I'll research ongoing efforts to develop network states globally, with a focus on crypto-anarchist and libertarian principles, many of which incorporate Web3 tools for decentralization. I'll track their progress through their maturity stages, identify key founders, examine available funding, and highlight recent achievements.I'll update you once I have detailed insights into these emerging network states.

Emerging “Network State” Initiatives

Below is a list of notable projects around the world that aspire to build new “network states” – highly autonomous, self-governing communities often inspired by crypto-anarchist or libertarian principles. Each entry includes key figures, funding, current development stage (per Balaji Srinivasan’s framework of Startup Society → Network Union → Network Archipelago → Network State), recent milestones, and reference links.

Afropolitan

Founders/Key Figures: Founded by Chika Uwazie and Eche Emole in 2016www.afropolitan.io. Both are leaders of the African diaspora community driving this “digital nation” project. Investor and author Balaji Srinivasan is an advisor and early supportertechcabal.com.
Funding: Raised a $2.1 million pre-seed round in mid-2022techcabal.com. Backers include over 25 angel investors (e.g. Iyinoluwa Aboyeji of Future Africa, Olugbenga Agboola of Flutterwave, Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund) and VCs like Hashed, 4DX Ventures, and Cultur3 Capitaltechcabal.com.
Stage: Startup Society/Network Union – Initially a social and economic community for the African diaspora. It’s now organized as a DAO with NFT-based membership (“Afropass”) and is laying groundwork for physical hubstechcabal.com. The project’s roadmap outlines progressing from a purely digital community to a “minimum viable state” and eventually acquiring physical enclaves (“Afropolitan Towns” in cities worldwide)techcabal.com.
Recent Achievements: Grew an online community of ~50,000 members via events and Clubhousetechcabal.com. Launched Afropass NFT passports as digital citizenship tokens. Developed a mobile super-app for community services and paymentshackernoon.com hackernoon.com. In Sept 2022, Afropolitan leaders rang the New York Stock Exchange closing bell, signaling mainstream recognition of the “internet country” ideawww.afropolitan.io www.afropolitan.io.
Links: Official site – afropolitan.io | “A Digital Nation” whitepaper – Afropolitan publicationtechcabal.com.

Nation3

Founders/Key Figures: Founded by Luis Cuende (previous co-founder of Aragon) in 2022www.rootdata.com. Cuende and core contributor Anastasiya Belyaeva lead the initiativewww.rootdata.com. The community is organized as a DAO with contributors worldwide.
Funding: Instead of traditional VC funding, Nation3 launched a token ($NATION) and NFT passports for community funding. In May 2022 it issued 420 genesis “passport” NFTs to bootstrap membershipwww.chaincatcher.com www.chaincatcher.com. The project is largely community-funded (there are no major institutional investors disclosed).
Stage: Startup Society/Network Union – Nation3 is a “cloud nation” existing primarily online. Members hold non-transferable NFT passports to participate in governancehackernoon.com hackernoon.com. It has a functioning Internet-native jurisdiction (courts, contracts, etc.) but no physical territory yet, with plans to eventually acquire landwww.rootdata.com.
Recent Achievements: Built an on-chain court system where disputes are resolved by elected judgeshackernoon.com. Launched a governance portal and basic income for citizenshackernoon.com. Developed an Internet-native legal system enabling citizens to engage in enforceable smart-contract agreements by locking crypto collateralhackernoon.com. Nation3’s progress can be tracked via its open-source repos and regular community updateshackernoon.com.
Links: Official site – nation3.org | Nation3 Manifesto on Mirror (ideology and roadmap)www.chaincatcher.com www.chaincatcher.com.

