Cryptocurrencies function in a myriad of ways, from stores of value to mediums of exchange, embedded payment systems, vehicles for smart contracts. A use case perhaps underappreciated is the potential for digital assets to facilitate freer societies. Micro-societies, breakaway camps, isles of autonomy are in various states of construction around the world. One of the furthest along is Fort Galt Chile. News.Bitcoin.com caught up with one of its founders, Gabriel Scheare, to find out more about an intriguing project.
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Cryptocurrencies Facilitate Rise of Breakaway Societies
As this interview was conducted, at least three other micro-societies are being planned or attempting to function: Liberland, Seasteading, and the aptly named Free Society. Each has its particular charm and focus, but one factor increasingly important in their ultimate calculations is cryptocurrency. The present focus, Fort Galt, is based in Chile, a country wormed along South America’s southwest. The country recently has gone back and forth on crypto, but maintains a unique place among Latin American countries as being very open to freer economies and markets. It just might give birth to the first viable project of this kind.
News.Bitcoin.com: Take us through how you came upon the idea to start a breakaway society or microsociety.
Gabriel Scheare: My partners and I were originally lured to Chile by another such project that was already underway near Santiago, Galt’s Gulch Chile. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a scam so we decided that, if we really wanted to realize our dream, we’d have to go somewhere else and build it ourselves. The underlying motivation is really just the longing for a community
