(HELP) - Which are the most friendly countries for a crypto startup?

[LookingSomething]

Hi there,

Kindly help me with your advice, which is the most friendly country when comes to a business startup assuming our private/pre-sell will be around ~1-3mil USD? Our project will be a utility token.

Malta is not an option as a friend told me it's on the "grey list" of the banks.

Others I found intersting: Singapore, Liechtenstein
Please advise and why you think will be good?

Many thanks in advance!

[1715014623]

1715014623

[1715014623]

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[RapTarX]

The recent one; El Salvador. If I'm correct, Bukele has recently announced that if some wants to start a crypto project, they will get immediate citizenship there. So, that can be a good option for you although I don’t know about their laws & regulations.
Source- https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/el-salvador-offers-citizenship-to-bitcoin-holders-approves-bitcoin-as-official-currency-1812688-2021-06-09

[Leviathan.007]

El Salvador is defiantly the most friendly crypto country, because they even accept bitcoin as legal payment system and legal money. However, as far as I know even on El Salvador they made only bitcoin legal nothing else and they didn't accept any other alternative coins yet. Also, El Salvador is not completely safe country specially if you are a foreign person and don't know anyone there. Between the countries I saw (mostly Asian) Singapore was the best option. There are already many companies there and as I saw the country was safe for travel, so, I vote for Singapore. However, you will need to do more research.

[dkbit98]

Imagine someone who is selling social media accounts asking people in bitcointalk forum where to invest 1-3 million dollars, this sounds so fake  
Better do your own investigation instead of asking random people to find solution for you, and I think that there is no country who would support one more ''utility token'', but you can start something with Bitcoin almost everywhere.

[LookingSomething]

El Salvador is defiantly the most friendly crypto country, because they even accept bitcoin as legal payment system and legal money. However, as far as I know even on El Salvador they made only bitcoin legal nothing else and they didn't accept any other alternative coins yet. Also, El Salvador is not completely safe country specially if you are a foreign person and don't know anyone there. Between the countries I saw (mostly Asian) Singapore was the best option. There are already many companies there and as I saw the country was safe for travel, so, I vote for Singapore. However, you will need to do more research.

Thanks for your answer. Indeed, Singapore looks like the most friendly one, I also research a bit, someone said Liechtenstein is also friendly, El Salvador is not an option from a business point of view, it's too "new" for the market.

I saw also Portugal and Gibraltar are nice, but I don`t hear anyone talk about it, Malta is to easiest choice but because lately, they are on the grey list of the banks, will be very hard to manage.

[buwaytress]

The recent one; El Salvador. If I'm correct, Bukele has recently announced that if some wants to start a crypto project, they will get immediate citizenship there. So, that can be a good option for you although I don’t know about their laws & regulations.
Source- https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/el-salvador-offers-citizenship-to-bitcoin-holders-approves-bitcoin-as-official-currency-1812688-2021-06-09

That's... somewhat of a curious bit of news I seem to have missed. Have already rather seen examples of people moving jurisdictions and changing nationalities as business opportunities open up like this. Wouldn't exactly say El Salvador citizenship is a golden passport, but with enough tax break benefits, it might just attract the sort of enterprise they're looking for.

Still don't think they've really given it proper thought but should be interesting to see a blockchain hub in LatAm.

[BIT-BENDER]

The recent one; El Salvador. If I'm correct, Bukele has recently announced that if some wants to start a crypto project, they will get immediate citizenship there. So, that can be a good option for you although I don’t know about their laws & regulations.
Source- https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/el-salvador-offers-citizenship-to-bitcoin-holders-approves-bitcoin-as-official-currency-1812688-2021-06-09

I was thinking of El Salvador too, and I think unlike very developed country you might find it peaceful -that is without much aggressive restrictions- I don't know what your no go region is, but you could also try out Africa, very much overlooked, under-rated but Africa has very serious minded and interested crypto-currency fans, most times African has to patronize crypto-currency services from thousands of miles away.

[teosanru]

Hi there,

Kindly help me with your advice, which is the most friendly country when comes to a business startup assuming our private/pre-sell will be around ~1-3mil USD? Our project will be a utility token.

Malta is not an option as a friend told me it's on the "grey list" of the banks.

Others I found intersting: Singapore, Liechtenstein
Please advise and why you think will be good?

Many thanks in advance!

Instead of El Salvador, I would rather suggest your Estonia, it's a great country for bitcoin startups and has been quite supportive to entrepreneurs, they have strong money laundering rules and therefore they carry a good reputation in international community, unlike Malta. Another good option can always be Switzerland, they even have a sort of license for bitcoin startups as you can register yourself as fintech Startup and get some help from the government.

