TLDR
- Ross Calvin proposes a 450-foot Prometheus statue for Alcatraz Island.
- The $450M statue would be taller than the Statue of Liberty.
- Calvin plans to pitch the statue idea to President Trump by January 2026.
- The project would require Alcatraz to become a national monument.
Ross Calvin, a Bitcoin mining executive, plans to build a massive 450-foot statue of Prometheus on San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island. Estimated at $450 million, the proposed monument would be one of the tallest statues in the world. The plan will be presented to President Trump, as the site would need to be reclassified from a national park to a national monument to proceed.
Proposed Statue to Surpass U.S. Landmarks in Height
Ross Calvin, CEO of Bitcoin mining company Parhelion, is behind the proposal. The statue would stand 450 feet tall, making it taller than the 305-foot Statue of Liberty. It would reach over half the height of the Golden Gate Bridge’s towers, which rise 746 feet above water.
The proposed monument would be made from a nickel-bronze alloy. Calvin’s team, through his nonprofit group American Colossus, has said the statue is meant to represent “beauty, heroism, ingenuity, and manifest destiny.”
Alcatraz Island, known for its former federal prison, is currently managed as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. To allow construction, the federal government would need to reclassify the site as a national monument. This would require presidential action, and Calvin plans to formally pitch the idea to President Trump by January 2026.
American Colossus Nonprofit Leading the Project
Calvin is managing the Prometheus statue proposal through his nonprofit, American Colossus. According to its website, the group aims to create a permanent structure that symbolizes the spirit of the West.
Renderings of the statue, along with architectural plans and a museum proposal, are expected to be included in the pitch. Calvin described the statue as a “lightning rod for the noble destiny of the West” in statements reported by Bloomberg.
The American Colossus website acknowledges an earlier effort to promote a memecoin based on the Prometheus theme. It launched in July 2025 on the BelieveApp platform but failed to attract investor interest. “We casually experimented with a digital token… We had no expectations for it and quickly moved on,” the site reads.
Political and Philosophical Links to the Project
The statue pitch has also drawn attention due to previous associations with controversial figures. Jason Jorjani, a writer known for his ties to alt-right ideology, was once listed as involved in the project. As of now, he is no longer mentioned on the nonprofit’s official site.
The project’s success depends on political and public support, especially due to the federal status of the island. Any construction on Alcatraz would need multiple approvals and a change in federal land designation.
Parhelion’s Global Bitcoin Operations
Calvin’s main company, Parhelion, is based in Denver and operates across the Middle East and North Africa. According to the firm’s site, it currently manages 25 megawatts of compute capacity in Kurdish Iraq.
Additional mining sites are in development across Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Algeria. Calvin has been involved in Bitcoin mining since 2013. His work with Parhelion focuses on deploying mining infrastructure in regions with available energy and low operational costs.
The proposal for the Prometheus statue is separate from Parhelion’s operations but is being promoted under Calvin’s broader vision through his nonprofit initiative.
