive offer. It might also work if you're trying to run away from the law or something lol.

They want to be a safe haven for crypto enthusiast who wants to run away from government than are becoming hard-liners against bitcoin. But the question is, will someone take the bait? And I'm not sure if this news will bring positive outcome to the ecosystem. The government might be doing to attract people to their country, and hope that those who will avail of this setup will put investment in this Pacific island. So its gonna be beneficial for both parties.

Vanuatu also advertises its low taxes for citizenship buyers, offering a second passport in a country that levies no capital gains or income taxes. Potential citizens don't need to live in Vanuatu, or even visit the country once.

source: http://uk.businessinsider.com/vanuatu-accepts-bitcoin-for-citizenship-payment-2017-10

Who wouldn't love this perks? 

Yes, apparently it is. And on the island in the Pacific will be going to crypto-currency rich people. Good policy for the island. However, 44 bitcoins for island citizenship are too much.