Once called "the land of beautiful waters" by the Kalinago, the island of Nevis has all the makings of a tropical paradise. Lush, green, volcanic mountains give way to crystalline seas, interrupted only by small collections of wooden and stone cottages with wide verandahs and louvred shutters. What could a whole lotta bitcoins do to improve such a place?
Along with its larger, louder sister St Kitts, Nevis relies on tourism to provide 60% of the nation’s GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). At just above $23,000 per capita, that puts the islands in fifth place among the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and at the top of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. Still, Premier Mark Brantley early last year announced plans for a "real gamechanger" to diversify and grow the Nevisian economy, whose post-COVID recovery has been running out of steam.
Situated in a newly created administrative enclave, the Destiny project is that purported shift into a higher gear. Aspiring to be the "Monaco-Dubai of the Caribbean," it is the brainchild of Belgian Bitcoin magnate Olivier Janssens. The project combines his autarkic, libertarian philosophy, designs by a famous Chicago firm of architects and his crypto wealth to build a self-contained utopia on Nevis’s southern shore.
But until now, Destiny exists only in the form of a one-page website, and it is by no means clear it will even go ahead. The project is already running into opposition from local politicians and civic groups who see it as a paradise for the rich and as Janssens’ private fiefdom, of little benefit to the wider community. It would seem the locals are not impressed by libertarianism or crypto.
Destiny presents itself in a series of mock-ups of verdant hillsides morphing into layers of futuristic real estate, "fully integrated with nature" and using geothermal energy and rainwater to achieve "full sustainability.’" The ultra-hip development also envisages swimming pools aplenty, a pro golf course, a marina and waterfront promenade, and family-friendly neighbourhoods "shaped to foster social connection, community identity and sense of place, encouraging neighbours to meet, gather and live in harmony."
Destiny’s architects from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill boast of a "feeling of remoteness" that’s "in balance with nature" and make much of its commitment to protect the surrounding wilderness. To make good on the gamechanger promise, Janssens pledges to create thousands of jobs, offering a 20% profit share with local government as well as a 5% dividend to be paid directly to the islanders through a "technology" that is yet to be determined.
Crypto and its disdain for the world of traditional finance in favour of anonymity and distributed ledgers has much in common with libertarians’ desire to slip the surly bonds of intrusive government. Much of the debate surrounding Destiny has to do with its ambition to carve out a territory for experimentation with alternative ideas of governance, independently of the surrounding nation-state.
Among its intellectual roots is the Free Society movement, of which Janssens was the co-founder and CEO until November 2024. The freesociety.com website has gone blank since then, but in an archived version it mentions various failed efforts to create a new country by claiming an existing piece of land, or even building floating structures on water. "Our conclusion is that, to really gain sovereignty, the most efficient way is to negotiate with an existing government."
Libertarian crypto-enthusiasts have already ingrained themselves with other established governments over the past years – El Salvador, Central African Republic, even the US.
Also seminal to crypto-libertarian philosophy is the thinking of Roger Ver, often called “Bitcoin Jesus” for his evangelism around the digital currency . In an interview from 2021, Ver said his love of Bitcoin stems from the belief that it allows individuals to have “complete control over their whole life” without needing permission from governments to do so. Janssens, meanwhile, makes no mention of Ver, who had a run-in with the US authorities for attempting to avoid the "exit tax" when he became a St Kitts and Nevis citizen.
Key to the Destiny plan is the Special Sustainability Zone (SSZ) set up on the island under new legislation last year, allowing the area to write its own rules as long as they are consistent with the St Kitts and Nevis constitution. Much of that is still unclear, and it has stirred up controversy among the islanders.
Janssens has mentioned briefly that Destiny seeks to create governance systems that are “more efficient,” specifically earmarking the courts as ripe for innovation. Destiny’s legal counsel, Tom Bell, makes the case for a self-contained, experimental administrative sand box. Writing about Free Society, Bell notes its ambition to replace said the courts could be replaced by "private arbitration, competing court systems and private law enforcement."
Critics of the SSZ project have labelled it as a "Bitcoin billionaire zone" amounting to a private kingdom for Janssens.
In an address last year, opposition politician Janice Daniel-Hodge said the development would turn Nevisians into "tenants in our own land." It represents "a dark day in the history of our independence," she said.
Janssens’ riposte is that "Destiny is not a separate country. The constitution of St Kitts and Nevis fully applies, and while the zone will have its own internal regulations to attract investment and be safe and secure, we remain bound by the constitution."
He has also been eager to point out that participation in Nevis’s alternative conflict-resolution mechanisms would be voluntary and litigants would be free to turn to the Nevisian courts instead.
More mundanely, Destiny has also come under fire for its effect on the area’s environment, including the marina and artificial beaches, and its need for water in a dry zone, even if it is planning to be self-sufficient.
According to local media, Janssens’ company, South Nevis Ltd, has bought around 2,000 to 2,400 acres of land in the Long Point Port and Indian Castle Estate areas of Nevis’s southern coastline to accommodate the Destiny development. The 46-year-old self-described "lifelong libertarian" earned his OG credentials in 2010, when he started mining Bitcoin shortly after its inception. The reported billionaire moved to tax-friendly Monaco around 2013 and became a St Kitts and Nevis citizen by investing in the country shortly thereafter.
At the news conference, Brantley said an agreement for the Destiny project had been submitted to St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew for final approval on 23 Dec. "The Nevis Island administration has determined that this project will advance the development of the island of Nevis," said Brantley. "We stand behind the project because we think it's a good project for Nevis."
Andrew Starr is a real estate developer who also closely follows the thinking of Free Society and the libertarian Network State project.
"I do respect him for being a Bitcoin OG," Starr told Sandmark in a written comment. Starr said he is a "kindred spirit" wishing Janssens "all the success in the world in advancing the peaceful cause of individual human liberty."
Among Destiny’s forerunners is Prospera, a community set up in a Zone for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDE) in Honduras. It has attracted some crypto-economy development and enjoys some legal autonomy from the country’s bureaucracy, although the current government has been trying to roll this back, arguing the project infringes on its sovereignty. Prospera has also been accused of depleting the area’s fresh water supply.
Another is Zuzalu, a “pop-up-city” project initiated by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, intended as a real-world implementation of the Network State, which sees people forming communities around shared values and technology rather than a specific geography.
Destiny’s Tom Bell says the initiatives enable innovation in governance without the risks and ethical concerns of reforming entire national systems. "To discover better forms of government requires something more than guesswork, partisanship, and violent revolution; it requires the best available tools for finding the truth."
Bell noted that in some jurisdictions like China, policymakers had made special economic zones with the expressed intent to test which modes of governance would be more conducive to economic growth. For the Honduran ZEDEs, a similar approach was taken, with the intent to improve local governance and protection of civil liberties.
Free Society and its kindred spirits insist on participation being voluntary, Bell wrote. "Humans are not laboratory rats."
