CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) – In the Nevada desert, a cryptocurrency mogul hopes to turn the dreams of a futuristic “smart city” into reality. To do this, he is asking the state to allow companies to form local governments on the land they own, which would give them power over everyone, from schools to law enforcement.
Jeffrey Berns, CEO of Blockchains LLC in Nevada, predicts a city where people not only purchase goods and services with digital currency, but also register their entire fingerprint online – financial statements, medical records and personal data – on the blockchain. Blockchain is a digital registry best known for recording cryptocurrency transactions, but it has been adopted by some local governments for everything from documenting marriage licenses to facilitate elections.
The company wants to open land by 2022 in rural Storey County, 19 miles (19 miles) east of Reno. Propose to build 15,000 houses and 3 million square meters (3 million square meters) of commercial and industrial space in 75 years. Berns, whose idea underlies the draft legislation that some lawmakers saw last week behind closed doors, said the traditional government does not offer enough flexibility to create a community where people can invent new uses for this technology.
“There has to be a place somewhere on this planet where people are willing to start from scratch and say, ‘We’re not going to do this just because we did it,'” Berns said.
He wants Nevada to change its laws to allow for “innovation zones” in which companies would have powers like those of a county government, including the creation of judicial systems, the imposition of taxes and the construction of infrastructure while making management decisions. land and water.
The prospect has been met with intrigue and skepticism from Nevada lawmakers, although the legislation has not yet been formally tabled or discussed in public. Most members of the Democratic-controlled legislature are keen to diversify Nevada’s tourism-dependent economy, but many fear a backlash against trade incentives as they struggle to fund health care and education.
This proposal differs from the large tax cuts they have been careful to offer, such as the $ 1.3 billion at Tesla to build its battery factory in northern Nevada or billions New York and Virginia offered Amazon to build a new corporate headquarters.
But it raises deeper concerns about increasing technology companies’ adherence to everyday life at a time when antitrust regulators and Democrats in Congress support it technology giants like Facebook and Google control markets and endanger people’s privacy.
Blockchains LLC and the so-called innovation zones were a key part of Governor Steve Sisolak’s January speech on the state of the state, when he outlined plans to rebuild a more diversified economy after the coronavirus pandemic.
Sisolak, whose campaign and affiliated political action committee received a total of $ 60,000 from the company, said the proposal would turn Nevada into “the epicenter of this emerging industry and create well-paid jobs and income.”
The governor’s office declined to comment further on the areas of innovation. But with Sisolak’s support, the idea could be considered serious in the Legislature.
“I still don’t know enough to say if I’m comfortable with this as a next step or not. But look, it’s a big idea and Nevada was built on big ideas, so let’s hear it, “said State Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, a Republican who sponsored blockchain legislation in 2017 and 2019.
If lawmakers support the proposal, technology companies with 50,000 acres of land (200 square kilometers) that promise a $ 1 billion investment could create areas governed by three people, such as county commissioners. The draft law says that two of them would initially come from the company.
In Storey County, which hosts the Tesla plant, officials are waiting for more information before giving opinions, but say questions still need to be answered.
Commissioner Lance Gilman, who owns the Mustang Ranch brothel and bought most of the county’s land to turn it into an industrial park decades ago, said enticing technology companies in the area and growing its population. But Gilman, who worked in marketing for Blockchains LLC from 2018 to 2019, said there are many unknowns about giving up control to a new jurisdiction that falls within county boundaries.
“(The bill) wants the host county to let it be formed, to be successful, not to pay them a lot of money and, finally, to let them take over the whole county and all operations, if it will he was successful, “Gilman said. “If he is not successful, who becomes responsible for all the things that have been built in the meantime?”
The general plan of the county does not allow for residential development in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, where most of the Blockchain LLC property is located, but allows for 3,500 homes in Painted Rock, a 271-square-foot subdivision of the company.
Berns said officials told him in an informal discussion two years ago that they were not interested in zoning several houses, a meeting that former county manager Pat Whitten confirmed. Berns understands that elected leaders in Storey County may not want an experimental city in their backyard, but believes the idea should be a state decision because of its potential to “uniquely define Nevada in the future.”
“I bought 70,000 acres of land in the county. What did they think we would do? ” he said.
The former consumer advocate said the idea was born out of the way he sees the government as a useless intermediary between people and ideas.
“To be able to take risks and be more calm, agile and realize the things you do when designing new products, that’s not how the government works. So why not just create a government that allows us to do these things? Berns said.
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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to the Las Vegas report. Metz is a member of the Corps for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in newsrooms to report on undercover issues.