An island project entirely dedicated to cryptocurrencies is emerging. It’s not the first of its kind, but all previous similar plans have been failures.
Announcements about new crypto projects usually relate to the sums raised or the items purchased. The creators of the Satoshi Island project have announced with great enthusiasm that they have received applications. It’s not just any old town: as of March 23, 2022, more than 50,000 people have volunteered to live on Satoshi Island, a city project that would eventually become a “crypto capital”. “. And, amazingly, the project is not located in the Metaverse, but in real life, on an island in Vanuatu.
Satoshi Island, named after the inventor of bitcoin, is certainly one of the most ambitious crypto projects of the moment. Its creators have bought an island, which they want to turn into a real city and a “cryptocurrency paradise”. The project is said to have been in development for years, and the founders believe that Satoshi Island is ready to “welcome real crypto projects and blockchain-based democracy.” But similar projects have, in the past, been real failures.
A popular project, but still uncertain
Concretely, the founders of the project want Satoshi Island to host “year-round blockchain events” and “crypto project headquarters”. “Life on the island will be an experience like no other and will allow members of the crypto community to meet, live and work with people who share the same interests,” boast the creators on the site dedicated to Satoshi Island. All businesses will use cryptocurrencies, and there will be no fiat currencies on the island, it is explained.
Satoshi Island is an extremely ambitious project, and it has been met with great enthusiasm in the crypto community — to the point where the project’s founders estimate that the first inhabitants could start living on the island in early 2023. The future homes have even been planned: they have all been designed by one of the co-founders of the project, the architect James Law, and are presented as “ecological and solar-powered homes”.
Within the crypto community, Satoshi Island is a dream, to the point where no one has yet really mentioned its limits, which are however numerous. Even if the creators of the project have already bought the island, and received the agreement of the President of Vanuatu for the installation of companies related to crypto-currencies, the development of the project is likely to take time.
There is currently only one building on the whole island, no one has yet been able to visit the premises to ensure that the photos are realistic, and there is no infrastructure on the island yet. : no pipe, no road, no running water, no internet. The island is, moreover, extremely isolated: it is located in the north of Vanuatu, far from the capital and the main airport of the country. There is no guarantee that the houses will arrive on time, or even that the facilities can actually be built.
Similar projects have failed in the past
So far, the story of Satoshi Island is not unlike that of similar past projects, all of which turned out to be huge failures.
In Senegal, the Akon City project seems to be at a standstill more than a year after the announcement of the start of work. The plans for the future city, which was to operate partly thanks to crypto-currencies, provided that the first buildings would be entirely built-in 2024. But on the spot, no construction site has yet started, the promoter of the project is suspected of scam, and the inhabitants doubt the future of the project.
For now, the only crypto project that has really seen the light of day is Bitcoin Beach, in El Salvador – but the success is not there. The country is the first (and only) to recognize bitcoin as an official currency in September, which means that purchases across the country are supposed to be made in bitcoin. But a Rest of World report revealed that six months after cryptocurrency adoption, most merchants across the country are still hesitant to accept bitcoin transactions — even in Bitcoin Beach, a city thought to be the flag. of the country for cryptocurrencies.
For Satoshi Island, all the previous failures do not bode well – but the project teams wanted to reassure the future inhabitants. The founders notably pointed out that they already owned the island, and that they already had “experience in the sector”. For the moment, and despite the certain enthusiasm of the crypto community, there is no guarantee that the project will succeed, or that it will not be, again, a Fyre Festival.
Watch our video & see how we’re turning a dream into reality!
Yes, we already own the island
Yes, we can develop as advertised
Yes, the government supports our plan
Yes, our team has relevant expertise🏝️#satoshiisland a home for crypto enthusiasts & professionals worldwide! pic.twitter.com/1O05kmfrN1
— Satoshi Island (@satoshiisland) January 27, 2022