Praxis

Founders/Key Figures: Dryden Brown and Charlie Callinan (USA) co-founded Praxis in 2019hackernoon.com. Notable backers include billionaire investor Peter Thiel (an early supporter) and crypto VCs like Dragonfly. The team has grown a global membership of “Praxians.”
Funding: Secured a massive ** $525 million financing commitment** in Oct 2024 to build its first city[hackernoon.com](https://hackernoon.com/5-new-crypto-countries-in-progress-a-decentralized-future#:~:text=industries%20like%20AI%2C%20crypto%2C%20biotech%2C,supporting%20scalable%2C%20modern%20urban%20planning). This funding, backed by firms like Arch Lending, GEM Digital, and others, will be drawn as milestones are met[praxisnation.com](https://www.praxisnation.com/news/financing-announcement-10-24#:~:text=mechanism%E2%80%99s%20first%20deployment). Earlier, Praxis raised smaller seed rounds (reportedly$ n15 million in 2021) to grow the community.
Stage: Network Archipelago (approaching Network State) – Praxis calls itself “the world’s first Network State”www.praxisnation.com. It has over 14,000 members across 84 countries forming an online nationwww.praxisnation.com. With the new financing, Praxis is transitioning from a digital community to a physical city. The planned city will be built in an “Acceleration Zone” (a special economic zone with pro-technology regulations) and serve as Praxis’s urban hubhackernoon.com. Until that city is completed, Praxis runs global events and “pop-up city” gatherings (e.g. a 2023 campus in the Dominican Republic)www.praxisnation.com.
Recent Achievements: Announced a landmark city design by Zaha Hadid Architects blending classical and futuristic aestheticshackernoon.com. Secured partnerships with governments to identify a location (candidates in the Mediterranean and Latin America) with a target site selection in early 2025hackernoon.com. Hosted the first Praxis World Congress in Nov 2024, convening members and exploring digital sovereigntywww.praxisnation.com. The project’s recognition has grown with features in major media (e.g. Wall Street Journal coverage of the $525M raise).
Links: Official site – praxisnation.com | Funding announcement – Praxis Newswww.praxisnation.com www.praxisnation.com.

CityDAO

Founders/Key Figures: Scott Fitsimones launched CityDAO in 2021www.coindesk.com. Fitsimones (a technologist and urbanist) rallied a community to experiment with blockchain-based land governance. CityDAO is a decentralized community with thousands of “citizens” (membership NFT holders).
Funding: Raised roughly $8 million worth of ETH via NFT sales to over 5,000 members in 2021www.belfercenter.org. Instead of VC backing, CityDAO relied on crowdfunding: people bought “Citizen” NFTs (0.25 ETH each initially) to join and fund the treasury. This allowed CityDAO to purchase land and fund projects.
Stage: Network Archipelago (experimental) – CityDAO was one of the first DAOs to own physical land. In 2021 it bought 40 acres in Wyoming (“Parcel 0”) under the new Wyoming DAO LLC lawwww.coindesk.com www.coindesk.com. The vision was a “network city” of non-contiguous parcels governed by the DAOcity.mirror.xyz city.mirror.xyz. By mid-2022, the community was pursuing additional land acquisitions (e.g. a second “Baby Parcel”) and prototyping on-chain property management (NFT land deeds, Harberger-tax-based governance)city.mirror.xyz city.mirror.xyz. CityDAO remains in the early experimental phase – it has land and a community, but no full-fledged city or independent jurisdiction.
Recent Achievements: Successfully established a legal DAO LLC and acquired real estate deeded to a DAO, proving that blockchain communities can hold titlecity.mirror.xyz. Developed a draft CityDAO Charter and governance process for land usecity.mirror.xyz. Experimented with novel concepts like NFT-based leases for land rentalcity.mirror.xyz. (As of late 2023, the original CityDAO effort has slowed, but the community’s learnings have inspired follow-up projects like “CityDAO.tech” exploring decentralized urban managementhackernoon.com.)
Links: Official site – citydao.io (original project) | CityDAO Mirror blog (project updates)city.mirror.xyz city.mirror.xyz.

Cabin (CabinDAO)

Founders/Key Figures: Jon Hillis (former Instacart employee) founded Cabin as “Creator Cabins” in 2021www.causeartist.com www.causeartist.com. He is a core leader, along with a community of web3 creators and DAO enthusiasts. CabinDAO operates as a collective of cabin owners and contributors around the world.
Funding: Initially community-funded via a Mirror crowdfunding – 101 backers provided ETH to kickstart CabinDAO and mint the $CABIN tokenwww.roxinekee.com. It did not rely on traditional venture funding; instead, landowners and members contribute assets. The DAO manages a treasury (transparently on Ethereum) for development.
Stage: Network Archipelago – Cabin has developed a decentralized network of co-living “nodes”. It started with a ranch property in the Texas Hill Country (near Austin) and has since expanded to multiple cabin sites (“Neighborhoods”) where members live and gatherwww.causeartist.com. Each neighborhood is independently owned/operated but united by CabinDAO’s shared culture, economy, and governance. The goal is a “network city”: a city spread across many locations, tied together by a common DAO governance and digital toolswww.causeartist.com.
Recent Achievements: Established several physical Cabin sites that host creator residencies and community retreats (proof that the online community can create real-world enclaves). Implemented a governance system using $CABIN tokens with quadratic voting to manage the DAO’s resourceshackernoon.com hackernoon.com. Successfully piloted an on-chain property rental (members can stay at cabins via the DAO). By 2023, CabinDAO’s model of interlinked villages has gained recognition as a prototype for a grassroots network statehackernoon.com.
Links: Official site – cabin.city | CabinDAO Vision – “Decentralized City for Creators” interviewwww.causeartist.com www.causeartist.com.

