Puerto Rico Announces Blockchain Advisory Council

The Department of Economic Development of Puerto Rico and Trade (DDEC) lately launched a Blockchain Advisory Council, allegedly to “attract and develop businesses based on blockchain expertise,” concurring to local news outlet El Nuevo Dia.

The advisory council will encompass of members of both the private and public sector, as well as Rivera.

It will also be comprised of the government’s chief innovation officer (CIO) Luis Arocho, the commissioner of Financial Institutions George Joyner, and a number of blockchain industry entrepreneurs who later moved to Puerto Rico.

While quoting sources related closely to the agency, El Nuevo Dia said the advisory will informally serve as a “filter” to differentiate legitimate blockchain schemes that help resolve the island’s difficulties, from schemes that do not hold any value.

Rivera further disclosed that the government will improve on the best possible guidelines and legal outline to further backing of blockchain businesses.

These entrepreneurs were assembled in Puerto Rico immediately after the country’s infrastructure was totally destroyed by Hurricane Maria in September, which is about the same period of time when most cryptocurrencies saw their value rise steeply. The island’s government has proposed entrepreneurs attractive tax incentives, in a bid to enhance its depressed economy.

One of these encouragements can be discovered within the Internal Revenue Code. It allegedly permits non-residents to not pay taxes on long-term capital profits.

One of the first businesspersons to transfer to the island was Tether, co-founder Brock Pierce, who alongside other businessmen are creating what’s been dubbed a “crypto utopia” in the area.

As covered by CCN, research lately found Tether itself may have a banking relationship with Puerto Rico-based Noble Bank. If so, this would lay to rest gossips that Tether is a Ponzi scheme using its USDT tokens to inflate bitcoin’s value.