How Portugal Became a Crypto Hub

[johnblockbuster]

Portugal’s rise as a crypto hotspot didn’t happen overnight. According to Hugo Volz Oliveira, co-founder and secretary of the Lisbon-based crypto think tank New Economy, the country’s attractive lifestyle and crypto-friendly tax policies have long drawn blockchain enthusiasts. But things really took off during the pandemic.

“There was a major wave of crypto migration between 2020 and 2022,” Oliveira notes, with Portugal seeing an influx of founders, investors, and remote workers.

Bernardo Saraiva, co-founder of global talent platform World Talents, says research showed a spike in crypto workers relocating to Portugal, especially after the Ukraine-Russia war broke out. “We saw a surge from Ukraine and Russia,” he says, “but also strong movement from Germany, Spain and the UK — many of them crypto founders.”

In fact, World Talents data shows that around 20% of Portugal’s crypto community are founders — double the number of developers.

High-profile residents include Ethena founder Guy Young and Immunefi founder Mitchell Amador, with core members of Near, Gnosis, Bankless Ventures, Peak Ventures and Z-Prime also calling Portugal home. Crypto VC firm Lightshift Capital is headquartered in Lisbon.

Collectively, crypto projects have raised $1.75 billion to grow operations in the country. According to World Talents, the top sectors include infrastructure (30.5%), venture capital (22%), DeFi (16%), and gaming/NFTs (10.2%).

Oliveira estimates the crypto workforce in Portugal is somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 people — and says getting accurate data is now a key focus.