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Speaker 1: This is Latino USA, the radio journal of News and

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Speaker 1: Court Latin US. Latin Latino USA. I'm Maria Nojosa. We

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Speaker 1: bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to you,

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Speaker 1: overlooked by the rest of the media, and while the

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Speaker 1: country is struggling to deal with these, we listen to

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Speaker 1: the stories of Black and Latino.

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Speaker 2: Studio United Latino Front.

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Speaker 1: A cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement.

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Speaker 1: I'm Maria Ino Jossa O la Latino USA. Listener, Here's

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Speaker 1: an episode from our archives. What You probably recognize this tune,

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Speaker 1: but the lyrics are pretty different from Bob Marley's Stir

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Speaker 1: It Up. What The participants in this late night jam

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Speaker 1: session sitting poolside. There's about twenty of them, swaying and

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Speaker 1: holding hands. It's spring of twenty eighteen here in drincon

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Speaker 1: Puerto Rico, a town revered for its surf spots and beaches.

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Speaker 1: But this mostly non Puerto Rican crowd is here to

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Speaker 1: do more than just blow off some steam. There is

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Speaker 1: this one guy in the group who's grinning and swaying

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Speaker 1: to the music.

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Speaker 2: You can't miss him.

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Speaker 1: He's got on a wide brim black hat like zorro.

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Speaker 1: It's accented with playing cards and feathers. His name is

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Speaker 1: Brock Pierce, and he's sort of the main reason that

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Speaker 1: these people are all here. He's very rich, though it's

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Speaker 1: impossible to know just how rich. He's the leader of

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Speaker 1: a movement, a movement that he says will change everything

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Speaker 1: from Futuramidia and PRX. It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Jojosa

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Speaker 1: today the bitcoin pirates in the Caribbean. That sing along

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Speaker 1: that you just heard is from the spring of twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 1: It's just a few months after Hurricane Maria. Much of

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Speaker 1: Puerto Rico is still devastated, and these people are here,

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Speaker 1: they say, to rebuild. That's why they were singing build

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Speaker 1: it up. At that time, the group was calling themselves

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Speaker 1: the Portopians. Many of them are newly rich off of bitcoin,

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Speaker 1: the digital currency. Some have even moved to Puerto Rico

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Speaker 1: to take advantage of its favorable tax laws. The man

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Speaker 1: in the zoro hat brought peers. He would say, it's

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Speaker 1: not about the taxes. He's declared to the world that

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Speaker 1: he's going to help turn this island into a high

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Speaker 1: tech cryptocurrency paradise. Reporters working Cobbler and Michael O'Brien have

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Speaker 1: been following this story. We begin in March of twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 1: and Bucking and Michael have descended into the heart of Cryptomania.

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Speaker 1: They're going to take it from here, and a warning,

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Speaker 1: there are some curse words in this episode, which we've bleeped.

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Speaker 3: Last year, right before tax season, a few hundred Silicon

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Speaker 3: Valley types touched down in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 4: Actually to these castaways. It's Puerto Crypto. Two weeks of

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Speaker 4: bitcoin themed events and we're here at the finale Coin

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Speaker 4: Agenda Caribbean.

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Speaker 3: At least five hundred cryptocurrency enthusiasts have colonized multiple floors

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Speaker 3: of the lavish beachfront hotel in San Juan. The bars

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Speaker 3: are buzzing, the Panama Jackats are in season, and look out, Puerto.

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Speaker 2: Rico, the disruptors are in town. And yeah, we're shaking

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Speaker 2: things about.

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Speaker 4: This is Lauren, one of the people we met Millie

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Speaker 4: around the conference. The first thing to know about crypto people.

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Speaker 4: For them, bitcoin isn't just about money. It's a revolutionary

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Speaker 4: new technology disrupting life as we know it, but in

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Speaker 4: a good way.

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Speaker 3: Disrupt is one of the buzzwords you'll hear a lot

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Speaker 3: at a bitcoin conference. Another one is decentralized. The best

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Speaker 3: focus for me is to decentralize everything, like no mercy.

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Speaker 4: The economy since World War Two has been decentralizing.

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Speaker 5: Decentralized opps, small contrives, the new decentralized.

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Speaker 3: Internet, and at the center of this centreless world cryptocurrency.

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Speaker 4: We all have that weird cousin who is really into crypto.

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Speaker 4: So we're not going to get too much into it.

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Speaker 6: All.

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Speaker 2: You've got to remember the basics.

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Speaker 4: Cryptocurrencies are kind of like virtual money that's online in theory.

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Speaker 4: They can be traded for goods or services like real currencies.

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Speaker 4: The first one was bitcoin. Unlike normal currencies, crypto isn't

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Speaker 4: regulated by any government or central bank. It was designed

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Speaker 4: to be untraceable. At first, it was used largely for

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Speaker 4: buying and selling things in the dark web, mostly drugs.

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Speaker 4: The lack of regulations has made crypto a favorite among

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Speaker 4: a certain techy libertarian crowd, which accounts for a lot

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Speaker 4: of what you'll be hearing today.

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Speaker 1: Hi, my name is America and I'm Penalvi and we

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Speaker 1: are the cyberquot Twins.

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Speaker 3: The cyber code twins are superstar coders from California. Like

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Speaker 3: others here, they believe the cryptocurrency is the future and

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Speaker 3: they don't think that the old rules regulating the economy

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Speaker 3: should apply to them.

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Speaker 1: The main one is not taking the right approach to

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Speaker 1: just taring off the innovative.

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Speaker 3: And so the crypto people are here in Puerto Rico

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Speaker 3: looking for a way around regulations. And that's because while

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Speaker 3: it's technically part of the United States, it's weird. Colonial

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Speaker 3: status makes for lots of loopholes in gray areas, and

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Speaker 3: the Portopians say that while they're here, they'll invest and

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Speaker 3: help grow a local tech economy.

