The Number and Size of Transactions is Rising

Paya Magazine estimates that Roatan’s yearly GDP is somewhere around $840 million. The island’s roughly 100,000 residents spend around $400 million in yearly personal purchases here. The island has around $65 million in cruise ship sales that stays here, and then there is the $240 million brought in by long-term tourist visitors. There is the bit smaller, but growing, $80 million in real estate transactions. To top it off, there is the yearly $60 million in construction investment.

If these numbers are close to being correct, the island’s economy approaches around $1 billion. Paya Magazine estimates that around 80% of these yearly monetary transactions are made in Lempiras, around 20% in dollars, and less than 1% in Bitcoin. These proportions and numbers have grown in the last 10 years and will continue to change.

The percentage of Bitcoin transactions is likely to increase. Bitcoin adoption on Roatan has been rising steadily since 2021. In 2021, five businesses in the Bay Islands accepted Bitcoin, with three of them on Roatan. According to Dusan Matuska, owner of AmityAge, a company that promotes Bitcoin education and adoption on Roatan, there are now over 50 businesses accepting Bitcoin as a payment. “We are helping to bring more Bitcoin users to the island who will use their holdings to purchase various good and services and also real estate,” Matuska said. “Real estate agents should get ready for it.”

The island’s economy approaches around $1 billion.

According to Matuska, over 10 real estate transactions have occurred on the island with Bitcoin so far. This is related to the price of Bitcoin surpassing $110,000, which has some Bitcoin owners cashing out. Some have converted their Bitcoin holdings to land and properties to diversify in case Bitcoin’s price declines.

There were two properties were purchased with Bitcoin just east of Palmetto Bay. Seventy-five acres and 1,100 feet of beachfront are now owned by a Bitcoin investor. “They purchased it as a land bank,” said Steve Hasz, a real estate broker whose company, Roatan Life, was involved in the sale. “They are not going to develop it.” Hasz says that 270 properties were sold on Roatan last year. That translated to $78 million, and 2024 was not even the island’s best year.

When real estate is purchased in Bitcoin, currency conversion service is typically provided by AmityAge. Transactions in Bitcoin has simplified and sped up sales as well. “You don’t really need an escrow, because you can watch the blockchain and see it convert,” Hasz said.

One exception in Bitcoin-to-Bitcoin real estate transactions is the 10% earnest money paid by the buyer as funds still should be held by an escrow company until the closing. “It may make sense to convert the earnest money as there are quite a bit taxes to pay out of the sales typically,” Hasz said. “You have capital gains, you have taxes at closings, […] attorneys’ fees.”

All the peripheral players still get paid no matter if the transaction, or part of the transaction, is done in Bitcoin. ZOLITUR gets paid, the central government gets paid, no matter what. “If you have a buyer and seller in Bitcoin it is super easy,” said Tomas Figueroa, a KW real estate agent. “If the seller wants dollars we have an operation in place.”

Two other properties were bought in Bitcoin in Lawson Rock in the last 12 months, and the agent involved in those sales was Figueroa. “Próspera and Dusan are the ones that are attracting this type of a [Bitcoin] buyer,” Figueroa said. “It’s all about marketing.”

Bitcoin has simplified and sped up sales.

Buyers and sellers using crypto currencies are not only hedging. “A lot of people who are invested in Bitcoin, it’s not a money issue [in property purchases], it is how they promote Bitcoin and adoption of Bitcoin,” Figueroa said, who expects he should complete his third Bitcoin property sale on the island soon. “Próspera ecosystem is attracting this type of buyer,” the KW agent said. “They have their own property institute, which has been recognized by law.”

While all the properties in Honduras are part of the 2005-implemented National Property Administration System [SINAP] and register a national geospatial infrastructure, Próspera has its own property registry. “The title for a Duna [tower] condo is in the Próspera registry they set out from the very beginning,” said Mike Carter, of Roatan Life Vacations Rental. Not only sales of properties in Próspera can be done in Bitcoin, Próspera also accepts Bitcoin for utility payments.

Other Roatan properties are also available for Bitcoin buyers. Fort Morgan Cay, a private resort island listed for about $10 million, is for sale in Bitcoin. “They would really like to take Bitcoin; they would prefer it, actually,” says Hasz, who represents the owners. The 27.5-acre Roatan east end property is not only historic, with the remains of a 300-year-old fort, but it also might make history if it becomes the biggest Bitcoin sale in the island’s real estate history to date.

Roatan’s Charter City Project Grows Despite Controversy

Próspera’s planned towers on Roatan will easily surpass Cayman Islands where only a couple of ten story buildings have been built to date. The Colors, Cayman Island’s tallest building in Georgetown at 40 meters, is only nine stories tall. The Colors will pale in comparison with the Duna tower that is being constructed just east of Crawfish Rock.