[LookingSomething]

Hi there,

Kindly help me with your advice, which is the most friendly country when comes to a business startup assuming our private/pre-sell will be around ~1-3mil USD? Our project will be a utility token.

Malta is not an option as a friend told me it's on the "grey list" of the banks.

Others I found intersting: Singapore, Liechtenstein
Please advise and why you think will be good?

Many thanks in advance!

Instead of El Salvador, I would rather suggest your Estonia, it's a great country for bitcoin startups and has been quite supportive to entrepreneurs, they have strong money laundering rules and therefore they carry a good reputation in international community, unlike Malta. Another good option can always be Switzerland, they even have a sort of license for bitcoin startups as you can register yourself as fintech Startup and get some help from the government.

Do you know any company which can fast forward the legal paths? Some friends told me as well about Estonia, I think we will go with it.

[paxmao]

It depends a lot on your needs. Firstly, if you are completely free to choose your location or you have some restriction such as having to be in Asia, Europe, Middle East, etc... Second, some are more friendly in certain aspects. For example you may want to pay minimal taxes for which you would choose Luxemburg, Ireland or any tax heaven. However, you may be looking for qualified professionals and a solid legal system that may be present in UK or in some states of the USA. The names that are frequently mentioned are:
- Switzerland
- Estonia (which has a virtual citizenship)
- Luxemburg
- Singapore
- All tax havens

[Hydrogen]

There are different types of friendly. Let's see if I can cover a few of the basics.

Philippines  I vaguely remember reading about them implementing a 0% cryptocurrency tax years ago. Their cost of living is relatively low. They have beautiful beaches and a nice tropical environment. Could be a good option for digital nomads and crypto startups although I can't say I know anyone who has tried.

Iceland  Their cold climate reduces cooling costs for data centers and crypto miners. I think they're one of the most carbon neutral and low emission nations on earth. They may also be one of few nations who legally punished bankers in their country for their role in the 2008 economic crisis. They have had crypto friendly projects on native soil like aurora coin for many years.

Puerto Rico  They only require a 5% income tax and being a US territory gives them some protections and humanitarian aid from the united states. These two factors could combine in the future to result in the country becoming a hotbed for start ups and finance.

[batang_bitcoin]

In which continent you prefer to do business. I think it's a factor that we should know so that we'll know which country from that particular continent you prefer to operate. North America I think is out of the list already as they're very strict. If it is in Asia, Singapore really is a good country and I think you can count on Japan as well.

[Kyraishi]

Hi there,

Kindly help me with your advice, which is the most friendly country when comes to a business startup assuming our private/pre-sell will be around ~1-3mil USD? Our project will be a utility token.

Malta is not an option as a friend told me it's on the "grey list" of the banks.

Others I found intersting: Singapore, Liechtenstein
Please advise and why you think will be good?

Many thanks in advance!

You can't really have non-grey area and crypto-friendly in the same sentence, imo.

The reason why they're crypto-friendly in the first place is likely that they provide low tax rates and low regulation. El Salvador is certainly one country that you can look into given the fact that they're essentially handing out PR status for free as well, which will save you a bit of trouble when it comes to jurisdiction compliance.

Singapore or the Philippines could be your best bet, although do prepare for regulation to be a lot tighter than the South American/European countries that are like the Wild West.

[Xinarae*]

The use of crypto exists in many countries but I think japan is the most friendly country to start crypto. Japan is one of the most progressive cryptocurrency friendly countries where cryptocurrency and digital currency exchange is legal trade in japan everyone can use crypto very easily all platforms on the japanese crypto exchange have strong security standards and coins should not be stored in wallets and 2 factor authentication should be followed when transferring currency. This will reduce the chances of hacking and unauthorized transfers.

[Lorence.xD]

The recent one; El Salvador. If I'm correct, Bukele has recently announced that if some wants to start a crypto project, they will get immediate citizenship there. So, that can be a good option for you although I don’t know about their laws & regulations.
Source- https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/el-salvador-offers-citizenship-to-bitcoin-holders-approves-bitcoin-as-official-currency-1812688-2021-06-09

I still have doubts about El Salvador but I wouldn't cross them off the list for a good place for start ups. Maybe Japan or South Korea could be of your interest but the problem is the language barrier between you and the locals. Maybe Philippines or African countries might do the work for you.

