Madeira Bitcoin adoption experiment takes flight

This spring, the Madeiran archipelago “adopted” Bitcoin (BTC). Madeira’s president, Miguel Albuquerque, was invited on stage at Bitcoin Miami 2022 by Jan3 CEO Samson Mow to announce the pledge.

The president announced: “I believe in the future, and I believe in Bitcoin.” Days before, Albuquerque broke bread with Michael Saylor, executive chairman of MicroStrategy, at his luxury villa. Albuquerque was “orange pilled” by one of the world’s richest Bitcoin hodlers.

Nevertheless, as Cointelegraph later reported, the island of Madeira did not adopt, but actually “embraced” Bitcoin. The European Union governs the Portuguese islands, therefore they cannot legally adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. In addition, regulatory hurdles and dependence on EU subsidies and energy pose a challenge to direct Bitcoin adoption.

So Cointelegraph caught up with André Loja, the Madeiran entrepreneur and driving force behind the island’s Bitcoin strategy, after his appearance on stage at Bitcoin Amsterdam 2022.

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Over the past six months, Loja has founded The Regional Forum of Economic Education, or GRATIS Madeira, together with Bitcoin big-hitters including Bitcoin author Knut Svanholm and podcaster Daniel Prince. The board’s advisors boast entrepreneur and author Jeff Booth, Fedmint CEO Obi Nwosu, as well as Mow. The group serves to ensure that the president maintains his “serious commitment,” Jeff Booth explained, to making Madeira a home for the “new base layer of the new internet.”

The island now boasts a number of Bitcoin-first investments, developments and even Bitcoiner residents, as well as a steady stream of crypto-curious people embarking on their first trip to the island.

Loja told Cointelegraph that while Bitcoin is at the heart of economic development and investment, “Madeira invests not only in Bitcoin, but all kinds of technologies.” For example, a center for ocean-oriented startups and an advanced medical center are under construction.

These economic activities fit in with the president’s aim to adopt new technology and work towards Madeira, shedding its reputation as a unique haven for older generations. Nonetheless, these developments in broader technology pale in comparison to the progress made in embracing the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

After a series of conversations with Bitcoin OGs, including privacy lawyer Matt Odell and Unchained Capital’s Parker Lewis, Madeira has the green light to set up a Bitcoin Commons. “It’s basically a big Bitcoin-only coworking space. It will also be a place to park the association,” Loja explained. Bitcoin Commons is a place for the non-profit organization, FREE Madeira, to thrive:

“We’re going to have a podcast room there, we’re going to do it [Bitcoin] meetings, we take the education part there. We also want the transfers set up there with the ATM and so on to connect with the diaspora.”

Madeira’s diaspora spreads across the globe. Lucinda Castro, a Madeiran lawyer on FREE’s board of directors, told Cointelegraph in June that “Madeirans emigrated to Venezuela, the United States and Canada by the thousands;” including second and third generation immigrants, there are now over one million Madeirans living in Venezuela. The use of Bitcoin as a remittance tool for Madeirans is therefore compelling.

Sending money home from abroad played a role in El Salvador’s move to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, while another small island nation, Tonga, has also been vocal in supporting Bitcoin remittance payments.

Bitcoin Commons will also support human development with the founding of a coding academy. The academy encourages Bitcoin companies around the world to travel to Madeira to learn new skills while giving locals the space to hone their digital skills on the island. The Bitcoin Academy, as it will be known, also sheds light on the Lightning Network, the layer-2 payment network.

Will Bitcoin be the standard in Madeira?

As things stand, Bitcoin believers can buy property, invest and mingle with the burgeoning Bitcoin community on the island, Loja explained. On stage at Bitcoin Amsterdam 2022, Jeff Booth announced his intention to invest in the island, adding, “an island like Madeira can compete globally and can be the new Silicon Valley.”

However, to facilitate payment in Bitcoin, investors should enlist the help of a third-party intermediary, such as Archipelago Investments. Bitcoin merchant adoption is slowly spreading across the island, but just like the mainland, living on a Bitcoin standard is a challenge. Across the Atlantic in Lisbon, there is a thriving Bitcoin community, but very few merchants accept Bitcoin as a medium of exchange.

The panel in Amsterdam was candid in response to questions regarding merchant Bitcoin acceptance. The team at FREE is committed to guiding the President and the administration into the new Bitcoin era. Ultimately, the autonomous region must roll out Bitcoin adoption without burning bridges with the EU on which Madeira remains heavily dependent. Merchant adoption will come, however, and “that’s what [Bitcoin] the plebs are in favor, Svanholm said.

Related: Portugal Proposes 28% Tax on Annual Crypto Trading Profits Next Year

Just like mainland Portugal, Madeira’s first language is Portuguese, and Portuguese business resources are growing. Nico Laamanen, one of the founders of the Consensus Network, established business operations on the island as part of his mission to “make Bitcoin knowledge available to everyone, in any country, in any language.” Naturally, one of their priorities is to translate books into Portuguese:

“Madeira is great for remote workers which overlaps with many bitcoiners myself included. The tax regime, the friendly environment and the Bitcoin curiosity are just big bonuses.”

Looking Glass Education, supported by FREE advisor Greg Foss, is another solid educational resource to support Madeira.

When pressed on whether Madeira will effectively become a European hub for Bitcoin development, Loja joked, “that’s the idea.” Despite headwinds from Portugal jockeying to tax crypto gains, the Madeira initiative should put the island firmly on the map for Bitcoin adoption.

Finally, Bitcoin filmmakers PlebMusic and Cinemuck FREE took initial meetings with politicians and politicians on the island and showed the trailer at Bitcoin Amsterdam 2022. The full documentary will be shown by December 2022 and will likely equip the island with another Bitcoin-friendly marketing tool.

Laamanen concluded: “I think Madeira will become a hotspot for bitcoin entrepreneurs and users in Europe, and I want to be a part of it.”