Crypto in Puerto Rico: Part 1

San Juan, Puerto Rico  

Call me a cynic but there is a variety of philanthropist that fascinate me. Those who say they want to help people, have the means to help people, even a record of helping people but ultimately, their acts of service apply if and only if they are among the greatest beneficiaries.

‘Is there a revolution brewing in Puerto Rico?’ That is the question this Australian Broadcast Company (ABC) piece asked. The video report quickly went viral in many cryptocurrency circles, mostly because of their familiarity with one of piece’s main attractions: Brock Pierce.The report investigates a recent development on the island of Puerto Rico that has been ravaged by Hurricane Maria which hit in September 2017. The storm likely killed more than 4000 people — though the ‘official’ toll has been remarkably lower than this. There are still tens of thousands of people without reliable electricity — the longest blackout in US history.

Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States of America — not a state. For this reason they cannot participate in federal democracy — they cannot vote for their president. They also cannot trade with their neighbours, or anyone for that matter, without first going through mainland USA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have certain archaic guidelines and restrictions in place that have significantly stagnated recover efforts and the rebuilding of infrastructure on the island. Puerto Rico has endured over 400 years of colonisation and recent economic hardships have compounded long-standing problems.

I need to preface this piece with the admission that I am neither Puerto Rican nor a crypto millionaire. I am not a US citizen and I have not endured the trauma of a hurricane. I am however a writer for CRYPTO101 and we aim to cover developments in the cryptocurrency + blockchain space. We believe it is our responsibility to communicate the happenings of the industry to the everyday consumer and what is happening in Puerto Rico is groundbreaking — for better or worse — and the developments unfolding there are unavoidably important. 

I think I speak for most of us when I say we who are interested and invested in blockchain innovations want the world to understand and experience the benefits that distributed ledger technology can bring. It is for this reason that people like Brock Pierce captivate us. We are attracted to the idea of blockchain technology gaining publicity. But if you’re like me, this attraction is always accompanied by an anxious anticipation of the moment of  publicity being damaging, inaccurate or cringe-worthy. Unfortunately, the whole ‘crypto island’ experiment Brock and others are conducting on Puerto Rico seems to be a disastrous combination of all three. While it is true that distributed ledger technology can and ultimately will transform Puerto Rico one day, we need to be incredibly careful with how that transformation is both communicated and executed.

Brock and a handful of other people — whose credentials are hazy but certainly seem to include the achievement of being fortunate enough to have acquired large amounts of cryptocurrency earlier than most — have set up something of a crypto pseudo-city in the area of Puerto Rico’s surfing capital: Rincon


Rincon, Puerto Rico  

Their apparent goal — though they do not seem to have an official spokesperson, roadmap or organised PR strategy, is to become a “hub of innovation” as Pierce describes it. They profess to want to share the wonders of cryptocurrency with the still-healing, largely-forgotten and long-subjugated local population. Housan Harrill — who bills himself as a ‘crypto investor and eductor’ says that “anything is possible through trading crypto”, a patently false and ridiculous thing to claim, and a statement that seems to indicate that it is not a belief in the blockchain technology itself that will help alleviate the pressures on Puerto Ricans but the potential financial gains of speculating on a volatile asset class — insanity.

If you were to ask Pierce for his own reasoning for his involvement in Puerto Rico’s affairs you will soon hear the cringeworthy and I-wish-it-was-true-but-I-just-don’t-believe-you quip of  “I live in service”.

That may be so, but we can't deny that the 4% corporate tax and 0% capital gains tax have nothing to do with it. The crypto pioneers — to be fair —  aren't shy about boasting of this personal economic incentive. They seem to view it as a ‘once in a lifetime’ financial opportunity. And although their overt branding and messaging is repeatedly emphasising how they want to recreate Puerto Rico and help the people living their experience the blockchain future — one can’t help but feel as though there is just as much, if not more, in it for them than there is for the average Puerto Rican.

This was clearly evident during the ‘Day of Listening’ hosted by the crypto pioneers as a type of open forum where Brock and his fellow new arrivals met and discussed their vision with the Puerto Rican people. The opening dialogue did not go well. It turned into more a ‘Day of Pontificating.’ Local voices rallied against what they perceived to be a poorly disguised new-colonialism and the poorly-paced enthusiasm on display.

“When there is a lot of hubris and a lot of excitement over the next thing that’s going to save the world, you can end up burning a lot of things along the way” — Christine Nieves

It might be fair to say that Brock and his followers did not expect much pushback from their grandiose plans to rescue and transform the island nation — a further sign of their ill-preparedness or lack of respect for local contexts.

 “Every other nation In the Caribbean would love to have us... so I’m only here if Puerto Rico wants us, otherwise I’m gone.”— Brock Pierce

All evidence suggests that Puerto Rico does not want Brock and his new-age entrepreneurs, at least not now, in this way. Yet they have remained on the island.

Puerto Ricans have seen this all before. The crypto pioneers resemble so much of what has plagued the island nation for hundreds of years — powerful, rich foreigners imposing their vision of salvation upon a people. The all-too-familiar missionary  vision that resembles little respect for traditional peoples, culture and practices and yet, coincidently includes bountiful rewards for the ‘saviours.’ 

I have struggled to find the right descriptor for Brock and his cohort throughout this piece, opting at times for ‘crypto pioneers’. However, I genuinely feel like this might be too fair, too positive a term for what they are actually doing. The term ‘crypto colonialists’ has been uttered more than once, and perhaps it is a better fit.
 

Written by: Glen Veitch - CRYPTO 101 Blog Writer