The blockchain industry has long strived to build its “city on a hill” — idealistic communities where blockchain provides a foundation and code is law. But they’ve not always panned out, as regulations, unrealistic expectations and other factors often make them dead on arrival.
For several years, idealistic, would-be founders have strived to build communities on blockchain. Some of these projects have been more grounded, using blockchain as a means of land registry, while others sought to build entire cities that would run solely on blockchain and crypto.
One of the most recent — and perhaps controversial — examples is US President Donald Trump’s alleged plan to build a “Gaza Riviera” in the embattled territory that would incorporate a token into its fundraising and property investment model.
MS Satoshi Bitcoin cruise flounders amid maritime regulations
Eccentrics have long sought a freer life at sea, from pirates to French actor Gérard Depardieu and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. In October 2020, three Bitcoin (BTC) idealists — Grant Romundt, Rüdiger Koch and Chad Elwartowski — bought a 245-meter cruise ship called Pacific Dawn for $9.5 million, with the aim of converting it to a Bitcoin city parked off the coast of Panama.
The boat was supposed to provide an inclusive community for digital nomads and Bitcoin adopters that combined crypto enthusiasts with the “seasteading” movement — a campaign born among tech executives, which insisted that the next step in human development was to make communities living together on the high seas.
The former cruise liner boasted restaurants, pools, cafes and a gym. Residents would be allowed to mine crypto and conduct their affairs without troublesome government regulators. Bitcoin was to be accepted aboard the ship for any goods and services.
Unfortunately for the founders, investor interest was insufficient to cover the costs. Fuel alone was costing them $12,000 per day, and the COVID-19 pandemic presented logistical obstacles that they could not overcome. Furthermore, cruise ships are subject to some of the tightest maritime regulations on earth, a factor the founders failed to consider.
“We were like, ‘This is just so hard,’” Romundt told The Guardian.
By December 2020, the owners sold the MS Satoshi.
Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” wants to tokenize displacement
On Aug. 31, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was forming a plan, dubbed the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, to develop the Gaza Strip under an American custodianship.
The 38-page document outlining the administration’s vision proposes a number of high-tech ideas that would supposedly stimulate the economy of the Gaza Strip, whose residents are victims of famine and repeated Israeli airstrikes.
Amid proposals for a deep-sea port, a “Trump touristic riviera” and electronic vehicle manufacturing zones, the prospectus suggests a “voluntary” program for Palestinians who offer their land to the trust. The token could be redeemed for relocation elsewhere or for a residence in one of eight “smart cities” planned in Gaza.
The plan has yet to move forward. UN experts have claimed that the trust, which was developed by the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), serves as cover for “covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law.”
Related: Trump mulls post-war Gaza plan featuring tokenized land: Report
Liberland: A Libertarian micronation on the Danube
In 2015, Czech right-wing libertarian politician Vít Jedlička claimed an uninhabited stretch of floodplain on the Danube River between Croatia and Serbia.
An odd combination of politics and engineering, in which the course of the Danube changed in the 19th century, left the seven-square-kilometer parcel of land unclaimed by either nation. Jedlička believed that he should be able to form a country there under the principle of terra nullius and founded the Free Republic of Liberland as its first president.
The project caught the attention of crypto enthusiasts as the micronation issues its own cryptocurrency, the Liberland Dollar (LLD), and promised a laissez-faire, minimalist approach to governance. On Sept. 2, 2025, the token became available on crypto trading platform Alchemy Pay.
While neither Croatia nor Serbia claims the territory, neither supports the group of crypto libertarians. The founders, press and activists have had multiple run-ins with police while trying to cross the Croatian border.
Magazine: Breaking into Liberland: Dodging guards with…
cointelegraph.com