Speaking to CoinMarketCap, André Loja said Madeira had seen this coming — and it could have been a lot worse.
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Portugal's proposals to tax crypto gains at 28% won't affect plans to bring Bitcoin to Madeira, according to the entrepreneur spearheading these efforts.
Speaking to CoinMarketCap, André Loja said Madeira had seen this coming — and it could have been a lot worse.
He is the founder of the F.R.E.E. Madeira Association, which wants to help citizens in the autonomous region safeguard their savings for the future.
Discussing the proposed taxes — which would only apply to any cryptocurrency gains made within a one-year period — Loja explained:
"It's not the most terrible legislation around. The main Portuguese government is from another party than the one we have in Madeira, and they have the majority now in Parliament. They were getting a lot of pressures from people that lack understanding and far-left parties to tax this crypto world. And I feel that their response was not as bad as it could have been."
Loja argued that Portugal's parliament has left the door open to further discussions — raising the prospect that improvements can be proposed.
And he said that his efforts to bring Bitcoin to Madeira were never about benefiting from tax gains anyway.
"It was more about helping businesses and individuals create work there and give them the conditions to have a good life in Madeira."
Loja and Madeira's president want to entice Bitcoin companies to the archipelago because it boasts lower corporation tax rates than on the Portugese mainland — and all of this forms part of efforts to reduce a reliance on tourism.
"Madeira finally has an opportunity on this new digital economy to be attractive to businesses and individuals. Our infrastructure is amazing and it's a very good place to live and work from."
He expressed hope that embracing Bitcoin could also attract younger people and better salaries to the island — adding that the world's biggest cryptocurrency is here to stay.
Whereas El Salvador announced Bitcoin as legal tender, Madeira is unable to do so because it isn't independent of Portugal.
Nonetheless, Loja told CoinMarketCap there are lessons to learn from Nayib Bukele's rollout — and the Central American nation tried to do things too quickly, with a Bitcoin Law being signed 90 days after the radical policy was unveiled at a conference in Miami.
"First you need the education. It doesn't take a government decision and then all the people start using Bitcoin the next day. I'd really much rather have the other option of starting with education and teaching. How can people use it on a day-to-day basis and the advantages that it has to them."
He stressed that this will be a long-term project with an ambition of helping people in Madeira safeguard their savings from the effects of inflation.
"The more and more people we can get into this system, the better. That's why it's the focus on education, on how this is technology and, getting rid of all the FUD that affects a lot of people not getting into Bitcoin."
Loja described himself as a "pleb" from Madeira who lives there with his family and four children — and said he and his association, backed by a number of high-profile Bitcoiners, managed to win round Madeira's government in a "strange chain of events."
