Crypto brothers rush on Silicon Bali

With his sea view and its beach resorts, Bali has been wearing surfers and vacationers for a long time. Today it is also a first-class goal for the world's crypto enthusiasts.

The newcomer is the 33-year-old Russian blockchain entrepreneur Ilia Maksimenka, who came to the Indonesian island in 2020, shortly after the outbreak of Covid-19.

"It's very easy to meet the right people," he said. "With regard to Southeast Asia, Bali is like the [International] Krypto hub."

While pandemic has contained international tourism, the increase in home work has also caused many people to rethink how comfortable they live in cities that have traditionally been economic centers. Bali was an exotic alternative for the Maksimenka from Moscow.

"If you come to Bali, you may have a ten -time life than in California. But they have the same comfort and much higher quality of the dishes. People prefer to come here and live the tropical life," he said.

in Balis Expat Community, which likes to refer to itself as a "digital nomad", is a common interest. On social media, many brag about the fortune that they have made with the trade in cryptocurrencies in sun -drenched villas, while friends scrape past at home in tight apartments.

"[We’re] work in [thesis] hippie-locations. And they start seeing Lamborghinis," said Emilio Canessa, an Italian who works in marketing for the Internet computer, a project by the blockchain company DFinity. "The caliber of people here.. It's crazy."

"You started calling this place Silicon Bali," he added.

Tokocrypto, an Indonesian crypto exchange, says that she has now registered 37,660 users in Bali compared to only 808 at the beginning of 2021. The people in Balis crypto community with which the Financial Times spoke had different interests, including cryptocurrency trade, non-reasonable tokens, the meta-severse and decentralized financing. But most of the newcomers fit in a certain form.

"It is very difficult for men. White men, people in their early twenties," said Antria DWI Lestari, who works for Tokocrypto in Bali in the Community Engagement.

Since more and more of these young men from all over the world are looking for the crypto dream to Bali, companies have recognized an opportunity. This year Tokocrypto T-Hub, a "crypto clubhouse" on Bali, started with a co-working space and a swimming pool. Indodax, another Indonesian crypto exchange, has her second office on the island. Canessa has proposed to his company to build a “community -oriented, cultural presence”.

At the same time, other companies have to struggle in Bali. Up to 80 percent of the island's economy depend on tourism, a source of income that was almost cut during the pandemic.

The influx of crypto migrants will not compensate for this loss of income. According to Balis Statistics Office, only 51 tourists visited the island last year, compared to more than 6 million annually before pandemic. Some parts of the island were almost emptied.

Those in the crypto community are not blind to the local companies that fight around them. Last year an anonymous group Bali Token, a crypto token, launched. According to his website, it can be used as a "discount voucher" at "every tourism location in Bali" and "help millions of Balinese. According to the data provider CoinmarketCap, the value of the token has been broken by almost 100 percent since its high in January.

Regardless of this, an online petition asked the Indonesian government to create a “visa for long-distance workers” to boost the “digital and creative economy” because Bali had to struggle with drought in tourism. It has been signed by 3,416 people since its introduction two years ago.

In the petition, it is said that long -term workers often have a ambiguous legal status in places like Bali without special approval.

Maksimenka suggested that many social media posts be treated with skepticism about Bali.

"Most of these golden children who tried to show their wealth [on social media], they are usually fraudsters," he said. Only about 10 percent of the Bali crypto community take "the technology seriously", he added, while the rest "simply jumps on the hype" and tries to earn money.

mega Septiandara, an Indonesian who works from Bali for an investment company, also suggested that not every expat was on the island in the long run.

"I have a job and so I survive. Krypto is nice. I have a nice side income of it," she said.

But others "try to make their luck", added. "Some fight a bit and have decided to return to their home country. [They] Maybe you will find it a bit boring in Bali. After a while it only says: '