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Speaker 1: This is actually good for Puerto Rico. Cryptocurrency and black

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Speaker 1: community are not moving from the Caribbean like they're going

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Speaker 1: to be here.

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Speaker 3: The pro business Puerto Rican government here in twenty eighteen

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Speaker 3: sees this as an opportunity and has been trying to

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Speaker 3: lure crypto based businesses to the island. And here's the

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Speaker 3: other reason that the crypto enthusiasts want to come to

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Speaker 3: Puerto Rico. Anyone who moves to the island doesn't have

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Speaker 3: to pay capital gains or federal income taxes.

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Speaker 4: Just five years before this conference. In March of twenty thirteen,

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Speaker 4: you could buy bitcoin for about forty bucks.

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Speaker 2: But at its.

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Speaker 4: Highest peak, just three months before the coin agenda, bitcoin

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Speaker 4: nearly hit twenty thousand dollars. That's a fifty thousand percent

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Speaker 4: increase fifty thousand. If you played it right, if you

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Speaker 4: had just fifty bitcoins to your name, you'd have been

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Speaker 4: a millionaire.

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Speaker 3: But the crypto people haven't cast themselves as their average

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Speaker 3: tax avoiding millionaires. Their pitch to Puerto Rico is that

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Speaker 3: they're here to show the world what crypto can do

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Speaker 3: for any economy and do it in a socially conscious way.

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Speaker 2: And that got the ear of some local entrepreneurs.

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Speaker 7: Right now, I was going to move out of Puerto

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Speaker 7: Rico because I really think that politics is startable bought.

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Speaker 7: Since all of these investors are moving in and all

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Speaker 7: these developers are moving in, I see an opportunity to

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Speaker 7: actually make this sounds ironic, make Puerto Rico right. So

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Speaker 7: I need to rephrase that.

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Speaker 2: Enter Armando Gonzalez.

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Speaker 7: People know me here as AIA because a JA is

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Speaker 7: simpler for most people.

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Speaker 3: When we first met AJ, we knew we'd be spending

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Speaker 3: a lot of time with him. He struck us as

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Speaker 3: somebody who was savvy about the whole crypto scene, a

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Speaker 3: charismatic guy with a toothy grin who fit right in

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Speaker 3: with the las a fair crypto atmosphere. And he's a

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Speaker 3: bit of a hustler.

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Speaker 7: We have chapters all major universities in Puerto Rico, and

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Speaker 7: hopefully we're going to have chapters in the nation and

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Speaker 7: hopefully eventually the world.

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Speaker 3: Ready to sell you something in this case his startup,

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Speaker 3: but hey, that's like what everyone here is doing, ages

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Speaker 3: in his late twenties. He grew up in San Juan,

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Speaker 3: Puerto Rico, a middle class kid, raised largely by his grandfather,

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Speaker 3: and it took him some time to figure out what

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Speaker 3: he wanted to do with the life. In college, he

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Speaker 3: was all over the place, studying mechanical engineering, switched to chemistry,

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Speaker 3: then in a panic psychology like this.

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Speaker 7: Whole existential crisis and analyzing what like why will my

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Speaker 7: mother love me?

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Speaker 3: It's in biological Then he switches to economics after hearing

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Speaker 3: about bitcoin.

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Speaker 2: To me, it was like the future.

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Speaker 4: AJ thinks about it like this, Puerto Rico's in a

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Speaker 4: financial crisis, and here's this new technology that can bring

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Speaker 4: investment to the island and he can be a part

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Speaker 4: of it and cash in at the same time. He

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Speaker 4: creates a nonprofit startup called Edge of block with the

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Speaker 4: goal of going into high schools and universities to teach

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Speaker 4: about blockchain. Blockchain, by the way, is the technology behind cryptocurrencies.

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Speaker 4: It's extremely hard to explain, so for our purposes, don't

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Speaker 4: worry about it.

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Speaker 2: It's basically interchangeable with crypto.

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Speaker 3: When we meet AJ, he's wearing a fisherman's cap that

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Speaker 3: says hodl hotally.

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Speaker 8: That is awesome, hollow man.

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Speaker 3: It's an intentional misspelling of the word hold. It's nerd

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Speaker 3: slang for hold on to your cryptocurrency rather than selling it.

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Speaker 3: And in early twenty eighteen, if you're hotling, you're in

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Speaker 3: good shape.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 7: I actually don't hollow, but this seems like a nice

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Speaker 7: thing to have too. A conversation started.

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Speaker 3: He doesn't hotal as in, AJ didn't snatch up a

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Speaker 3: bunch of bitcoin and it was dirt cheap. So today

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Speaker 3: he's a coin agenda trying to network and raise some

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Speaker 3: money for his startup.

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Speaker 4: And so are about forty other crypto startups who are

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Speaker 4: all pitching to potential investors in this main conference room.

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Speaker 6: All right, so, without further ado, we have from run

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Speaker 6: to play put your hands together for Joseph.

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Speaker 4: One by one we watch these men, and it's mostly

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Speaker 4: men climb up on stage. These guys paid thousands of

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Speaker 4: dollars real dollars, not crypto, for the chance to pitch.

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Speaker 4: Joseph himself paid more than fifteen thousand dollars to be here.

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Speaker 8: Child littlebcity is a massive issue, and one in five

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Speaker 8: kids is obese. This is unacceptable and the fact that

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Speaker 8: it's real is disgusting.

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Speaker 4: He's pitching a fitness app that will reward people in

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Speaker 4: crypto for working out. The app, he says, will also

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Speaker 4: help end world hunger.

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Speaker 8: So someday you'll be literally running to feed someone else.

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Speaker 8: How far will you run to feed the world than you?

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Speaker 8: Does anybody have any questions? I know, I just kind

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Speaker 8: of paced in front of you and talked.

