We’re used to certain structures and systems, and we might think that they’re unmovable, but that’s not always the case. Countries and a corporate-governed economy are examples of those not-that-unmovable structures, and yes, they might change too, entirely. In 2022, the Indian-American entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan published the book “The Network State: How to Start a New Country,” in which he describes a whole new societal structure for our future —including decentralization and cryptocurrencies. We can even call it crypto countries. Srinivasan defined a network state like this: “A network state is a social network with a moral innovation, a sense of national consciousness, a recognized founder, a capacity for collective action, an in-person level of civility, an integrated cryptocurrency, a consensual government limited by a social smart contract, an archipelago of crowdfunded physical territories, a virtual capital, and an on-chain census that proves a large enough population, income, and real-estate footprint to attain a measure of diplomatic recognition.” In other words, we can say that a network state is a community with common goals, governance, and decentralized funds, that also owns physical territory somewhere —hopefully, because all members joined efforts to buy it. As of January 2025, this is still just a concept, and not something fully developed anywhere. However, there are several attempts, with their teams and community doing their best to crystallize their efforts into a real network state. Let’s explore them ahead. Nation3 Billed as a solarpunk society, Nation3 envisions a future where technology and nature coexist harmoniously. Nation3’s core offering is an Internet-native jurisdiction that eliminates traditional bureaucracy, enabling its citizens—who hold non-transferable NFT passports—to engage in seamless, enforceable agreements via smart contracts. By depositing cryptocurrency as collateral, participants ensure accountability, while disputes are adjudicated by elected, incentivized judges within a transparent framework. This ecosystem intertwines Ethereum’s smart contracts with Aragon DAO’s governance tools to create a decentralized yet structured digital nation. On this platform, citizens aren’t merely passive residents but active stakeholders, driving decisions through its DAO, where a bicameral governance model balances power. Services include private, encrypted courts, governance portals, a basic income, and digital passports, with future expansions aiming to encompass physical spaces. Nation3 seeks to decentralize essential services, reduce reliance on traditional nation-states, and offer an alternative where autonomy and fairness prevail. Recent updates reveal steady progress toward these goals. Nation3 continues refining its apps, including a mobile passport service and governance platform, enhancing accessibility for its growing community. While it may still be far from a physical realization, Nation3 represents a glimpse into a potential future where governance is shaped not by geography but by shared ideals and digital tools. CityDAO CityDAO.tech is a project exploring the intersection of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and real estate, offering $CITY token holders the ability to engage in property transactions, rentals, and futures trading. Operating on an EVM-compatible Layer 2 chain, it focuses on tokenizing physical assets (Real World Assets - RWA) to improve liquidity and global accessibility. While CityDAO.tech aims to create decentralized systems for urban property management, it also grants its citizens governance rights, enabling them to propose and vote on key community decisions. This governance model seeks to make participants more than just users, giving them a role in shaping the platform's direction and offerings. For instance, 'citizens' can make urban planning and development proposals —which could lead to the creation of a physical community. This initiative appears to draw inspiration, or be a direct heir (there’s no official announcement, though) from CityDAO.io, a previous project that attempted to build a network state by purchasing land in Wyoming (US) under a DAO legal framework. That earlier effort stopped operating around 2023, but it gained attention for its attempt to integrate DLT with physical governance. Like its predecessor, CityDAO.tech presents the idea of a decentralized citizenry, where holding tokens equates to a form of membership, complete with property access, voting power, and potential rewards. By connecting autonomous city systems, CityDAO.tech envisions a network where participants can share resources and collaborate across different locations. This raises the question of whether such structures could one day form the foundation of a network state. Praxis Founded by Dryden Brown and Charlie Callinan in 2019, Praxis is an organization that aims to create what it calls the first "network state," combining online community-building with ambitions for a shared culture and governance. The project is centered on fostering a unique way of life inspired by Western traditions and virtues, with the ultimate goal of constructing a physical city where these ideals can thrive. Members are encouraged to engage with this vision by contributing to institutional and cultural development, supporting initiatives in education, media, and health systems, and preparing for future relocation to the planned city. The proposed city will be located within an "Acceleration Zone," a type of special economic area designed to minimize regulatory barriers for cutting-edge industries like AI, crypto, biotech, energy, and advanced manufacturing. This framework is intended to encourage rapid technological advancement and attract innovators. With the announcement of $525 million in funding in October 2024, Praxis has taken significant steps toward realizing this vision. The city’s design, conceptualized by Zaha Hadid Architects, aims to blend classical and futuristic aesthetics while supporting scalable, modern urban planning. Recent developments highlight Praxis’s partnership with major financial backers and its commitment to using DLT, including tokenized real-world assets, to finance the city. The project's roadmap includes selecting a location by early 2025, with possible sites in the Mediterranean