Caribbean Island becomes first place to use crypto currency instead of money

Friday, April 30, 2021

A Caribbean island could become the first place in the world to use Bitcoin instead of money. The luxury home owners on Bequia will be able to use the digital cryptocurrency to do their grocery shopping or buy a coffee, developers say.

A small number of shops around the world already accept Bitcoin as payment and a few houses have been sold using it in the UK.

But planners say their new development on paradise isle Bequia will be “the world’s first fully Bitcoin-enabled community”.

The 39 luxury villas will be sold in the cryptocurrency.

And Bitcoin will be taken as payment for everyday essentials at the development’s shop, restaurant, café and cinema.

Locals on Bequia – known as “the island in the clouds” – will continue to use the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, with Queen Elizabeth II on notes and coins.

Developers say using Bitcoin is increasingly more of a necessity than a ploy to attract people’s attention, reports Euro News.

Storm Gonsalves, the property mogul behind the One Bequia project said that the adoption of cryptocurrency is far from a gimmick

It’s a response to the very real challenges faced by island communities increasingly cut off from mainstream banking facilities.

He said many residents of small island nations have been blocked by international banks from sending or receiving money overseas.

He added: “This has pushed many Caribbean island nations to adopt blockchain and other cryptocurrencies a lot faster than other more developed nations. Bermuda, the Bahamas, Barbados and now St Vincent are leading the way in this regard.”

In March, the Eastern Caribbean became the first digital currency union in the world with the launch of “DCash” across four island nations: St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St Kitts and Nevis.

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