Can Crypto Actually Help Puerto Rico After Hurricane Fiona?


Foundation: Puerto Rico Community Foundation

credit: Flickr

"An official emergency has been declared, which means in the tax program, your physical presence time is suspended," cryptocurrency investor Hayden Bowles says in a video posted to TikTok this week.

"So I am headed out of the island."

The post was met with a fierce backlash from Puerto Rican commenters, many of whom felt it epitomized the crypto community's extractive relationship with the island, Time reports.

Puerto Rico has received a flood of crypto entrepreneurs, investors, and influencers who have sought to take advantage of the island's tax benefits.

While these transplants argue they are bringing jobs and capital to the island, local organizers say they are driving up housing prices, privatizing beaches, erasing culture, and destroying communities.

Dean Huertas, a content creator, and activist responded to Bowles' video with a viral TikTok that called out tax beneficiaries who chose to leave the island.

"People come here to exploit and displace the local population while having the benefit of leaving whenever they please," Huertas tells Time.

Local organizers say promises that crypto leaders made about hurricane preparedness and relief years ago have not been kept; that many newcomers have simply left the island in its time of need; and that new crypto fundraisers have been started without community input. Read the Entire Article


Selected Grant News Headlines

A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.

Snohomish County Awards Innovation Assistance Grants to 50 Local Small Businesses

"Our small, locally owned businesses are the backbone of our communities.... These assistance programs will help ensure our small business continue to thrive and keep our communities...more

Why Healthcare Organizations Are Launching Innovation Centers

A hospital in San Diego is using artificial intelligence to help doctors more quickly identify patients at risk of sepsis, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Dr. Christopher Longhurst,...more

Developer Revealed to Turn Old Medical School into Health Tech Innovation Hub

The Old Medical School in Leeds, England, was once one of the country's first provincial medical schools. Now, it's being turned into a "hub for health-tech innovation," per a press release from...more

City Club of Chicago: Water Innovation €“ Turning Waste into Health and Wealth

The Great Lakes region is home to one-fifth of the world's fresh water, but that could soon change. The National Science Foundation has announced a $160 million, 10-year investment in a coalition...more

$100 Million for Equity: Macarthur Foundation'S New Big Bet and Mandate
Foundation: MacArthur Foundation

This year's MacArthur Foundation 100&Change grant competition has a new requirement: applicants must include diversity, equity, and inclusion in their proposals, the Chicago Tribune...more

$100 Million for Equity: Macarthur Foundation'S New Big Bet and Mandate
Foundation: MacArthur Foundation

This year's MacArthur Foundation 100&Change grant competition has a new requirement: applicants must include diversity, equity, and inclusion in their proposals, the Chicago Tribune...more

Philanthropy Lab Awards $90K to 13 Atlanta Nonprofits

"Experiential learning is the best way to get at the nuance and complexity of fields like philanthropy or business," Brian Goebel, managing director of Emory University's Business & Society...more

Name Dropping

When Balazs Bognar moved to Tokyo from Urbana, Ill., at age 17, he had no idea he'd end up living there for the rest of his life. "He would take me and my mom and my brothers to cities around the...more

Exclusive: Az Factory Is Morphing Into the Az Academy

Alber Elbaz's fashion brand, AZ Factory, is shutting down, but not in a bad way. Instead, it's launching a new educational program called AZ Academy: Business for Designers, reports Women's Wear...more

Fostering Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural Innovation in California'S Central Valley
Foundation: Central Valley Community Foundation

California's Central Valley is home to 25% of the US' fruits and nuts, and the state's agriculture-heavy San Joaquin Valley alone accounts for 19% of revenue and 14% of gross domestic product, per a...more





Global companies like General Motors, Wal-Mart, Bloomberg, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Mars, Novelis, Sprint, Proctor and Gamble and REI are calling out for necessary market changes to make it easier to buy and access more renewable energy.



Federal Government Grant and Assistance Programs


Prevention and Public Health Fund (Affordable Care Act): Enhanced Surveillance for New Vaccine Preve | Alaska Subsistence Management | Technology Development Grant | Grants to Increase Organ Donations | Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Research Program | Clean Vessel Act | State Energy Program | Late Disbursement Interest | | Site Style by YAML | Grants.gov | Grants | Grants News | Sitemap | Privacy Policy

Edited by: Michael Saunders

© 2008-2024 Copyright Michael Saunders