LAGOS, Portugal — The Bam Bam Beach Bitcoin bar, on a pristine beach in southwestern Portugal, is the meeting place.

To get there, you drive past a marina, seaside hotels and apartment buildings, park near a sleepy seafood restaurant and walk down a wooden path that cuts through a sand dune. Yellow Bitcoin flags blowing in the wind. The conversations about cryptocurrencies and a decentralized future flow.

“People always doubt when to buy, when to sell,” said Didi Taihuttu, a Dutch investor who moved to the city this summer and is one of Bam Bam’s owners. “We solve it by going all in.”

Another bar-goer, Katherin Bestandig, sitting in the sand nearby, said: “Anything is possible if you are brave.”

The bar and community of about 150 crypto devotees around the city of Lagos is a bubble of optimism in the midst of what has become known as the “crypto winter.” This summer, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether merged, and crypto companies such as the experimental bank Celsius Network declared bankruptcy as fears about the global economy drove down the values ​​of the risky assets. Thousands of investors were injured by the crash. The price of Bitcoin, which peaked at more than $68,000 last year, is still down more than 70 percent.

But in this Portuguese coastal idyll, confidence in cryptocurrencies is undiminished. Every Friday, around 20 visitors from Europe and elsewhere gather at Bam Bam to share their unwavering faith in digital currencies. Their buoyancy and cheer lasts all over Portugal and in other crypto hubs around the world, such as Puerto Rico and Cyprus.

“We don’t sell,” Paulo Estevão, a crypto trader, said over lunch at a restaurant in the Portuguese beach town of Ericeira, where he meets weekly with three other friends who invest in cryptocurrencies. He said his crypto holdings were down about 80 percent from their peak, but added: “I’m investing more.”

In Europe, Portugal has stood out as one of the biggest hubs for crypto investors and enthusiasts. Many crypto followers flocked to the country because the government does not tax profits from the virtual currencies, unlike Italy and France. It helps that the weather is beautiful, the cost of living is low and there is an easy way to live. Vanguard Properties, a real estate company in Portugal, said it had sold at least 10 luxury homes to “crypto families” since last year. (The sale was previously reported by Sifted.eu.)

In beach towns like Ericeira and Lagos, shops and restaurants show their acceptance of digital currencies by accepting Bitcoin as payment. Lisbon, the capital, has become a hub for crypto-related startups such as Utrust, a cryptocurrency payment platform, and Immunefi, a company that identifies security vulnerabilities in decentralized networks.

“Portugal should be Bitcoin’s Silicon Valley,” Mr. Taihuttu said. “It has all the ingredients.”

Still, the Portuguese government could throw a wrench in the country’s status as a crypto hub. In May, Fernando Medina, the finance minister, said the government is considering taxing crypto income as ordinary income and “intends to legislate this matter.” A decision could come next month when Portugal publishes its annual budget.

The Ministry of Finance refused to comment on the plans.

For now, Portugal remains popular among the optimists and amateur traders trying to use their crypto investments to travel and live without a traditional job. Using money earned as the values ​​of digital currencies rose in recent years, this group has made Portugal a base.

Many in Lagos, inspired by Mr. Taihuttu, 44, have made their way to Bam Bam bar. In 2017, he sold almost all his assets in the Netherlands to invest in Bitcoin. At the time, the price of a single Bitcoin was about $900, compared to about $19,000 today. With his wife and three daughters, who have received no formal schooling since 2017, he then traveled to 40 countries, chronicling each step on social media. They called themselves the “Bitcoin family”.

As news media covered the family’s story, Mr. Taihuttu’s social media following followed, turning him into an influencer and a source of investment advice. A documentary film crew has been following him on and off for the past 18 months. This summer he settled in Portugal and quickly became something of an ambassador for the crypto scene.

He aims to turn Meia Praia, the beach where Bam Bam is located, into “Bitcoin Beach.” He trades property to create a community nearby for fellow believers.

“You prove that it’s possible to run a part of the world, even if it’s just one,” said Mr. Taihuttu, a Jack Daniel’s and Coke in hand. He has shoulder-length black hair and was wearing a tank top that showed off his tan and tattoos (including one on his forearm with the Bitcoin symbol).

Mrs. Bestang was among those whom Mr. Taihuttu drew to Portugal.

Originally from Germany, she said she and her family had been traveling since 2020. They had made enough money investing in Ether and other cryptocurrencies in recent years to pay for their travels, she said.

Ether’s value has fallen about 60 percent in the past year, which Ms. Constantly said it was painful. She has cut costs on food and lodging but remains committed to investing in cryptocurrency and said her family had enough money to continue their current lifestyle.

“We sold our house, our cars, our everything,” she said. “We’re trying to connect with other crypto-minded people.”

Almost everyone at Bam Bam had a story of being scammed or losing money in events like the collapse of Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based virtual currency exchange that declared bankruptcy in 2014 after massive, unexplained Bitcoin losses.

If cryptocurrency prices don’t recover, “a lot of them will have to go back to work,” Clinton Donnelly, a U.S. tax attorney who specializes in cryptocurrency, said of some of those gathered at Bam Bam.

Still, Mr. Donnelly and other patrons said their faith in crypto remained unwavering.

Thomas Roessler, wearing a black Bitcoin shirt and drinking a beer “inspired by” the currency, said he had come with his wife and two young children to decide whether to move to Portugal from Germany. He first invested in Bitcoin in 2014 and recently sold a small rental apartment in Germany to invest even more.

Roessler was concerned about the fall in crypto values, but said he was confident the market would recover. Moving to Portugal could lower taxes and give the family the chance to buy affordable property in a warm climate, he said. They had come to the bar to learn from others who had made the move.

“We haven’t met many people who live this way,” Roessler said. Then he bought another round of drinks and paid for them with Bitcoin.