Original title: "OP Research: 2023 Crypto Nomad Guide"
Original author: CloudY, OP Research
Image source: Generated by Unbounded Layout AI tool
What is Crypto Nomad
Digital Nomad
Nomad, nomad, originally refers to a nomad who lives without a fixed place, but it can also be understood as a person who roams around without a fixed residence or destination. When the Internet became popular around the world 5-10 years ago, the term Digital Nomad frequently appeared on various media platforms. The powerful and mature infrastructure of the Internet and the various new types of jobs that come with it make Digital Nomad possible. In fact, Digital Nomad is not a profession, nor a job, but a way of life, a way of working through mobile devices and the Internet, free to design your own working methods and working places, just like work-life balance. Therefore, it is also called mobile office or teleworking. And these two words are not uncommon in the past three years of the epidemic. It is the epidemic that has brought about tremendous changes in the way people work and live. This change has gradually transformed Digital Nomad from an ideal life to a life that many people can try and even live.
Digital Nomad has many advantages, such as being able to freely choose where and when to work, saving on rent and commuting costs, and being able to work globally via the Internet. But there are also some risks, such as possible network outages, power shortages, and jet lag issues. Still, the Digital Nomad is a great option for those who love travel and freedom. This way of life can help people achieve self-actualization and experience different cultures and ways of life in different places. As a challenging and opportunistic lifestyle, it is for those with creativity, flexibility and courage.
Crypto Nomad
Similar to Digital Nomad, we define Crypto Nomad as a person who works on the move through the Internet, and is mainly involved in the Crypto industry business, without a fixed place of work and life. They use digital currencies as a form of payment for various purposes such as travel, shopping, and investing. This way of life is becoming more and more popular under the epidemic and war. The epidemic has restricted people's commuting and hindered communication between countries. In addition, the financial barriers brought about by the long-term war between Ukraine and Russia have made the currencies of various countries freely convertible. And exchange rate stability is difficult to achieve, but benefiting from the anonymity, decentralization and security of digital currency, as well as the convenience and speed of digital transactions, Crypto Nomad can live almost without obstacles.
At the same time, the growing encryption community and the development of the digital economy have facilitated the emergence of Crypto Nomad, and a more complete infrastructure has made Crypto Nomad more free. Many merchants and services accept digital currencies, such as hotels, restaurants, and online platforms. Of course, they still have to face some risks, such as the volatility of digital currency prices, lack of regulation and protection, and the potential risk of fraud and hacking.
The crypto bull market in the past two years has also allowed more people to come into contact with and learn about crypto assets, thus investing in this industry and participating in the construction and development of the industry. At this favorable time and place, the Crypto industry has completely started the Internet revolution of Web3.
Crypto Nnomad from China
But when the whole world is embracing Web3, China has chosen a policy of strict crackdown. With the introduction of a series of regulations and speeches, China’s Bitcoin mining machines have been going overseas one after another, and domestic exchanges have also begun to impose restrictions on Chinese people. The scene where 15 BTC used to buy a bowl of noodles no longer exists. Under the high-pressure policy, Crypto Nomad has become a preferred solution instead, maintaining the previous profit method and income, traveling to various places, and traveling all over the world. The domestic epidemic prevention policy is loose, so you can travel all over the country, go sightseeing in the mountains and rivers, ski and surf during the day, and return to your room for work and meetings at night. When the domestic epidemic prevention policy was tightened, I flew to Bali to surf, go skiing in Hokkaido, go to Cappadocia to ride a hot air balloon, and go to Qatar to watch the World Cup. The most important thing is that due to the particularity of the encryption industry, we need to communicate with people from all over the world and need to understand various mainstream cultures. The life of Crypto Nomad just gave us this opportunity to communicate with local people around the world, understand their language, and get in touch with their culture in person, which will allow us to better understand the operation and maintenance of different projects and communities.
Factors of being Crypto Nomad
When we decide to live the life of Crypto Nomad, the first question we have to face is "where to go"? Behind this seemingly simple question, there is a lot of information hidden, such as local policies on the encryption industry, local industry development status, visa acquisition, living costs, security, living environment, etc., as well as the preparations that need to be made before going work and capacity building. Since everyone has their own preferences, everyone needs to comprehensively consider the most suitable plan according to the actual situation. Therefore, this article will focus on introducing the relevant information of each country or region that can become the target destination, and provide you with the best way to live a life in Crypto Nomad. refer to.
PS: Due to factors such as visas, living costs, security, and living environment, there is not much difference between Crypto Nomad and Digital Nomad, and the current Digital Nomad has developed to a certain extent, so these factors will be collected and summarized in this article. Digital Nomad data-based.
policy
Countries' policies on encrypted assets will determine the development of local industries and the convenience and acceptance of cryptocurrencies in their daily lives, which directly affects the opportunities and challenges that Crypto Nomad will face. At present, there are not many countries and regions that are more relaxed about the encryption industry, and most of them have gradually tightened their policies for supervision.
