A Cryptocurrency Millionaire Wants To Build A City Entirely On Blockchain

Blockchains LLC, a company started by lawyer and 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. The firm aims to create the world’s first "distributed collaborative entity," which will benefit the blockchain ecosystem through education and other initiatives.

Blockchains bought the land in the Nevada desert for $170 million in cash this year, it said on the company website. 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 New York Times reported last week that Berns is designing a city that would run solely on blockchain. Instead of government or big corporations in control, the blockchain-based city would place power in the hands of the people and use cryptocurrency as the coin of the city.

"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," read a description on the website of Tom Wiscombe Architecture, one of the designers of the community.

The area Berns has planned 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.

"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 told the NYT. Blockchains plans to start construction of the city in late 2019, but the company still needs to get county approval.

Berns also told the New York Times that his purpose was not to be a real estate tycoon or even to get rich. He is undertaking to give away all decision-making powers for the project and 90 percent of any dividends it would generate to a corporate structure. The corporate structure would be held by "residents, employees and future investors."

Additionally, Berns believes that the cryptocurrency ethereum is what would make his community more than just a large real estate project. He explained that every resident and employee in the city will have an ethereum address, which they could use to vote on local measures and store their personal data