Why Puerto Rico is Primed to Become a Blockchain Island

SingularDTV announces Liga De Artistas, a channel featuring original content from Puerto Rican artists…

From colonialism to capitalism, the Caribbean has endured centuries of pervasive, centralized outside control that has inhibited the freedom and development of the people who call it home, economically, socially, even creatively. “There’s really no other region in the world that exemplifies the effects of centralization more than the Caribbean, and particularly in Puerto Rico,” says SingularDTV CEO Zach LeBeau.

More recently, decades of political and economic repression have resulted in a stunted economy on the islands of Puerto Rico, home to 3.5 million people and an unincorporated territory of the United States with crippling government debt. There is little to no opportunity for local artists to develop their work while making a living. “Here in Puerto Rico, there is no public funding,” says Alexis Martinez, a SingularDTV producer who lives in San Juan. “Generally, you have a lot of struggling artists: Writers, painters, filmmakers, photographers, painters…”

However, a strong culture of art and music, and an eager, educated young population makes Puerto Rico a prime candidate for social and economic experimentation with decentralization, which is why it has become a focal point of the SingularDTV mission. “Decentralization can be a positive force in Puerto Rico,” says Zach LeBeau. “And we’re going to start with the artists.”

After announcing the launch of a Contact Center in Puerto Rico (in addition to existing locations in Zurich and Shanghai) to serve as a physical hub for everything from technical support to community outreach, SingularDTV will debut a channel — Liga De Artistas — featuring original content from artists all over Puerto Rico.

Watch “Puerto Rico: A Blockchain Island,” an original mini-doc on SingularDTV in Puerto Rico:

In LeBeau’s words: “We’re creating Liga De Artistas, a channel on SingularDTV where viewers from all over the world can experience content from artists here in Puerto Rico. We’re putting together musicians and writers and comedians and filmmakers, a number of artistic mediums, and launching a tokenized ecosystem around it. Our goal is to create a sustainable economic structure — entertainment-wise — for the artists and creators, and seeing where it goes from there.”

SingularDTV’s endeavors in places like Puerto Rico and Shanghai are lighting the spark in places most readily primed for a decentralized revolution, and will give everyday people the agency to define how this movement will grow. “All around the world, for independent artists, it’s the same. There’s no sustainable economic model for artists, that they can actually express and make a career off of that expression,” says LeBeau. “That’s the entire point of SingularDTV and the applications we’re building, the economic structures we’re launching with those applications, to give people the chance to create their own economies that aren’t beholden to a centralized power structure.”

Liga De Artistas will launch in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico on November 10, 2017 and will feature emerging musicians and artists from the island.