Bequia is the second largest island of the Grenadines, a chain of islands in the Caribbean Sea with over 600 islands in the Windward Islands. It is part of the country of Saint Vincent & Grenadines. Bequia means “island of clouds” in ancient Arawak.
Once just a beautiful and peaceful island, things may soon change for Bequia as a young real estate developer aims to create the world’s first Bitcoin-using community on this tropical island.
Specifically, real estate company Storm Gonsalves plans to build 39 luxury villas, as well as bars, shops, restaurants, and a club, where friendly residents who love using cryptocurrency can pay for everything with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Dogecoin.
They can also purchase villas ranging from 2 to 5 bedrooms, priced from 1.1 million to 2.3 million USD, using any type of digital currency.
Port Elisabeth harbor in Bequia, part of the island nation of Saint Vincent & Grenadines.
“Bequia has always been an island for sailors, where you come to escape from everyone, no internet, it’s almost like being on a deserted island,” Gonsalves, 29, CEO of the real estate company shared. “But for people in my generation, it’s a bit different; they want adventure, like the previous generation, but they want that adventure with fast Wi-Fi, and that’s what we’re trying to connect.”
The S-shaped island, the second largest in the Grenadine chain, is now poised to become a pioneer for cryptocurrency. This has earned it the nickname “Bitcoin Island.”
“Some of our customers will decide to live there full-time, others will be there at certain times of the year, and when they aren’t in these homes, we can rent them out and turn the community into a resort,” he said.
Gonsalves said he was inspired by Felix Dennis, the British publishing mogul who bought the home of rock legend David Bowie.
“The center of the resort will be the clubhouse, where we will have a restaurant and bars, a gym, a spa, and a private cinema,” Gonsalves further explained. “What I am particularly interested in is the game room. David Bowie once had a house in Mustique, which was later bought by Felix Dennis. He was one of my original business mentors, and the home he bought from David Bowie had an amazing game room with pinball machines, a stage where you could play guitar and dance. We want to recreate that, along with a community pool, although all villas will have their own integrated pools.”
The Caribbean has many resorts and private communities, but Gonsalves says he wants to do something distinctly different with his project.
“The homes are priced in USD, but we also offer the ability to pay with cryptocurrency. So, we will accept Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Dogecoin – Elon Musk’s favorite product,” he said.
“I realize that people holding cryptocurrency portfolios are valuable, and there’s really no easy way to spend it to buy assets. If we make it extremely easy for someone to pay with Bitcoin or Dogecoin, I think that will set us apart from the competition,” the director added. “With the cryptocurrency market valued at about 2 trillion USD, that’s a market you can’t overlook, and it’s a market that is currently underserved.”
“There’s nowhere else on this planet with a 2 trillion USD market that no real estate developer is addressing. I think many developers don’t offer this due to irrational fears about cryptocurrency,” Gonsalves said, noting that he is not swayed by the sharp volatility in value associated with cryptocurrency or the major sell-off that occurred last week.
“If you buy in early, you’re sitting on quite a bit of money, even if it’s a little less than last week,” he laughed. “For those who believe in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and have found it a substantial investment, the opportunity to buy property with Bitcoin or any other currency is a chance to diversify their portfolios. So, if it happens again, they will have something in the physical world.”
He also explained that all shops, restaurants, and bars will accept payments in Bitcoin or other approved cryptocurrencies. And this community will rely on payment processing systems approved by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
“It will be as simple as spending cash or using a debit card. We will show our wallet address, and when you receive your bill, the Bitcoin quote will be valid for 15 minutes,” he added. “And when the transaction is completed within that 15 minutes, we won’t have to worry about any volatility.”
Gonsalves also hopes to expand Bitcoin payments throughout the island, getting everyone involved in hopes of “spreading the benefits and money around a bit.”
“We will encourage them and work with them to set up their own payment processing systems, to allow them to accept Bitcoin as well,” he said.
“I’ve spent much of my childhood in Bequia, so I’m a known person there, and people have come to me in the shops asking when they can start working. Farmers ask me when they can start supplying food to the restaurants, or the shops with their crafts and all that. So, everyone on the island has been very supportive of it.”
Gonsalves predicts that this development project, with a budget of around 50 million USD, will generate “millions of USD” each year for the community once it opens. He also asserts that people do not need to own Bitcoin to buy or sell from the start, as properties will be offered in USD. But he hopes the residents here “at least be open to the idea of cryptocurrency and its importance in the modern world.”
“I think most people will buy in Bitcoin, from the response I’ve received so far, as it confirms the philosophy that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are the new medium of exchange,” he said.
And he admits that he has been very surprised by the interest in the project that he hopes to break ground on by the end of this year.
The project is expected to break ground by the end of this year. Gonsalves aims to sell 10 villas each year and complete the entire construction by 2024. But many people have shown interest, and he now predicts that he will sell up to 75% of the villas by the end of this year.
Source independent