This San Francisco co-op will soon deal solely in crypto-currency

Rita Vula explains to her friend, Neha Chaudhry, about how the community co-living space, Serendipia Nest, works in San Francisco, Calif. Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Rita Vula explains to her friend, Neha Chaudhry, about how the community co-living space, Serendipia Nest, works in San Francisco, Calif. Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Photo: Mason Trinca, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Mason Trinca, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close This San Francisco co-op will soon deal solely in crypto-currency 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

The Bay Area's crypto universe has reached a critical mass. The explosion of bitcoin is interfering with scientists' ability to search for extraterrestrial life. City officials in Berkeley say they're considering use a cryptocurrency fundraiser to help house the homeless. A new spin of Neopets has people investing in digital litters of CryptoKitties and waiting to get rich.

It seems only fitting that the crypto-mania would intersect with another of the Bay Area's most pressing topics: housing. Tucked away on a street in North Beach sits Serendipia, a "lifestyle cooperative" which will soon handle all of its financial transactions in cryptocurrency.

Serendipia Nest says it's a home for "entrepreneurs, startups, journalists, digital nomads, artists, changemakers, risk takers ... crypto anarchists to sleep, work, and play in Silicon Valley." Serendipia will soon be listed on Beenest, a short-term rental marketplace created by the new San Francisco company called Bee Token, aka"Airbnb on the blockchain."

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Serendipia's founder, Jean-Loïck Michaux, is a 26-year-old Belgian national who moved to San Francisco to pursue a masters degree in social entrepreneurship.

Michaux had already built the Serendipia brand before it became a "nest." In 2014, he began to run events with other "digital nomads" that related to mindfulness, innovation, meditation, and personal development. Soon after, he started an education company in Zimbabwe with classmates from San Francisco, but the enterprise started to fall apart. It was at that time, around 2016, that Michaux decided to concentrate on building a hacker-type-house that would function as, he calls it, a network of solutionners.

Michaux lives among his network of digital nomads as well. The nest hosts four bedrooms, all of which are shared either by two or three people. They host large-scale crypto meet-ups in their garage, and on Sunday evenings, a fellowship dinner.

But unlike a typical hacker-house, Michaux says, Serendipia's members are dedicated to infusing consciousness into every aspect of their lifestyle.

"We are focusing on creating a more mindful, conscious, and sustainable world," he said. "We are still trying to make an ecosystem more human-centered."

Which is where the crypto-currency fits in. Serendipia's members are creating a new token which they've named symbiosis. Their token will work to incentivize sustainable development, like an endeavor via one of their own members, who is currently pursuing a Ph.D in "green-nudging."

By — eventually — creating a crypto ecosystem for "social good," Michaux said, the Serendipia community will be free to forgo traditional, existing currencies, which "do not incentivize good social impact."

One of the "social good" enterprises members are involved in, Michaux said, is an innovation camp in Thailand. On a local level, he noted, the residents compost, and host yoga, meditation, and painting workshops.

However, when asked whether or not Serendipia's community had any social change projects built around perhaps the most vexing social issue for San Franciscans — homelessness — Michaux said only that residents occasionally donate clothes to the homeless.

Read Annie Vainshtein's latest stories here. Send her news tips at avainshtein@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievain