...
By Jordan King
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A cryptocurrency entrepreneur is trying to get A $450 million statue of the Greek Titan Prometheus, called the “American Colossus,” built on Alcatraz Island.
Ross Calvin, founder of the Denver-based bitcoin-mining firm Parhelion and executive director of the American Colossus Foundation, announced plans to build the monument last March and launched a campaign on Geyser Fund, a Bitcoin-based crowdfunding platform. But only $5 has been raised as of Wednesday morning.
In Greek mythology, Prometheus was responsible for creating or aiding humanity. He is said to have defied the Olympian gods by taking fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, knowledge and civilization.
Read More on News
Why It Matters
The “American Colossus,” would dramatically reshape the San Francisco Bay skyline and spark national dialogue about American identity, technological ambition and historic landmarks.
The statue, intended to stand 450 feet tall on Alcatraz Island, would surpass the height of the Statue of Liberty by 150 feet and reposition Alcatraz from its legacy as a federal prison to a beacon of innovation and optimism.
What To Know
The whole project, which would include the statue and a connected underground Prometheion Museum, is described by Calvin as “a monument to American manifest destiny” and aims to celebrate technology, entrepreneurship and human ingenuity.
The proposal envisions a massive nickel-bronze statue of the Prometheus—a figure Calvin characterizes as “the liberator of mankind” and “the first freedom fighter”— along with a museum meant to explore the myth’s lessons for technology, creativity, and perseverance.
Calvin’s ambition is to transform Alcatraz from a defunct federal prison to a symbol of inspiration and progress.
Building the statue on Alcatraz would require the island to be reclassified from a national park, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, to a national monument.
This reclassification would need federal approval and extensive environmental review. As of November 2025, the National Park Service reports it has not received a formal proposal for the project, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Newsweek has contacted the National Park Service and the American Colossus project, via email, for comment.
...
What People Are Saying
Ross Calvin said in a post on the American Colossus X account in October: “Prometheus is the liberator of mankind. He is the first freedom fighter. He imbued Man with the traits which allowed him to become free himself: an overcoming will, the vision for technology and entrepreneurship, the capacity to overcome great hardship and the willful expending of one’s life in service of powerful, creative and noble acts. The ancients understood Man as heroic being, possessing of these traits.
“Prometheus, whose name means ‘foresight’ or more precisely ‘prior to truth,’ is characterized by the power to dynamically initiate and heroically imprint one’s internal blueprint onto the world. This is the essence of Manifest Destiny central to the American ethos and of the Pursuit of Happiness which is the American covenant. Very important.”
What Happens Next
No physical progress on the statue has been reported; the vision remains in the realm of digital renderings and aspirational statements.
Whether the "'"American Colossus" will step off the drawing board or remain a digital vision hinges on both public enthusiasm and the resolution of regulatory and political challenges. As of now, the only tangible support remains the single $5 donation recorded online.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines