We can’t blame Elon Musk for dreaming of moving to Mars — the human race has always been curious about finding a better life somewhere else.
But not everyone in crypto is looking up to the stars to find new worlds; others stay on earth and attempt to build a new micronation, or a crypto community, here. There are dozens of projects in development — and a few actually operational — including Liberland, Satoshi Island and Puertopia/Sol attracting interest from the blockchain world.
Liberland
While many head out to sea to build their new communities, another option is to find land left over after conflicts. This is not as crazy as it sounds, and in the shifting territorial landscape after the breakup of the Yugoslavian empire, small pockets of land have turned up. Vít Jedlička, a Czech economist and Libertarian, founded Liberland on April 13, 2015 – on Thomas Jefferson’s birthday – on a small track of terra nullius (unclaimed land) on the banks of the Danube between Croatia and Serbia. At seven square kilometers, it is larger than Vatican City and Monaco and similar in size to Gibraltar.
The tiny nation is not yet habited despite boasting 785,000 citizens, all of whom currently reside abroad.
Jedlička wanted to form a new nation with low taxes and greater freedoms, and he found the land literally by Googling the term “terra nullius.”
President Vít Jedlička at the 2019 Floating Man Festival in Liberland. Source: Supplied
“We had a need to start a new country in order to defend the personal and economic freedoms of certain groups of people that really enjoy freedom and want to live in a free society,” says Jedlička.
“Liberland is a pristine piece of land; it’s a beautiful place with sandy beaches, and I think it’s actually one of the most beautiful places on the Danube. People can actually come there for recreation, and people are coming camping there as we speak even though it’s winter right now.
“Of course, there are some major…
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