Free Republic of Liberland

Founders/Key Figures: Vít Jedlička, a Czech libertarian politician, founded Liberland in April 2015cointelegraph.com www.wired.com. Jedlička serves as President of Liberland. In October 2024, Tron founder Justin Sun was elected as Liberland’s Prime Minister in a blockchain-based electioncointelegraph.com, bringing a high-profile crypto figure into Liberland’s leadership. Other key figures include early supporters like investor Evan Luthra and crypto journalist Jillian Godsil, who won seats in Liberland’s Congresscointelegraph.com.
Funding: Liberland is funded by donations from crypto-rich supporters and membership fees. Over 700,000 people have registered support; about 6,000 became paying e-residents, and ~1,000 people donated $5,000 (or equivalent crypto) to obtain full citizenshipwww.wired.com. The project has also received grants for its governance tech (e.g. a Web3 Foundation grant to develop Liberland’s blockchain e-governance systemliberland.org). Liberland’s economy uses its own cryptocurrency, the Liberland Dollar (LLD), which has seen growing investor interestwww.cryptopolitan.com www.cryptopolitan.com.
Stage: Network Archipelago (aspiring Network State) – Liberland claims a 7 km² territory on the Danube River between Croatia and Serbia (terra nullius Gornja Siga)www.wired.com www.wired.com. It has a constitution, flag, and government-in-exile, but no uncontested control of land (Croatia disputes entry). Thus, it operates as a virtual nation with a physical claim. Liberland has made significant progress toward state-like structures: it issues e-residency, passports, has diplomatic reps, and now runs on-chain governance for elections and public servicescointelegraph.com cointelegraph.com. It is not internationally recognized as a sovereign state yet.
Recent Achievements: Celebrated its 8th anniversary in 2023 and launched a renewed push for settlementwww.wired.com. Held its first blockchain-based national election in Oct 2024, touting a fully algorithmic, transparent voting processcointelegraph.com. Elected Justin Sun as PM, raising Liberland’s profile in the crypto communitycointelegraph.com. Developed a proprietary Liberland Blockchain to handle governance (budget allocation, judicial rulings, land registry on-chain) – dubbed the first “Decentralized Autonomous Government (DAG)”www.cryptopolitan.com www.cryptopolitan.com. The official Liberland Dollar (LLD) token hit an all-time high in early 2025 as confidence in the project’s model grewwww.cryptopolitan.com.
Links: Official site – liberland.org | Liberland Constitution & Governance Whitepaper – liberland.org publication | WIRED feature on Liberland (May 2023)www.wired.com www.wired.com.

Satoshi Island

Founders/Key Figures: A project by Satoshi Island Holdings Ltd., led by a team including Denys Troyak, James Law, Taras Filatov, and Benjamin Nerowww.bleepingcomputer.com. The island’s development plan was endorsed by the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Bob Loughman, who granted initial approvalswww.bleepingcomputer.com. James Law is an architect known for modular designs, providing the vision for the island’s smart dwellings.
Funding: The island was privately acquired by the founders. There are no major institutional investors, and the project relies on selling NFT land titles and citizenships for fundingtracxn.com. Prospective residents purchase Satoshi Island Land NFTs (each representing a real plot) and can trade them freely until they “mint” them into official Vanuatu land titleswww.bleepingcomputer.com. The community also issued Citizenship NFTs (free to claim, but with a high activation cost) which have drawn tens of thousands of applicantswww.bleepingcomputer.com.
Stage: Network Archipelago (in development) – Satoshi Island is a 32-million sq ft private island in Vanuatu (about 800 acres) that is being turned into a “crypto paradise”www.squareyards.com. It has legal approval from Vanuatu’s government to develop a self-contained city for crypto enthusiastswww.bleepingcomputer.com. Modular homes for residents are under construction as of 2022www.bleepingcomputer.com, and initial opening for NFT citizenship holders was planned for late 2022 with broader habitation in 2023www.bleepingcomputer.com. Ultimately, the island will operate as a tokenized, blockchain-governed community (a DAO running local decision-making). While under Vanuatu’s sovereignty, it aims for maximal autonomy in how the community is managed.
Recent Achievements: Received over 50,000 applications for its NFT citizenship program from would-be residents globallywww.bleepingcomputer.com– indicating huge demand. Successfully conducted a land NFT sale, distributing parcels to crypto community members (each parcel NFT corresponds to real land that can be built upon)www.bleepingcomputer.com. Began on-site development: land clearing and installation of basic infrastructure (roads, utilities) are underway, and the first modular smart villas are being assembled. Satoshi Island has also hosted promotional events and is positioning to host major crypto conferences once facilities are readywww.bleepingcomputer.com www.bleepingcomputer.com.
Links: Official site – satoshi-island.com | Cointelegraph interview with Satoshi Island teamwww.bleepingcomputer.com| Project FAQ (development plans and governance).