Próspera had a busy 2021, and 2022 is looking even busier. The company acquired a joint venture in Pristine Bay, a development residential community located around a 18 whole golf course. The over 400 acres large investment by Próspera took place after its original Guatemalan developers lost it to its lender Banco Atlántida.

In spring of 2022 a school opened its doors on site of properties Próspera recently acquired. Guidepost Montessori, a middle school opened its doors under the company’s framework. The school is managed by Academy of Thought and Industry and it operates out of a building that used to house the Sky restaurant on the ridge above French Harbour.

There was not the business that took advantage of Próspera’s umbrella that sees itself as an economic development hub. According to Gabriel Delgado, Próspera’s Chief Development Officer, six other businesses already call Próspera their base.

While that expansion is impressive what Próspera is planning for Roatan in the next several years is nothing short of transformative and revolutionary. Próspera’s website sees its impact expand exponentially. Its projects “foreign direct investment of at least $500M and new jobs created (direct) of at least 10,000” by 2025. “We are working ourselves to the bone to get there,” said Delgado.

On an island of around 100,000 people theses numbers are staggering. If Próspera’s goals will ever be achieved the key will lie in tying the project to Honduras’ “Zonas de empleo y desarollo económico” [ZEDE] – Zone for Employment and Economic Development.

Próspera wouldn’t have been formed and the capital couldn’t have been attracted, if it wasn’t for ZEDE. These Honduran laws have come under a lot of criticism especially in the last two years. While Próspera is likely to be grandfathered in under ZEDE laws, current Honduran Congress is arguing that ZEDE law has not been ratified in a correct manner.

As of late legal uncertainty in Honduras’ congress abounds. It could be argued that current Honduran Congress, whose legitimacy is in itself questioned, is arguing that the last congress was illegitimate, and didn’t pass ZEDE laws correctly. Some argue that the ZEDE law needed to be passed with two-thirds majority of congress and it wasn’t. This confusion could spell trouble for Próspera.

What Próspera is planning for Roatan in the next years is nothing short of transformative and revolutionary.

One of the attractions of becoming part of Próspera and ZEDEs are the lower overall taxes: income tax of 10%, land tax of 1 to 2.5%, and 5% VAT sales tax. “Those are the taxes you pay to Próspera ZEDE. A percentage of these taxes are then paid to five destinations including central government and the Municipality,” said Erick Brimen, the man behind Próspera.

Erick Brimen is the company’s Venezuelan born and US educated CEO. His 2005 thesis in Babson College was “how one could direct market forces to solve social problems,” and he sees Roatan Próspera doing just that. While Brimen has been coming to the island since 2016, he has been thinking about Roatan since high school.

In 2002 Brimen heard a high school friend talk about Roatan and describing the island’s potential as being held back because of the lack of legal infrastructure that Cayman Islands had. That friend was Tristan Monterroso, a Roatanian pastor who now sits on Próspera’s council. “When Honduras passed the ZEDEs law and the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional it clicked on me that that could be a delivery mechanism for a place like Roatan to have more prosperity,” said Brimen.
Two islanders are now part of the project: Tristan Monterroso and Duane McNab, owner of Max Communications and Próspera’s Council Member.

Próspera has begun its operation on Roatan on an elongated, meandering 58-acre property just east of Crawfish Rock. The site has about 300 feet of beach but its 750-acre master plan calls for 1.2 kilometer beachfront. “Real estate is heavily financed with debt and other sources of capital,” said Brimen.

Próspera aims at not to be limited to one location on Roatan, and Brimen sees his project not only expanding around Crawfish Rock, but thought the island and beyond. “The idea is to have multiple hubs throughout the island that voluntarily annex,” said Brimen.

Brimen says that Próspera has already raised $17.5 million from investors, one of them being Pronomos Capital. Pronomos Capital bankrolls the construction of experimental cities on available land in developing countries. Pronomos is set up like a venture fund and is making investments in not only Honduras, but the Marshall Islands, Nigeria, and Panama.

Pronomos was founded by Patri Friedman, an American anarcho-capitalist transhumanist and a grandson of Nobel prize winner Milton Friedman. Pronomos in turn is financed by another transhumanist and billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal.

Próspera’s master plan on Roatan includes several high rise buildings, a Marine Center, a University and a Hospital that would provide jobs and create a hub and an “economic development platform” for entrepreneurs from around the world and Honduras. “A platform like Próspera is the future of the island,” said Duane McNab.