Bitcoin Forum

Puerto Rico was devastated by last year’s Hurricane Maria and, with inadequate aid from the US, it desperately needs investment to rebuild the island’s infrastructure. Puerto Rico was already facing severe financial difficulty before the calamity. It goes some way to explaining why local authorities are cautiously welcoming the arrival of cryptocurrency entrepreneurs on the island. But at what cost?

Bitcoin entrepreneurs want to rebuild Puerto Rico as cryptocurrency-fuelled economy. Would that help or hurt the devastated country?

Source: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180305-should-bitcoin-be-used-to-help-countries-hit-by-disaster

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/live/p0/60/66/p06066k8.jpg

Since cryptocurrency has a value of course it can help the devastated are of Puerto Rico. But even though there are many who want to donate cryptocurrency to that area but the problem lies with their government. So the only way is to create a group that will accept cryptocurrency donation and will convert it to fiat currency so that there will be no problem in terms of distribution and purchasing of goods.

Don't forget the transparency also important in term of cryptocurrency donation because there is no legal control over how the money distributed and who controls it. The one/group who started donation need to have a high trust before they can make a successful cryptocurrency donation.

Bitcoin could be used in a positive manner in those places. People would have to get Bitcoin for free if they were to receive any benefits from it.

there are already charities that are working with bitcoin to help in cases like this. it is up to people to donate if they like and these organizations to focus their help to specific disasters.
one that comes to mind is https://www.bitgivefoundation.org/ which i believe was using bitcoin and the blockchain of it to reach transparency in the transactions and how and where are the funds being spent.

knowing that there are people who help disaster victims and they give cash or bitcoin for those who are being hit by a disaster so it is a great help to those who are poor to help them to keep up with their downfall

i gotta laugh..
when someone wants to introduce something. they try to make it sound official. problem is that the link in the OP is not a real BBC new article thats been vetted and reported by BBC reporters. instead its part of BBC's stories blog area. that anyone can post in.

i really hate it when people try to make it look like thier story/project/ idea has been reported by news/media where the reality is that its just a blog post.

this makes me (a known donator for years) not want to donate to such a cause because the way to introduce their idea has alot of trickery behind it.

the reality is this though.
imagine it cost a country $50k to rebuild a house. a country does deals with developers.. these developers gets government grants of say $20k and also $30k from insurance companies.

these government grants are normally in the form of not charging housing developers corporation tax or its employees income tax. (which makes up the 40% of cost($20k/house)
and the insurance company saves 40% compared to having to pay out the full $50k themselves.
you will even find that telephone companies, sewerage/water companies/electric companies can drop the $50k cost down further because they put in the utility lines for free and then the resident pays for the phone lin rental/water/sewearage charges over years as part of their monthly bill when they move back in.

you will find that donating does not end up putting funds into residents hands but instead the money goes to cut how much insurance companies have to pay out. meaning the same house is built but now the insurance company can tell its board member they have more profit.because they only had to pay out say $25k of a $50k house

this is the other reason i wont be donating for such a scheme. my donations are usually to frontline services and given for water/food/clothing for the victims to survive on while the mega corps do what they should be doing as their legal duty to their customers.

but i only donate to causes where i can see that the funds are going to the victims and not the penpusher office workers waiting for a bonus/salary increase.

until there is a really good and transparent understanding of the end-to-end (donation->victim) path that cannot be siphoned off.. i would not donate to some random american red cross appeal that has a CEO earning $1m a year, even if that cough "charity" cough is well known and established

I dont really undestand by what you mean in this topic.
But since the help that we can provide are supplies for the victim, i guess you can sell your bitcoin to local currency, and then buy them the supplies.
you may find it hard to get the supplies with bitcoin, since a lot of business still reject the bitcoin usage.
But sure, you can help by converting it first to local ccy i guess.

Bitcoin entrepreneurs can make a difference by creating jobs in the informal business sector. If they can setup Bitcoin exchanges and people can produce local goods that can be sold internationally, then people can use Bitcoin as the preferred medium of payment. So these people will get more value from global micro payments. <Bitcoin is much cheaper for micro payments than WU and MoneyGram or wire services>

Teach a man to fish and you give him food for life. ^smile^

Well for one, I'm pretty sure people would appreciate any help they can get, whether that be in Bitcoin or in fiat.

Second, the help as specified in this case seems to have strings attached. This sums it up pretty well:


If you're helping, but have a hidden agenda, are you really helping? I'm not saying that their idea is bad; they actually seem progressive and could actually benefit people in the long run. It just seems downright exploitative that they're using a disaster as an opportunity to push their agenda.

That being said, the article comes off as very anti-crypto, and seems to be pushing an agenda of its own.

