Crypto Cities: What Happened After the Hype

Crypto cities were places that tried to build, or adopt, crypto as part of daily life. In 2018 the idea looked close. Looking back, the results are mixed. Purpose-built cities did not appear in the form promised. Places that added crypto to an existing economy, like Zug and Lugano, did better. MiamiCoin lost most of its value, and El Salvador changed its Bitcoin law after an IMF deal.

Why 2018 felt like the start

Bitcoin’s price boom of 2017 brought money and attention. Puerto Rico was recovering from Hurricane Maria, and some crypto investors saw a place to start from scratch.

That mix produced bold plans for whole cities run on blockchain. The word “crypto city” can mean one of three things: a new city built around crypto, an existing city that accepts crypto for some payments, or a country-level policy.

Crypto city, three meanings

The first meaning is a city built from nothing, designed around digital money and blockchain records. The second is an existing city that accepts crypto for some payments, such as taxes or city fees. The third is a country that changes its national rules, as El Salvador did.

These are very different projects. A new city needs land, money, buildings, laws and residents. A payment option for tax bills needs only a software link and a licensed partner. Most of the real progress since 2018 has been of the second kind.

Puerto Rico and Puertopia

According to Wikipedia’s account, a group led by Brock Pierce moved to Old San Juan in early 2018. Reported plans called a city, named Puertopia and later Sol, at the former Roosevelt Roads naval base in Ceiba, with digital currency payments and blockchain contracts.

Wikipedia says the goal of a crypto city remains unfulfilled. Crypto prices fell in 2018, a San Juan bank linked to the group dissolved, and some members left. Recent work at the Roosevelt Roads site is described as focused on an airport and a spaceport. Pierce has described the original ideas as loose and not well thought out.

Tax rules also played a part in why crypto people came to the island. Acts 20 and 22, now part of Act 60, gave tax benefits to new residents. We rely on one secondary source for this history, so treat details as the reported record, not as final.

Miami and MiamiCoin

Miami’s MiamiCoin was part of CityCoins, launched in August 2021 on the Stacks network. Part of the money people put into mining it went to a wallet controlled for the city.

In February 2022 the city received about US$5.25 million. It arrived in US dollars, as a gift from the CityCoins protocol, because Florida law stops cities from holding crypto. By mid-May 2022 the coin had fallen about 95% from its September 2021 peak, to roughly US$0.0032, according to Quartz.

The lesson is simple. A city budget that depends on a token price carries the token’s risk. We do not state anything here about the coin’s status in 2026 because we could not confirm it.

Zug and Crypto Valley

Zug, a Swiss canton, became known as Crypto Valley. The Crypto Valley Association was founded in 2017. Zug has accepted Bitcoin and Ether for tax payments since 2021.

The cluster is now large. CV VC’s April 2026 report counts 1,766 active blockchain companies and says Zug holds 41% of them. It says Crypto Valley companies raised US$728 million across 31 deals in 2025, which was 47% of European blockchain funding.

Read that funding figure with care. A single US$400 million raise by TON was by our calculation about 55% of the total, so one deal moves the number a lot. Even so, the pattern is consistent: Switzerland hosted a base of companies, not a new city.

Lugano’s Plan B

Lugano did not try to build a new city. It started accepting crypto for tax payments in March 2022, working with Tether. In December 2023 it said residents and companies could pay taxes and other municipal fees in Bitcoin and USDT, using a Bitcoin Suisse process and the standard Swiss QR bill.

The Swiss franc is still the only legal currency. Lugano shows a narrow, practical approach: let people pay existing bills in crypto.

El Salvador

El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021. That changed under an IMF program. The IMF’s December 2024 staff-level agreement said that legal reforms would make private sector acceptance of Bitcoin voluntary, that purchases of Bitcoin by the public sector would be confined, and that taxes would only be paid in US dollars.

Congress passed the law change on 29 January 2025. IMF Country Report 25/58 says the reform removed the concept of currency and the essential features of legal tender, ending the obligation to accept Bitcoin. Media describe the label differently, and some say Bitcoin is still legal tender in name. We therefore say only that acceptance is no longer required.

An IMF Selected Issues paper from 2025 found that adopting Bitcoin as legal tender had not led to visible improvements in financial inclusion.

The Noah Project and Manila

The Noah Project announced a planned “Noah City” in Manila. We found no independent evidence it was built. Read about the history on our Noah Coin page.

The five places at a glance

Place	Type	What is confirmed
Puerto Rico (Puertopia, Sol)	Planned new city	Reported in 2018; goal described as unfulfilled
Miami	City token	US$5.25 million paid in 2022; coin about 95% down by May 2022
Zug	Existing city	Accepts Bitcoin and Ether for taxes since 2021; 1,766 companies counted in 2026
Lugano	Existing city	Bitcoin and USDT accepted for city bills
El Salvador	Country	Acceptance made voluntary in 2025 under an IMF program

What a crypto city would face in the Philippines

Any crypto business that serves Filipinos has to deal with the BSP and the SEC. The BSP publishes a list of registered virtual asset service providers, and the SEC issued rules for crypto-asset service providers in 2025. Philstar reported in September 2025 that the BSP’s freeze on new VASP licences stayed in place. A city that wanted to run on crypto would first need regulated on-ramps, and those are limited. See our remittance guide for the current picture.

What the record shows

Looking at these places together gives a few clear points.

• Existing places did better than new ones. Zug and Lugano added crypto to cities with working rules and a strong base of firms.
• Rules matter more than slogans. Switzerland hosted a base of firms. El Salvador’s mandate ended under pressure from lenders.
• Token prices are a weak foundation. MiamiCoin’s value fell sharply, and the city was not able to hold the coin itself.
• Real payment use is narrow. Paying municipal bills in crypto is useful for some, but the local currency stays.

Questions to ask about any crypto city pitch

Before believing a new plan, ask who pays for it and whether the money depends on a token price. Ask if there is a legal basis, such as a law or a licence, and whether anyone lives or works there today. Ask also if independent reporting confirms the progress, or only the promoters do. Plans that cannot answer these questions are the same kind that failed in 2018.

For where blockchain does and does not work, see practical applications of blockchain. Filipinos who want to move money should start with sending money to the Philippines. This article is information only, not financial advice.