A Czech libertarian politician, Vit Jedlicka, says more than 800,000 people have applied for citizenship of "Liberland", a self-declared crypto micronation on an uninhabited stretch of disputed floodplain along the Danube River, between Serbia and Croatia. Founded in 2015 on the principle that unclaimed land belongs to whoever occupies it first, the project aims to build a blockchain-based libertarian state free of tax and government regulation, positioning itself as a haven for crypto entrepreneurs and billionaires.

The seven-square-kilometre territory currently has around 1,200 citizens, its own language, passports and a small navy, and is due to hold a congressional election later this month. Rather than taxation, residents make voluntary contributions using two cryptocurrency tokens, the Liberland Dollar and Liberland Merit, with donors ranked publicly via a badge system from Bronze to Diamond. Liberland remains unrecognised by other states, has limited infrastructure and around 200 registered companies, and joins a wider trend of wealthy figures backing micro-states and special economic zones, such as Peter Thiel-backed Prospera in Honduras.