The floating town is the brainchild of the Seasteading Institute, a non-profit co-founded by
tech billionaire Peter Thiel (who sits on Facebook's board and is a former adviser to US President Donald Trump).
It's teaming up with a private entity called Blue Frontiers to build 300 houses on a seaborne platform off the island of Tahiti that
will run under its own governance and boast its own money.
Joe Quirk, who heads up both organisations, has also stressed the eco-friendly potential of the sci-fi project, which will tap huge solar panels and wind turbines for clean energy.
"It would help people adjust to sea level rise, and
experiment with voluntary governance," he previously said.
"French Polynesia's concerned they may lose a third of their islands by the end of this century. Right next door is Kiribati, which is concerned it could completely disappear."
Now, almost a decade after it was dreamed up, Seasteading has begun the rollout of its cryptocurrency dubbed "Varyon".
Maybe it didn't get the memo that virtual currencies like Bitcoin are dying out.
Nonetheless, presales for the Varyon token kicked off on Thursday, offering bonuses from 5% to 15%, and will end on July 14, according to Business Insider.
There's no word on when the public can get on board, which could draw yet more ire from critics who previously slammed the idea as elitist and impractical.
Varyon coins will be required for the purchasing of housing and building of new seasteads – Quirk once said that thousands of these floating nations will set sail by 2050.
"Varyon may be used to pay Blue Frontiers for the registration of businesses, residency, and virtual residency in Blue Frontiers’ administered SeaZones," explains the company in a Medium post.
"Varyon may be used to pay the major utilities provided by Blue Frontiers, such as electricity, cable services, sanitation services, etc.
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