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@andreloja

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Bitcoin is a global phenomenon. A rapidly growing global movement that brings sound economic ideas that are hard to find elsewhere nowadays. You can find Bitcoiners and Bitcoin companies everywhere. Bitcoin enthusiasts are often young and willing to move wherever they can go about their business with as little hassle as possible. The question is, where will you find them tomorrow? Where they choose to settle down will depend on how that jurisdiction will treat them. Unfortunately, the European Union is not the Bitcoin-friendliest place to be in the world right now. The bureaucratic machine in Brussels is slow and inefficient. It’s hard for the EU countries to agree on a coherent policy toward this emerging industry, which is why Madeira is in such a unique position to change this.

Several developing nations have adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. They have done so to reclaim their sovereignty and reduce dependency on The International Monetary Fund. As the total supply of bitcoins is finite, it is reasonable to assume that they will go up in price over time. As the price goes up, places in the world with a high bitcoiner per capita ratio will benefit. Perhaps slowly at first, but inevitably, wealth will move from Bitcoin-hostile to Bitcoin-friendly jurisdictions.

The world is on the brink of an entirely new monetary paradigm. Those world leaders who embrace Bitcoin early on will have a big head start. Future historians will write about them for centuries to come. Our descendants will remember those in power who made the right choices during these tumultuous times. The ethical choices. The moral choices. They will remember the politicians that protected the individual's rights in a world full of populist buzzwords and false narratives on both sides of the political aisle.

We live in an era where political opinions are becoming more and more polarised everywhere. People have very different views on climate change, lockdowns, immigration, and many other political issues. Having an apolitical type of money has arguably never been more critical than right now. Bitcoin is that money. It is just an agreement on a fixed set of rules at its core — nothing more, nothing less. It doesn’t care about your gender, ethnicity, social status, or anything else because it can’t. Bitcoin is mathematics, which is a form of speech. Trying to over-regulate it or stop it is a fool's errand. Those who do will have to watch their peers surpass them and will inevitably have to change their opinion at some point too.

Whether Bitcoin will become a global monetary paradigm shift or remain a tool for specific cross-border use-cases doesn’t matter. Smaller semi-autonomous regions of the world, like Madeira, have an opportunity here. A bitcoin-friendly attitude will attract wealth to the island, but more importantly, it will also attract talent. Bitcoin entrepreneurs from all over the planet would flock here and build the world's future economic engine from Madeira. Note that the tourism sector in El Salvador increased its revenue by over forty percent after the country’s new Bitcoin law was implemented.

The future shines bright and orange, just like the sun over Madeira. Embracing Bitcoin will ensure that Madeirans will be able to bask in its rays for generations to come.

- André Loja, native Madeiran and founder of the F.R.E.E. Madeira initiative