Crypto billionaires want to build Criptoland in Puerto Rico

The idea of ​​building alternative societies did not begin with Raul Seixas, brazilian singer, although his music became a reference on the subject in Brazil. The French François Fourier and the Englishman Robert Owen were the first to use the term in the early nineteenth century, becoming the parents of cooperativism. Both believed in an autonomous and self-sufficient cooperative alternative society.

On the same principle, a group of investors, who became billionaires with the rise of the crypto-coins, are working to create their own alternative society in Puerto Rico. The article by Nellie Bowles for the New York Times, the US news agency, revealed the plans for "Puertopia" or "Project Sun", which features the participation of one of the founders of Tether and founder of EOS.

After selling their homes in California, USA, and elsewhere, investors have spent more than a year looking for the best place to put the plan into practice. After Hurricane Maria rocked Puerto Rican infrastructure in September 2017, and the price of the crypto-coins began to skyrocket, they saw the country as the ideal location, as Puerto Rico offers a unique tax incentive: income tax federal income tax is zero, that is, there are no capital gains taxes and corporation taxes are favorable. It would be possible to take advantage of all this even without investors having to give up their American citizenships, after all Puerto Rico is a free state associated with the United States. For the time being, the Puerto Rican government seems to be receptive to cryptotopists.

Investors have recently sought land where they can build their own airports and quays, take care of hotels and a museum in the historic neighborhood of the capital, known as Old San Juan, and are close to getting the local government to authorize them to open the first bank of cryptomoedas. The group intends with its wealth to create a cryptotopia, a new city where money will be virtual and all contracts will be public, with the intention of showing the rest of the world how the future can be crypto.

The Monastery
For the time being, the puertopians occupied the Monastery, a 1,850-square-meter hotel that was rented based.

Matt Clemenson and Stephen Morris, members of the group, want two things to be clear: they chose Puerto Rico because of the hurricane and they came on a peace mission. "It is only when everything has been destroyed that one can defend the idea of ​​rebuilding from scratch," said Morris. Clemenson is a co-founder of Lottery.com, which applies blockchain technology to lotteries. He said: "We are benevolent capitalists, we want to build a benevolent economy. Puerto Rico is a hidden gem, an enchanted island that has always been mistreated and overlooked. Maybe we can correct that 500 years later".

Movement leader Brock Pierce, 37, arrived on the island in early December. Asked about the guidelines of the plans, he replied: "compassion, respect, financial transparency". Director of the Bitcoin Foundation, Pierce is an important figure in the crypto-coins market. The businessman is co-founder of a blockbain startup for companies, Block.One, which has sold about $ 200 million of a virtual currency tailor made to EOS. Formerly a child actor, Pierce joined the digital money field early as a professional gaming player, panning and trading gold in "World of Warcraft," an effort funded in part by former Donald Trump advisor Stephen Bannon. "I'm afraid people will misunderstand what we're going to do," he said. "Let them think we're just coming to evade tax".

Experiment
Bryan Larkin, 39, and Reeve Collins, 42, work in another old hotel in the capital, Vanderbilt County. "Let's turn this place into cryptolandism," says Larkin. He has already mined about $ 2 billion in Bitcoin and is the chief technology officer of Blockchain Industries, a publicly traded company based in Puerto Rico.

Collins raised more than $ 20 million with an initial money offer for BlockV, its block store, whose digital currency is worth about $ 125 million. The businessman is also a co-founder of Tether, a company that provides dollar-denominated crypto-coins and whose currencies are worth about $ 2.1 billion. "This is the first time in history that someone who is not king, ruler or god can create his own money".

Many residents of San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, are still confused about how to react to the newcomers of the cryptomeo. Some see the new wave as a welcome infusion of investment and ideas. "We are open to crypto-businesses," said Erika Medina-Vecchini, director of the country's Economic and Trade Development department, which will launch an advertising campaign aimed at the new boom of newcomers linked to the crypto-coins with the slogan.

Tags: #crypto #puertorico #criptoland #money #bitcoin
Author: Cripto.Digital