Pontinha, a tiny micronation island off the coast of Portugal, just became the first country in the world to officially adopt Bitcoin as its national currency. Prime Minister Joby Weeks announced Bitcoin as the nation’s official money earlier this week as the nation also works toward renaming itself “Atlantis” after the mythical lost island civilization.

The micronation exemplifies “micro” with a quoted population of four people living in an area about 2,000 square feet (about the size of a three-bedroom house). The very name “Pontinha” means “a point,” which the island would certainly appear to be on a map. The island is also home to Prince D. Renato Barros, a Portuguese man who purchased the island and announced its secession from Portugal in 2007.

“I have both a Portuguese passport and a passport for Pontinha (where my passport number is 0001),” the prince told The Guardian in 2014. “There are four citizens: me, my wife, my son and my daughter. I am the police, the gardener, everything. I am whatever I want to be – that’s the dream, isn’t it?”

In an interview with Disruptek, Prime Minister Weeks discussed the possibility that the country might adopt further Bitcoin blockchain-based technologies, such as e-passports and e-residency for Pontinha citizenry.

Bitcoin provides a trade connection for small nations

As a micronation and its own sovereignty, Pontinha is essentially cut off from the rest of the world without trade. In fact, at the very beginning of its existence as a country, nearby governor of Madeira threatened to cut off its electricity if the island were not sold back. In response, Prince Barros set up a solar panel and windmill to produce electricity.

Bitcoin and the blockchain, the worldwide distributed ledger that underpins Bitcoin, a small nation could provide numerous electronic services that could provide an export. This model has been pushed by companies such as 21, Inc., which produces the 21 Bitcoin Computer that provides access to a worldwide marketplace; the idea is to provide a trade space for Internet-based services in exchange for Bitcoins.

Being its own sovereign state also means that Pontinha could provide services that take electricity and computing power, such as storage, data analysis and post-processing. The country could also provide a safe haven for Bitcoin businesses seeking to work outside of the stormy regulatory atmosphere elsewhere — Bitcoin businesses have already left New York due to the infamous BitLicense.

This has already been the vision of the Isle of Man, a small island nation in the UK, which has sought to become a hub for Bitcoin and digital currency businesses.

As the world continues to examine and embrace Bitcoin and blockchain technologies, including the aforementioned 21 Bitcoin Computer, new and innovative opportunities will open up for countries to use Bitcoin in their own governments and as exports. CoinDesk‘s venture capital investment tracker estimates almost $1 billion USD has been poured into Bitcoin businesses (and almost half of that spent in 2015), showing a similar expansion of expectations.

Featured image credit: via the Principality of the Pontinha from http://www.fortesaojose.org/