Could This Be The Most Crypto Friendly Country?
In late 2021, developers Prometheus International, who specialize in "state-of-the-art luxury properties", sold two properties on the island of Maderia in Portugal, for €4.1 million in Cardano (ADA). The buyers obviously remain anonymous, and according to Prometheus, this was "the first and most expensive acquisition of a luxury property in Portugal since the blockchain revolution." The coastal projects are called Aurora (sold out) and Saudade.
CEO Priyesh Patel is a seasoned entrepreneur with strong experience in investments, retail, technology, design and construction. In addition, he is a fullstack developer, an author and an inventor with over 25 global design and utility patents, according to their website. Their next project (due in 2023) is called The Royal Blockhouse, with 24 international luxury villas sold as NFT's. The project include, "smart home features, licensing, royalties, rent, fees, technology, access, payments, ledger of tenants" fully operational on the blockchain. These NFT holders will be the homeowners, and will dictate the location of where the house is built. Adding to the ease and speed of holding property as an NFT comes in resale, where the property can be sold literally with the click of a button.
Madeira Islands were named the best island destination in the world for the seventh straight year, and located between Morocco and Portugal. Known for its beautiful beaches, the islands also have natural lava pools, as well as amazing weather and tons of marine life.
In Lisbon, 355 Outubro is taking reservations for its new development in city centre in cryptocurrencies including, BTC, ETH, and ADA. They've partnered with FNTX Capital Suisse, listing these luxury condos on their real estate exchange. The exchange itself is very cool and worth checking out, updating crypto values in real time as you view properties.
How about living in Portugal as a crypto holder? Well if you live in the United States and are a United States citizen (no matter where you live in the world), you know that your cryptocurrency is treated as property, and taxed much like you would be trading stocks. In Portugal however, your capital gains are not taxed, rather they are treated as forms of payment, and not subject to personal income taxes, Shehan Chandrasekera, a CPA told CNBC. It would be worth checking though if your main source of income is day trading crypto.
This is huge for people looking to keep more of what they earned, like "The Bitcoin Family", who got into the crypto game in 2016, going all in on BTC and selling off their assets to buy as much as they could. After many years and visiting over 40 different countries, they decided to settle in Portugal, mostly for the very friendly crypto tax laws.
Crypto businesses are treated a bit differently in Portugal, in that your company is taxed if you earn crypto for providing services. These taxes occur on gains between 28% and 35%, according to Portugal.com. As with anything, make sure you have a great CPA who understands local tax laws!
To sum it up, what's not to like about Portugal? Great people, beautiful scenery, one of the top 5 safest country in the world, the most popular destination for retirees, and for people like us, it fully embraces the world of cryptocurrency, showing it to be well ahead of most countries around the globe.
