Ljubljana, Slovenia is a city that often comes up in discussions of cryptocurrency-friendly locales. Despite its small size, the city has seen remarkable growth in the crypto sector, particularly in the development of crypto retail payments. It is home to the nonprofit Blockchain Alliance Europe, the Slovenia Bitcoin Association, and a number of firms creating crypto infrastructure, such as Eligma, which largely does business as GoCrypto. GoCrypto has created a checkout system that includes both crypto payment options and more familiar credit card processing. According to one 2022 study, Ljubljana, with a population comparable to Boise, Idaho’s, has hundreds of retail locations, bars and other venues that accept crypto payments.
The city also has a fast-growing reputation as an advanced, sophisticated nation. Slovenia is an EU member nation, and enjoys regulation under the promising new MiCA standards, which have been quite positively received by the crypto sector. It has a high life expectancy, and close to 70% of Slovenian adults speak English. Ljubljana also has a top-10 quality-of-life score, which enabled it to break into the top 15.
Slovenia is not just physically beautiful, but also has a number of cultural attractions. Photos of Ljubljana look like a real-life Wes Anderson movie, all bright primary colors and wedding cake filigree. And as you walk among those marvels, you might bump into Slovenia’s most famous son: philosopher Slavoj Žižek.
Those perks do come at a price. According to data from Nomadlist.com, the cost of living in central Ljubljana is relatively high, comparable to Western European cities like Berlin. But, according to the same data, life outside of central Ljubljana is cost-competitive with the likes of Mexico City and even Bangkok.
So if you’re looking for a crypto hub without the furious grind of life in the U.S. or Asia, and perhaps a bit more frontier spirit than you’d expect in France or Germany, Ljubljana may be just right. As GoCrypto CEO Dejan Roljic said, “the quality of life is so good here.”