Thread by @drydenwtbrown

I went to Greenland to try to buy it

Here’s what happened:

First, some context:

I’m building an crypto-native country called @praxisnation, with a network of people who’ve founded companies worth >$400B.

We are scouting for physical territory to build our first city with $525M of financing.

I became interested in Greenland when Trump offered to buy it in 2019.

Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark. It's huge, but only has 50k ppl, rich with natural resources: uranium, gold, oil, and more, and is a critical defense asset in the Arctic.

Greenland is an actual frontier. It's hardcore. If humanity is going to build Terminus on Mars, we should practice in Greenland. It can serve as a sandbox for terraformation experiments, funded by realizing its potential as a mining and industrial hub.

Over the summer, I traveled there to see if Praxis could do a deal with Greenland to unlock its potential.

I flew with 3 Praxians to Keflavik, Iceland, and spent the day waiting for our flight to Nuuk — the capital of Greenland.

In Keflavik, I searched for people to meet. I sent cold DMs on LinkedIn, X, and IG, before finding a website listing emails of Greenlandic politicians.

I sent emails offering to discuss building a new city.

We flew to Nuuk on Air Greenland's twin propeller Dash 8-400, and found ourselves onboard with Inuits, government employees, and wildlife photographers.

Greenland is controlled by Denmark, but Greenlanders have the right to accede and declare sovereignty.

97% of Greenlanders want to leave, so why haven’t they?

The political parties say they are for sovereignty, so why haven’t they followed through?

To me, this was the mystery.

The plane touched down at the Nuuk airport. It looked like we landed on the moon. Barren, rocky, but with beautiful mountains, valleys, and islands.

As we drove to the HHE Express, I checked my email. To my surprise, many people had responded, including some of the gov people, and I had an opportunity to do a meeting at Parliament later that week.

Responsive gov officials is a very strong signal for any nation.

. @charliecallinan was training for a marathon, so we ran through the city. Nuuk is very small -- about 20k people live there -- so we ran around it fairly quickly.

As we got to the water, we saw a massive yacht, apparently owned by JK Rowling.

Icebergs floated behind.

We walked to the end of a big group of rocks, took of our shirts and shoes, and jumped in the ocean. Praxis mode.

It was extremely cold but awesome. We got out quickly and jogged back to the hotel.

Later that week, I had meetings at Parliament. I learned:

1. Denmark does not want Greenland to accede, so they pay $500M/year to fund gov salaries.
2. The ruling majority is unmotivated lose the $500M, despite 97% support for independence.
3. They do not want to be "bought."

There is an obvious opportunity here:

If we could replace the $500M with another revenue source -- taxes from a new city, mining, and tourism post-terraforming -- we could derisk accession, and get Greenlanders get their long-sought independence -- and with it vast wealth.

As part of this deal, Praxis would seek uninhabited, unused territory for the development of a tax-paying charter city, or perhaps something bigger, with deeper independence:

A privatized charter state.

With the ability to create laws and regulations, we could actually experiment with terraforming: for example, we could reflect more sunlight on the frozen terrain, and lengthen winter days (cc @bennbuilds). We can create rain when needed in the summer (cc @ADoricko). And more.

In a more hospitable climate, we could build a vast industrial base powered by nuclear, using locally-sourced Uranium (cc @isaiah_p_taylor @teddyfeld).

We must build a prototype of Terminus on Earth before departing for Mars.

I believe Greenland is the place, @elonmusk.

Supporting Greenland's independence through the creating of a private charter state would be in America's interest, projecting cultural, economic, and political power via private enterprise.

A New Monroe Doctrine.

The entire project would be financed by the @praxisnation network, and jointly owned by Praxis Citizens, the Greenlandic government, and each individual Greenlander. Ownership could be represented with tokens.

If the undiscovered natural resources beneath the ice are truly significant, Greenland may need to create its own sovereign wealth fund: GIF.

I spent my last week there on the phone with founders and companies discussing commercial opportunities they might pursue in Greenland, and triangulating with local leaders for support.

When I left and flew to Denmark, it was clear to me that an opportunity stood waiting.

With Greenland, we have the opportunity to ring in a new age of expansion — this time peaceful and mutually beneficial, but no less invigorating.

If you are interested in building a new frontier in Greenland and have ideas as to how we could do it or how you could contribute, let me know.

With vision and will, we may be able to build a future in the North.

Join Praxis:

praxisnation.com/join?utm_sourc…