By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 12th, 2024
Cryptocurrency millionaire Jeffrey Berns has acquired more than 67,000 acres of land in northern Nevada for building a new city that would run entirely on blockchain.
Blockchain millionaire, a consumer protection lawyer and a CEO of a firm called Blockchains LLC, Jeffrey Berns signed a deal which has cost him around $170 million. Berns calls this structure a distributed collaborative entity as it is supposed to operate on a blockchain where everyone’s ownership rights and voting powers will be tracked and recorded in a digital wallet.
The blockchain city won’t have the government ‘per se’ but the power would be placed in the hands of the people and cryptocurrency will be used as the coin of the city.
As the description on the website of Tom Wiscombe Architecture, one of the designers of the community says:
“The city aims to showcase how business development, residential living and commerce can flourish alongside world-changing technologies. Multiple innovative technologies will change the way its residents interact on a daily basis and blockchain technology will be at the center of it all — keeping systems honest, fair and democratic.”
The whole area surrounds an industrial park where Tesla’s Gigafactory is located, as well as buildings of major tech giants like Google and Apple. Berns has spent about $300 million on the land, offices, planning and a staff of 70 people.
According to the New York Times, Berns is able to fund the entire project with money he earned from an investment in the cryptocurrency Ethereum in 2015.
He said:
“Something inside me tells me this is the answer. That if we can get enough people to trust the blockchain, we can begin to change all the systems we operate by,”
Berns explained that he chose Nevada mostly because of the tax benefits, including the lack of income taxes.
The whole city is envisioned to be split into two parts: a residential area and campus for researching emerging technologies. The business part will feature “a highly secured, high-tech Blockchains Campus that joins blockchain technology with artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing and nanotechnology,” as well as a university.
The commercial side is focused on encouraging technologically forward ideas and development. The tech campus will feature an e sports arena as well. The residential area will feature a smart city with homes and schools, with self-driving cars, as well as a drone delivering system.
The city should run on renewable energy and be community-oriented. Berns said the company won’t begin construction on the broader property until late 2019, at the earliest, after putting together the master plan and getting it approved by the county.
Berns said:
“Everything that we do will have its infrastructure rooted in blockchain. Now, we also wanted to show how the blockchain could change the way we live, so we are creating a residential community as well. This residential community will have houses, apartments, condos, banks, markets, stores, schools, and we will use blockchain, the public blockchain, wherever possible. We will incubate projects with those entities as we build out that residential community.”
The company will also recruit a number of partners to work on projects and the first of these is energy firm, NV Energy, which services 1.4 million customers throughout Nevada
Crypto Cities around the World Growing Like a Mushrooms After Rain
It’s not just US that is crypto positive. Slovenia, that has even recently been titled ‘the Silicon Valley of Europe’, has its own crypto mall – Bitcoin City offers such an opportunity.
Bitcoin City represents itself the very first entertainment ecosystem based on the newest technologies. It is a result of fruitful collaboration between BTC City, one of the biggest Central European shopping, business and logistic centers, and Eligma, a startup specializing in smart commerce solutions.
Bitcoin City leverages blockchain technology to provide the highest level of security. The visitors of the entertainment area can enjoy a wide range of payment options available here, including digital money. The Eligma team has developed its very own payment system Elipay, which allows for paying in cryptocurrencies via an easy-to-use mobile app.
On the other side of the world, with a view to become a smart city, comes Taipei that partnered with IOTA to provide its residents with a wide range of new technological advantages.
The first project to be implemented will be introduction of digital citizen cards with built-in TangleID. The concept of these cards was designed with an aim to exclude risks of identity theft and voter fraud. Simultaneously, the digital cards will represent a simple tool for tracking health history and other data for public services.