Blockchain investor wants to build a conceptual city in the middle of the Nevada desert

An upstart blockchain company announced a new project last week intended to assemble a high-tech city in the Nevada desert designed to support research and development of the same technology behind cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Blockchains, LLC, which promotes the distributed ledger technology, revealed plans last Thursday to build “Innovation Park,” an entire city designed to combine blockchain innovations with other emerging technologies in an effort the company’s founder said will improve the day-to-day lives of its residents.

Jeffrey Berns, an attorney and investor in the digital currency Ethereum, introduced the company and announced the project to the public during a conference in Prague. The company recently purchased 67,000 acres of open desert in northern Nevada to build its new community, which he said will serve commercial and residential populations. During his speech, Berns insisted that the city would consist of “a series of different projects to highlight the power of the public blockchain.”

Berns said Innovation Park will be anchored by a 1,000-acre campus to host startup companies testing new applications with a focus on blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and three-dimensional printing.

“First we need to build a campus for us, a campus where developers from all over the world can come work on applications and help us build this city,” Berns said.

Also on Thursday, Blockchains and the utility NV Energy signed an agreement to work on energy-related projects powered by blockchain technology in order to allow users to create, store and share their own electricity.

“We will explore a variety of out-of-the-box energy concepts to identify ways to improve the customer experience, including applications that further the use of energy storage, renewable energy and collaborative energy conservation,” NV Energy CEO Paul Caudill said in a press release about the agreement.

Along with the campus, Berns also plans to build a residential neighborhood in his conceptual city. While local governments across the country begin to test the effects of blockchain innovations within their environments, Blockchains’ city will function with a decentralized infrastructure involving all-digital interactions. According to Berns, the residential community will consist of houses, apartments, condominiums, banks, markets, stores and schools that will all use the public blockchain wherever possible. He did not elaborate on how residential units would incorporate blockchain technology.

”Imagine a world where anybody anywhere can collaborate, establish the rules of that collaboration, enforce those rules, exchange value and do it all on the blockchain,” Berns said. “No government, no bank, no corporation, just trusting and math. I believe it is the first time in humanity’s history that we have this potential.”