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Speaker 3: All right, you guys, But Joseph and the like are

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Speaker 3: not the main attraction here at the conference. The person

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Speaker 3: that AJ and others came here to see is Brock Pierce.

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Speaker 3: So who is Brock Pierce?

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Speaker 9: Obviously describing this Rock Pierce who is now a billionaire,

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Speaker 9: who's billionarep he wants to make Puerto Rico the center

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Speaker 9: of the Earth.

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Speaker 4: You heard about him earlier at the singalongs. The guy

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Speaker 4: in the Zoro had.

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Speaker 2: Midcoin Foundation chair.

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Speaker 10: Brock Pierce, the child star who grew up for now

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Speaker 10: some Puerto Rico that.

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Speaker 5: Sleepee creepy cowboy from the future is named brock Pius.

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Speaker 5: He began his career appearing in The Mighty Dogs.

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Speaker 2: Rock started his career as a child star in the nineties.

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Speaker 5: Then got involved with some very unsayfigures.

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Speaker 4: When he was seventeen, he helped run an online media

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Speaker 4: company that got into some really sketchy territory.

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Speaker 5: Just google brock Pius scandal is all I'm saying there.

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Speaker 4: Then circa two thousand and one, he founded a company

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Speaker 4: that employed Chinese sweatshop labor to collect and sell imaginary

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Speaker 4: gold in World of Warcraft, the video game. This amazingly

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Speaker 4: made millions of dollars.

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Speaker 3: Side note, at one point the company was run by

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Speaker 3: Steve Bannon.

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Speaker 2: Yes that's Steve Bannon.

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Speaker 4: And those millions of real dollars from virtual gold. Brock

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Speaker 4: put into digital money Bitcoin early on, which made him

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Speaker 4: a billionaire.

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Speaker 2: At least that's what they say.

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Speaker 4: And now with the new agy crystal swathed psychotropic persona.

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Speaker 4: Rocks acquired quite a cult following in the crypto community

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Speaker 4: as a guru and on stage at coin Agenda.

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Speaker 2: He's at the main event, and.

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Speaker 10: As I like to point out, as Puerto Rico has

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Speaker 10: got a pr problem.

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Speaker 2: The room is full.

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Speaker 3: Brock is sitting cross legged directly on the stage today.

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Speaker 2: He's draped in linen.

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Speaker 10: So many wonderful technologies all coming together at the same time,

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Speaker 10: so many extraordinary innovators and entrepreneurs from all the modalities.

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Speaker 10: You know, this is not a crypto or blockchain movement.

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Speaker 10: This is in everything sort of movement.

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Speaker 3: And everything movement. You might be thinking this is all

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Speaker 3: sounding pretty crazy, and yeah, it does to us too.

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Speaker 3: But he's succeeded in selling a vision, a seductive one,

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Speaker 3: a vision that technology will set us free, make us

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Speaker 3: wealthy and spiritually fulfilled. And it could start right here

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Speaker 3: in Puerto Rico, a place where at this time more

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Speaker 3: than one hundred thousand residents are without power after the hurricane,

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Speaker 3: where government, both local and federal, isn't helping people in

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Speaker 3: their time of need. May the crypto people can offer

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Speaker 3: solutions where the government fell short.

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Speaker 2: What do people have to lose.

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Speaker 10: Fortunately, this is an island that's need of help and

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Speaker 10: that makes people more willing to listen than usual, and.

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Speaker 4: They do add big ideas for Puerto Rico, crypto based

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Speaker 4: cab companies, building startup cities on unused public land, even

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Speaker 4: turning the island into a cryptocurrency financial hub, a sort

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Speaker 4: of Caribbean Hong Kong but for bitcoin.

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Speaker 3: One of the locals buying this vision is AJ. He

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Speaker 3: wants to be a part of Brock's Everything movement. AJ

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Speaker 3: sees a role for himself. He wants to get in

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Speaker 3: with Brock, make some money, and bring a Puerto Rican

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Speaker 3: perspective to Brock's team while he's at it.

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Speaker 7: And it's my duty to let them know that if

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Speaker 7: they're going to benefit from this taxes, they should give

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Speaker 7: back to the island. That I'm talking to them, I'm

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Speaker 7: convincing them that they should move to Puerto Rico, connecting

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Speaker 7: them with other people and they will invest in the

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Speaker 7: island and we will make it better.

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Speaker 3: One of the things that crypto people keep talking about

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Speaker 3: is using a new tech to fix the island's infrastructure,

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Speaker 3: for example, installing smart grids and solar panels throughout the island,

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Speaker 3: and as the conference is winding down, I meet some

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Speaker 3: people who are telling me they're headed into the countryside

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Speaker 3: to do just that. I'm told it's my chance to

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Speaker 3: see the crypto solutions for Puerto Rico in action. The

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Speaker 3: guy organizing the trip is a self proclaimed surf instructor, videographer,

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Speaker 3: life coach, entrepreneur, and blockchain evangelist by the name of

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Speaker 3: Jonathan Fritzler. He's psyched to have the media coverage.

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Speaker 11: We have a frickin' epic story unfolding because last night

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Speaker 11: I was at this hip hop concert and I met

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Speaker 11: this guy who's down to put solar panels on the

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Speaker 11: roof ar cond this place for free, and it would

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Speaker 11: be good to have you guys there because it just

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Speaker 11: makes it look more symbolical of like something's happening. Having

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Speaker 11: MPR there, it would just like make the whole story

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Speaker 11: like a little bit more awesome.

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Speaker 3: So the next morning, Jonathan and I, along with four

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Speaker 3: volunteers and a camera woman pile into a minivan.

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Speaker 2: We're headed to Cabra Ds on the west side of

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Speaker 2: the island.

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Speaker 3: In true crypto fashion, most of them accessorize with crystals

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Speaker 3: or agates of some sort. One guy has to be

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Speaker 3: jeweled goateea and rocks a tailored purple vest with matching

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Speaker 3: fedora and slacks.