Próspera (Honduras)

Founders/Key Figures: Erick Brimen (Venezuelan-American entrepreneur) is CEO of Honduras Próspera Inc., the company developing Prósperawww.lemonde.fr. Co-founders include Gabriel Delgado (Guatemalan investor)www.lemonde.fr. The project draws ideological inspiration from economist Paul Romer’s charter city concept. Key financial backers are prominent libertarian-leaning investors: Pronomos Capital (fund led by Patri Friedman, backed by Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen) provided seed fundingen.wikipedia.org. Balaji Srinivasan also invested and adviseden.wikipedia.org.
Funding: Launched in 2017, Próspera secured venture funding from Pronomos and other VCs to acquire land and begin constructionwww.vcinfodocs.com. Precise figures aren’t public, but the backing by billionaires suggests substantial capital. The project generates revenue through selling land leases, e-residency fees, and taxes within the zone.
Stage: Network Archipelago / Charter City – Próspera is an active charter city on Roatán island, Hondurasen.wikipedia.org. Under Honduras’ special ZEDE law, it has semi-autonomous governance: its own civil law, regulatory code, and governing councilen.wikipedia.org. However, it’s still under Honduran sovereignty (subject to the constitution and criminal law). In terms of Balaji’s framework, Próspera has moved directly to something like the Network Archipelago stage – it has physical territory and partial self-governance, though not full sovereignty. The city has begun welcoming residents and businesses, effectively functioning as a startup city-state.
Recent Achievements: Construction began in 2020-2021 – Próspera built a flagship campus with office spaces and housing units. Notably, it partnered to 3D-print affordable housing on-site, demonstrating rapid development methods. It launched an e-Residency program allowing anyone globally to become a digital resident and incorporate businesses under Próspera’s systemen.wikipedia.org. As of 2022, Bitcoin was declared legal tender in Próspera, aligning with its crypto-friendly stanceen.wikipedia.org. The project gained international attention through a 2023 NY Times Magazine feature as a real-life “network state” experiment. Despite political challenges (Honduras’ national government in 2022 sought to repeal the ZEDE law), Próspera continues to operate under legal protections, signing up new residents and companies.
Links: Official site – prospera.co | Próspera Governance Charter (official legal framework) | NYTimes Magazine profile (Feb 2023) on Próspera’s visionwww.thenerdreich.com.

Plumia (by SafetyWing)

Founders/Key Figures: Sondre Rasch (CEO of SafetyWing) initiated Plumia in 2020 as a project of SafetyWing, alongside Lauren Razavi who leads it as Director of Special Projects. Plumia is structured as a nonprofit “think-tank and membership association” under the SafetyWing umbrellatheknowledge.io theknowledge.io. The community includes digital nomads, remote workers, and policymakers in the network state movement.
Funding: Backed by SafetyWing, a well-funded startup (SafetyWing has raised ~$35M for its main business). Plumia itself did not raise independent VC rounds; it’s funded by SafetyWing and community contributions. The project focuses on research and partnerships (not a token or land sales model).
Stage: Startup Society (think-tank) – Plumia is at an early conceptual stage, aiming to build an “Internet Country” for global citizens. It is currently building community and influence rather than territory. Plumia’s approach is to work with existing nations: for example, it’s developing a “Nomad Border Pass” in collaboration with countries to create a multi-country visa for digital nomadsplumia.org. The ultimate goal is to achieve a form of sovereignty or recognition (like offering a passport by 2030), but for now it’s primarily a network of nomads and a platform for policy innovation.
Recent Achievements: Grew a community with thousands of members (Plumia received over 5,000 applications in its first year)time.com. Hosted several cohorts and online summits to educate and organize people interested in starting new network statestheknowledge.io. Published policy research on digital nomadism (e.g. how nomads can boost economies)plumia.organd worked with governments on nomad visa programs. Plumia’s visibility surged after being featured in TIME magazine as an “Internet Country” to watchtime.com. It set a public roadmap aiming for a Plumia passport by 2025-2030 and is actively lobbying for nomad-friendly policies globally.
Links: Official site – plumia.org | TIME article “This ‘Internet Country’ Would Let You Work From Anywhere”time.com| Plumia whitepaper (SafetyWing’s vision for a borderless country). Each of these initiatives showcases a different path to nation-building in the 21st century – from cloud communities and DAOs to physical micronations and charter cities. While varying in approach and maturity, they all leverage decentralization and Web3 tools to reimagine the concept of a state for an increasingly digital, globally connected society.