278: Breaking New Ground: Everyday Life in a Free Private City – Alex Ugorji
Today’s guest is Alex Ugorji, an entrepreneur and educator interested in prosperity zones, breakaway civilizations, and disruptive technologies.
He started the Crypto Frontier, an intentional crypto community in Saipan, and co-founded a blockchain software company RaiPay. He is also the co-founder of Nakamoto Financial, a consulting and financial technology company.
After realizing that his dreams of disruption could not be realized in the United States, he moved to Ciudad Morazán in Honduras to become one of the first-ever residents of this free private city, where he currently works as a consultant, community manager, and fellow Free Cities Ambassador.
TODAY’S CONVERSATION WITH ALEX UGORJI
- Listen in to Alex’s backstory of how his interest in cryptocurrencies and the ‘frontier of money” led him to first to Saipan and now to Ciudad Morazán in Honduras.
- Discover what it was like to live in the remote U.S. Pacific territory of Saipan and why Alex believes it to be the “freest place in America” and “America’s hidden gem.”
- Find out how the U.S. government’s increasing interest in cryptocurrency saw the Crypto Frontier projects ultimately getting shelved in Saipan.
- Learn about the unique law passed in Honduras that has allowed for three distinct “free private cities” to develop, including Ciudad Morazán, where Alex lives.
- Hear why Alex chose to live in Ciudad Morazán, which is more catered towards locals, over Prospera, which more caters more to foreigners and expats.
- Discover how Alex helped build a crypto ecosystem for payments which allows anyone who lives in Ciudad Morazán, aka “Bootstrap City,” to live entirely on crypto.
- You’ll be floored when you hear how simple and easy it was to open a gym in Ciudad Morazán with so many needless rules and regulations stripped away.
- Learn about the friendly competition between the two very differently structured ZEDEs of Prospera and Ciudad Morazán.
- Get the latest updates on the issues the ZEDEs have had with the Marxist Honduran government and how it will affect these projects down the road.
- Find out what it’s really like to live inside a private city on a day-to-day basis from someone who literally has boots on the ground.
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RELATED EPISODES
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CONCLUSION
It was a blast talking to Alex after having dinner with him at the Liberty In Our Lifetime conference in Prague last year. Ciudad Morazán and the prospects of future cities like it present a huge potential opportunity for expats to begin a new life under a totally different model of private governance. This is a huge reason why I am a Free Cities ambassador along with Alex.
I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. I’ll see you all next Wednesday, at 6 am!
About The Host, Mikkel Thorup
Mikkel Thorup; the host of The Expat Money Show, has 20+ years in continual travel around the world, visiting more than 100 countries including Colombia, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Iran.
His goal now is to help Expats just like you to generate additional streams of income, eliminate your tax bill, and take advantage of offshore structures so you can travel the world freely and never have to worry about money again.
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Would like to begin a dialogue about what Honduras has to offer and how it’s different from the Prospera package, and if Prospera is having problems with the Honduran gov’t, are you next ?
My intention is to set up a manufacturing facility in Central America to make a water powered generator that I hold the patents to, as well as make specific components for American Mfg to replace China and other low labor cost jurisdictions.
Not sure this is the best way to get a hold of Alex, you might want to reach out to him directly.