A blockchain-based residential settlement called CryptoCity spans 35 hectares on Margarita Island and is promoted to German and other foreign investors as a highly exclusive enclave. All transactions in the zone must be made in crypto, and residents form part of a “brain pool” aimed at generating joint business ventures through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). CryptoCity is one example of how Trump’s foreign policy is benefitting a venture-capital fueled private city and “network state” movement.
The project is featured on the page of the Free Cities Foundation, a leading private city promotor led by German economist Titus Gebel that has also championed the crypto-libertarian movement’s flagship project, a self-governing jurisdiction in Honduras called the Próspera ZEDE (Economic Development and Employment Zone). Property values shot up, properties for $20,000-$30,000 were nowhere to be found, and CryptoCity experienced an influx of investors interested in visiting the island, he maintained. In 2022, crypto investor Balaji Srinivasan took the tech-futurist and land-hungry movement to the next level, coining the idea of the “network state.” A network state refers to an online community that pools capital, forms a blockchain “nation,” and then crowdsources land and exploits legal exemptions to build para-national territories. Praxis — also backed by a group of mega tech and crypto investors including Pronomos, Balaji Srinivasan, Patri Friedman of the Seasteading Institute, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm Alameda Research, and Apollo Ventures (the VC firm of OpenAI’s Sam Altman) — circulated a White House X post on November 5, 2025, that featured President Trump inside a pattern resembling the Praxian flag, adding a note: “Praxians in control.” The image leaves little room for doubt of Trump’s alliance with the right-wing network nation.
Property markets around CryptoCity have shown dramatic shifts, with reports of scarce listings at previously observed prices, fueling investor interest in visiting the island. This case illustrates how policy debates, venture capital, and crypto-enabled governance coalesce into a new class of experimental jurisdictions that blur the lines between digital communities and para-national territories.
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