A cryptocurrency entrepreneur has proposed erecting a 450-foot statue of the Greek mythological figure Prometheus on Alcatraz Island, complete with a gas-powered flaming torch, in a project he hopes will rival the Statue of Liberty.
Ross Calvin, founder of crypto mining firm Parhelion Digital, wants the $420 million monument to rise over San Francisco Bay as a gift to the American people, timed to coincide with celebrations for the 250th anniversary of US independence. The island, once home to the notorious federal penitentiary that held Al Capone, now attracts about 1.2 million visitors a year and generates roughly $60 million in annual revenue.
Calvin first conceived the idea in 2018 while driving across the Bay Bridge, envisioning a triumphant landmark at the mouth of the bay. "How poetic to make it rhyme with the Statue of Liberty," he told The Independent. The proposal would include lush gardens and a museum of breakthrough technologies, from the telescope to gene-editing and AI.
The entrepreneur, who lives in Denver, has a varied portfolio that includes operating natural gas-powered Bitcoin mining rigs in Kurdistan and developing a perfume line. He describes himself as anti-authoritarian but holds a mix of political views, sharing President Donald Trump’s enthusiasm for grand monuments while also praising multiculturalism and the tactics of historical freedom fighters.
Calvin claims to have sent a letter to the president via a friend at Mar-a-Lago in December, and hopes to secure a White House meeting within six months. He is also assembling a private, for-profit fund backed by real estate and crypto assets, which he says has already attracted interest from investors, including in the Middle East. Trump has previously posted on Truth Social: "America is going to start building monuments to our great heroes and heroines again!!!"