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Speaker 2: Not exactly typical work gear for the tropics.

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Speaker 12: Were we going to have install their panels today?

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Speaker 5: I don't know, so when we come back to do

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Speaker 5: the work late.

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Speaker 11: This is kind of, uh, you know, front lines media

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Speaker 11: activism right now.

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Speaker 3: If you didn't catch that, he said, We're not actually

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Speaker 3: going to install the solar panels today. This is going

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Speaker 3: to be front lines media activism, he says, which apparently

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Speaker 3: means vlogging while driving.

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Speaker 9: So, hey, you guys, real quick, I just wanted to

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Speaker 9: do a quick video. We're here live and headed to

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Speaker 9: the hospital that was donated.

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Speaker 2: We pull up to a huge facility.

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Speaker 11: We made it.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, we've made timing.

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Speaker 3: It used to be the town's only public health clinic

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Speaker 3: until it closed down about ten years ago.

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Speaker 12: Follow us as we all get out.

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Speaker 3: And as we file out of the van, Jonathan directs

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Speaker 3: us for the camera.

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Speaker 2: And stop, stop stop right there, perfect director.

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Speaker 3: Once we have the perfect take, we get a tour

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Speaker 3: of the place from a member of a nonprofit one

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Speaker 3: human family coalition that's coordinating relief work there.

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Speaker 2: Okay, let's start with the tour.

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Speaker 3: Since Hurricane Maria, a group of volunteers, including a search

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Speaker 3: and rescue team, doctors and nurses have been using a

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Speaker 3: wing of the building as a makeshift hospital, and.

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Speaker 2: There's also unused rooms on used operating rooms.

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Speaker 3: Then the tour ends and we circle up for thoughts

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Speaker 3: and prayers.

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Speaker 9: Puerto Rico being one of the corners in the Bermuda triangle,

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Speaker 9: almost being like a lost island, but we.

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Speaker 12: Have not forgotten about you.

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Speaker 9: We're here to support, and more than anything, we're here

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Speaker 9: to raise awareness for ourselves and for the world through

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Speaker 9: sharing these videos, through sharing this media.

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Speaker 2: That's why we're here.

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Speaker 9: We're here for them, the people who have lost their homes,

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Speaker 9: the people who have lost their families, We're here for them.

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Speaker 9: We're here AH one, two three.

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Speaker 2: And that was it.

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Speaker 3: Then we piled into the van and left. No work

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Speaker 3: of any kind was done. Side note. Over a year later,

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Speaker 3: the cap of the s clinic still doesn't have the

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Speaker 3: solar panels or even an X ray machine. None of

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Speaker 3: the crypto voluntearists from our trip of them back there,

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Speaker 3: and the building is currently closed. The video shoot felt

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Speaker 3: more like a low key pr campaign than an actual

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Speaker 3: aid mission.

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Speaker 2: It was clearly a networking opportunity.

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Speaker 3: Maybe not the best example of Brocks Everything movement in action.

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Speaker 3: We thought, okay, maybe it was just a fluke, but

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Speaker 3: it turned out to be just a taste of what

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Speaker 3: was coming.

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Speaker 1: Coming up on Latino US say hey, there's.

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Speaker 12: A representative of me. This is a decentralized moment.

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Speaker 6: Is I'm not aware of anyone building any gated community.

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Speaker 3: I think you ald.

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Speaker 1: The island and the rest of the world react to

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Speaker 1: the portopians, stay with us, don't stay by. Yes, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're back. And before the break, our reporters, Joaquin Cottler

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Speaker 1: and Michael O'Brien took you into the world of cryptocurrency.

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Speaker 1: True believers set on making Puerto Rico their new home.

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Speaker 1: But in the wake of Hurricane Maria, a bunch of

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Speaker 1: rich Americans moving down and talking about changing everything on

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Speaker 1: the island wasn't the best kind of optics. A few

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Speaker 1: days after the big conference that our reporters just took

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Speaker 1: you to, the Intersect published a story about disaster capitalism

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Speaker 1: in Puerto Rico, and the crypto guys were front and center.

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Speaker 13: They are attracted to Puerto Rico because it holds out

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Speaker 13: the promise that they can convert their cryptocurrencies into harder

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Speaker 13: currencies while paying no taxes whatsoever.

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Speaker 1: That was March of twenty eighteen. A few months later,

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Speaker 1: anti austerity protests took place around the island.

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Speaker 14: Thousands marked May Day by joining a general strike in

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Speaker 14: the capital of San Juan to protest austerity measures, and so.

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Speaker 1: In that context, the Pertopians were coming off as pretty

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Speaker 1: tone deaf. Back now to Juaquin and Michael.

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Speaker 4: The May Day protests, they aren't really AJ's thing. He's

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Speaker 4: gone all in with Brock Pierces Everything movement. It's a

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Speaker 4: few months after the conference and Brock is spearheading another

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Speaker 4: week of crypto events, this time on the west coast

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Speaker 4: of the island instead of in the capital. They're calling

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Speaker 4: it Restart West. When we first met Aj at the

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Speaker 4: crypto conference, he was dead set on getting in with

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Speaker 4: Brock and his inner circle, and when he'd heard about

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Speaker 4: this trip out west, he saw his chance.

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Speaker 2: So he just showed up at Brock's house the.

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Speaker 7: Day before they were going to leave. I just went

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Speaker 7: there and I didn't leave. I was down to sleep

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Speaker 7: in front of the door. That wasn't needed in order

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Speaker 7: for me to go with them.

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Speaker 2: And it worked.

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Speaker 4: They brought him along to act as a liaison between

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Speaker 4: the crypto people and the locals.

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Speaker 7: Because it's important to have someone from here help with

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Speaker 7: the cultural and language barrier.

