A Big Island With its Own Government and Cryptocurrency is to Be Created by 2022

A very interesting fintech initiative called the Floating Island Project is planned to be created by 2022. It is aimed at providing people with a self-sustaining island, with its own governance and digital currency Varyon.

Nathalie Mezza-Garcia, a researcher for the Blue Frontiers and Seasteading Institute's Floating Island Project told CNBC:

"Once we can see how this first island works, we will have a proof of concept to plan for islands to house climate refugees"

The Seasteading Institute and Blue Frontiers have collected philanthropic donations for the project by crypto trading their virtual coin Varyon. According to Mezza-Garcia, the pilot will be finished by 2022 and worth upward of $50 million.

The fintech startup Floating Island Project was created in partnership with the authorities of French Polynesia. The island is expected to host 300 homes that will be managed by its own government with a local crypto market. In the future, Mezza-Garcia predicts hundreds of such islands to be drifting in the ocean.

"There is significance to this project being trialed in the Polynesian Islands. This is the region where land is resting on coral and will disappear with rising sea levels," she said. 

The researcher explained that governments operating on the islands would have a function of service providers solely. Furthermore, these island group can always self-govern. She also added that if somebody didn’t like the government, he/she could easily float away to a different island.