Autonomous Floating Cities Project Creates Own Cryptocurrency

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Blue Frontiers, a company that is developing floating cities called ‘Seasteads’, beginning with a pilot project in protected waters, has announced the creation of a cryptocurrency called Varyon.

Varyon will be used to power transactions within the economies of the seasteads. Blue Frontiers will transact exclusively in Varyon for the provision of all goods and services related to its Seastead structures and governing systems. These may include purchase of property and consumer goods, the registration and operating costs of businesses operating on the seasteads, and tourist focused accommodation and hospitality services.

Long envisioned by libertarians as a way to escape the perceived oppressive laws of sovereign nations and live independently, floating cities have been largely a utopian dream. But Blue Frontiers made significant progress in making its seastead vision a reality with the signing of an historic agreement in early 2017 with the government of French Polynesia to undertake a set of environmental, economic, and legal studies to determine the feasibility of stationing sustainable seasteads in French Polynesian waters.

The pilot seastead will be the culmination of more than a decade of research and development in diverse areas, including advanced sustainable technologies, political governance frameworks, and floating design and construction. With the support of more than 25 strategic partners, including the Dutch aquatic architecture firm Blue21, the company has prepared a practical plan to build the first seasteads.

“Our team of more than 100 professionals, from a diverse array of disciplines, has worked tirelessly to bring about a revolution in how humans can model habitation, govern themselves, form community, and interact with their environment.” said Randy Hencken, Co-Founder of Blue Frontiers and Director of The Seasteading Institute. “It was only natural that we chose a decentralised currency to power our decentralized communities.”

Designed to be administered under largely autonomous governance frameworks alongside their host nations, seasteads will effectively operate in special economic zones (or ‘SeaZones’). The seasteads will also be mobile and modular, and able to adapt as needed by moving to alternative locations as resident preferences dictate. Communities operating within and parties interacting with the Blue Frontiers ecosystem will use Varyon cryptocurrency as a global medium of exchange.

The Varyon cryptocurrency will underpin Blue Frontiers’ vision for seasteads to have fully self-sufficient, sustainable and flourishing economic systems in place to support their social, political, technological and ecological goals. “Seasteading officially came into the world via The Seasteading Institute in 2008 at almost the exact same time bitcoin was introduced to the world. Seasteaders and cryptocurrency users are part of a zeitgeist that is calling for decentralization in opposition to overbearing large governments. Seasteaders and crypto-enthusiasts have been fellow travelers for the last decade, and it is natural for Blue Frontiers to adopt a cryptocurrency for our project. Since we are starting a new society, it wouldn’t make sense for us to use an old world currency.” Said Blue Frontiers “Seavangelesse” (spokeswoman) Nathalie Mezza-Garcia.

“Varyon will provide the vital economic foundation for our mission to build flourishing seastead communities focused on helping to provide a viable adaptation strategy to the threat of rising sea levels, and to demonstrate compelling new models for human social organisation.” said Joe Quirk, Co-Founder of Blue Frontiers and author of the groundbreaking book Seasteading.

The use of Varyon in these floating communities is intended to provide the economic independence needed to foster a conducive environment for thriving experimentation and innovation in a diverse range of leading-edge technologies and across a broad spectrum of social, political, economic and legal frameworks.

The initial seastead project is being organized with the cooperation of the government of French Polynesia, while additional projects in conjunction with other governments around the world, are planned. “We would like to bring the first seastead to a protected atoll or lagoon in my home country of French Polynesia,” said Marc Collins, co-founder of Blue Frontiers and former government minister. “This last year, we have undertaking a set of serious economic, environmental and legal studies to satisfy our agreement with French Polynesia. Furthermore, we have identified 51 other nations with suitable environments and political opportunities for seasteading, and we have a team actively pursuing additional locations for our seasteads.”