English Translation of an Article Appearing in El Nuevo Día, 6 December 2021
With over 400 participants and an event programmed led by crypto experts, the Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association (PRBTA) conference took place yesterday at Vivo Beach Club in Carolina.
“We had to stop accepting registrations”, lawyer Giovanni Méndez, who co-founded PRBTA back in June 2021 alongside Keiko Yoshino, expressed.
He also stated that the organization’s initial goal has been “to serve as a bridge with the local”, and to get “crypto curious” people together. To that effect, they have been offering free courses during an eight-week span, both in English and Spanish, in which they covered the basic concepts, while creating a space for clarifying doubts and networking.
“They are asking for more,” he continued.
Simultaneously, Méndez also mentioned that they are currently witnessing an increase in the number of concrete opportunities connected to blockchain and crypto assets in Puerto Rico. His own experience a living example, since he went from being an employed lawyer to founding his own legal firm back in March 2018, focusing on this type of clientele.
He now hires eight employees, and is the main legal counselor for Darma Capital, a counseling firm located in Dorado, which is mainly focused on the risk management of digital assets, and which is lead by resident investor Andrew Keys.
Representing the financial markets’ regulation side was Hester Peirce, who for the past three years has been recognized as crypto’s most well-versed and oriented member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“I think that, in the future, lots of financial tools will be crypto assets,” stated commissioner [sic] Peirce, who more than once expressed her concerns with how long the United States are taking to offer “clarity” to those investors interested in developing digital projects and businesses.
Face with this uncertainty, the commissioner advised those planning to create some crypto-space related project that “it’s best to come and talk to us (at the SEC) as earlier as possible about your plans”.
She indicated that the SEC has a team specialized in innovative financial technologies that, when provided with the precise information, could raise any necessary flags, or guide the regulator to draft what is known as a “No Action Letter”.
“It is an SEC statement, if they conduct their affairs in harmony with a set of pre-established conditions, our team will not recommend compliance actions,” she continued.
At the same time, she warned that, for an emergent company with a limited budget, “they have to come in understanding that it can take quite some time before they get an answer”, and that, if the SEC do not agree with the conditions presented, it is most likely that after such long waiting period, a green light is not received either.
“We are at a point in which I understand Congress need to shed some light on how they want this universe to look like,” was her call to the federal legislative branch.
While this takes place, Peirce underlined that state regulatory frames, as it has already happened in Wyoming, Texas, and Florida, create an important “experimentation space”.
“Puerto Rico shall be thinking about that same approach,” she urged.
On the other hand, Keys, partner at Darma Capital, presented his vision for the future of the internet, already baptized as Web 3.0.
“I think that the concept of a self-sovereign digital identity will be crucial in how a decentralized web will work”, he expressed. He pointed out that instead of connecting to multiple applications, as it is today, a user could use their biometric information to access a computer containing their complete digital identity: their reputation through different platforms, their digital wallet, and credentials.
“We are barely scratching the surface with this,” he continued. “Lots of people simply think of bitcoin as digital gold, when in reality any asset could be digitalized, creating a new generation of digital contracts.”
He offered some examples like intelligent contracts for car loans, mortgages, monetizing assets such as farms or real estate, with the value automatedly transferred to all parties in a contract, under specific conditions and complete traceable transactions.
Keys has been a resident investor in Puerto Rico since January 2018, when the first wave of crypto enthusiasts arrived, lured by the tax exemptions over capital gains, which extends to this space [crypto].
Although local presenters and people were in attendance, the audience was mostly integrated by people that travel to participate in the conference and events associated with blockchain week in Puerto Rico.