[electronicash]

The recent one; El Salvador. If I'm correct, Bukele has recently announced that if some wants to start a crypto project, they will get immediate citizenship there. So, that can be a good option for you although I don’t know about their laws & regulations.
Source- https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/el-salvador-offers-citizenship-to-bitcoin-holders-approves-bitcoin-as-official-currency-1812688-2021-06-09

I still have doubts about El Salvador but I wouldn't cross them off the list for a good place for start ups. Maybe Japan or South Korea could be of your interest but the problem is the language barrier between you and the locals. Maybe Philippines or African countries might do the work for you.

with 3BTC, El Salvador government will give the company permanent residence. this is really a sweet deal and i'm not sure about the tax there but it still going to be a good place to start with since it almost the center of Bitcoin in Central America and the beaches are also great and the people already are aware of Bitcoin. or consider the cost of living if you have fewer funds.

[kryptqnick]

I've researched this topic a little, a couple of years ago. If nothing changed, I'd say Singapore is a nice play to look into. Capital gains aren't taxable there, and for trading cryptos one has to pay a progressive income tax that starts with 0% if income is below $20k per year). They also issue licenses to exchanges and perhaps other crypto-related businesses. I'm not an expert in this, but I think that it's a pretty good option to investigate. Singapore is highly developed when it comes to economy, and from what I've read, they're very crypto-friendly.
As for El Salvador, it'll be simple, and the government will indeed be very welcoming, but keep in mind the crime rates there.

[el kaka22]

Just for token? Well depends on the utility itself because that utility could have different laws in the nation you are in. For example if the utility is like an exchange such as BNB for Binance then you could go with Malta or even as high as USA because it is different there. Or if your utility is buying something like lets say a teddy bear, then it becomes different and in that case asian nations have a better law there about manufacturing and selling something.

Basically it all comes down to what utility you want to deal with and there is nothing you can do that can change it, just focus on the utility and learn the laws of that utility in the nation you want to. Crypto startups are dime a dozen and you do not want to basically start a business, you want to start a token and that is very different then having say a mining business or an exchange business.

[Lorence.xD]

~

with 3BTC, El Salvador government will give the company permanent residence. this is really a sweet deal and i'm not sure about the tax there but it still going to be a good place to start with since it almost the center of Bitcoin in Central America and the beaches are also great and the people already are aware of Bitcoin. or consider the cost of living if you have fewer funds.

For me the deal isn't sweet enough plus there's risk that your business won't succeed in that place but at the same time if you are successful you will reap the benefits of being a pioneer. Maybe if they put more on the table sweeten the deal, I would consider recommending it.

[ziennakarishma21]

Singapore is a good choice, but if you want to look or set up somewhere you don't know and intend to start a crypto business then you need to look carefully.

[LookingSomething]

Singapore is a good choice, but if you want to look or set up somewhere you don't know and intend to start a crypto business then you need to look carefully.

Tried to deal with an Estonia company and when I research about them on Google ends up being scammers, pretty frustrating ...

[teosanru]

Hi there,

Kindly help me with your advice, which is the most friendly country when comes to a business startup assuming our private/pre-sell will be around ~1-3mil USD? Our project will be a utility token.

Malta is not an option as a friend told me it's on the "grey list" of the banks.

Others I found intersting: Singapore, Liechtenstein
Please advise and why you think will be good?

Many thanks in advance!

Instead of El Salvador, I would rather suggest your Estonia, it's a great country for bitcoin startups and has been quite supportive to entrepreneurs, they have strong money laundering rules and therefore they carry a good reputation in international community, unlike Malta. Another good option can always be Switzerland, they even have a sort of license for bitcoin startups as you can register yourself as fintech Startup and get some help from the government.

Do you know any company which can fast forward the legal paths? Some friends told me as well about Estonia, I think we will go with it.

No, I don't know about any company, also I would suggest don't trust just any company based on online research, better reach to some startup that already has a setup there and ask them about the legal counsel they are using for their operations, A better option is to search for a legal counsel in your own country who has some tie-ups with firms in Estonia, they generally have such arrangements especially for multinational corporations.

Just for token? Well depends on the utility itself because that utility could have different laws in the nation you are in. For example if the utility is like an exchange such as BNB for Binance then you could go with Malta or even as high as USA because it is different there. Or if your utility is buying something like lets say a teddy bear, then it becomes different and in that case asian nations have a better law there about manufacturing and selling something.

Basically it all comes down to what utility you want to deal with and there is nothing you can do that can change it, just focus on the utility and learn the laws of that utility in the nation you want to. Crypto startups are dime a dozen and you do not want to basically start a business, you want to start a token and that is very different then having say a mining business or an exchange business.

I think it's more about the complications of law and ease of doing business that startups in the blockchain domain decide to move abroad instead of setting up businesses in US and UK. Small countries are more friendly towards such startups and even provide some tax exemptions. In this era of remote accessibilty, deciding your place of business on the basis of your utility is absolutely a myth unless you are going to open a hot-dog corner.

