The nation-state model is only 380 years old and has been hollowed out by corporations and competing centralized structures, Jarrad Hope said.
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The nation-state model is eroding and losing relevance, according to Jarrad Hope, author of “Farewell to Westphalia: Crypto Sovereignty and Post-Nation-State Governance” and co-founder of Logos, a project developing blockchain tools and decentralized digital infrastructure for network states, sovereign communities that exist in cyberspace.
“Modern nation-states are nearly 380 years old, predating even the scientific discovery of oxygen and gravity,” Hope told Cointelegraph, adding that the internet and blockchain present that allow people to build across geographies.
These tools include inflation-resistant decentralized digital currencies, immutable ledgers for tamper-free records, for automated financial and legal agreements, privacy-preserving protocols, and (DAOs) for transparent community governance. Hope added:
“Traditional governance asks you to trust unelected bureaucrats, unfamiliar people, and opaque processes. Blockchain-enabled communities, by contrast, lean on transparent infrastructure that narrows the domain of trust.”
He also said that the biggest obstacle network states face is resistance from established nation-states and institutions, including multinational corporations, and pointed to the as an example of centralized control over digital infrastructure.
The slow emergence of in the crypto community, built on the core ideals of decentralization, transparency, equal access, immutability, and the right to privacy, central to the cypherpunk ethos at the heart of cryptocurrencies.
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Several attempts have been made to that declare independence, including Bitnation in 2014, a project that attempted to create a borderless, blockchain-based state.
However, none of these efforts has yielded a successful and autonomous network state that functions as a sovereign nation in cyberspace.
Hope, other blockchain experts, and crypto industry executives tell Cointelegraph that established nation-states will attempt to undermine emerging network states as they develop.
These established states can use regulations, litigation, or military force to prevent rising competition from an alternative organizational model, industry executives say.
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