Antigua and Barbuda becomes the first country to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment for citizenship by investment program (CIP)
On Monday July 23, the parliament of Antigua and Barbuda amended by resolution on Citizenship by Investment Programme Act to allow payments to be made in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The resolution also allows payments to be made in Euros and currencies other than US dollars.
Earlier this year Coingeek founder Calvin Ayre, announced in May, that Antigua citizenship is available for purchase against Bitcoin Cash (BTC). Calvin Ayre is a canadian billionaire and is building a $100 million dollar resort in Antigua.
In April 2018, the Hungarian company Ajax Software LLC presented the world with a new crypto currency – Citizenship coin. It is designed specifically for the investment immigration industry (CBI / RBI / EB5 programs) and is the first of its kind in the market. According to the developers, the use of the new digital currency will allow investors to instantly pay for citizenship and passport programs anywhere in the world. The Citizenship coin unlike bitcoin, is a stable non-volatile currency tied to fiat currency euro. One citizenship coin equals one euro and there will be a maximum supply of 100 million coins. Citizenship coin, as digital currency, solves correspondent banking issues faced by many Caribbean countries. All transactions are subjected to KYC/AML rules. The Citizenship coin startup further announced plans to become ‘Crypto bank’ named as Citizenship coin bank serving the investment migration industry
PM Browne said, “So it is quintessential that we have a payment mechanism that could facilitate payments in cryptocurrencies,” he said.
Not allowing that method of payment, Browne argued, could exclude people from the programme who want to pay using this method. And the truth is too, it expands your market because we have a number of cryptocurrency investors who may be quite willing to take up our citizenship but would only pay in cryptocurrencies,” he told parliament.
“If you do not accept the cryptocurrency then you would be literally locked out of that market,” he added.
Browne said this amendment is also necessary as a response to derisking and fears that local banks may lose their correspondent bank relationships and number of agents faced this problem.
Under the Antigua’s CIP, a contribution payment of USD 100,000 to NDF fund qualifies foreign investors for citizenship or a property investment of USD 400,000 (jointly $200K) also qualifies for citizenship.
Source: Caribbeannewsnow.com
