Plain English
An expat (short for expatriate) is a person living outside their country of citizenship. Some are abroad temporarily for work; some have relocated permanently for lifestyle, business, or tax reasons. The common thread is dealing with cross-border tax, banking, and legal structures.
How it actually works
Being an expat creates structural complexity. You may owe taxes in your home country, your residence country, or both. You may face restrictions on opening local bank accounts. You may need to manage retirement accounts across jurisdictions. The US is unusual in taxing its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live — most other countries tax based on residence.
What it means for you
For HNW members operating internationally, expat status is the structural backdrop. Crypto rails matter precisely because traditional banking gets harder across borders. Self-custody, stablecoin payments, and on-chain credit lines bypass the friction that complicates traditional cross-border finance.
Our DeFi-for-Expats pillar walks through the specific architectures expat members use: stablecoin payment rails, multi-jurisdiction crypto stacks, and the compliance frameworks (FBAR, FATCA) US-citizen expats must navigate.
Educational content only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice.