Jon Green Podcast Transcript
Jon Green joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Welcome to Coruzant Technologies, Home of The Digital Executive Podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to The Digital Executive. Today’s guest is Jon Green. Jon Green has over 10 years of experience working with private clients, law firms, family offices, and financial service providers, interested in residency and citizenship programs for their clients.
He has an intimate knowledge of residency and citizenship acquisition processes. Real Estate Procurement and Investment and Developer Relations. Before joining Latitude, Jon was a partner of a leading investment migration firm focused on business development and sales management for the North American market.
Prior to that, he worked in sales and marketing for high end real estate projects and has a wide range of experience promoting ski, gold, and sand destinations. He has been involved with projects throughout the world, including Canada, the US, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
Well, good afternoon, Jon. Welcome to the show!
Jon Green: Thank you, Brian. I really appreciate you having me on today!
Brian Thomas: Absolutely. I appreciate you making the time hailing out of Vancouver, British Columbia. I think that’s awesome. I don’t always get to get out of the United States on a podcast, but when I do, I love it. So, I appreciate you making the time, Jon.
And Jon jumping into your first question, you have extensive experience in residency and citizenship programs. How are cryptocurrency and Bitcoin starting to play a role in these processes? And what should potential investors know about using digital assets for second citizenship?
Jon Green: It’s a great question, Brian. I think one of the biggest changes that I’ve noticed is the demographic of who are applying for the citizenship and residence by investment program.
So traditionally, you know, when I first started 15 years ago in the industry, It was a lot of the, you know, the kind of 50-plus crowd, those who were more established in their life, the children were getting older, kind of teenagers, and, you know, they had accumulated the wealth. But what we’re seeing now with the crypto community is there’s a lot younger wealth.
And people that are looking to explore their options when it comes to citizenship and residency, so it’s really shifted the demographic of who is applying for these programs. That’s probably the biggest change I have noticed over the last few years, and certainly now more and more citizenship and residence programs and the countries that are offering them are starting to recognize crypto as a source of wealth.
And so that’s really starting to open it up for more people who can apply for these programs.
Brian Thomas: Thank you very much. There’s so much I would say in the last few years as Bitcoin cryptocurrency have become more, I guess you’d say mainstream, we’re starting to see applications for, you know, The use of that in this case here for that citizenship.
And it’s interesting to hear you kind of go through that transition because you’ve been in this industry for quite some time. So thank you for sharing. And Jon, some countries are now offering residency or citizenship in exchange for investments in Bitcoin. How do these programs compare to traditional residency programs?
And what are the benefits or risks involved?
Jon Green: Thanks, Brian. So, I think one of the maybe misconceptions almost is that a lot of different countries offer these programs and instead of paying in fiat, you can pay in Bitcoin. But that’s not quite right. I think the biggest or most well-known country that has come out with the program that accepts Bitcoin is El Salvador.
So there they’ll accept a million in Bitcoin or a million in USD and it can lead to a citizenship of El Salvador. But that’s really one of the only countries that currently offers that Bitcoin in return for citizenship and of course subject to due diligence checks. But the more traditional programs that we’ve seen over the years, they still do not accept Bitcoin as a payment and they’ll accept.
Bitcoin as a source of wealth, but our clients are having to exchange it into fiat and then make the investment one of the few of the programs that we work with the multi citizenship by investment program as well as the Antigua citizenship program, we’ve successfully assisted clients throughout the years, whose main source of wealth is crypto and we’ve been able to demonstrate to the government how they gained in crypto and then they’ve exchanged that into fiat and afforded those programs.
What we’re seeing as well, interesting fund options out of Portugal, so they offer a golden visa program where you can invest at least 500, 000 into a venture capital fund in Portugal, and you get a residency permit, also known as a golden visa. And that’s really one of the world’s most flexible golden visa programs, as it’s a very easy path to citizenship.
Applicants only need to spend seven days per year in the country, and after five years, they qualify for Portuguese citizenship. They also must have a basic understanding of the language. But it’s a very from a, you know, a residency standpoint, it’s very flexible, only seven days per year. And recently, just over the summer, a few new funds have come on board, which are investing into EFTs like BlackRock’s, EFT, crypto EFT, so there’s a hundred percent exposure to crypto.
Of course, just like most programs, they first have to exchange their crypto, the applicant into fiat, you know, then transfer it to the Portuguese bank account. And then transfer it to the fund ultimately. So, there’s funds that are a hundred percent crypto facing. And then there’s another one coming out soon.
