Start-ups BlueFrontiers and Seasteading Institute, in partnership with French Polynesia, is creating floating islands with own government and cryptocurrency, supporting off-shore housing.
A number of philanthropists, academics and investors are behind the $50 million Floating Island Project, a pilot program.
The first independent floating island is expected to launch in the Pacific Ocean in 2022. It will operate outside of government regulations and will use Vayron cryptocurrency.
The project, which is built in the Pacific Ocean off the island of Tahiti, will see over 300 homes along with a number of hotels, restaurants, and offices.
Nathalie Mezza-Garcia, a political scientist and researcher for the Floating Island Project, in an interview with CNBC said, "Once we can see how this first island works, we will have a proof of concept to plan for islands to house climate refugees."
According to her, the residents in the island will be free of fluctuating geopolitical influences and trade issues.
The funding for the project comes through philanthropic donations, selling tokens of the cryptocurrency Varyon.
It was on January 13, 2017 that the parties signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with French Polynesia to cooperate on the creation of a seazone with a "unique governing framework," where they can begin seasteading.
As per Seasteading's website, the Floating City Project combines principles of both seasteading and startup cities, by seeking to locate a floating city within the territorial waters of an existing nation.
The project has chosen the Polynesian Islands as the starting point.
Mezza-Garcia added, "There is significance to this project being trialed in the Polynesian Islands. This is the region where land is resting on coral and will disappear with rising sea levels."
The companies see the oceans as solution to a heavily polluted planet and policies that trouble business growth, and aims for hundreds of such islands over the long term.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.