Network states: the tech bros who want to create new countries

First, they created new currencies and now crypto bros have an even wilder ambition: to make new countries.

In today's "chaotic world" of "geopolitical clashes, wars and an increasing digital economy", this "sounds more realistic than ever before", said Forbes.

Cyber statelets

"Here's how it would work", said the BBC: "communities form – on the internet initially – around a set of shared interests or values. Then they acquire land, becoming physical 'countries' with their own laws."

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The entities would "exist alongside existing nation states, and eventually, replace them altogether". This would allow people to choose their nationality, "like you choose your broadband provider" and "become a citizen of the franchised cyber statelet of your choice".

These new states would be "formed on the basis of shared ideas, interests, and goals" and they "are not merely theoretical constructs", said Forbes. "They represent a practical reimagining of how communities can organise and govern themselves in the digital age."

The idea is being powered by a "cultish tech movement that ultimately seeks to end countries as we know them", said The New Republic, and "decentralise governance in the same way that crypto seeks to decentralise finance". The ambitious plan would see "typically cash-strapped countries cede land to tech bros who want to play a real-life version of SimCity".

There is "nothing new about corporations having undue influence in the affairs of nation states", said the BBC, such as when a US company, United Fruit, "effectively ruled Guatemala for decades beginning in the 1930s".

But the network state movement "doesn't just want pliant existing governments so that companies can run their own affairs". It wants to "replace governments with companies".

Crowdfunding territory

The players behind this movement are slowly gaining more influence. In his 2022 book "The Network State: How To Start a New Country", serial entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan said a network state would be "a highly aligned online community with a capacity for collective action" that "crowdfunds territory around the world and eventually gains diplomatic recognition from pre-existing states".

His company, Praxis, is looking to build a new city on the Mediterranean coast, "governed and built by the community", said Forbes. The project has "significant funding" and it has hired a team that includes a former G7 prime minister to support negotiations and city planning. Other companies have launched pop-up villages and special economic zones that experiment with autonomous governance.

Another major player is the Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, who told the Moment of Zen podcast that we can "tokenise real estate and actual physical land to create better forms of society". He said he would like the crypto community to "think about how we actually go create physical places in the world to preserve freedom over the long term".

It's "hard to imagine any other American CEO openly discussing plans to undermine the US government and start their own country", said The New Republic, but "even more unimaginably", politicians "across the spectrum are openly embracing Armstrong".

That said, it's unclear whether politicians, "who are among the least tech-savvy" people in the US, "have any clue about this Network State movement". But once politicians are "hooked" on crypto, the "crypto bros" will get "even more bold about pushing their more dangerous ideas: namely, the end of nation-states as we know them".

Existing projects are "at different stages of development and still face unique challenges", said Forbes, but "their collective efforts signify a growing interest in redefining governance in the digital era".