[romero121]

The friendly country list for crypto startup keeps increasing with time. Based on the learning, the countries are

• Estonia
• Singapore
• El Salvador
• Switzerland
• Japan

Upon this each will be having their own law. Do your own research and find the one that'll suit for your business plan and go for it.

[CryptocurencyKing]

You can imagine every crypto enthusiast immigrating to some less or crypto accepted country like the current El-Salvador for some settlement and business set-ups or start-ups, really, would that be for the best? Or perhaps another crypto goal defeated or we can view it as some evolutionary process in the crypto space.

We watched bitcoin gradually still, changing from the original purpose which was to serve as a currency of value and now becoming a store of value for an asset.
Confining crypto investments to one nation would be another sort of this trend and it ain't a very cool one as bitcoin  is supposed to be a universally used kind of currency and not bounded by any boundaries.

Though, El-Salvador remains the most friendly country to crypto enthusiast at the moment.  The rest just view it as insecurities which is not so much.

[livingfree]

Liechtenstein is one of the countries that I want to visit and didn't know that they're crypto friendly. Why don't you pursue your start up on that country and it seems that there's not that much news about negativity for cryptocurrencies there.

Although Singapore is one of the good choices you've got, you need to consider how much does it cost to pursue your start up there. It's one of the most expensive countries to ever operate with but it's all worth it in the long term.

[Oceat]

I guess it's a big project but I have a bad feeling since you are asking it here, meaning you don't have a single clue what business you want to start. I mean you don't have a friend or someone who has a vast knowledge about crypto currency, I think it's best to find someone who has an experience before finding such places that seems impossible to happen when you are showing more of the internal information. You could actually attract a scammers if you did that.

Find someone from those recent/successful crypto business before and reach out to their profile like LinkedIn, Telegram, Discord, emails etc. This way you might find the easy way to know what country you want to startup your business.

[LookingSomething]

Liechtenstein is one of the countries that I want to visit and didn't know that they're crypto friendly. Why don't you pursue your start up on that country and it seems that there's not that much news about negativity for cryptocurrencies there.

Although Singapore is one of the good choices you've got, you need to consider how much does it cost to pursue your start up there. It's one of the most expensive countries to ever operate with but it's all worth it in the long term.

Indeed, we ask many people and looks like Liechteinsten, Switzerland or Singapore.

Thanks for your opinions guys, have a great weekend ahead!

[livingfree]

Liechtenstein is one of the countries that I want to visit and didn't know that they're crypto friendly. Why don't you pursue your start up on that country and it seems that there's not that much news about negativity for cryptocurrencies there.

Although Singapore is one of the good choices you've got, you need to consider how much does it cost to pursue your start up there. It's one of the most expensive countries to ever operate with but it's all worth it in the long term.

Indeed, we ask many people and looks like Liechteinsten, Switzerland or Singapore.

Thanks for your opinions guys, have a great weekend ahead!

You are welcome!

Enjoy your weekends too.

Hopefully that you'll be decided on which country to operate your startup and I wish that you're going to be one of those that we're looking at right now.

[Gyfts]

APAC region, probably. You go into any of the larger economies, US, European countries, ect. you'll get hit with a metric ton of taxes and regulations, and the labor markets are extremely expensive. India might be something reasonable if you want dirt cheap labor costs, but their country isn't that great (too much poverty and corruption).

[xSkylarx]

I will include here my country Philippines. Some businesses here and large companies are eyeing to adopt cryptocurrencies in their platform. Our popular wallet Gcash here plans to allow their users to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies on their wallets. We use gcash almost everyday here like paying bills, sending money, mode of payment, etc. so if they adopt crypto on their platform, this will make more people to be aware of what cryptocurrencies really are that it isn't a scam.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

El Salvador, I saw in some of articles and thread. this country provides a perma resident opportunity for entrepreneurs who are doing business in the crypto field, and it seems that the regulations there are clearly allowed in their country. maybe there are some special conditions, what type buissiness or startup that allowed there . but this country is lately often referred to as country that supporting crypto.

[jostorres]

which is the most friendly country when comes to a business startup assuming our private/pre-sell will be around ~1-3mil USD? Our project will be a utility token.

Malta is not an option as a friend told me it's on the "grey list" of the banks.

Others I found intersting: Singapore, Liechtenstein
Please advise and why you think will be good?

Some people have mentioned El Salvador, and as we all know, it has been the only country that has declared Bitcoin a legal tender. So, a lot of people are going to mention the country for sure. A country like that will be a good choice if you want to start a cryptocurrency business , but even at that I think it is very important that you also consider other things about that country before you go ahead to choose. You should look into it very well. For me I would say Singapore is a very cool place to start up a business. Singapore is the number one choice for me, and it’s good for anyone.