Nevada Governor Lays Out Plans for a City Built on Blockchain
February 26 2021 - 9:09PM
Dow Jones News
By Jim Carlton
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Friday unveiled details behind a
plan to allow private industry to develop technology "innovation
zones" that would include new cities with their own government.
In particular, the Democratic governor is throwing the welcome
mat out to developers of the technology behind blockchain, best
known as the record-keeping system behind cryptocurrencies. One of
the first big beneficiaries of a bill the governor has proposed
would be Blockchains LLC, a Nevada-based firm that has previously
announced plans to build a city from the ground up on 67,000 acres
of desert land it acquired near Reno in 2018.
Situated near where Tesla Inc. and some other tech giants have
expanded in recent years, Blockchains envisions a Painted Rock
Smart City and Innovation Park of at least 36,000 people with more
than 30 million square feet of commercial and industrial space that
would use a "stablecoin" as its cryptocurrency. Over time, the city
would support $1.8 billion annually in wages and 40,000 jobs.
The governor, who first introduced the idea for the innovation
zones during his State of the State address last month, said in a
Zoom press briefing Friday that Nevada needed to do something
drastic to lessen a dependence on gaming and tourism that has
pushed its unemployment rate as of December to 9.2% -- second
highest in the country behind Alaska.
"We cannot wait for economic recovery to come to us," Gov.
Sisolak said. "We must accelerate and pursue innovative ways to
inject Nevada with new and organic economic growth."
But the proposal is already drawing opposition. One issue is the
demand for more water in a parched state where supplies are tight.
To help meet the needs of its planned city, Blockchains has secured
rights to groundwater near a desert playa 100 miles away where the
Burning Man festival is held every summer. The company would build
a pipeline to transport the water to its new city.
"Blockchains is setting the stage for a good old fashioned
Nevada water war, and the Center and our allies are ready for the
fight," said Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director with the
Center for Biological Diversity environmental group.
Officials with Blockchains, headed by cryptocurrency millionaire
and attorney Jeffrey Berns, said the proposed city would use only a
fraction of the water of a comparable community because of its
efficient design. "I would think an idea like this should be their
(environmentalists') best friend," said a company spokesman.
Asked in the briefing about the water issue, the governor said
"we're always concerned about water in Nevada," but added
developers of the innovation zones would have to secure those
rights.
Local Storey County officials have questions about Blockchains,
too, such as who would be responsible if its crypto city were to go
belly up. The spokesman said the developers would assume any losses
since the innovation projects would require no public subsidy.
Gov. Sisolak said the cities, by starting from scratch, would be
working off "a blank palette" and would rely on the latest in
transportation and other technologies to save costs and be more
efficient.
"There is no denying it, this is a big idea," the governor said.
"But our state is not afraid of big ideas."
Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 26, 2021 20:54 ET (01:54 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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