{"id":974056,"date":"2021-07-11T23:54:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T03:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/former-pro-sailer-brokers-tax-haven-passports-for-wealthy-crypto-clients"},"modified":"2021-07-11T23:54:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T03:54:11","slug":"former-pro-sailer-brokers-tax-haven-passports-for-wealthy-crypto-clients","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/plato-data\/former-pro-sailer-brokers-tax-haven-passports-for-wealthy-crypto-clients\/","title":{"rendered":"Former pro sailer brokers tax-haven passports for wealthy crypto clients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Russian expatriate and former professional sailboat racer Katie Ananina is the founder of Plan B Passport, a firm that brokers citizenship through investment schemes for tax-haven nations<\/a> that don\u2019t impose capital gains on crypto holdings to wealthy investors.<\/p>\n According to a Sunday report<\/a> from CNBC, Plan B brokers hundreds of passports for predominantly western clients each year. Customers select from one of seven jurisdictions: Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Vanuatu, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Portugal.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the government starts affecting me, I will take all [my assets] into my hands and go elsewhere,\u201d said Ananina, adding:<\/p>\n \u201cI was smart enough to figure out that $200 in bitcoin will be worth $100,000 at some point. I don\u2019t think the government should have 40% of that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The safe-haven states offer citizenship through investment schemes requiring six-figure investments into local businesses, real estate or government bonds. Some jurisdictions accept payment as donations, with Ananina estimating most passports cost between $100,000 and $150,000.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s basically a donation into the sustainable growth fund of the country. So, clients make a $100,000 or $150,000 donation, plus some due diligence fees, government fees, and then $20,000 for my legal fees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Plan B\u2019s clients will also incur exit taxes should they revoke their existing citizenship.<\/p>\n Ananina became a Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) maximalist after witnessing a 50% crash in the price of Russian rubles while living in Spain and competing for Russia\u2019s national sailing team in 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cMy macroeconomics professor wasn\u2019t able to explain that to me. There was no chance I could run my equations and figure out what happened there. I realized I wasn\u2019t happy with how money works.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Related: <\/em><\/strong>2020\u2019s 5 countries friendliest to crypto and blockchain<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Citizenship through investment schemes has come under increasing scrutiny recently, following a series of investigations by Al Jazeera that revealed wholesale corruption among the officials overseeing the programs in Cyprus and the Caribbean<\/a> \u2014 with some Caribbean states being found to offer<\/a> diplomatic passports for the right price.<\/p>\n Cyprus abolished<\/a> its citizenship through investment scheme in October 2020.<\/p>\n