For example, that’s going to be a 65 percent crypto and, or sorry, it’s 65 percent Portuguese government bonds and 35 percent crypto. So black rock EFTs. So, there are programs that have a crypto component. But most countries still aren’t accepting crypto as a form of payment in exchange for the residency or citizenship.
Now, I think we see in the future, crypto is becoming more and more mainstream, the crypto communities are growing, and so I think we’ll see more programs. In the coming years, come up with innovative ways to accept crypto, and it’s just a matter of time. I think we’re still a few years away, and part of that is, is really that a lot of these countries are still very much reliant on the traditional banking system.
A lot of them have US corresponding banks, and so they’re a little bit hesitant to dip their toe into the crypto world fully, but we do see that at the forefront. It will be coming down the pipeline soon.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. And I appreciate you sharing some of those examples with some of the countries that are pro, you know, crypto, some that are not so much, but are exploring the waters again from El Salvador all the way to Portugal and, and some of the flexibility that some of these countries provide.
I do appreciate that. And I think as crypto becomes more mainstream, more adopted, I think we’ll see a lot more changes here in the near future. So, I appreciate that. And Jon, given your background in real estate procurement, how do you see cryptocurrency impacting real estate transactions in the context of residency or citizenship by investment programs?
Jon Green: I think a lot of these, you know, a lot of these countries offer the citizenship or residency and to qualify, you purchase real estate as the qualifying investment. So, in the Caribbean, for example, there’s five different countries, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis, where they either contribute a donation to the government, or you invest in real estate, and subject to due diligence checks, or awarded citizenship in 6 to 12 months.
They’re very quick programs. However, they still don’t allow the purchase of real estate to be through crypto. You have to do exchange it into fiat before making the purchase. So, we’re not quite there yet with the Caribbean programs. I do know outside of citizenship and residency programs, some countries such as Cyprus will allow the purchase of real estate through crypto, but we’re not quite there yet with the programs that offer citizenship and residency.
And I know from time to time we’ll, we’ll hear that different countries are accepting crypto, but for the most part, this has been false. Vanuatu is a classic example. They have a citizenship program. They’re in the South Pacific and they’ll accept crypto as a source of wealth, but they won’t accept it as a payment for their program quite yet.
But again, we’re optimistic that in the coming years, these countries will embrace the crypto community. And start accepting a payment from it.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. That’s helpful. Again, the crypto space is still kind of new and foreign to a lot of people, but as it gets more adoption, like you said, I think we’ll see a big shift in that.
So I appreciate your insights there. And Jon looking ahead, what future innovations or developments do you foresee in the intersection of cryptocurrency and investment migration? How might they shape the industry?
Jon Green: Well, as I mentioned, El Salvador was really the first country to offer residency or citizenship in exchange for Bitcoin.
However, you know, it hasn’t been a popular program just because of the geographical location of the country. We have yet to see, say, a more mainstream program like a citizenship by investment program in the Caribbean or Europe, or even a program in Europe fully embraces crypto https: otter. ai But I certainly think whichever country is going to have the innovation and the foresight to do so is going to be in huge demand.
If any European country were to offer it, it’s going to really increase demand and drive foreign direct investment to their shores. Again, what we’re seeing, we’re seeing some innovation, as I mentioned, with these interesting funds in Portugal that will invest in Bitcoin. So the investor has exposure. But we’re just not yet quite seeing them being able to accept Bitcoin as a payment.
But the first country that does will certainly have a step above everybody else, because people of course are embracing crypto, and I think the future is very bright for it. And so, we’re looking forward and continuing to work with governments to advise them on these types of things. Cause there’s really two sides to our business.
We not only help clients with citizenship and residents by investment programs, but we’re also advising governments in our conversations. This certainly comes up. And governments are, are still new to the idea. And so, they haven’t quite got their head wrapped around it, but certainly the first few countries that do are really going to have a leg up on the others.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. I appreciate that. Again, you’ve got a lot of experience in this space as far as both real estate, obviously a little bit of crypto there, but then of course in these residency programs, which is helpful. And those that are listening today will certainly get quite a bit of information just from this soundbite.
So, I appreciate that Jon. And Jon, it was such a pleasure having you on today, and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Jon Green: Thank you for having me, Brian.
Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Jon Green Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s podcast page.
