Paradise sold? The small Caribbean island courting crypto billions

A Belgian billionaire has a quiet, ambitious plan to create the “Dubai of the Caribbean” on the island of Nevis, said The Brussels Times. Olivier Janssens, who holds Nevisian citizenship through an investment scheme, has unveiled plans for “Destiny”, a “libertarian community with its own legal system” on the Caribbean island. But for some Nevisians, a crypto state in their midst is a step too far.

A ‘network state’

The “multibillion-dollar project” is likely to involve a “massive reshaping of the south coast of the island” where the development “is already displacing long-term residents by buying their land”, said the Financial Times. Plans for Destiny include “villas and medical clinics” surrounded by “lush green terraces and pools” – and, crucially, a libertarian identity that, in Janssens’ so-far woolly definition, will “let us do our things”.

It forms part of a wider trend known as the “network state” movement, in which tech and cryptocurrency billionaires are attempting to establish “their own, more libertarian, territories”. Many, for the time being, “remain theoretical”.

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Destiny is closer to fruition than most because St Kitts and Nevis recently passed new legislation to allow the creation of so-called Special Sustainability Zones, where “innovative approaches to the governance of tech and digital assets” can be trialled, said Cryptopolitan. But for some Nevisians, the prospect of an unregulated “state within a state” and its impact on existing infrastructure, services and “community life” is a cause for concern.

‘Neo-colonialism’

The optics of a “foreign-led takeover” of Nevisian land have sparked a “fiery” debate, said Jam Radio. Former prime minister Timothy Harris described the project as an instrument of “neo-colonialism”, urging citizens to reject what he called a “return to plantation-era subjugation”.

Janssens has promised that Destiny will be “open to Nevisians and remain under government jurisdiction”, said the Daily Mail, and has pledged a “$50 million [£37.3 million] investment in Nevis’ infrastructure”. And not all residents are sceptical. The project could create “a lot of much-needed opportunities for Nevisians and Kittitians”, said The St Kitts and Nevis Observer. If it goes ahead, it may end up as the “envy of the entire Caribbean”.

Ultimately, Nevis stands at a “crossroads”, said St Maarten’s The Daily Herald. Destiny will serve as a “defining test of how far the island is willing to go in reimagining development, law, and partnership with global capital”.