Ambitious ‘Satoshi Island’ Crypto Project Gets Green Light From Vanuatu Prime Minister

Welcome… to Fantas… er, Satoshi Island. It’s a plan to make a tropical South Pacific island the “crypto capital of the world,” and it just won the endorsement of the Prime Minister of Vanuatu.

In an official statement from the Archipelago Nation, Prime Minister Bob Loughman endorsed the approval his Department of Finance first gave to build on the island late last year.

This now puts him in a crypto-champion league similar to the bitcoin-loving Salvadoran leader. (President Nayib Bukele made legal tender in El Salvador famous last September, has plans for a volcano-fueled Bitcoin city, and is even considering offering citizenship to foreign investors.)

Loughman’s endorsement letter describes the project as “an exciting prospect” and says his government looks forward to the “opportunities it will bring to local people and businesses.” The Prime Minister also stressed that Vanuatu was looking for “innovative solutions” to help grow its economy.

What is Satoshi Island?

Do you like dollars and cents? You are not welcome on Satoshi Island. Well, you probably still are, but your trading money might not exactly burn a hole in your pocket in crypto heaven, because its economy (and blockchain-based democracy) is designed to work only with Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets.

The island is named after the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, and is one of approximately 83 islands that make up Vanuatu. This is approximately 32 million square feet (approximately 437 rugby league pitches) of private tropical land owned by Satoshi Island Limited.

The project, in its embryonic stages of development, engaged the services of Hong Kong architects James Law Cybertecture to help realize the island’s vision, planning and development.

The “modules,” as noted on the project’s website, are designed to be sustainable, solar-powered “smart building” units that can be combined and placed in hundreds of different positions. The planning illustrations show a somewhat futuristic view of development (see below).

“Modular development is the future of urban construction, instead of decades they will be completed in a few years,” read a statement from architect James Law.

What a neighborhood on Satoshi Island might look like (Source: satoshi-island.com)

The project economy is expected to operate on bitcoin and altcoin transactions only, as mentioned, and access to the island will be enabled by holding an official Satoshi Island citizenship NFT (although a regular passport is still required to enter and exit Vanuatu as per normal).

In addition to the NFT airdrop of the island’s citizenship, which is expected to take place this quarter, the project roadmap details a series of proposed land “mints” in phases, representing different locations on the island.

Land NFT owners will be able to begin purchasing modules and designing their homes and apartment complexes in the second half of 2022. Prices for modules will reportedly start at around US$60,000. About AUD 650,000 cheaper than a one bedroom apartment in Sydney then.

Satoshi Island seen from above (Source: satoshi-island.com)

The actual construction of the modules won’t begin until later in the year, but the island will apparently open for temporary visits by NFT citizenship holders in the fourth quarter.

According to a Cointelegraph article dated March 23, the Satoshi Island project has already received at least 50,000 applications for its citizenship NFTs, of which only 21,000 will be granted.

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