United States
| Pros |
|---|
| Strong legal protection of private property rights and robust enforcement of voluntary contractual agreements. |
| Access to the world's deepest private capital markets and diverse venture funding for entrepreneurial growth. |
| Relatively low barriers to entry for new businesses and a culture celebrating individual economic initiative. |
| Cons |
|---|
| Highly complex federal tax system requiring significant resources for compliance and strategic financial planning. |
| Massive national debt and unsustainable government spending posing risks to long-term monetary stability. |
| Growing regulatory burden from an expansive administrative state and non-elected federal agency oversight. |
Long story short: Here, you can set up a company in half a day from your couch, no notary, no absurd paperwork, and nobody will ever knock on your door for a stamp.
Don't celebrate too fast though: the federal tax authority chases you wherever you live on the planet, every state and city stacks its own extra layer of taxes and rules, and lawsuit culture is basically a national sport where one badly worded email can cost you a fortune in lawyers.
Other things worth knowing: the banking system is rock solid but obsessed with anti money laundering paperwork, highways are flawless while the subway falls apart, and in the capital's wealthy neighborhoods the insecurity you read about in the news simply won't touch you. Add world class food and an enormous market, and you'll see why so many people stick around.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: YES, A LOT.
They'll shear you for up to 37% at the top marginal rate in United States, and the taxman has long arms: linger a bit too long, park your economic interests here, and the net closes.
Steep rate, wide catchment: the classic combo of states that don't let go of their cash cows. Don't expect a plane ticket to fix it.
If you earn a year, you will pay .
Roughly effective, with a marginal rate of .
Will your wealth be taxed?
Long story short: YES, FAIRLY.
United States taxes gains at 20% and runs an annual wealth tax above a threshold (top rate 40%).
Your pile gets hit twice: once while it sits, once when it moves. The kind of double-dipping that quietly bleeds a portfolio.
Easy to run a company there?
Long story short: YES, BUT TAXED.
Corporate tax in United States is a moderate 21%, softened for IP-heavy ventures by an IP-box at 13.1%.
The legal frame around it is quiet: no criminal exposure on corporate assets, non-public registries. The rate stings a little; nothing else does.
A good fit for a holding?
Long story short: YES.
United States is built for holding, plain and simple. An extensive treaty network (71 signed agreements) hacks down withholding on cross-border dividends, interest and royalties, and a full participation exemption (100% on qualifying dividends and gains) lets value flow through without a domestic tollbooth.
Top-shelf plumbing: a holding parked here travels the world without leaking.
| Country | Status | Dividends | Interest | Royalties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| ∅ // no treaties match | ||||
Easy to come and go?
Long story short: A LOT.
Leaving United States is the expensive part. Worldwide taxation while you're in, and an exit tax on unrealised gains when you go: the door out costs real money, not just forms.
This is the trap that catches people who assumed they could simply pack up and fly.
Is your money watched?
Long story short: NO.
Nobody's reading over your shoulder in United States. It has joined almost none of the big automatic-exchange machines (CRS, FATCA, CARF, MLI, MAAC), and its corporate registries are non-public.
Your account movements stay out of foreign tax offices; your name stays out of search boxes. Here, discretion isn't a perk; it's the factory setting.
Is it blacklisted?
Long story short: SOMEWHAT.
United States shows up on national blacklists only (drawn from FR/ES/PT/BR), despite its FATF membership.
Expect extra KYC/AML questions in those specific corridors: annoying, not disqualifying. No supranational watchdog has flagged it, so the stain stays local.
Do you feel free there?
Long story short: PARTLY.
United States sits in the middle band of the RSF press-freedom index (rank #57): civil society functions, but the walls are real and you'll learn fast where they stand.
Crypto lives in the standard regulated tier.
| Program | Status | Cross-border | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Digital Dollar
In August 2020, the Fed published some findings of its "FooWire" trial, which was developed using the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain software. According to the central bank's researchers, that trial "highlighted the potential of DLT for certain payment uses, the quick speed with which a system could be implemented, the potential simplicity of smart contracts, and the range of functionality offered by such platforms. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston announced it will work with researchers from MIT's Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) on a "multi-year collaboration" to build and test a "hypothetical" open-source central bank digital currency platform. In a speech announcing this project, Fed governor Lael Brainard stressed that the Fed has still yet to make a formal decision on whether to official pursue a digital currency launch.
US Federal Reserve
|
CANCELLED | — | announce → |
|
Project Hamilton
In August 2020, the Fed published some findings of its "FooWire" trial, which was developed using the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain software. According to the central bank's researchers, that trial "highlighted the potential of DLT for certain payment uses, the quick speed with which a system could be implemented, the potential simplicity of smart contracts, and the range of functionality offered by such platforms. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston announced it will work with researchers from MIT's Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) on a "multi-year collaboration" to build and test a "hypothetical" open-source central bank digital currency platform. In a speech announcing this project, Fed governor Lael Brainard stressed that the Fed has still yet to make a formal decision on whether to official pursue a digital currency launch.
US Federal Reserve
|
PROOF OF CONCEPT | — | announce → |
|
Wholesale Digital Dollar
US Federal Reserve
|
RESEARCH | — | announce → |
|
Project Cedar Phase II x Project Ubin+
Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+ will enhance designs for atomic settlement of cross-border cross-currency transactions, leveraging wCBDCs (wholesale CBDC) as a settlement asset. The effort, which entails establishing connectivity across multiple heterogeneous simulated currency ledgers, aims to significantly reduce settlement risk, a key pain point in cross-border cross-currency transactions.
Monetary Authority of Singapore, US Federal Reserve
|
PROOF OF CONCEPT | YES | announce → |
Connected to the world?
Long story short: EXCELLENT.
United States is wired straight into the global money grid: 10/11 of the services we track work here.
Stripe onboards you, so you can charge cards from a laptop the day you land. Amazon delivers to your door like it would in Paris or Berlin. Wise, Revolut, PayPal: pick your rails, they all run.
Other jurisdictions worth comparing
Picked by similarity of strategic profile to United States. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.