Bitcoin can help a country whp is destroyed by the disasters but to make bitcoin a currency of a country if very hard and you have to start from the beginning and also you should have some people in the team that work in the government. I think this is the perfect time to start and develop something because all the country is devastated and people need help. If bitcoin is going to help them I am sure it will be used a lot in that country because people will be grateful to it because it saved and build again their country

Yup took the words right out of me, transparency is very important in such situations and only trust organizations should be involved. I do very much agree that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can help disaster hit communities, especially given the fact that some governments mostly in the developing countries either drag their feet to implement the help, or they loot majority of the funds. Thus, giving to private organization who work in the sector of disaster management is key. With speedy and almost instant transactions, they can start getting to work and implementing. But again, transparency is key, if not we might as well just give it to the crooked government institutions.

Bitcoin will be a great help for the recovery of Puerto Rico. The government must not criticize bitcoin because in emergency cases like these, people need a helping hand from other countries and there's nothing wrong in utilizing bitcoin in order to meet the cost of building a nation or recovering from disasters.

I think that bitcoin and other cryptocurrency will help the country. But only if, their government accepts it as a legal currency. Because, no matter what you do, if bitcoin is illegal in that country, then it won't help as much.

there are already institutions that are crypto-based such as bitgive that we can send our donation, but to be sure, we can send bitcoin by ourselves too, there are individuals that silently donating their bitcoins for the needy especially who experience such calamity, i think bitcoin billionaires are also open for donating, there are so many things we can do about donating bitcoins, it can be converted and buy things that are needed by the victims of disasters, it is better to share our blessings that bitcoin has brought us and a little amount of bitcoin is a great help for the victims.

I agree with upper comments - any help should be used to restore facilities, people and etc. BTC will be very useful in this purpose as currency

I think its not the of the best interest for a country to be hit by a major disaster to be given cryptocurrency. What they need is immediate relief, what they need is instant money or food and clothing and any other essentials and neccessities dictated by human nature. Bitcoin though its value is great, cannot be used to buy canned goods or to fund a shelter home it has to be encashed first and that is what i think the weakness of cryptocurrency in a crisis which is very evident

Nowadays puerto rico is in desperate need of help that is truly tangible and can lift the economy back in the country. If the economy is built with a touch of cryptocurrency, I think it would be risky because the price of cryptocurrency is not known, especially bitcoin.

It would be a nice idea if bitcoin will be use to help those countries that experience calamity or disaster, but my concern is how can we be sure that the person who will received such amount will give them to those concern countries since there is no trail to check them, also bitcoin might be used for corruption purposes.

Yes, we should use bitcoin to help not only countries hit by disaster but also the poor and the orphanages that needs our help. If we are contented to what we have now so it's time to help others specially the people who needs most. We need to help others so that if we need help they help us. God will give us a very special gift if we help others.

It can be used to help them because governments can invest here. Users here can also help them by sending a donation to that person. We can also teach them about Bitcoin, so that they will have a job and get money to sustain their needs.

Yes I totally agree to this idea, I think this is the best to get help to other who needed help. We can share our blessing by just donating some of our funds in bitcoin so that they can use to start a new life after a disaster that comes to their life.

That would help. Bitcoin can be definitely used as a currency to help those in poor countries by other governments. Instead of going through all the red tape, they could just fund people directly, and this would help them immensely. Also in cases of absolute power of dictation in any country, the people may be helped through bitcoins, and the dictator government wont be able to trace them due to BTC's anonymous and decentralized nature.

Hi,

The problem here is not really about bitcoin I'd say. I think that the government is reluctant because they already have experienced what foreign aid means. And if you don't know about it, let me explain.

When a country is hit by a catastrophe. Let's say a natural one. Other people from other country are willing to help. But rich governments are smart: they send help. Part of that help is organized by humanitarian associations (which is.. fine) and other part of the help is composed of entrepreneurs. Those entrepreneurs have the knowledge and material needed for the building sites.
This is nice, right? Well, it could be except that the country in distress msut pay for all that.

Generally speaking they don't have the money for all that. But the rich country is ready to lend some money. At high interest rates.

So do you see the trap?

This has nothing to do with bitcoin. This is about how rich countries "help" poor ones.  :-\

That could be win win situation if we really find a way to fund the people and country which has gone under natural calamities. If somehow government of each country allows that via terms of donation or charity then that could be possible. But our government should be smart enough to take that balls and start working on it. At least they should care much more regarding such issues rather than killing the crypto currency in terms of taxes and all the shit. At least they should be relaxed about it.

yes, choose someone who can be trusted to carry the mandate, so that everyone can get their rights fairly and equally.
because now it is very rare such people, who have a high social soul.

why wait for new disaster we come to help others

Bitcoin is a great tool to help disaster-affected people and for other donations. Bitcoin donation helped Texas Hurricane Victims in a great way and also Bitcoin donation is getting popularity in charities and political campaigns.

It is internally and externally helping every country as bitcoin is having high rating now and a lot of other countries has shown high interest for bitcoin, people are investing and getting safe future. Increasing price of bitcoin is the guarantee that it is going to help the investors and the other people as well who are using bitcoin as a side source of income. Several people in my place are now online employs and they are getting good profit with every increase in price so there is a big yes from my side.