or Latin America. Afropolitan Afropolitan envisions itself as a digital nation, leveraging decentralized technologies to unite the global African diaspora. By creating an ecosystem supported by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), Afropolitan allows members to participate in governance and decision-making through its native Afrotokens. This system facilitates access to curated services such as investment opportunities, cultural events, and a P2P exchange. Central to Afropolitan’s approach is its gradual development into a network state. They aim to grow into a physical presence, guided by collective principles and shared goals. In the meantime, they offer tools and services like Afropass, an app for booking Afrocentric experiences and managing transactions using crypto or fiat currency, an NFT collection on Ethereum (available on OpenSea), and Afropolitan One, a premium membership platform for accessing tailored services. The latter platform integrates crypto features to enhance community participation and utility. Besides gaining voting rights in the DAO, members earn tokens through subscriptions, staking, and participating in activities, reinforcing their stake in the network. This platform consolidates networking opportunities, investment ventures, and access to curated Afrocentric events. These initiatives underline Afropolitan's mission to empower its community through decentralized tools while laying the groundwork for a broader societal shift. Cabin City This is a project aimed at creating interconnected modern villages, structured as a network city. These decentralized neighborhoods emphasize close-knit communities with shared resources, intergenerational living, and a balance between urban convenience and access to nature. Governed by its members through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), Cabin leverages Ethereum to manage its treasury transparently and enable collective decision-making. By fostering in-person relationships and cooperative efforts, it addresses societal issues like loneliness and declining living standards while offering a fresh approach to community living. Cabin combines physical and digital layers, where online governance facilitates real-world impact. Its neighborhoods, governed by ₡ABIN tokens, support self-sufficiency through shared spaces, local initiatives, and a regenerative connection to the environment. Cabin's decentralized model aligns with the principles of self-determination and horizontal governance, making it more than just a set of villages—it’s a framework for collaborative and sustainable living, designed to adapt to the needs of its community over time. Governance at Cabin involves collective decision-making processes that are transparent and adaptable. Members propose initiatives and vote on them using a non-binary, quadratic system to balance influence between large and small contributors. Approved initiatives form contributor pods, which execute tasks autonomously while being accountable to the broader community. Treasury funds, managed through multi-signature wallets, are allocated based on these votes. These initiatives and neighborhoods have a physical presence already, so Cabin might as well be called a blooming network state now. A Decentralized Platform for Network States We should say that Ethereum and other blockchain options, with their censorship track record, aren’t the most decentralized alternatives to create a really autonomous and censorship-resistant network state. On the other hand, Obyte offers a promising foundation for these distributed communities by combining decentralization with practical tools for governance and collaboration. Its Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) architecture ensures a censorship-resistant environment where decision-making and participation can be distributed across the community. Unlike blockchains that depend on powerful “validators” or block producers, Obyte’s design eliminates these middlemen and the very users are in charge of approving their transactions just by sending them. This makes it particularly suited for network states, which aim to empower individuals and decentralize control while maintaining transparency and trust. Obyte provides essential features that align with the needs of modern communities. Its support for smart contracts and Autonomous Agents enables self-executing agreements, removing the need for intermediaries in transactions and governance. Communities can also create their own tokens, customized for specific purposes, whether economic, social, or administrative. Besides, Obyte’s contracts with arbitration bring a useful tool by combining decentralized escrow with an autonomous justice system. In cases of disputes, parties can engage professional arbiters from the ArbStore, ensuring impartial resolutions without sacrificing privacy. This system offers an effective framework for building trust and resolving conflicts within international, digital societies. By emphasizing security, privacy, and user autonomy, Obyte provides the technological backbone for experimenting with and establishing resilient, decentralized communities. Featured Vector Image by Freepik We’re used to certain structures and systems, and we might think that they’re unmovable, but that’s not always the case. Countries and a corporate-governed economy are examples of those not-that-unmovable structures, and yes, they might change too, entirely. In 2022, the Indian-American entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan published the book “The Network State: How to Start a New Country,” in which he describes a whole new societal structure for our future —including decentralization and cryptocurrencies. We can even call it crypto countries. Srinivasan defined a network state like this: Srinivasan defined Srinivasan defined “A network state is a social network with a moral innovation, a sense of national consciousness, a recognized founder, a capacity for collective action, an in-person level of civility, an integrated cryptocurrency, a consensual government limited by a social smart contract, an archipelago of crowdfunded physical territories, a virtual capital, and an on-chain census that proves a large enough population, income, and real-estate footprint to attain a measure of diplomatic recognition.” “A network state is a social network