Bitcoin coins (photo by shutterstock)
The Bitcoin bar Bam Bam Beach, on a beach in southwest Portugal, is the meeting place.
To get there, you drive past a boat harbor, oceanfront hotels and apartment buildings, then park at a sleepy seafood restaurant and walk a wooden path that cuts through a sand dune. Yellow bitcoin flags fly in the wind. In the distance, the conversations about cryptocurrencies and the future of the market are heard.
“People always hesitate when to buy, when to sell,” said Didi Taihuto, a Dutch investor who moved to the city this summer and is one of the owners of Bam-Bam. “We solve the dilemma by going all the way inside.”
As she sits in the nearby sand, Catherine Bestendig says: “Everything is possible if you are brave.”
The bar and community of about 150 crypto supporters across the town of Lagos are a bubble of optimism amid what has come to be known as the severe “crypto crisis”. This summer, currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum plummeted, and crypto companies like the Celsius Lending Bank declared bankruptcy as worries about the global economy drove down the values of risky assets. Thousands of investors were affected by the crash. Bitcoin’s price, which peaked at more than $68,000 last year, remains down more than 70%.
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But in this Portuguese seaside idyll, confidence in cryptocurrencies is undimmed. Every Friday, about 20 visitors from Europe and abroad gather at Bam-Bam to share their unwavering faith in digital currencies. Their float and cheering continues across Portugal and other crypto hubs around the world, such as Puerto Rico and Cyprus.
“We don’t sell,” said Paulo Estebão, a crypto trader, over lunch at a restaurant in the Portuguese coastal town of Ariseira, where he meets weekly with three other friends who invest in cryptocurrencies. He said his crypto holdings are down about 80% from their peak, but added, “I’m investing more.”
In Europe, Portugal has stood out as one of the biggest hubs for crypto investors and crypto enthusiasts. Many crypto supporters have flocked to the country because the government does not tax profits made from the virtual currencies, unlike Italy and France. It helps that the weather is nice, the cost of living is low and there is an easy way to live. Vanguard Properties, a real estate company in Portugal, said it has sold at least 10 luxury homes to “crypto families” since last year.
In coastal towns like Ericeira and Lagos, shops and restaurants are showing their acceptance of digital currencies by accepting Bitcoin as payment. Lisbon, the capital, has become a hub for crypto-related startups such as Utrust, a cryptocurrency payment platform, and Immunefi, a company that detects security vulnerabilities in decentralized networks.
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“Portugal should be the Silicon Valley of Bitcoin,” Taihuto said. “It has all the ingredients.”
However, the Portuguese government may not like this and hurt the country’s position as a crypto hub. In May, Fernando Medina, the finance minister, said the government is considering taxing crypto profits like regular income and “intends to legislate on this.” A decision could come next month when Portugal publishes its annual budget.
For now, Portugal remains popular among the optimists and amateur traders trying to use their crypto investments to travel and live without a traditional job. Using the money made when digital currency values soared over the past few years, this group has made Portugal its base.
Many in Lagos, inspired by Taihuto, 44, made their way to the Bam-Bam bar. In 2017 he sold almost all his belongings in the Netherlands to invest in Bitcoin. At the time, the price of a single bitcoin was about $900, compared to about $19,000 today. With his wife and three daughters, who have not received any formal education since 2017, he has traveled to 40 countries, documenting every step on social media. They called themselves “The Bitcoin Family”.
As news outlets covered his family’s story, Taihuto’s social media following grew, turning him into an influencer and source of investment advice. A documentary film crew has followed him on and off for the past 18 months. This summer, he settled in Portugal and quickly became an ambassador for its crypto scene.
He has goals of turning Maya Praia, the beach where Bam-Bam is located, into a “bitcoin beach.” He is looking for property to create a community nearby for believers.
“You prove that you can manage some part of the world, even if it’s just a small part,” Taihuto said, with Jack Daniels and Coke in hand. He has shoulder-length black hair and wears a tank top that shows off his tan and tattoos (including one on his forearm of the Bitcoin symbol).
Bestandig was among those Taihuto drew to Portugal.
Originally from Germany, she said she and her family have been on the road since 2020. They have earned enough from investing in Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies over the past few years to pay for their travels, she said.
The value of a site has dropped by about 60% in the past year, which Bastendig says has been painful. She has cut costs on food and lodging, but is still committed to cryptocurrency investments and said her family has enough money to continue her current lifestyle.
“We sold our house, our cars, everything,” she said. “We’re trying to connect with other people who support crypto.”
Almost everyone at Bam-Bam has had a story about being scammed or losing money in one crypto exchange or currency crash. If cryptocurrency prices don’t recover, “a lot of them are going to have to go back to work again,” Clinton Donnelly, a U.S. tax attorney who specializes in cryptocurrencies, said of some of those who gathered at Bam-Bam.
Even so, Donnelly and the other bar regulars said their faith in crypto remains unwavering.
Thomas Rosler, wearing a black Bitcoin shirt and drinking beer “inspired” by the currency, said he came with his wife and two young children to decide whether to move to Portugal from Germany. He first invested in Bitcoin in 2014 and recently sold a small rental apartment in Germany to invest even more.
Rossler was concerned about the decline in crypto values but said he was convinced the market would recover. The move to Portugal could lower his taxes and give his family the chance to buy affordable property in a warm climate, he said. He came to the bar to learn from others who had taken the plunge.
“We haven’t met many people who live like this,” Roessler said. Then he bought another round of drinks and paid for them in Bitcoin.