Sovereign communities in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia has 3communities in this atlas. That breaks down as 1 bitcoin circular economies, 2 network-state and startup-city projects. Every listing below carries an honest summary, a trust label, and a last-verified date — the stalled and the contested are marked as such.
Last updated 2026-06-12
Bitcoin Island Boracay
An effort since 2022 to make the Philippine resort island of Boracay a bitcoin economy, driven by payments startup Pouch.ph. Onboarding peaked above 250 merchants; more recent reporting suggests roughly 50-plus actively accepting, a reminder that merchant counts decay without constant tending. Still one of Southeast Asia's most visible bitcoin spending destinations.
Edge City
An organization running month-long popup villages — temporary live-work communities for researchers, builders, and families — descended from 2023's Zuzalu experiment. Its flagship, Edge Esmeralda, returned to Sonoma County from May 30 to June 27, 2026, with 500-plus participants, en route to a planned permanent village. The gatherings are real; the permanent town is still a plan.
Network School
Balaji Srinivasan's residential startup society, running since September 2024 in Forest City, Malaysia — a famously underpopulated Chinese-built development near Singapore. Several hundred residents from 70-plus countries combine coliving, coworking, fitness, and a crypto-flavored curriculum; Malaysian ministers have shown interest in fast-track visas. It is a paid program inside a landlord's towers, not a sovereign community.