An interesting post today by the St. Kitts-Nevis Citizenship by Investment Program with regard to some news that made its rounds on the web a couple of months ago.
Just so you’re up to date, that news I’m referring to suggested that bitcoin enthusiasts and users could purchase Citizenship to St. Kitts and Nevis using only bitcoin — provided you had enough.
You could go several routes, which involve making significant investments.
Benefits that come with citizenship to the island-nations include the following:
- Visa-free travel to 140 countries including Canada, the European Union, and Hong Kong
- 10 year multiple entry visa to the United States
- Tax advantages – no income, wealth, or inheritance taxes
- No residency requirement
- Lifetime citizenship for you and your family
- Citizenship confidentiality – your home country is not notified of your St. Kitts citizenship
But a recent post on the St. Kitts-Nevis Citizenship by Investment website issues a firm warning to those who may have such plans in consideration:
[blockquote style=”2″]Recent media articles have alluded to the acceptance of the virtual currency known as Bitcoins by the St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit for investment opportunities offered by our program. The Citizenship by Investment Unit would like to assure the general public that we do not recognize Bitcoins as legal investment currency for financial transactions within our Citizenship by Investment Programme. We further emphasize that we do not accept Bitcoins, have never accepted Bitcoins, and will not accept Bitcoins.[/blockquote]
The Program adds that they only process and accept applications from “Licensed Authorised Persons (Service Providers)”, and “transactions are conducted through internationally recognized banking institutions.”
Further, “These institutions adhere to international financial regulations and only handle traditionally acceptable currencies such as the United Kingdom Pound Sterling, the European Union Euro, the United States US Dollar and the Eastern Caribbean EC Dollar.”
The Citizenship by Investment Unit says they are conducting an investigation on the advertisements online, warning that “Any company found to be engaged in this practice in association with our program will have its license revoked and struck from the register of Authorised Persons (Service Providers).”
Of course, this doesn’t seem to really seem to stop services like PassportsForBitcoin.com, which would handle the investment on your behalf without getting you directly involved with the CIU, but at least you’ve heard what St. Kitts-Nevis has to say about it.
[textmarker color=”C24000″]Source[/textmarker] St. Kitts-Nevis CIU