Saturday Nov 8 2025 19:00
2 min
According to Jarrad Hope, author of “Farewell to Westphalia: Crypto Sovereignty and Post-Nation-State Governance” and co-founder of Logos, a project developing blockchain tools and decentralized digital infrastructure for network states, the nation-state model is facing erosion and losing relevance. Hope posits that modern nation-states, nearly 380 years old, predate even the scientific discoveries of oxygen and gravity, and that the internet and blockchain provide novel tools for organizing society that transcend geographical boundaries.
These tools encompass inflation-resistant decentralized digital currencies, immutable ledgers for tamper-proof records, smart contract platforms for automated financial and legal agreements, privacy-preserving protocols, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) for transparent community governance. Hope elaborates: “Traditional governance asks you to trust unelected bureaucrats, unfamiliar people, and opaque processes. Blockchain-enabled communities, by contrast, lean on transparent infrastructure that narrows the domain of trust.”
Hope pointed out that the biggest hurdle network states face is resistance from established nation-states and institutions, including multinational corporations. He cited the UK Online Safety Act as an example of centralized control over digital infrastructure.
The slow emergence of network states is a recurring theme within the cryptocurrency community, built upon the core ideals of decentralization, transparency, equal access, immutability, and the right to privacy – values central to the cypherpunk ethos at the heart of cryptocurrencies.
Numerous attempts have been made to establish a network state or form micronations that declare independence, including Bitnation in 2014, a project that aimed to create a borderless, blockchain-based state. However, none of these endeavors has resulted in a successful and autonomous network state that functions as a sovereign nation in cyberspace.
Hope, along with other blockchain experts and cryptocurrency industry executives, emphasizes that established nation-states will attempt to undermine emerging network states as they evolve. These established states can utilize regulations, litigation, or even military force to suppress the growing competition from an alternative organizational model.
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2 min
Saturday, 8 November 2025
2 min
Saturday, 8 November 2025
2 min
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