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Top Science Journal Would Empower Scientists to Rule on Income and Wealth
16 September 2026 at 01:29
Reframing subjective policy issues as questions of objective “science” makes it easier to justify relying on “experts” for policy answers.
A micro-state Utopia for crypto billionaires who eschew taxes, government, and regulations of any kind. These so-called “network states” are popping up all around the world. Peter Thiel has backed Praxis and Prospera, which is in Honduras. Reportedly, Thiel now calls Prospera home. Praxis doesn’t have a home yet, but they are hoping for Greenland. ⁃ Patrick Wood Editor.
More than 800,000 people are hoping to move to a self-proclaimed crypto micronation called ‘Liberland’ that is on a patch of muddy floodplain along the Danube River.
The uninhabited seven-square-kilometre land on the border of Serbia and Croatia was founded by Czech libertarian politician Vit Jedlicka who claimed the territory in 2015.
There, Mr Jedlicka said he founded a new country with the aim of creating a libertarian state founded on the blockchain technology underpinning cryptocurrencies – or, as a haven for crypto billionaires.
According to the self-declared president, the small ‘nation’ has received 804,000 citizenship applications – enticed by the eradication of tax and government regulation. Its motto is: To Live and Let Live.
It comes as the UK faces an exodus in the tech sector after nearly 6,000 entrepreneurs fled the UK in the past two years, with many fleeing to destinations with more forgiving tax regimes, such as Dubai.
The group of 30 tech billionaires are using blockchain – effectively a secure digital ledger – to construct the first decentralised autonomous government and also the world’s ‘freest country’.
The micronation of around 1,200 citizens has its own official language of ‘Liberlandish’, will be holding a congressional election later this month, has its own passports as well as its own navy, known as the ‘Liberty’.
Meanwhile, its ‘administration’ has appointed three ‘legal professionals’ to form a Supreme Court to oversee applications. It added an app will soon be used to fast track applications from those without a criminal record.
Vit Jedlicka had a vision to create a nation which eradicates tax and government regulation
In lieu of tax, a voluntary monthly contribution system was created that is claimed ‘inherently superior to forced tax’ which allows one to ‘become a true co-owner’ of the ‘nation’.
Liberland citizens use cryptocurrency to pay voluntary taxes for the upkeep of the heavily-forested island and its navy. The tokens are the Liberland Dollar, which handles money and network fees; and Liberland Merit, which handles voting and laws. Both can be bought with bitcoin.
One’s ‘dedication’ will be ‘recognised’ through the Liberland app and a rating ‘badge’ system based on monthly contributions – spanning from Bronze (one to ten Merits) to Diamond (more than 10,000 Merits). The chart will be published publicly monthly, justified as a way to maintain ‘radical transparency’.
‘Liberland,’ officially known as the Free Republic of Liberland, joins a movement by the ultra-wealthy of creating micro-states and special economic zones.
These ‘bubbles of capitalism’ have popped up in Honduras, where Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder, financially supported the founding of the private city of Prospera. Elsewhere, a ‘Crypto City’ is being built in Venezuela, while ‘Liberstad’, a private member-based city, is being created in Norway.
Liberland is yet to be recognised by other nations, with a lack of proper infrastructure and 200 registered companies. Those behind the project have set up a permanent outpost across the river called ‘Ark Village’ which has shared rooms, kitchenettes and a meeting room.
The territory had been long contested between Croatia and Serbia since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the 1990s Balkan wars. Mr Jedlicka claimed the land on the principle of ‘terra nullius’, effectively that unclaimed land belongs to the first person to occupy it.
Croatia deployed border police units and patrol boats to prevent repeated attempts by Liberland organisers to reach the area when it was first set up in 2015. Serbian police prevented them from crossing the border from their side.
Since being declared independent by Mr Jedlicka, there are now more than 1,262 registered citizens and 804,000 applications for citizenship.
A settlement on the island – which is about the size of Gibraltar – has been up and running since August 2023, with a core group of people maintaining a continuous physical presence.
They have been developing the land, having already constructed the first house, set up basic infrastructure and marina facilities.
Liberland’s website states that non-EU visitors who cross into the area from the Croatian side are usually issued a notice requiring them to leave Croatian territory within seven days, accompanied by a temporary re-entry ban.
However, it also says those seven days are ‘more than enough to earn full Liberland citizenship’, by helping with construction, clearing land, building infrastructure or other community projects.
Other individuals in Europe have previously declared the formation of a micronation state – including the Principality of Sealand, an abandoned North Sea oil rig off the coast of Suffolk which declared independence in 1967.
An exodus of the wealthy from the UK has been fuelled from changes to Capital Gains Tax, the mansion tax on properties worth more than £2million, Inheritance Tax changes and VAT on private schools.
The figures showed that 5,940 business owners left the UK between January 2024 and January 2026. The analysis showed that 10 per cent of those leaving were from the software sector, more than three times higher than the next most affected, property development.
The United Arab Emirates – which includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi – as well as Spain and the US were among popular destinations for business owners, according to wealth managers Rathbones.
Michelle White, head of Rathbones’ private client office, said: ‘We are talking to more individuals and families – particularly younger business owners – considering relocation.’
