The crypto crash did not destroy crypto fortunes that had already been converted into real money. Now that real money is being converted into real estate, especially in Puerto Rico, the nearly-but-not-fully American island a two-hour hop by Gulfstream from Miami. The WSJ salivates this week over a 13,000 square-foot, $40 million compound on the beach and near the capital with a large koi pond, a larger pool and a wine cooler the size of a bus. Three-bedroom condos in the same area go for upwards of $10 million. Expats are drawn by the sun, sea, sand and a rock-bottom 4 per cent corporation tax on exported services. Forty per cent of Puerto Ricans live in poverty but the high-end property market has “exploded” since Covid.
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