with a moral innovation, a sense of national consciousness, a recognized founder, a capacity for collective action, an in-person level of civility, an integrated cryptocurrency, a consensual government limited by a social smart contract, an archipelago of crowdfunded physical territories, a virtual capital, and an on-chain census that proves a large enough population, income, and real-estate footprint to attain a measure of diplomatic recognition.” In other words, we can say that a network state is a community with common goals, governance, and decentralized funds, that also owns physical territory somewhere —hopefully, because all members joined efforts to buy it. As of January 2025, this is still just a concept, and not something fully developed anywhere. However, there are several attempts, with their teams and community doing their best to crystallize their efforts into a real network state. Let’s explore them ahead. Nation3 Billed as a solarpunk society, Nation3 envisions a future where technology and nature coexist harmoniously. Nation3’s core offering is an Internet-native jurisdiction that eliminates traditional bureaucracy, enabling its citizens—who hold non-transferable NFT passports—to engage in seamless, enforceable agreements via smart contracts . Nation3’s core offering is an Internet-native jurisdiction that eliminates traditional bureaucracy, enabling its citizens—who hold non-transferable NFT passports—to engage in seamless, enforceable agreements via smart contracts By depositing cryptocurrency as collateral, participants ensure accountability, while disputes are adjudicated by elected, incentivized judges within a transparent framework. This ecosystem intertwines Ethereum’s smart contracts with Aragon DAO’s governance tools to create a decentralized yet structured digital nation. On this platform , citizens aren’t merely passive residents but active stakeholders, driving decisions through its DAO, where a bicameral governance model balances power. Services include private, encrypted courts, governance portals, a basic income, and digital passports, with future expansions aiming to encompass physical spaces. Nation3 seeks to decentralize essential services, reduce reliance on traditional nation-states, and offer an alternative where autonomy and fairness prevail. On this platform On this platform Recent updates reveal steady progress toward these goals. Nation3 continues refining its apps, including a mobile passport service and governance platform, enhancing accessibility for its growing community. While it may still be far from a physical realization, Nation3 represents a glimpse into a potential future where governance is shaped not by geography but by shared ideals and digital tools. Recent updates Recent updates CityDAO CityDAO.tech is a project exploring the intersection of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and real estate, offering $CITY token holders the ability to engage in property transactions, rentals, and futures trading. Operating on an EVM-compatible Layer 2 chain, it focuses on tokenizing physical assets (Real World Assets - RWA) to improve liquidity and global accessibility. While CityDAO.tech aims to create decentralized systems for urban property management, it also grants its citizens governance rights, enabling them to propose and vote on key community decisions. This governance model seeks to make participants more than just users, giving them a role in shaping the platform's direction and offerings. While CityDAO.tech aims to create decentralized systems for urban property management, it also grants its citizens governance rights, enabling them to propose and vote on key community decisions. CityDAO.tech CityDAO.tech For instance, 'citizens' can make urban planning and development proposals —which could lead to the creation of a physical community. This initiative appears to draw inspiration, or be a direct heir (there’s no official announcement, though) from CityDAO.io , a previous project that attempted to build a network state by purchasing land in Wyoming (US) under a DAO legal framework. That earlier effort stopped operating around 2023, but it gained attention for its attempt to integrate DLT with physical governance. CityDAO.io CityDAO.io Like its predecessor, CityDAO.tech presents the idea of a decentralized citizenry, where holding tokens equates to a form of membership, complete with property access, voting power, and potential rewards. By connecting autonomous city systems, CityDAO.tech envisions a network where participants can share resources and collaborate across different locations. This raises the question of whether such structures could one day form the foundation of a network state. Praxis Founded by Dryden Brown and Charlie Callinan in 2019, Praxis is an organization that aims to create what it calls the first "network state," combining online community-building with ambitions for a shared culture and governance. The project is centered on fostering a unique way of life inspired by Western traditions and virtues, with the ultimate goal of constructing a physical city where these ideals can thrive . The project is centered on fostering a unique way of life inspired by Western traditions and virtues, with the ultimate goal of constructing a physical city where these ideals can thrive The project The project Members are encouraged to engage with this vision by contributing to institutional and cultural development, supporting initiatives in education, media, and health systems, and preparing for future relocation to the planned city. The proposed city will be located within an "Acceleration Zone," a type of special economic area designed to minimize regulatory barriers for cutting-edge industries like AI, crypto, biotech, energy, and advanced manufacturing. This framework is intended to encourage rapid technological advancement and attract innovators. With the announcement of $525 million in funding in October 2024, Praxis has taken significant steps toward realizing this vision. The city’s design, conceptualized by Zaha Hadid Architects, aims to blend classical and futuristic aesthetics while supporting scalable, modern urban planning. With the announcement With the announcement Recent developments highlight Praxis’s partnership with major financial backers and its commitment to using DLT, including tokenized real-world