Which countries allow cryptocurrency to be used for citizenship or permanent residence?

If investors have been searching for countries that permit the use of cryptocurrency for permanent residence or citizenship, prepare for a short list.

Despite the marketing noise from advisory firms, only two governments on earth accept cryptocurrency directly as a qualifying investment for an immigration programme. El Salvador accepts Bitcoin or USDT for citizenship. Bhutan requires a sovereign token deposit for a digital nomad visa.

Everywhere else, an investor’s cryptocurrency must become fiat currency before the government will touch it.

El Salvador: The world’s only crypto-based citizenship programme

El Salvador’s Freedom Passport remains the only residency by investment citizenship by investment (CBI) programme that accepts cryptocurrency as the investment itself. Launched in December 2023 under the “Adopting El Salvador” initiative, the programme grants El Salvadoran citizenship in exchange for a non-refundable donation of US$1,000,000 paid in Bitcoin or Tether’s USDT.

The donation goes directly into government development funds. Tether provides the payment infrastructure, meaning the applicant transfers cryptocurrency from wallet to wallet without converting it to fiat currency. Processing typically takes 6 to 8 weeks from application to passport issuance.

Applicants can include a spouse and children under 18 (or under 25 if enrolled as full-time students) at a cost of US$999 per dependent. No actual permanent residence is required before or after approval. Dual citizenship is permitted. The programme is capped at 1,000 participants per year.

The El Salvadoran passport provides visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to approximately 135 destinations, including the Schengen area, Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

El Salvador operates a territorial tax system, meaning only income earned within the country is taxed. Foreign-sourced income is tax-exempt. There is no capital gains tax on Bitcoin transactions.

A significant policy shift occurred in early 2025. El Salvador’s parliament amended the Bitcoin Law on January 29, 2025, as a condition for a US$1.4 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The amendments removed the requirement for businesses to accept Bitcoin, eliminated the ability to pay taxes in Bitcoin, and dropped Bitcoin’s designation as “currency” from the law. Private sector acceptance of Bitcoin became voluntary.

The Freedom Visa programme continues to operate despite these changes. It functions as an independent CBI programme and does not depend on Bitcoin’s broader fiat currency status. But the policy reversal raises a fair question before committing US$1,000,000: How stable is the regulatory environment supporting this programme?

Katie Ananina, CMO of CitizenX, has argued that demand for the programme comes from investors sharing El Salvador’s broader vision rather than pure price shoppers. That may be true. At US$1,000,000, the Freedom Visa costs roughly five times as much as a Caribbean CBI passport with comparable or stronger visa-free access, and Caribbean programmes can be paid through agents who accept crypto and convert to fiat on behalf of the investor.

Bhutan: A token-backed digital nomad visa

Bhutan launched the world’s first blockchain-backed digital nomad visa in early 2026, and it works differently from anything else in the investment immigration sector.

The programme requires applicants to deposit US$10,000 worth of TER tokens through DK Bank, Bhutan’s regulated digital bank. TER is a gold-backed sovereign token issued on the Solana blockchain by the Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority (GMCA). Each token represents fractional ownership of 0.01 grams of physical gold with 999.9 purity, stored in audited vaults.

The deposit is fully refunded upon departure. A separate non-refundable annual fee of US$2,800 goes to the GMCA. The visa is valid for 12 months, renewable up to 24 months. There is no minimum income threshold, and there is no mandatory residency requirement.

This is a digital nomad visa that uses crypto tokens as a deposit mechanism. It does not lead to permanent residence or citizenship in Bhutan, a country that has historically restricted both immigration and tourism. For decades, visitors had to pay between US$100 and US$250 per day in mandatory fees and were required to follow guided itineraries.

The programme is part of Bhutan’s broader blockchain strategy. The country has mined Bitcoin using excess hydroelectric power since at least 2019 and held over 13,000 BTC at its peak in late 2024, although reserves have dropped sharply since then. In December 2025, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck pledged up to 10,000 BTC to fund the long-term development of Gelephu Mindfulness City.

Critics have raised valid concerns. Adam Juchniewicz of Bitcoin Lawyer told IMI that requiring applicants to purchase a specific sovereign token, rather than allowing deposits in Bitcoin, USDT, or USDC, risks making the visa look like a “token distribution with a visa wrapper.” He also questioned the depth of long-term migration demand for Bhutan, given its limited tourism infrastructure.

For digital nomads exploring visas that lead to permanent residency, the Bhutan programme is not fit for that purpose. Among the more than 50 digital nomad visas currently available globally, it is the only one that requires a position in a sovereign token ecosystem. Whether that is innovation or friction depends on the investor’s perspective.

What about the rest? Conversion via agents and crypto-friendly programmes

Many advisory firms and licensed agents now accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins as payment for CBI and Residency by Investment (RBI) applications. This is not the same as the government accepting cryptocurrency for the programme.

Vanuatu was the first CBI jurisdiction where agents began accepting Bitcoin, as early as 2017. The government itself does not receive Bitcoin. Authorised agents accept the cryptocurrency, convert it to US dollars, and transfer fiat currency to the state. Contributions start at US$130,000 for a single applicant. The Vanuatu passport lost its Schengen visa-free access in December 2024.

Antigua and Barbuda amended its Residency by Investment legislation in 2018 to allow cryptocurrency as a source of funds. The government converts the cryptocurrency to USD daily.

Dominica and Saint Lucia operates on the same model: Licensed agents accept cryptocurrency on behalf of applicants and convert it to fiat currency before transferring the payment to the government.

Saint Kitts and Nevis now accepts cryptocurrency holdings as proof of net worth for due diligence purposes, although the actual programme payment must be made in fiat currency.

Hong Kong’s Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES) began accepting cryptocurrency holdings as valid proof of assets in early 2025. Two mainland Chinese investors qualified by demonstrating holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum worth US$3.8 million.

Applicants must store digital assets in cold wallets or on major exchanges and convert them into eligible investments within 6 months of approval. The actual HK$30 million investment must still be made in eligible financial assets.

At the Türkiye, licensed agents accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to facilitate the purchase of real estate eligible for citizenship. The agent converts the cryptocurrency and transfers fiat currency to complete the US$400,000 property transaction. The Turkish government itself does not receive cryptocurrency.

The reality check

For cryptocurrency holders considering migration options, the question is whether direct cryptocurrency acceptance is important enough to narrow the choices down to El Salvador and Bhutan, or whether converting to fiat currency opens up a wider and potentially better range of programmes.

If holding assets in cryptocurrency until the final moment is a priority, El Salvador is the only country that will allow an investor to purchase citizenship that way. If an investor wants a temporary base while holding sovereign blockchain assets, Bhutan’s digital nomad visa is an experiment worth watching.

For the rest, the 20 countries that do not tax cryptocurrency gains offer a wider menu of permanent residency and citizenship pathways. The residency by investment market serves cryptocurrency investors well. It simply requires them to sell first.