By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 26th, 2024
At a recent Bitcoin conference, ex-CSO Blockstream Samson Mow brought on representatives from three regions to discuss Bitcoin adoption.
Samson Mow, former chief strategy officer of Blockstream, named three new jurisdictions on their way to adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender. Mow made this announcement while speaking at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami on Thursday, April 7th.
The three slated regions for BTC adoption, are the Caribbean Island Roatán, which is part of Honduras, Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal, and Mexico. Mow brought up three representatives on stage, each representing a region, to explain their BTC adoption plans.
Samson Mow First Introduces Roatán, Honduras
The first representative was Joel Bomgar, president of Honduras Prospera Inc, an “enhanced Special Economic Zone” anchored in the Honduran Constitution. Honduras Prospera Inc also serves as the organizer and promoter of the jurisdiction. Addressing the audience at the convention, Bomgar delineated Bitcoin’s current outlook within his region. According to him:
“Bitcoin within Prospera operates as legal tender. That means no capital gains tax on BTC, you can transact freely using BTC, and you can pay taxes and fees to the jurisdiction in BTC.”
Furthermore, Bomgar also stated that beginning on Thursday, the Prospera jurisdiction will invite a few entities to issue bitcoin bonds. As he put it:
“You can also start a bitcoin business in the jurisdiction using the regulatory framework of your choice, and all done in an AML and KYC-compliant manner.”
According to Bomgar, invited entities will include municipalities within Honduras. Nonetheless, corporate entities beyond its borders, such as other governments and international firms are also welcome.
In addition, Bomgar provided insight into how accredited investors can invest directly in Honduras Próspera. According to the US Republican politician, these investors will be able to do so through a security token convertible note offering. Furthermore, the investment scheme will be facilitated by the Securitize platform.
Bomgar currently serves as a state representative in the Mississippi House of Representatives.
Madeira, Portugal
The next jurisdiction that showed support for BTC adoption is Madeira. Miguel Albuquerque, president of the autonomous region, expressed faith in BTC as the future. Similar to Prospera, individuals in Madeira do not pay capital gains taxes when transacting with the prominent digital currency. In addition, Albuquerque also pointed out that Madeira’s 5% corporate tax rate in its free trade zone is among Europe’s lowest.
It is also worth noting that there are no income taxes on crypto purchases throughout Portugal.
Mexico
Finally, Samson Mow invited Mexican Senator Indira Kempis to provide Bitcoin legislation insight in the country. Kempis readdressed her earlier comments on a crypto law she was planning to introduce so that the coin could become a legal tender in Mexico. Furthermore, according to her, the Mexican president was already in the loop of her plans.
Kempis also stressed the importance of making BTC a legal tender in her country and the numerous advantages posited.
“In Mexico, 67 million people are not included in our financial system. Bitcoin is the solution to this problem. Through financial inclusion and financial education, the people can have a better quality of life,” the Mexican senator explained.