Welcome… to Fantas… er, Satoshi Island. It’s a project aiming to turn a tropical South Pacific isle into the “crypto capital of the world”, and it’s just secured approval from the prime minister of Vanuatu.

In an official statement from the archipelago nation, Prime Minister Bob Loughman endorsed the approval his Finance Ministry first gave to build on the island late last year.

This now puts him in a similar crypto-championing league as El Salvador’s Bitcoin-loving leader. (President Nayib Bukele famously made the orange coin legal tender in El Salvador last September, has plans for a Volcano-powered Bitcoin City, and is even planning to offer citizenship to foreign investors.)

Loughman’s letter of approval describes the project as “an exciting prospect” and states that his government looks forward to the “opportunities it will bring to the local people and businesses”. The PM also emphasised that Vanuatu is looking for “innovative solutions” to help grow its economy.

What is Satoshi Island?

Like dollars and cents? You’re not welcome on Satoshi Island. Well, you probably still are, but your trad money might not exactly burn a hole in your pocket in crypto paradise, as its economy (and blockchain-based democracy) is designed to run on nothing but Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets.

The island is named after Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto and is one of the 83 or so that make up Vanuatu. It’s roughly 32 million square feet (about 437 rugby league fields) of privately owned tropical land belonging to Satoshi Island Limited.