The more I read about this story, the more my mind is blown.
The reason for that is the big name behind this "vision" for a utopian rebuild of Puerto Rico, post Irma.
That name is Brock Pierce.
Brock Pierce has an (allegedly) checkered past. He was a child actor, notably appearing in the movie "The Mighty Ducks". By 18, he had moved into an executive VP role at newly founded Digital Entertainment Network. Unfortunately for just about everyone, Digital Entertainment Network and Piece would later find themselves at the center of the documentary "An Open Secret", chronicling the state of child sex rings in Hollywood.
It's also a really...unpleasant...coincidence that the original name for the project - "Puertopia" - had to be changed when the group discovered it translated to "boy paradise."
Ultimately, Pierce avoided jail, moved/fled (depending on who you ask) to Spain, and his business partner settled with the primary alleger out of court for a mere $21,600.
Pierce then went on to found IGE, also known as Internet Gaming Entertainment. For me, this where the story really gets interesting.
IGE is a company I have personally been connected to, primarily as a competitor. As I have mentioned previously on this blog, I experienced rather substantial success in scripting for profit during the 90's and 2000s. Perhaps even more important, was the ability to multiple capital (in this case, in game) once accrued, which I was even better at. The bottom line was that as early as 1995, I was sitting on amounts of in-game currency in some popular online games with relatively-easily-gamed economies with fiat values upwards of 5 digits.
It was time to cash out. I used Ebay, when Ebay was rather new. It was a gold mine, literally and figuratively. Because there was nobody really selling digital items yet, supply was minimal and prices were through the roof. Prices have fallen 99.9% or more since, but for a time it was hugely profitable and inevitable that larger companies would move in.
Brock Pierce was that company. IGE moved in and rendered Ebay obsolete. Rather than being a few small, independent sellers who acquired their own merchandise, IGE took a reseller approach. They sourced the cheapest labor in the world with internet access, which at the time was mostly Chinese, and they knocked the margins down so low that one couldn't compete unless you were willing to "work" for 25 cents an hour.
After dominating the market in games relevant at the time (Ultima Online, Everquest,) IGE ramped up hard when genre-defining smash-hit World of Warcraft hit. Their website was perpetually stocked with loads of product (in game items and currency, farmed up at 10-15 cents an hour), right up until Blizzard/Activision rejected their offers of partnership and shut them down nearly overnight with an enormous ban of company owned accounts, which they had apparently been tracking in secret.
The story only gets weirder. Steve Bannon (recently relevant in the culture again as a Donald Trump advisor) was brought in as advisor to attempt to legitimize IGE during the downfall period, and managed to secure a $60 million (!!) investment from Goldman Sachs and partners not long before Brock Pierce left the company, leaving Bannon to preside as CEO during the remainder of the business' "failure period".
Fast forward to crypto relevance. Pierce became an early investor in Bitcoin, leading to his eventual appointment as the Chairman of the Board of the Bitcoin foundation. This immediately led to the resignation of 10 key members and this tweet:
So, now Pierce claims to be "helping the Puerto Rican people", hoping that the hurricane has provided a point to "start from scratch with." This is likely doublespeak for hot money looking for a low/no-regulation environment to build a tax haven and engender a minor, geographically limited return to Serfdom. Puerto Rico is already known as a tax haven for foreign nationals, with it being one of the few territories that can avoid the double-taxation clause for US-nationals working out of the country.
I wouldn't bet my Bitcoin on the generous motives of this particular project, and neither should you.
We also have a Radio Station! (click me)
...and a 10,000+ active user Discord Chat Server! (click me)
Sources: Google, Wired, Washington Post, SaveHaven.com
Copyright: Zero Hedge, Washington Post