Praxis, an institution that seeks to advance the creation of the first Balaji Srinivasan-inspired network state, has given its first step to building its city. The group, which defines itself as an “internet-native alliance to accelerate technological progress and revitalize western civilization,” announced that it raised $525 million to achieve the first essay of its alternative nation proposal.
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The round had the participation of Arch Lending, GEM Digital, Manifold Trading, and a group of angel investors from crypto-focused companies such as Farcaster, Worldcoin, and Dragonfly.
Praxis used a crypto-native mechanism for this process, featuring real-world assets (RWA) tokenization and designed with financing large-scale projects in mind. This round is the first implementation of such a mechanism. The city’s design will be in charge of Zaha Hadid Architects, while its development will be David Weinreb’s responsibility.
About how the city will be organized, Praxis stated it will “attract entrepreneurs and foster breakthroughs in AI, crypto, biotech, energy, and advanced manufacturing, by locating in an acceleration zone.” These zones are defined as settings that will incentivize tech developments with permissionless innovation as their principle.
The organization states that this setting will create an environment with a reverse brain drain, enticing governments, companies, and residents to be part of this still-to-be-built metropolis. While Praxis’ goals might be perceived as large, its community has over 14,000 Praxians living in 80 countries and 400 cities. The individuals have also built over $400 billion in wealth for several companies.
Apart from tokenizing assets and organizing on-chain governance, these communities also issue currency, encompassing all forms of state services under a crypto banner.
Writers’ Take: While Praxis’s goal of establishing a network state outside of the traditional sense of a nation might be ambitious, its embrace of the economic freedom views and detachment from current governments might be dangerous for the status quo. This city might serve to determine if the model is effective and if current nation-states will face obsolescence quietly.
