The intense state interest in regulating tech like crypto and AI is a response to the tech sector's rise to a power level that challenges the state. The public narrative is safety, but the underlying motivation is maintaining control over money, speech, and ultimately, the population.
Current digital communities in WhatsApp or Discord are primitive because they are one-dimensional—they only support chat. The next evolution of community platforms will integrate multiple dimensions, such as native crypto, VR spaces, and tools for organizing physical meetups, directly into the experience.
The perceived politicization of established legal institutions, such as the Delaware Chancery Court, undermines the principle of "rule of law." This creates a powerful opening for "rule of code," where smart contracts provide a deterministic, impartial alternative that cannot be retroactively altered by a judge.
Unlike established powers that focus on regulation, growth-oriented nations like the UAE and El Salvador are using pro-tech policies as a core competitive strategy. They are creating favorable laws for crypto, DAOs, and digital nomads to attract global talent and capital.
The next wave of physical communities, or "startup societies," are being directly inspired by digital-native ideas. This moves beyond online forums to creating real-world spaces centered around specific innovations like biotech, education, or even intersections of culture like a "tech hip hop community."
Major innovations often aren't about inventing new components, but about cleverly integrating existing, mature technologies into a unified product. This was true for Netscape's browser and Bitcoin, and will likely be true for the first successful network states, which will combine crypto, VR, and community platforms.
A modern, Western version of China's Special Economic Zones (SEZs) could be "Special Founder Zones." These would be designated, often uninhabited territories where innovators could operate at the "speed of physics" rather than permits, accelerating breakthroughs in areas like biotech and manufacturing.
The rise of AI, which can generate endless fake content, creates a powerful demand for crypto's core function: providing verifiable truth. Crypto wallets, digital signatures, and proof-of-human systems become critical infrastructure to prove authenticity in an AI-saturated world. AI effectively subsidizes the need for crypto.