Of course, the most famous crypto-friendly country in the crypto industry should be El Salvador. The Republic of El Salvador is a country located in the northern part of Central America. It announced in September 2021 that Bitcoin will be used alongside the U.S. dollar as a national legal tender, and has subsequently introduced a series of policies to promote the application of Bitcoin payments in its country, including government support wallets, bitcoin ATMs, bitcoin trust funds, and more. El Salvador has even created a "Bitcoin City" in the coastal area at the foot of the Conchagua volcano.
The second is the country of Dominica promoted by Justin Sun. Dominica is an island country located in the Caribbean Sea of Central America. In October 2022, it announced that 7 cryptocurrencies of the Tron series will become its legal tender and will issue a national cryptocurrency "DMC". At the same time, Dominica allows the above-mentioned cryptocurrencies to be used for any economic activities, and transactions with Dominica’s current legal currency, the East Caribbean Dollar (XCD), are exempt from capital gains tax.
After all, the radical policy of using cryptocurrencies as legal tenders is a minority. Most countries and regions restrict the use of cryptocurrencies in their borders in a regulatory manner to reduce uncontrollable risks. However, there are also differences in regulation. For example, countries and regions such as the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Singapore have always adopted a relatively open and supportive attitude, encouraging the research and development of the domestic encryption industry, and at the same time restricting institutions such as centralized exchanges and wallets. Carry out supervision and establish relevant laws and regulations to protect the interests of consumers and investors.
The United States released its first "Encryption Regulatory Framework" in September 2022, which clearly focused on protecting customers and preventing crimes. The subsequent SEC has also maintained its focus on the encryption industry, and gave the development of The Block and Blok.one issued a ticket;
The European Union also passed the landmark "Markets in Crypto Assets regulation bill (MiCA)" in October 2022, which involves the prevention of money laundering, consumer protection, accountability of cryptocurrency companies, The environmental impact of the industry and stablecoins, etc.;
The pace of standardization in Japan is even closer. After the revision of the "Payment Service Act (PAS)" in 2017, it has successively promulgated and revised such as the "Law on the Prevention of Transfer of Illegal Income", "Financial Instruments and Act (Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, FIEA) and "Financial Instrument Sales Act", and even established an industry self-regulatory organization called Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) to ensure that the encryption industry development of health norms;
As a financial center in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore released the "IRS Virtual Currency Guidance" as early as 2014, which regards cryptocurrencies as "property" and "currency". Singapore has always encouraged the use and development of encryption technology in Singapore, but recently it has been restricting people's participation in the investment methods of encrypted assets, especially ICO, lending and highly leveraged transactions. Therefore, people in Singapore have a high degree of acceptance of encrypted assets. For example, large centralized exchange advertisements can often be seen in its subway (MRT) stations.
Similar situations exist in other countries and regions, such as South Korea and other Southeast Asian countries, which encourage the development of the encryption industry, but regulate and restrict encryption services for the public. Especially after the GameFi gold rush, encrypted assets have been rapidly popularized in Southeast Asian countries, and the attitudes of various governments are also extremely ambiguous because they help economic development.
In addition, Hong Kong, which recently plans to rely on the encryption industry to turn around, is also worth mentioning. Since the release of the "Declaration on the Development Policy of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong" to officially support retail investors to buy and sell virtual assets and require the exchange to go to Hong Kong, it has recently passed the futures ETF of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and on December 16, it was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. on-line. At the same time, the above declaration also declared that it would support the development of NFT and Metaverse in Hong Kong.
Industry Development
The development of the encryption industry in each country is not only closely related to local policies, but also affected by the country's economic level. When we look at the potential investment amount, according to Hutt Capital data, at present, the encrypted VC funds located in North America are far ahead in terms of quantity (68%) and average capital amount ($259m/87%). Although the number of encrypted VC funds in Europe is larger than that in Asia, Asian encrypted VC funds ($120m) are more dominant than those in Europe ($61m) in terms of capital volume. Among the 14 crypto VC funds with funds exceeding $500m, 13 are in North America. It can be seen that the main source of funding for the entire industry is in North America. To be more straightforward, it should be the United States.
