Cryptocurrency community founded in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico: Future Blockchain Utopia? | NewsBTC - Rick D.:

February 14, 2018 - "A group of cryptocurrency entrepreneurs have moved to Puerto Rico with the goal of setting up a libertarian utopia. The settlement was originally named Puertopia but now is known as Sol.... Lured by the promise of freedom, waves of cryptocurrency entrepreneurs have been moving to Puerto Rico ... following Hurricane Maria which desecrated the infrastructure there.... They’re led by Brock Pierce, the director of the Bitcoin Foundation and founder of Block.One.

"The entrepreneurs are hoping to transform the island of Puerto Rico along libertarian principles. The desperation created by ... the natural disaster ... has prompted some to welcome the early cryptocurrency advocates (or the money they bring with them). With few other influxes of outside capital, it’s hoped that the idea of a crypto utopia will allow for much-needed infrastructure improvements and repairs.

"According to the New York Times, the government of Puerto Rico is receptive to the influx of new money that the crypto entrepreneurs are bringing with them. [T]he governor ... agreed to speak at the group’s blockchain summit conference called Puerto Crypto... scheduled for ... March [2018].... Erika Medina-Vecchini, the chief business development officer for the Department of Economic Development and Commerce espoused further positive sentiment about the idea of new money coming to Puerto Rico courtesy of Sol....

"One of the first tasks for the community will be to restore the electricity infrastructure.... Not only will it make living on the island far more comfortable for those used to First World luxuries but it will allow for cryptocurrency mining, an endeavour many inhabitants have made their fortunes from. Naturally, this will benefit those native to the island too....

"There are certainly clear incentives for the libertarian-minded entrepreneurs to flash some cash to set up a community there. For one, citizens of the island do not need to pay Federal personal income taxes or capital gains. They will also benefit from hugely favourable business taxation too. Possibly the most alluring prospect about the site they’ve decided to call home is the fact that they don’t even need to renounce their US citizenship to relocate there."

Read more: https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/02/14/puerto-rico-future-blockchain-utopia/
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Jones Act imposes embargo on Puerto Rico

It's Time to Lift the Jones Act Embargo | Cato Institute - Colin Grabow:

February 20, 2019 - "Puerto Rico is currently under a de facto embargo imposed by Congress.... Puerto Rico finds it impossible to import U.S. liquefied natural gas — not despite being part of the United States, but because of it....

"Passed in 1920, the Jones Act mandates that ships transporting goods between two points in the United States must be U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, U.S.-crewed and U.S.-flagged. Of the 478 ships in the world capable of transporting liquefied natural gas, however, none meet these requirements.

"That’s a problem for Puerto Rico, which relies on LNG for 34 percent of its electricity generation and would like to use more to replace some of the oil and coal that produce 64 percent of its electricity. But with no ships to transport it, cheap U.S.-produced LNG has effectively been placed off limits....

"Puerto Rico applied in December for a waiver from the Jones Act so that the territory can import LNG from the U.S. mainland aboard foreign-flagged ships. This eminently sensible step, however, has been met with a swift bipartisan backlash. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, dispatched [a] letter urging the Trump administration to reject the waiver application.

"Never mind the fact that expanded access to natural gas would help replace dirtier fuels like oil and coal. Never mind that the Jones Act effectively condemns cash-strapped Puerto Rico to paying more for natural gas imported from abroad. Never mind that the waiver would not displace a single U.S. ship, as none are capable of transporting LNG in large quantities....

[T]he Jones Act is among Washington’s most sacred cows.... [S]pecial interests that support the law includ[e] shipyards dependent on the U.S.-build requirement and carriers shielded from foreign competition.... And so ... Democrats and Republicans, who struggle to ... keep the federal government open, are aligned on a law that denies Puerto Rico’s access to U.S. energy supplies and condemns them to purchasing more expensive LNG from elsewhere.... "

"It’s time for the Trump administration to grant the waiver and Congress to repeal the Jones Act."

Read more: https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/its-time-lift-jones-act-embargo

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