Former Chief Strategy Officer of Blockstream Samson Mow left the company back in March to pursue “nation state Bitcoin adoption”. He has now started a new company called Jan3 (named after the date that Bitcoin’s Genesis block was mined) that will focus on layer two technologies like Liquid and Lightning. The company will also help with building infrastructure for nation states like El Salvador that adopt Bitcoin.
At the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami, Mow assembled three legislators to provide updates on the progress that their countries are making toward adopting Bitcoin as legal tender. Mow welcomed President of Próspera Joel Bomgar onto the stage to share that the charter city on an island off of Honduras will accept Bitcoin as legal tender.
Bomgar announced:
- There will be no capital gains taxes on Bitcoin.
- The Próspera jurisdiction can now enable Bitcoin bonds.
- Accredited investors may invest directly into Próspera through their security token.
Next on stage was Portugal’s Madeira President Miguel Filipe Machado de Albuquerque. He announced that all Bitcoin investors will not need to pay income taxes. Albuquerque mentioned that he and his constituents will continue to work with Mow in order to legislate more incentives for Bitcoin and Bitcoin users.
Finally, Mexican Senator Indira Kempis announced that she and her advisors are indeed developing a bill to make Bitcoin legal tender for the country of Mexico. She also invited Mow to meet with her and Mexico's president to discuss a Bitcoin path forward.
Mow ended the session by stating that this is what he was able to manage to do within a month after leaving Blockstream. “We’re going into dark times. Inflation, CBDCs, surveillance, you name it. Bitcoin is a way to fix all of this but it takes all of us to use Bitcoin to reach that goal,” he said.
Mow also mentioned that Brad Mills, NVK, and himself will be working on ways to further implement Bitcoin in Canada while other groups are mobilizing in Guatemala.
No further details were provided for a timeline on when the named countries will adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.