Puerto Rico Defaults on Debt: Invest in Bitcoin Instead
Puerto Rico defaulted on its public debt. The US island territory failed to pay its general obligation bonds on Friday. It owes an estimated $800 million to creditors, while only retaining $350 million in cash on hand. A spokesperson for the governor defended the decision on Thursday: “This administration continues to take historic steps to ensure the residents of Puerto Rico continue to receive essential services while the commonwealth continues to face a delicate financial situation.” Debt in theory guaranteed by the Puerto Rican constitution. According to the constitution of Puerto....
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Working out a repayment plan should be the top priority for the Puerto Rican government, but that will not be the case for the foreseeable future. Puerto Rico is not often mentioned in a positive content when it comes to the financial sector. Neither is this story, unfortunately, as the country decided to default on its debt. But at the same time, the reason for doing so makes a lot of sense. All of this is still somewhat good news to push Bitcoin adoption in the country to new heights, though. Defaulting on debt is never a good thing, particularly not for a region so deeply indebted as....
To mitigate austerity and resolve debt, Puerto Rico should follow in El Salvador’s footsteps and make bitcoin legal tender.
Puerto Rico has recently used legislation to force capital controls. The country has imposed a 2% fee on any money transmission, forcing Paypal's to pull out of the country. Following an attempt to start capital controls, Puerto Rico government passed a law that forces all peer-to-peer transactions to be taxable at a 2% rate. With this move the country's government is looking to extract any additional sources of income from Puerto Rican citizens. This was the main reason leading the international online financial institution, PayPal to abandon the country. With the new imposed fees PayPal....
Puerto Rico, a commonwealth estimated to have roughly US$72 billion in debts, announced this week that the accumulated debt simply cannot be paid. Governor Garcia Padilla stated: As a commonwealth, however, Puerto Rico does not have the option to declare themselves bankrupt. Most of the debt is based on mutual funds or other investments led by individual investors in the U.S., and is therefore difficult to handle or negotiate. “The debt is not payable. There is no other option. I would love to have an easier option. This is not politics, this is math.” Instead, Governor Padilla and his....
Puerto Rico is sick. A government-mandated freeze in the price of condoms, because of an explosion in the number of cases of the Zika virus, exposes at least that much. Unfortunately, the island territory is also afflicted by a second, even more dangerous disease, one that will require much more than some latex protection to stop. Puerto Rico’s deadlier disease. That is not to say that the Zika virus is a laughing matter. The disease is currently sweeping across South America, and, when found in pregnant women, has been shown to cause birth defects in up to 30% of offspring, some of which....