Meet the crypto billionaires building a world where money buys you a vote
The Free Republic of Liberland doesn't look like much from the boat. You would never guess that this flat, muddy stretch of floodplain on the
The Free Republic of Liberland doesn't look like much from the boat. You would never guess that this flat, muddy stretch of floodplain on the Danube River, dotted with alder trees, tents and treehouses, is connected to some of the world's wealthiest men - including the biggest initial investor in the Trump family's crypto business.
By contrast, the virtual reality version of Liberland I'm currently being shown, designed by Zaha Hadid's ZHA architecture firm, features gleaming towers, floating public parks, and gravity-defying water features. The person showing it to me is Vít Jedlička, Liberland's president. He founded the micronation on a disputed bit of territory between Serbia and Croatia with the goal of making a truly libertarian, digital country that runs on the same technology as cryptocurrencies.
I've come to Liberland for the past year as part of a BBC Two documentary, The Tech Billionaire Takeover. Liberland may look and sound like a joke. But
it is bankrolled by some of the wealthiest men in crypto, and it runs on an idea they are trying to export: that government itself can be replaced.
The BriefWire