It has been, dare I say, six months since the previous issue, so this will be less of a news update and more of an overview of the project’s current state.
Montelibero has entered a fairly mature phase where many previously intuitive practices are being codified. If you browse through the Sunday posts in the main Montelibero Telegram channel (by searching for the #sundaypost tag), you’ll see constant updates like “offer for such-and-such token published,” “terms of such-and-such program changed,” and so on. The project has gathered the low-hanging fruit from when people invested based on raw enthusiasm and is now refocusing on more thoughtful investors who require conventionally formatted documents, without which investments look dubious.
Construction in MTL-City is moving slower than planned—in the last issue, I wrote that the first multi-apartment building was promised by the New Year; well, now they promise it by summer. It is fully built and is currently being finished. Four apartments owned by the fund have already been promised for rent to two families of project participants (what can you do, these are very small apartments, which is why two were taken per family), and a fifth apartment has been put up for sale to settle with equity investors—after all, one cannot hand them half a square meter of housing in kind. Additionally, the construction company began buying back tokens, from the sale of which it funded the construction, at 40% above the placement price. This leaves me with mixed feelings. Of course, it’s good that investors were allowed to make a profit, but it’s lousy that housing is becoming quite expensive for the end consumer. Because of this construction boom and the Bitcoin dip, I no longer have the opportunity to build for myself.
Nevertheless, news that all utilities in MTL-City are fully completed, down to the provision of fiber optic internet, cannot help but be pleasing. By May, they also promise to finalize a large reservoir, which will allow water to be purchased in bulk and distributed throughout the settlement. All utilities are promised to be tokenized, with meter readings almost being written to the blockchain.
And just to fully touch the hearts of tech novelty enthusiasts, one of the project participants, Ralf, who, by the way, represents us in the German diaspora (the second largest after the Russians), has started producing hot water using a Bitcoin miner. The prototype has already been assembled; scaling is expected next. There is hope that, as a result, hot water can be obtained cheaper than if heated independently with a standard domestic boiler.
The club, which I wrote about a lot in recent issues and which has become the center of life for all Bar-based project participants, has also been tokenized. Buying club tokens allows anyone to support the project and provides access to a closed chat where further development paths are discussed. The club has not yet reached break-even, but at least the creator managed to recoup a significant portion of their initial investment through the sale of tokens.
On March 20, the club celebrated its anniversary. About fifty people attended the buffet in honor of the event, and we had a wonderful time; I even won a free cocktail in a quiz on the club’s history, sharing the victory with another Montelibero elder, eleven-year-old Saveliy, who arrived in Montenegro just three days after me.
As I feared in the last issue, the flow of Russian emigrants to Montenegro has slowed down. Moreover, Montenegro itself continues to complicate the conditions for obtaining a residence permit, which also does not contribute to optimism. And just today, the old president lost the elections (actually, it is very correct when an incumbent loses an election), and the new one strongly wants to pull the country into the EU, which inevitably should lead to increased regulatory pressure. It is a pity that Milo Đukanović ran in the elections personally, unable to entrust it to some sufficiently popular like-minded person. What, there are none? Well, then they deserve it, however bitter that may sound from the lips of foreigners. However, Montenegro is a parliamentary republic, and parliamentary elections will be in a couple of months. We will see then what the ruling coalition looks like; I hope it’s a fragile one.
