Liberstad - the first private anarcho-capitalist city to run on its own cryptocurrency

Bitcoin enthusiasts have always been keen on sovereignty and privacy, free from government intrusion, having grown out of the cypherpunk and cryptoanarchist movement. So it comes as no surprise when someone eventually comes up with a project to create and run an entire autonomous city on their own private blockchain with their own cryptocurrency.

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Welcome to Liberstad

Liberstad is described as one of the first private anarcho-capitalist cities in the world. It’s located in Norway amidst lush vegetation, just inland of the south coast. Everything there is run on their own cryptocurrency called Citycoin (CITY). In fact national fiat currencies are prohibited and Citycoin is the only medium of exchange allowed. This closed market concept is run on Liberstad’s own private blockchain – City Chain which allows the residents there to offer their services, build projects or conduct business on a private and internal basis. Voluntaryism is encouraged and in this way the city aims to replace traditional government services.

Origins

Liberstad was founded in 2015 already and is the natural outcome of the “Libertania project” run by a nonprofit organization called Liberstad Drift Association headed by John Toralf Holmesland, an ironically appropriate name for a man who has launched a brand new homeland. His aim is to create a city-state, free from government interference and taxes, favouring privately funded services. The first freehold plots were sold in 2017 for either Bitcoin or Norwegian Krone. By April 2018 they already had around 100 prospective residents.

Liberstad ideology

The ideology of the city is inspiring, based on libertarian and non-aggressive principles.

“We want a society where people decide over themselves and can live together without government authorities. We want a society without government coercion, blackmail, surveillance or unnecessary violence.”

John Toralf Holmesland, head of Liberstad

Here we can see blockchain technology facilitating and revolutionising the way in which we can live our lives today. Due to its disintermediated and trustless architecture, blockchain is able to act as a key ingredient in developing a prosperous and sustainable free city society. On it a “City Hub” dashboard will allow city residents to perform the necessary civic functions, including voting for initiatives, registering property, identity management and contract insurance among other things.

Citycoin

Citycoin (CITY) is based on the more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake (POS) consensus algorithm, compared to Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (POW) and block validators are selected based on how many tokens a node has staked in their wallet. Stakeholders are rewarded with tokens, to the tune of 20 CITY per block staked, in exchange for securing the network. This provides a passive income for residents. Citycoin is currently equal to 1 Norwegian Krone or about $0.12. According to their github link -https://github.com/CityChainFoundation, it is a hard fork of another popular token called Stratis.

Empowered by blockchain

There are actually other prospective smart city projects by mainstream governments run on blockchain technology, like Dubai in the UAE which wants to become the first blockchain-based smart megapolis by 2020. And in China e-commerce companies are establishing a Smart City Reasearch Institute to accelerate such cities run on AI, big data and blockchain. These are sovereign government entities, whereas Liberstad is a private project, in the true spirit of Satoshi’s decentralised blockchain technology. At its core Liberstad’s principle is that government rulers come and go but cities endure. Long term prosperity among free “city-societies” can at last be guaranteed thanks to the immutable and decentralised blockchain network, which allows citizens to interact with each other peer-to-peer manner without government interference.

A role model for others to follow

Finally blockchain technology has empowered citizens who want to reclaim their sovereignty and change the way society works, so that people can decide for themselves without government control. This healthy form of anarchy is now possible. In Liberstad the property prices are far below the norm in Norway and there are no taxes.

It’s not the only one

Curiously it’s not the first such libertarian project to emerge. In April 2015 the Czech politician Vít Jedlička founded The Free Republic of Liberland. It is situated between the borders of Croatia and Serbia, on an unclaimed piece of land on the west bank of the Danube River. Neither country ever claimed it during the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in 1991, and it has been a “Terra Nullius” or no-man’s land until it was claimed.

“I was thinking we really have to start something new to make the whole system obsolete. We must not fight within the system…we just have to start building things.”

Vít Jedlička

Considered a “Constitutional Republic with elements of Direct Democracy”, you can find it on the map at 45degrees46 North and 18degrees52 East, near the town of Zmajevac in Croatia. It’s only 7km squared in size and uses blockchain and a cryptocurrency called Liberland Merits, equal to the US dollar in value. Back in 2015 one could become a citizen for $5000. Over 200 000 people applied for citizenship in the first week. It may be the first crypto-based new state to be formed in the world.

Where will you buy a plot of land when the bulls 100x your bags?

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