THE crypto elite are packing up and relocating to Puerto Rico, in what is potentially the next Silicon Valley.
This beautiful caribbean island provides a tax haven for the new found millionaires and billionaires of the cryptocurrency boom.
Puerto Rico is a US territory with unique legislation that allows investors to circumvent the daunting 20% capital gains tax, as well as avoid the near 40% federal income tax.
Some of the most influential players in crypto, like Brock Pierce (EOS), Reeve Collins (Tether), and Bryan Larkin (Blockchain Industries) have moved to Old San Juan in hopes of building a “crypto utopia”.
These ambitions are not so far fetched when you consider that all three of the aforementioned names have net worths in the billions of dollars, led by Brock Pierce who is valued at roughly $6.5 billion.
These crypto barons hope to construct a new city where the money is virtual and the contracts are entirely public, to show the rest of the world what a crypto future could look like. Blockchain has the potential to reinvent society, and the Puertopians want to prove it.
Aside from the enormous tax benefits, this is essentially an experiment to see if the impact of cryptocurrencies and blockchain is radical enough to resurrect an economy with $120 billion in debt, over 10% unemployment, a dwindling GDP, and an annual population decline.
With some of the most brilliant minds in the space now inhabiting the island, Puerto Rico very well could become an incubator for blockchain technology, like Silicon Valley was for the internet and tech startups.