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Speaker 4: After all the bad press after the last events, the

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Speaker 4: goal was to make this one appear more inclusive. They

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Speaker 4: wanted to develop a better relationship with Puerto Ricans. Aj

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Speaker 4: would be their super.

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Speaker 7: Weapon, and that's why it's important to be working with

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Speaker 7: locals if you want to make an impact on the island.

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Speaker 3: Of the locals, and as Aj tells it, his local

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Speaker 3: knowledge came in handy. For example, they were having trouble

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Speaker 3: getting a venue. Aj stepped in. He made some calls,

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Speaker 3: pulled some strings in one fifty thousand dollars donation to

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Speaker 3: the university. Later, Restart West was in business.

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Speaker 4: Restart West is a more intimate affair, at least compared

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Speaker 4: with last March's events, more of a retreat than a conference,

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Speaker 4: lots of brainstorming sessions about how to be of service

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Speaker 4: to the island.

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Speaker 10: Puerto Rico has the possibility now of being put on

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Speaker 10: the map.

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Speaker 6: There's a hub of innovation and that's a wonderful thing

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Speaker 6: if it works.

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Speaker 4: Overall, think less pitching, more guided meditation, shand hum.

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Speaker 12: I am peace, I have silence inside of me.

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Speaker 4: They shack up in a ritzy villa in the hills

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Speaker 4: overlooking the water and rincone. One of the first evenings

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Speaker 4: goes so well and impromptu singalong breaks out, the same

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Speaker 4: one you heard earlier.

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Speaker 2: At first, things go pretty smoothly.

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Speaker 4: AJ organized as a hackathon at the university that's a success.

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Speaker 3: Two days later is their big outreach event, the Day

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Speaker 3: of Listening. It's built as an opportunity for the crypto

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Speaker 3: people to listen and learn from Puerto Ricans.

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Speaker 7: No I actually wanted to be more involved in the

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Speaker 7: planning of that particular event.

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Speaker 3: AJ says that if he had been, the flyers wouldn't

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Speaker 3: have all been in English.

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Speaker 4: For one, because the event takes place in a conference

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Speaker 4: frame at a resort spruced out with fake columns in

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Speaker 4: these wrenched chandeliers.

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Speaker 2: Frock's wearing a shirt that says Banksy is female.

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Speaker 4: Rock led the charge you guys have been working your

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Speaker 4: butt off for years down here.

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Speaker 12: That helps hear Now.

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Speaker 3: It's basically just the crypto people themselves in the room,

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Speaker 3: mostly non Puerto Ricans, except for a group of protesters

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Speaker 3: that showed up. There were half a dozen of them

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Speaker 3: in the room. They started by voicing their concerns.

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Speaker 12: I can't even afford to buy the land I'm stepping on.

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Speaker 2: All you see is extraction. I don't agree with this project.

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Speaker 4: And it quickly becomes apparent that this day of listening,

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Speaker 4: it doesn't have a lot of listening on the agenda.

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Speaker 2: More telling, Really, it is.

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Speaker 12: Going to be a beautiful thing. All of these people.

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Speaker 2: Have such good intentions, but you don't know that yet.

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Speaker 12: Ed, I'm not a believe.

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Speaker 3: And they're going to make something beautiful happen, and you're

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Speaker 3: going to be a part of it, whether you like

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Speaker 3: it or.

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Speaker 4: Not, whether I like it or not, it's going to

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Speaker 4: rock steps up and takes the mic me.

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Speaker 12: This is a decentralized movement.

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Speaker 10: If someone wants to build a gated community, I mean,

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Speaker 10: they can't do what they want to do.

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Speaker 3: I guess just the activists accuse them of cryptocolonialism under

446
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,800
Speaker 3: the guise of helping Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria.

447
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:37,679
Speaker 2: Things escalate quickly.

448
00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 5: Planet have any interest in Puerto Rico until the taxpace came,

449
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 5: and that's why you're here.

450
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:43,199
Speaker 12: I am here in service.

451
00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 10: I've committed my entire life to the last breath, in

452
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:48,119
Speaker 10: service to humanity.

453
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 12: I go where I can make a difference. I do

454
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:51,479
Speaker 12: not give a about money.

455
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 6: It is not about compounding interest, it's not compounding impact.

456
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 12: Where can you make a difference? And so at the

457
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,240
Speaker 12: choint is that world going. I like water and I

458
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,159
Speaker 12: like more places. So there's a lot of places in

459
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 12: the world that need help.

460
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:05,080
Speaker 6: And great.

461
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 4: A few moments later, they're somehow arguing about agriculture now

462
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 4: and Brock comes out with a strange retort, awesome.

463
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,640
Speaker 12: And that's wonderful. To eat the rainbow? Are you saying

464
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:19,479
Speaker 12: to eat the rainbow?

465
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:25,920
Speaker 6: Yes, the colors, the food groups, natural agriculture, organic food, biodynamic.

466
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 12: It's great stuff.

467
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,680
Speaker 4: The look on the protesters face is one of shock

468
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 4: mixed with controlled rage. The day of listening has officially

469
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 4: gone off the rails.

470
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,720
Speaker 10: I think I just offered to get a farm, and

471
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:41,919
Speaker 10: if you were so interested in doing this, I just

472
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:43,200
Speaker 10: offered to support.

473
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,160
Speaker 12: You and give you as munch help because I can't.

474
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,840
Speaker 11: I don't think that. I think that.

475
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 12: I think that's point of year.

476
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,480
Speaker 4: Somehow the day wrapped up without anyone getting punched in

477
00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:00,320
Speaker 4: the face and everythings cooled down.

478
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 2: Brock said this in an interview.

479
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:08,199
Speaker 6: We had a very healthy conversation with you know, a

480
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:14,640
Speaker 6: few local Puerto Ricans that don't yet understand what this

481
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:17,679
Speaker 6: movement or technology is about. For five hundred years, this

482
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 6: place is you know, been taken advantage of. So I

483
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:23,880
Speaker 6: mean that I think that that's where.

