Bitcoin is already legal tender in Roatán, Honduras and Madeira, Portugal. Now a Mexican Senator wants to make it so in her country as well.
Speaking at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Samson Mow, former chief strategy officer of Blockstream, named three new jurisdictions that would be adopting or proposing to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender. As told by Mow, the first is that of the Caribbean island Roatán, which is part of Honduras. Honduras Prospera Inc. is the organizer and promoter of the jurisdiction. The entity’s president, Joel Bomgar, told the audience:
“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.”
In addition, Bomgar announced that starting Thursday, the Prospera jurisdiction will enable municipalities in Honduras and corporate entities outside of the United States to float Bitcoin bonds within Prospera. Furthermore, accredited investors, meaning U.S. residents who qualify for a high-net-worth or income threshold, can also directly invest in Honduras Prospera Inc. and receive securitized equity tokens.
The next jurisdiction to make Bitcoin legal tender is that of Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal. Miguel Albuquerque, president of the regional government of Madeira, said that “Individuals in Maderia are not subject to capital gains taxes when buying and selling Bitcoin,” while also touting the region’s 5% corporate tax rate in its free trade zone as one of the lowest in Europe.
Finally, Mexican Senator Indira Kempis floated the possibility of legislating Bitcoin as legal tender with the Mexican president, in-line with earlier claims, commenting:
“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.”