Source: Hutt Capital Blockchain VC Landscape—2022 Edition
But when we turn our attention to the city, this phenomenon will be more obvious. According to Crypto Fund Research data, San Francisco and New York have the most crypto funds in the world (>70), while London, Singapore and Hong Kong rank behind with 30-50 crypto funds, Chicago, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Switzerland Chu Georgia, Menlo Park, California, and Santa Monica are in the third camp of 10-20 crypto funds. It can also be clearly seen on the map that encryption funds are concentrated in the east and west coasts of the United States and Western Europe, some are located in East Asia and Southeast Asia, others are distributed in Eastern Europe, West Asia and Australia, and there are only a few sporadic ones in Africa and South America.
Source: Cryptocurrency Investment Fund Industry Graphs and Charts - - Crypto Fund Research
Source: Cryptocurrency Investment Fund Industry Graphs and Charts - Crypto Fund Research
When we take encryption projects as the target, according to the report of Zero One Think Tank, there will be 1,812 financing events in the global blockchain industry in 2021, and most of the financing projects are located in the United States (536), and the number is unprecedented , far surpassing the second echelon of China (105), the United Kingdom (99), and Singapore (96). Further down is the third tier of Canada (51), India (33), Germany (30) and Switzerland (28). Countries with more than 10 projects financed are: France (20), Australia (19), South Korea (17), Israel (14), Estonia (13), Japan (13), Vietnam (12), Netherlands (12 ), Brazil (11), Philippines (10). Comparing encryption funds, it can be found that, except for the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Switzerland, the distribution of investment and financing does not match the distribution of funds. It can be seen that when choosing to live a Crypto Nomad life in a country other than these 5 countries, you need to think about the direction that is more suitable for you. According to the above data, we can find that the main development areas of the current industry include the east and west coasts of the United States, East Asia and Southeast Asia, and Western Europe.
Source: Global Blockchain Investment and Financing Report (2021) - No. 1 Think Tank
Visa
As a citizen holding a Chinese passport, unlike other people who have passports from a large number of visa-free countries, visas are the primary factor we have to consider when traveling abroad. The entry visas of various countries can be roughly divided into several categories: 1. Travel; 2. Study abroad; 3. Work; 4. Business; 5. Green card/permanent residence. Since the main object of this article is Crypto Nomad, investment, marriage, buying passports and other immigration means are not within the scope of our discussion. This section will collect some online information to introduce the relevant visa information of several popular countries and regions.
First of all, due to the particularity of Chinese passports, we found the following picture based on Wikipedia data, which divides the visas that citizens holding ordinary Chinese passports can obtain into: 1. Visa-free; 2. Visa on arrival and electronic visa; 3. . Arrival visa; 4. Electronic visa; 5. Hong Kong and Macau travel permit; 6. Taiwan entry permit; 7. Visa needs to be processed in advance; At the same time, it is marked with the corresponding color according to the situation in different regions. From the figure, we can intuitively see that the regions where Chinese passports are relatively convenient are mainly distributed in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, East Africa and parts of South America. For details of the countries or regions that implement visa-free and visa-on-arrival policies for Chinese citizens, please refer to the "45 Countries or Regions Implementing Visa-Free and Visa-On-Arrival Policies for Chinese Citizens" issued by the China Immigration Administration in 2019.
Due to geographical and geographic factors, Southeast Asian countries are usually more friendly to Chinese people, such as visa on arrival in Thailand and Indonesia, and electronic visas for multiple times a year in Malay. Article - "The Most Complete Southeast Asia Visa Guide" . Due to economic, trade and historical reasons, Eastern Europe also has many preferential visa policies, such as visa-on-arrival and electronic visas for the three Caucasus countries (Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan), as well as visa-free visas for Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania. For visa details, please refer to Zhihu Article by user Niu Yueyue - "Visa Raiders for 16 Countries from India to Egypt". In the Middle East, there are mainly visa-free visas for Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and visa-on-arrival for Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. For African visas, you can refer to this "Visa Strategy for 25 African Countries" on Mafengwo. However, this strategy was published in 2018, which is relatively long. After finding the target country, you need to check the latest requirements on the embassy website.
Source: Map of Passport Requirements for Chinese Citizens with Ordinary Chinese Passports - WikiPedia
In addition to the visa policy for Chinese citizens, due to the popularity of Digital Nomad all over the world, especially after the new crown pandemic, many countries have provided or plan to provide special visas for Digital Nomad to attract more people to spend. Most of the Digital Nomad visas of various countries allow the holders to stay in their country for 1 year, some even longer, which is obviously much more attractive than the 15-30 day tourist visa. However, although the Digital Nomad visa is valid for a long time, each country has certain requirements for visa acquisition, such as: work proof, minimum income and income proof, minimum stay time in the country, maximum stay time, health insurance, cannot Paid work in the home country, etc. According to Ward Williams' article "Countries Offering Digital Nomad Visas" on Investopedia, there are currently 49 countries and regions that have or plan to offer Digital Nomad visas, and are marked on the map below. For specific countries, you can enter Williams' article to view. It can be seen from the figure that these regions are mainly distributed in Europe, while a few countries in Southeast Asia, Australia, South Africa and the Americas provide or plan to provide them.
