This is one of the most common questions we receive from crypto currency investors and clients. We aim to answer this in the best possible way.
No. You cannot buy a passport using Bitcoin despite the popularity of the cryptocurrency is at all time high. This is because no government officially accepts Bitcoin for citizenships investments. They require the funds come through bank account for vetting and compliance checks. Some agents accept their professional fee using Bitcoin.
Update: We accept direct Bitcoin payments for Vanuatu citizenship program. Please contact us for more details.
The Biggest problem with accepting Bitcoin and other Crypto currencies is volatility. Another problem is verifying source of crypto funds (legitimate or not). This is one the reasons why most governments afraid of accepting bitcoins for citizenship processing.
At the moment officially no government accepts bitcoin or crypto currency for citizenship by investment programs. The reason why no government accepts crypto is the problem with doing due diligence checks and identifying source of money. These funds could come from hacking, computer viruses, sanctioned list, or laundered through drug cartels or any other investment fraud schemes. It is difficult to verify crypto currency transactions that are passed and exchanged through privacy coins and various exchanges ( known as crypto cleansing). It is impossible to trace these coins.
Some agents and real estate developers do accept bitcoin. Agents take only agent fee in bitcoin NOT the whole investment.
Also nationals subjected to US/EU sanctions cannot apply for passport schemes (eg. Iran, North Korea). This is important because individuals, companies or countries subjected to US sanctions, cannot use US correspondent banking channels to transfer funds, this is a violation of US law. This applies even if you are outside US and for foreign nationals.
We tell clients to exchange crypto funds to fiat using Coinbase, withdrawn to your bank account to be safe before investing in a citizenship passport. The money routed through bank accounts is important clue for due diligence checks. This tells us banks verify source of funds and in compliance. Some citizenship programs insist clients to only pay from personal bank accounts for passport approvals.
You have to also keep an eye out for crypto scams. No matter what You are not supposed to make full payment to your agent or property developer BEFORE your application is approved by governments.
Remember we created citizenship coin, first digital currency for the passport industry.