484
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,440
Speaker 2: Puerto Ricans should start. They should start skeptical.

485
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 4: Videos of the argument quickly surfaced on social media, the

486
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,359
Speaker 4: press picked it up, it went semi viral.

487
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,040
Speaker 5: Suddenly the die of listening becomes a die of project.

488
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 7: And that's a perfect example of why you need someone

489
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,600
Speaker 7: from here involved in an event that is called day

490
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,159
Speaker 7: of listening, because if you want to listen to the

491
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:55,200
Speaker 7: Puerto Ricans, well you start by listening to the Puerto

492
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:56,359
Speaker 7: Rican I want to help you.

493
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 3: Aj says that if they had listened to him, they

494
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 3: would have had more portagins in the room that were

495
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,400
Speaker 3: open to their ideas. He would have anticipated the protesters,

496
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:06,919
Speaker 3: maybe figured out a way to stop them from disrupting,

497
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:08,760
Speaker 3: do some damage control.

498
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,440
Speaker 7: And just like one redly Gold, person could come in

499
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,840
Speaker 7: and just make a gigantic scene about her own individual

500
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,640
Speaker 7: ideas and people would think that she is to presenting

501
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 7: the rest of us, when that is not true. She's

502
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 7: just an individual.

503
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:26,679
Speaker 3: The whole episode left kind of a stink on the

504
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 3: crypto movement in Puerto Rico. For a lot of the locals,

505
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,320
Speaker 3: the Portopians seemed to be just another example in a

506
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:34,359
Speaker 3: long history of people coming to the island to make

507
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,760
Speaker 3: a quick, text free bug, and the timing just couldn't

508
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,639
Speaker 3: have been worse. At the same time the Puerto Ricans

509
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 3: are dealing with so much. After Restart West, there wasn't

510
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,560
Speaker 3: a whole lot in the press about the Portopians, but

511
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,280
Speaker 3: just a few months later, Bitcoin was all over the

512
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 3: news again.

513
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,240
Speaker 13: In twenty eighteen, bitcoin lost about eighty percent of its

514
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 13: value relative to the dollar. We're not just talking about

515
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,359
Speaker 13: Bitcoin here, Other big cryptocurrencies lost the lion's share of

516
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:07,040
Speaker 13: their value.

517
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 2: True disaster struck the crypto World's.

518
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 13: Been a wild ride for Bitcoin this month and this year,

519
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 13: the cryptocurrency going from the highs near twenty thousand dollars

520
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 13: to the lows and near three thousand dollars.

521
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 4: Crypto bottoms out. Billions in virtual coin just gone.

522
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,199
Speaker 2: I come to bury Bitcoin, not to praise it.

523
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:29,119
Speaker 4: Sent to the Great Microsoft Windows recycling bin in the sky.

524
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,600
Speaker 4: Those thousands of prospective Portopians, well, most of them just bailed,

525
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 4: but the true believers forged ahead, including Aj.

526
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 7: They are buying out the islands, little Buck.

527
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,760
Speaker 3: I'm riding in the cab with AJ and his then girlfriend, Scarlett,

528
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 3: who also works for his company, Edgie Block a lot

529
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 3: of it.

530
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 2: We met up with him.

531
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 3: Again in March of twenty nineteen, a full year after

532
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,160
Speaker 3: we first met him. They're going to give me a

533
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 3: tour of Portopia itself, the crypto enclave in old San Juan,

534
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 3: where Brock and his cohort are snatching up and repurposing

535
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 3: historic property.

536
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, they literally must have just unloaded their career ships.

537
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 3: Brock and his followers have set up shops right in

538
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,160
Speaker 3: the heart of the Spanish colonial.

539
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 7: City, almost the Monastery Rock Fierce, his home on the island.

540
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,440
Speaker 3: The monastery is a beautiful old Masonic lodge. It's painted

541
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 3: a bright pastel orange and sits in a row of

542
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,440
Speaker 3: other majestic, similar looking buildings. AJ used to spend quite

543
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 3: a lot of time here, but he hasn't been inside

544
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 3: for months.

545
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 7: We're going to gatus issues with some people that are security.

546
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 3: As we walk around. I noticed something's different about aj.

547
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 3: He's less cocky, pensive, a little distracted. The rest of

548
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 3: the buildings he shows me are within a few blocks

549
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 3: of the monastery. There's a co working space, but it's

550
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:49,959
Speaker 3: mostly empty. There's a weird cafe and a big vacant

551
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 3: building that once housed the children's museum.

552
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,840
Speaker 7: So Uerte Rico close, a lot of schools, a lot

553
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 7: of hospitals, and a lot of like landmarks. In one

554
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,400
Speaker 7: of these places was the Shoulders Museum.

555
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,600
Speaker 3: In tourists thronged Old San Juan. This was a place

556
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 3: that locals brought their kids. It had been shudded for

557
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:09,680
Speaker 3: two years.

558
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 2: When brought announced that he was going to buy it.

559
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 3: Crypto people used it as sort of a meeting and

560
00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,600
Speaker 3: co working space for a bit, but the community resented

561
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,160
Speaker 3: outsiders taking what used to be a cultural building and

562
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 3: turning it into a private space for techis. The mayor

563
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 3: of San Juan even got involved. There was some drama,

564
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:29,160
Speaker 3: a Twitter fight. Supposedly there are plans for a new

565
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 3: museum going forward, but for now, the big empty building

566
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:32,840
Speaker 3: just sits there.

567
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 7: After a while, nothing's happening with it, and I don't

568
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 7: think no one any has ties no longer, so I

569
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:42,480
Speaker 7: really don't.

