In balmy Puerto Rico, diehards shrug off the crypto winter: ‘We’re not worried’

Blockchain aficionados have long flocked to the island for its favorable tax laws. But as the industry wobbles, local residents are pushing back

On a humid December evening in Puerto Rico, more than 100 cryptocurrency and blockchain aficionados gathered at a mansion within a gated, jungle-like enclave of San Juan. A local band played softly while waiters served hors d'oeuvres to attendees who paid as much as $3,000 to attend CoinAgenda Caribbean, a three-day conference promising a VIP experience of networking opportunities and fireside chats about the future of the industry.

The crypto crowd arrived in chartered buses to the party, where they sipped on cocktails from an open bar around a pristine white pool, frogs singing in the trees surrounding the property owned by Michael Terpin, founder of CoinAgenda. A private chef from Lyon, France, provided a five-course meal - a fusion of French dishes and Puerto Rican staples like a pig roast and rice and beans.