Calvin Ayre, a gambling and bitcoin multi-millionaire who was once on the “wanted” list of US authorities, is building a $100m five-star resort on Antigua funded by profits from digital currencies.
Canadian-born Ayre, who has been appointed Antigua and Barbuda’s special economic envoy, said he had begun work on the upmarket tourist resort on Antigua’s Valley Church beach.
Ayre, who pleaded guilty to a single federal misdemeanour in 2017 after years of being pursued by US investigators, said the Ayre Resort would be entirely funded by profits made from the rise in value of bitcoin in which he was an early investor.
Bitcoin is a 'cryptocurrency' – a decentralised tradeable digital asset. Invented in 2008, you store your bitcoins in a digital wallet, and transactions are stored in a public ledger known as the bitcoin blockchain, which prevents the digital currency being double-spent.
Cryptocurrencies can be used to send transactions between two parties via the use of private and public keys. These transfers can be done with minimal processing cost, allowing users to avoid the fees charged by traditional financial institutions - as well as the oversight and regulation that entails. The lack of any central authority oversight is one of the attractions.
This means it has attracted a range of backers, from libertarian monetarists who enjoy the idea of a currency with no inflation and no central bank, to drug dealers who like the fact that it is hard (but not impossible) to trace a bitcoin transaction back to a physical person.
The exchange rate has been volatile, with some deeming it a risky investment. In January 2021 the UK's Financial Conduct Authority warned consumers they should be prepared to lose all their money if they invest in schemes promising high returns from digital currencies such as bitcoin.
In practice it has been far more important for the dark economy than it has for most legitimate uses. In November 2021 it hit a record high of more than $68,000, as a growing number of investors backed it as an alternative to other assets during the Covid crisis.
Bitcoin has been criticised for the vast energy reserves and associated carbon footprint of the system. New bitcoins are created by “mining” coins, which is done by using computers to carry out complex calculations. The more bitcoins that have been "mined", the longer it takes to mine new coin, and the more electricity is used in the process.
Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said: “We expect the resort’s novel and exciting concept to broaden Antigua and Barbuda’s tourism product and bring a new category of tourists to our islands. We look forward to working with Mr Ayre on this resort and the many other investments he has made in Antigua.”
Ayre, 56, to whom Antigua and Barbuda has given the official title of “his excellency”, said: “This resort will attract a totally new market segment of tourism on the island — successful wellness-seekers who also want to have fun. The property will not be an all-inclusive destination. Instead, its amenities will be available to residents of Antigua and Barbuda and visitors alike.”
The resort will accept bitcoin cash, which forked from bitcoin last year, at point of sale terminals on the property and through its online booking engine.
Ayre, whose pig-farmer father was convicted of smuggling marijuana, was barred from acting as a director of a public company in British Columbia following a share-trading scandal in the 1990s. He recovered from that setback to create Bodog, one of the largest online gambling brands in the world, and the business’s growth led to him judging televised lingerie contests during the Super Bowl and being the subject of a six-page profile in Playboy magazine— Ayre bought 3,000 copies of the issue for himself.
The success of Bodog attracted the attention of US authorities when Forbes magazine profiled Ayre with a front cover entitled: “Catch Me If You Can: Calvin Ayre has gotten very rich by taking illegal bets over the internet.”
Ayre said his actions were legal because of a complex series of financial transactions on three different continents. Felony charges against Ayre, Bodog and three other Canadian men were dropped last year.
• This article was amended on 11 June 2024 to rephrase references to US authorities having previously pursued Calvin Ayre.