assets, to finance the city. The project's roadmap includes selecting a location by early 2025, with possible sites in the Mediterranean or Latin America. Afropolitan Afropolitan envisions itself as a digital nation, leveraging decentralized technologies to unite the global African diaspora. By creating an ecosystem supported by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), Afropolitan allows members to participate in governance and decision-making through its native Afrotokens. This system facilitates access to curated services such as investment opportunities, cultural events, and a P2P exchange. Afropolitan Afropolitan Central to Afropolitan’s approach is its gradual development into a network state. They aim to grow into a physical presence, guided by collective principles and shared goals. In the meantime, they offer tools and services like Afropass, an app for booking Afrocentric experiences and managing transactions using crypto or fiat currency, an NFT collection on Ethereum (available on OpenSea), and Afropolitan One , a premium membership platform for accessing tailored services. Central to Afropolitan’s approach is its gradual development into a network state. They aim to grow into a physical presence, guided by collective principles and shared goals. Afropolitan One Afropolitan One The latter platform integrates crypto features to enhance community participation and utility. Besides gaining voting rights in the DAO, members earn tokens through subscriptions, staking, and participating in activities, reinforcing their stake in the network. This platform consolidates networking opportunities, investment ventures, and access to curated Afrocentric events. These initiatives underline Afropolitan's mission to empower its community through decentralized tools while laying the groundwork for a broader societal shift. Cabin City This is a project aimed at creating interconnected modern villages, structured as a network city. These decentralized neighborhoods emphasize close-knit communities with shared resources, intergenerational living, and a balance between urban convenience and access to nature. Governed by its members through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), Cabin leverages Ethereum to manage its treasury transparently and enable collective decision-making. By fostering in-person relationships and cooperative efforts, it addresses societal issues like loneliness and declining living standards while offering a fresh approach to community living. Cabin Cabin Cabin combines physical and digital layers, where online governance facilitates real-world impact. Its neighborhoods, governed by ₡ABIN tokens, support self-sufficiency through shared spaces, local initiatives, and a regenerative connection to the environment. Cabin's decentralized model aligns with the principles of self-determination and horizontal governance, making it more than just a set of villages—it’s a framework for collaborative and sustainable living, designed to adapt to the needs of its community over time. Cabin combines physical and digital layers, where online governance facilitates real-world impact. Its neighborhoods, governed by ₡ABIN tokens, support self-sufficiency through shared spaces, local initiatives, and a regenerative connection to the environment. Governance at Cabin involves collective decision-making processes that are transparent and adaptable. Members propose initiatives and vote on them using a non-binary, quadratic system to balance influence between large and small contributors. Approved initiatives form contributor pods, which execute tasks autonomously while being accountable to the broader community. Treasury funds, managed through multi-signature wallets, are allocated based on these votes. These initiatives and neighborhoods have a physical presence already, so Cabin might as well be called a blooming network state now. Governance at Cabin Governance at Cabin A Decentralized Platform for Network States We should say that Ethereum and other blockchain options, with their censorship track record , aren’t the most decentralized alternatives to create a really autonomous and censorship-resistant network state. On the other hand, Obyte offers a promising foundation for these distributed communities by combining decentralization with practical tools for governance and collaboration. censorship track record censorship track record Obyte Obyte Its Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) architecture ensures a censorship-resistant environment where decision-making and participation can be distributed across the community. Unlike blockchains that depend on powerful “validators” or block producers, Obyte’s design eliminates these middlemen and the very users are in charge of approving their transactions just by sending them. This makes it particularly suited for network states, which aim to empower individuals and decentralize control while maintaining transparency and trust. Its Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) architecture ensures a censorship-resistant environment where decision-making and participation can be distributed across the community. Obyte provides essential features that align with the needs of modern communities. Its support for smart contracts and Autonomous Agents enables self-executing agreements, removing the need for intermediaries in transactions and governance. Communities can also create their own tokens , customized for specific purposes, whether economic, social, or administrative. smart contracts smart contracts Autonomous Agents Autonomous Agents their own tokens their own tokens Besides, Obyte’s contracts with arbitration bring a useful tool by combining decentralized escrow with an autonomous justice system. In cases of disputes, parties can engage professional arbiters from the ArbStore , ensuring impartial resolutions without sacrificing privacy. This system offers an effective framework for building trust and resolving conflicts within international, digital societies. Obyte’s contracts with arbitration Obyte’s contracts with arbitration ArbStore ArbStore By emphasizing security, privacy, and user autonomy, Obyte provides the technological backbone for experimenting with and establishing resilient, decentralized communities. Featured Vector Image by Freepik Featured Vector Image by Freepik Freepik Freepik
