Próspera: A Network State Colony in Honduras

  • Próspera is a Network State settlement on the Island of Roatán, along the Honduran coastline. It is funded by Pronomos Capital, backed by Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen, and founded in 2017 by CEO Erick Brimen. Construction began in early 2021. Since then, Próspera has advanced construction on multiple buildings, including a 14-story, mixed-use residential tower which far exceeds the island’s height and proximity restrictions. At least one worker has been killed on site. 

    There is currently a “Bitcoin Center” equipped with a café and an academy to educate people on the use of bitcoin in lieu of tangible currency. It also houses a luxury resort with a golf course, scuba school, luxury condos, and basic dorms for young tech and crypto professionals. Although they are currently involved in a massive lawsuit against the state of Honduras, Próspera has expanded and is in the developing phase of another ZEDE on the island, as well as a proposed site in Africa based on the same model. 

  • Próspera is built on a ZEDE, or Zone for Employment and Economic Development –  the Honduran name for a special economic zone (SEZ). According to the Latin America Working Group, ZEDE is “a fancy term to cover up the fact that foreign investors can buy territory and hold complete control over a large portion of land within the state of Honduras.”

Founders, investors and proponents of ZEDEs market them as sovereign, free-market cities, operating outside of Honduran law and governance for the purpose of foreign development and innovation, without the necessary legal application of the Honduran regulatory system. Individuals around the globe can apply as an e-resident or become a full-time Próspera resident inside the ZEDE. Próspera utilizes the digital sphere to register foreign businesses; according to their official website, “Próspera is a private city with a regulatory system designed for entrepreneurs to build better, cheaper, and faster than anywhere else in the world.” Próspera currently has “2,000 or so physical residents and e-residents,” and hopes to achieve a population of 38,000 by 2030. Roatán itself has a population of about 100,000. 

  • Pronomos Capital is the venture capital firm behind Próspera, located in California. The investors include Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel, Patri Friedman (grandson of free-market economist Milton Friedman), Joe Lonsdale of the PayPal Mafia, and Balaji Srinivasan, author of “The Network State”. Srinivasan is closely associated with Andreessen Horowitz. Pronomos is investing in “start-up cities” like these ZEDEs and other “Network States” around the globe, including multiple sites in Africa.

  • Villagers and community leaders, like Vanessa Cárdenas and Luisa Connor of Crawfish Rock (a community neighboring the Próspera ZEDE), have been very vocal about the negative impacts the development has had. Luisa Connor, the president of the local community association of Crawfish Rock says, “(Próspera) deceived us big time.”

  • Vanessa Cárdenas and Luisa Connor have stated: “The Prospera ZEDE cropped up out of nowhere one day and we have seen devastating environmental harm to our community ever since. We were not consulted, no one asked if they had permission to build or what the project would entail. We have been in this territory for centuries and the [foreign investors] keep expanding. Since they arrived, the environment has changed. We are experiencing floods for the first time, our river has dried up, threatening many species of plants and animals.”

    While locals and the Honduran administration struggle to combat this invasion, 85 economists across the globe have signed on in support of Honduras’ fight.

  • Crypto: Próspera runs on crypto – though it is outlawed in Honduras – and calls itself “one of the most Bitcoin-friendly jurisdictions in the world.” It regularly hosts Bitcoin-related conferences, advertises for wealthy crypto residents and digital crypto nomads, and is home to a Bitcoin Academy. A representative of the Academy hopes to see it grow “into a franchise and duplicate the same efforts in other countries.” Although the population of Honduras is roughly 9 million people, the founder of the Bitcoin Center hopes to have 100 million people educated on Bitcoin by 2030. As the population and development of Próspera rises, the ZEDE has partnered with a bitcoin-backed lending company, Ledn, to attract more bitcoin holders. 

  • Próspera and Medical Experimentation/Tourism: Próspera evades the laws and policies of any country, under the guise of progressive innovation and “free market” ideology – allowing them to conduct accelerated medical trials. In 2021, they installed a medical facility, Minicircle, that not only launched trials for medical experimentation, but built an additional on-going “pop-up city” inside Próspera based on the idea of not dying and extreme longevity for the tech class. Próspera also houses over a dozen medical start-up projects focusing on “longevity”, cybernetics and organ replacement, with the use of AI and a decentralized science approach inside their permanent hub, Vitalia City.

  • More about Vitalia: Vitalia began as a 2-month “pop-up village” in Montenegro by Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin. It is now a permanent district called Vitalia City inside Próspera. Vitalia claims to be “a decentralized city that accelerates longevity biotech development”, with three main biotech companies present in their district: Minicircle, Unlimited Bio and Symbiont Labs. In collaboration with Pfizer-backed biotech company VitaDAO, investors and “co-initiator” Laurence Ion promote deregulated, risky medical treatments and experimental medications to extend life expectancy beyond average human capabilities. Experimental treatments and drugs can be expedited without standard clinical trials and regulations, making it much cheaper and quicker to bring to market. 

While Vitalia has a permanent presence in Próspera, Laurence Ion of Vitalia hopes to establish many more of these decentralized districts across the globe with the intention of “making death optional” while offering “a 100% crypto economy” option. These temporary zones range from several weeks to several months, with locations including Germany, Canada, Africa, India, Thailand, and Georgia. These extended events can be searched here.

Minicircle is funded by U.S.-based venture capital and seeks to create a destination spot for unregulated, risky medical experiments, including biohacking and “gene editing.” Minicircle boasts their ability to operate without any government oversight. This medical facility is marketed towards foreigners and tourists. On February 2024, “the scientific community in Honduras asked the Honduran authorities to investigate and stop genetic testing and experiments…” and a current investigation of Minicircle is underway by the Ministry of Health and the Medical College of Honduras. 

         

  • Colonization: ZEDEs/SEZs and private cities are developing all over the globe, via the Network State model backed by Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen. The Network State is a form of colonial destruction through digital and technological means. They seek to gatekeep land and resources from citizens and residents, implement their own rules and policies with their own arbitration center, exploit local workers, and ostracize the public while maintaining a very sophisticated propaganda machine. Despite a multi-billion dollar lawsuit, Próspera continues to operate and expand- encouraging people from around the world to become residents and/or start their business, utilizing their autonomous territory.