570
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 3: Know what It serves as a reminder of the tension

571
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 3: between the crypto folks and the community. I tried to

572
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 3: get the details from AJ about exactly why it's been

573
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:52,720
Speaker 3: sitting vacant for so long, but he doesn't seem to

574
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 3: really know what happened, and it seems to hit a

575
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:56,840
Speaker 3: nerve when I press him on it, like, wouldn't you

576
00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 3: be among the people who knew what happened to that

577
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 3: building if you were like part.

578
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:05,080
Speaker 7: Of that Yes, well, yes, but no, because we.

579
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:10,320
Speaker 2: Basically Armando likes to express his opinion, and his opinion

580
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 2: is not welcome.

581
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, Scarlett is trying to be diplomatic. I'm she takes

582
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,800
Speaker 3: Aj aside and urges him to stay cool, but he

583
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 3: clearly wants to get some stuff off his chest.

584
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 2: No, we need to talk about this first.

585
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 3: He admits that while he was once a trusted member

586
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 3: of Brock's inner circle, not so much anymore.

587
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 6: He's significantly older than the other Puerto Ricans that they

588
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 6: work with, and he's very passionate and outspoken.

589
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:36,959
Speaker 2: He's harder to work with.

590
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:42,160
Speaker 7: Sometimes my passion can seem like a threat to some

591
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 7: of them.

592
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:43,080
Speaker 2: I guess.

593
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,360
Speaker 3: AG says they treated him well when he was useful,

594
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:47,800
Speaker 3: but when he spoke his mind about things like how

595
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 3: they screwed up the day of Listening, he fell out

596
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,000
Speaker 3: of favor. Not with Brock directly, he says, but with

597
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 3: the new inner circle.

598
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 7: Yeah, the things that broke. Sometimes he's not here and

599
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,000
Speaker 7: then there's this a group of people that forms under

600
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,960
Speaker 7: him that they just are looking up for themselves.

601
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 2: There's no hierarchy and everything she centralized.

602
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:07,440
Speaker 6: It's a doggy dog situation where people are fighting over power.

603
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:09,760
Speaker 6: And like frequently when we were part of the those

604
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 6: A's songs like.

605
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 3: The Lord of the Flies, new people showed up in

606
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 3: the scene that AJ didn't get along with. He started

607
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 3: feuding with everyone. Rumors start flying around, and AJ developed

608
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 3: a reputation as a bit of a loose cannon.

609
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 7: I just became like this volatile, crazy, intense Puerto Rican

610
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 7: kid that we shouldn't trust, even though he's doing everything

611
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 7: for them.

612
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 3: So AG gets pushed aside, and according to him, they

613
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,040
Speaker 3: lose someone who could have helped them look better in

614
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 3: the eyes of Puerto Ricans.

615
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,720
Speaker 7: My biggest criticism is that I don't want the whole

616
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,160
Speaker 7: thing to look like a pubilicity scheme, because if it

617
00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,479
Speaker 7: looks like a publicity scheme, people are not gonna take

618
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,760
Speaker 7: them seriously. And if they don't take them seriously, we

619
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 7: can have impact.

620
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,719
Speaker 3: Scarlet's worried he'll say too much and get them in trouble.

621
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,000
Speaker 3: After all, they're still trying to get funding for their startup.

622
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,560
Speaker 3: She tries to stop him, but he finally goes off.

623
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:00,480
Speaker 2: What is the point?

624
00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 7: What is the point of this? That they're filled with

625
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 7: both people and it's.

626
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 4: For all the time that we've known Aj, he's always

627
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,840
Speaker 4: appeared to believe one hundred percent in the Portopians and

628
00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 4: their whole vision for the island, and this is the

629
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 4: first time that we see that his feelings are maybe

630
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 4: more complicated than that. In the year since we met Aj,

631
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:33,040
Speaker 4: it's pretty clear that the cryptocurrency paradise that Frock prophesied

632
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 4: hasn't exactly come to pass.

633
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,880
Speaker 2: But is it all bs?

634
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,280
Speaker 4: We went back to Coin and Jena, Caribbean this year,

635
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:49,360
Speaker 4: twenty nineteen, after Bitcoin's value crashed.

636
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:51,320
Speaker 2: It's a completely different scene.

637
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 4: Last time was a multi floored multimedia affair. This year,

638
00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 4: it feels like the entire conference could fit in an

639
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:03,040
Speaker 4: elementary School, Capeia. As soon as I walked in, I

640
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 4: was greeted by someone selling crypto artwork.

641
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,680
Speaker 8: So this is crypto art, okay, so think of it

642
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,280
Speaker 8: as bitcoin or in physical form as artwork.

643
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:14,919
Speaker 2: It's kind of steampunky, a little magic to gather.

644
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 4: There's these top hats, tribal tattoos, basically what you'd expect.

645
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,520
Speaker 2: Were you here when you hear last year? I was not,

646
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:29,919
Speaker 2: so I understand it was much bigger. I will thank

647
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:31,359
Speaker 2: you for your time, Thank you very much.

648
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,040
Speaker 4: Counting the art dealer, there's just half a dozen booths

649
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,879
Speaker 4: in the lobby. Brock isn't even here. But I did

650
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:41,120
Speaker 4: find one person worth talking to, Michael Turpin. He's the

651
00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:44,279
Speaker 4: man in charge of coin agenda. We went to him

652
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:49,160
Speaker 4: wondering why didn't anyone see this, this crypto crash, Why

653
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:50,400
Speaker 4: didn't anyone see this coming?

654
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 14: Why do people not recognize when they're in the middle

655
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:56,720
Speaker 14: of the bubble because they're high, they're on the drug

656
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:57,280
Speaker 14: of the bubble.

657
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:01,319
Speaker 4: That's not necessarily his opinion, It's something that Turpin heard

658
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 4: someone say earlier at the event. But Michael Turpin is

659
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,280
Speaker 4: one of the most influential people in crypto. He throws

660
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 4: these coin agendas, these crypto conferences all over the world.