Source: Countries Offering Digital Nomad Visas - Ward Williams
Lifestyle, Cost and Safety
In addition to visas, the living environment, cost of living and crime rate are all factors that Crypto Nomad needs to consider. The living environment represents a region's climate, culture, people's friendliness, convenience, network quality, etc., and affects the quality of life. The cost of living is a key factor that Crypto Nomads must face up to. Relatively stable income and reasonably planned expenditures are the prerequisites for Crypto Nomad to continue. The crime rate means the safety of one's own personal and property. Wearing gold and silver to walk in Singapore and New Delhi are two completely different moods. According to Digital Nomad's famous website Nomadlist data and other network information, we have selected cities in some countries and summarized them.
Nomadlist comprehensively considers the cost of living, climate, entertainment, network quality, etc. and gives an nNomad Score. The top 12 cities from high to low are as follows, of which Southeast Asia and southern European countries each occupy 4 seats. The cost of living in these 12 cities ranges from $1,000 per month to $3,300 per month, averaging around $1,800 per month. Although Lisbon has the highest overall score among the 12 cities, its cost of living is also the highest, far surpassing Madrid, which has the second highest cost of living by US$1,000. Instead, Chiang Mai's fourth-place ranking, with a monthly cost of living of $1,316, looks very attractive.
Source: Ranking for nomad cities - Nomadlist
Different from Nomadlist, Bethenny Carl gave different suggestions based on her personal experience, emphasizing the preferences of different groups of people on the cost of living and lifestyle. For example, some people prefer less work pressure and more affordable homeless life, Others like to enjoy the nightlife, to explore and try different cuisines. Therefore, Carl gave a completely different recommendation list based on factors such as living conditions, transportation, weather, Internet, food and entertainment, medical care, crime rate, etc., and attached the cost of living from low to high. For details, please go to Carl's article. Six of these 11 cities are located in Europe, and the remaining five are scattered in Asia and the Americas, which shows a more typical European and American perspective.
Although the two lists are different, several cities are mentioned at the same time, that is, Lisbon in Portugal, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Modlin in Colombia, and Lisbon is the number one city . It can be seen that the ancient city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is suitable in all aspects as one of the bases for homeless life. Of course, Buenos Aires and Modlin will also be good choices.
Source; Map of the 11 best location for Digital Nomad - Bethenny Carl
Seeing this, you may still not have a clear destination, but this does not prevent you from putting the life of Crypto Nomad in your to do list as one of your lifestyles. In terms of policy, most countries are based on supervision to promote the development of the encryption industry and limit the participation of ordinary people to a certain extent. The development of the industry is mainly concentrated in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom and other places, and the trend is scattered in other countries and regions. In terms of visas, the relatively convenient regions for Chinese passports are Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, East Africa, and parts of South America. However, considering the existence of Digital Nomad visas, southern Europe, Australia, and South Africa can also be considered. In terms of quality of life, cost and safety, South East Asia and Southern Europe can be top choices, with Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Modlin being heavily considered. Crypto Nomad life is not only about experiencing different customs, but more importantly, a way of thinking that is different from traditional farming civilization, a way of life that is divorced from the current involuntary environment.
Arbitragy Thinking
Arbitrage is the most essential way to obtain income. As a Crypto Nomad, it is actually a kind of transnational arbitrage behavior. With the development of globalization, everyone can share global liquidity and live in developing countries with the salary of developed countries. At the same time, the development of BlockChain technology and Crypto market also promotes globalization and liquidity, and improves efficiency.
As the most unique civilization among the four ancient civilizations (Babylon, ancient Egypt, ancient India, and ancient China), the Chinese civilization originated the latest (about 2000 BC, Sumerian civilization about 6000 BC, Fayoum Civilization about 5000 BC, Harappan civilization about 3000 BC), the most geographically remote (in East Asia, the farthest from the birthplace of other civilizations), the most closed and independent (due to the least communication with other civilizations due to geographical location), the only A civilization that has been passed down to this day (other ancient civilizations have not continued to this day), and it is these characteristics that have created this farming civilization that has lasted for thousands of years. Without the exploration and innovation of marine civilization, it is like a Swarm (worm swarm)-for individuals, freedom and wisdom are not the primary needs, but how to survive as a whole.
Becoming a Crypto Nomad starts with changing your mindset, which in turn changes your lifestyle. Jump out of the cycle of involution, bid farewell to the single value that only pursues the three big mountains in the new era of "house, car, and ticket", and don't be a leek picker. Instead, focus on your own heart, pursue what you really want, explore the world, and love!
