Puerto Rico
The economy of Puerto Rico is struggling to survive after being beaten up by a long recession and then by Hurricane Maria. To get some financial respite for the territory, Governor Ricardo Roselló aims to use the government’s resources to invest in crypto technology and medical marijuana, along with some other projects.
With his initiatives, it looks like he’s trying to develop a venture capital portfolio for the region as he places several small bets in investments that are considered risky but can possibly transform the local economic scenario.
Former child actor and crypto billionaire, Brock Pierce, wants to bring blockchain to this small island. While the place is under a financial stress, it’s a haven for companies moving from the mainland as they can get a tax break, paying just 4% corporate tax and absolutely nothing on passive income.
This is why the region has attracted several cryptocurrency startups. With its tax benefits, Puerto Rico expects to become a small “crypto Silicon Valley. Apart from this, the blockchain technology can also be used to revolutionize the infrastructure of the country.
The president of Venezuela recently announced that they will introduce a petro cryptocurrency that can bring radical economic reforms to the country. This move will be done to save the country from an imminent economic collapse as the US dollar is over 2,48,000 Venezuelan Bolívar at present.
President Maduro of Venezuela announced that the new petro currency will stop the rising inflation and will be backed by a secure crypto technology. However, their own parliament considers the new crypto currency a scam.
While Venezuela’s hyperinflation is all set to strike the one million percent mark by the end of this year, it is now ranked as number four in all the countries that trade Bitcoin, generating about 12% of all global transactions.
In another example, Zimbabwe also tried to go the crypto way to help their economy. However, the country’s banks are now banned from processing crypto payments, including those in Bitcoin.
While investing in crypto can be a good strategy, Governor Roselló is also planning to put his money in medical marijuana and get some gains from the weed rush. Medical marijuana has been legalized in the territory from 2015 and it is openly available to the public through medical dispensaries since January 2017. The business of medical cannabis is already booming here and the governor hopes that additional funds in this business along with help from movie production and crypto will soon get them back on their feet.
Apart from crypto and weed, Puerto Rico is also looking towards movie production and the profits it can generate for them. Primal, a Nicolas Cage starring movie with the budget of $31 million is going to be filmed in this territory. It is being expected that the shooting of the movie will generate 700 direct and 2000 indirect jobs.
Roselló stated, “Our commitment is to continue working on designing strategies that benefit this sector and to position Puerto Rico as the perfect destination for these projects.”
With not much historical data on the effect of cryptocurrencies on the economic success of a country or a region, the level of productivity of Puerto Rico’s crypto efforts cannot be accurately forecasted. But we certainly wish them luck and hope that cryptocurrencies can bring the much-needed financial independence to their citizens.