661
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:14,520
Speaker 2: But we'll be back next year, and he says bitcoin

662
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 2: will rise again.

663
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:17,800
Speaker 14: I expect that the price of bitcoin will probably be

664
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 14: about double. Not financial advice, but I've been projecting. I

665
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,240
Speaker 14: projected in twenty fourteen.

666
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 3: At the price of bitcoin, and Michael Turbin was right

667
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,480
Speaker 3: after we talked to him. The price of crypto shot

668
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:34,320
Speaker 3: back up again. But will it mean anything for Puerto Rico.

669
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Speaker 3: Ever since Puerto Rico became a colonial possession of the

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00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 3: United States, mainlanders have shown up to make their fortunes

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00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 3: on the island. First there were the sugar barons, then

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00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 3: the pharmaceutical industry, and most recently, hundreds of people from

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00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 3: the hedge fund industry who arrived attracted by the island's

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00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 3: tax loopholes, in some cases, the very same hedge funds

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00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:03,600
Speaker 3: that are eating off the island's dead crisis. Rock and

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00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,080
Speaker 3: the Portopians came to the island promising that they weren't

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00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 3: like the others, that they were here to help, to invest,

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00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:12,279
Speaker 3: to change everything for the better, And so far there

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00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 3: doesn't seem to be much proof that that's what's happening.

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00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,640
Speaker 4: It wouldn't be accurate to say that the Portopians Everything

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00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:24,160
Speaker 4: movement has contributed absolutely nothing to Puerto Rico. In twenty eighteen,

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00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,720
Speaker 4: Coin Agendas organizers say they gave twenty five thousand dollars

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00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,040
Speaker 4: to local charities. Rock Pierson himself has made a few

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00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,800
Speaker 4: public donations that we were able to track down about

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00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:38,000
Speaker 4: seventy thousand dollars worth in total. For context, that's less

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00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 4: than he donated to Trump's reelection campaign and to the

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00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:46,080
Speaker 4: RNC this year. Rock does have a nonprofit called Integrow

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00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:49,880
Speaker 4: that helps channel other people's donations into various causes, and

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00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:52,719
Speaker 4: in interviews he said that his main contribution has been

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00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 4: to encourage entrepreneurialism, but it's unclear what lasting impact he's

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00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,440
Speaker 4: actually brought to the island. Rock declined to be interviewed

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00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 4: for this story or to answer any of our questions,

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00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:10,840
Speaker 4: including our questions about his contributions to Puerto Rico. Brock

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00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 4: sold himself as a different kind of investor, but easy

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00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:17,560
Speaker 4: any different. When he was on stage at Coin Agendas

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00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:21,320
Speaker 4: selling the Everything movement one of the companies he co founded,

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00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,480
Speaker 4: Block One, they were partnering with some of the very

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00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,200
Speaker 4: same hedge funders who owned Puerto Rico's debt.

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00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,840
Speaker 3: And as we're creating jobs. According to recent government data,

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00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 3: for each of the twenty two hundred people who moved

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00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 3: to the island to avoid taxes since twenty fifteen, just

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00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 3: about two jobs were created. But AJ thinks that by

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00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:45,080
Speaker 3: promoting Puerto Rico as a crypto and tech hub, more

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00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 3: jobs and investment will come. Despite all the missteps, the

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00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:54,120
Speaker 3: colonial posturing, the grandiose promises to change everything. He's still

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00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 3: betting on Brock and the Portopians.

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00:37:56,640 --> 00:38:00,520
Speaker 7: My grandfather, for example, is constantly like reminding me that

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00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,399
Speaker 7: all the Americans have done, this goes over. I don't

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00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:06,839
Speaker 7: know if I should say that, but then I keep

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00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 7: telling him no, I mean, this is an opportunity.

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00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 3: I mean it's an opportunity for himself and for Puerto Rico.

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00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 7: As I'm saying, I'm also convincing myself because I have

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00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,759
Speaker 7: some hope in humanity and I really think that if

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00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 7: the right people online, they can really make a difference.

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00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:27,680
Speaker 7: And I know it's really swimming against the current. I

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00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:30,399
Speaker 7: can make a difference on this island that I'm going

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00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:32,080
Speaker 7: to be able to see on my own lifetime.

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00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:37,799
Speaker 4: He still believes, even though some days it's hard for

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00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 4: Agent and keep the Faith.

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Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Michael O'Brien and Juaquine Cottler.

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Speaker 1: It was edited by Marlon Bishop, who is mixed b

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Speaker 1: Dephnely Leveau. Fact checking this week by Amy Tardif. Special

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00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:08,400
Speaker 1: thanks to Andrew Mergalvovasquez and Nico Rouge. The Latino USA

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00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:13,600
Speaker 1: team includes Andrea Lopes, Russado, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Victoria

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00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:17,920
Speaker 1: Strada and Prinaldo Leanos Junior, with help from Dori mar Marquez.

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00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:22,200
Speaker 1: Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso, Additional engineering support by

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00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:26,600
Speaker 1: Gabrielle Abias and jj Carubin. Our marketing manager is Luis Luna.

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00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:30,319
Speaker 1: Our theme music was composed by Segher Ruinos. I'm your

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00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:33,160
Speaker 1: host and executive producer Marie jo Josa. Join us again

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00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:35,799
Speaker 1: on our next episode and in the meantime look for

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00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,360
Speaker 1: us on social media. I'll see you there and remember

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00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:40,280
Speaker 1: matebayas bye.

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Speaker 13: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Heising

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00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 13: Simons Foundation, unlocking knowledge, opportunity and possibilities more at hsfoundation

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00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:58,360
Speaker 13: dot org, The Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the

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00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 13: front lines of social change worldwide, and the John D

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00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:04,880
Speaker 13: and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,