Tech Utopians Want to Build a City in Colonia, Uruguay

[MilHojas]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/world/americas/praxis-uruguay-colonia-tech-utopia.html

The American tech utopians had spent years scouring the globe for a place to build their city of the future. The founders of Praxis — a company and online community backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in financing from a crypto company

Archived version

 

[carride]

[Uruguay] also has a “Switzerland in South America vibe,” Mr. Brown said, with “great waves” and enough natural beauty to attract creative professionals and tech executives unemployed because “A.I. is going to take all the jobs.”

Leonardo Costa, a Uruguayan lawyer and tax law professor, said that in recent years, a growing number of Europeans and North Americans have bought property in Uruguay, drawn in part by its distance from turmoil in other parts of the world.

 

[Ries]

The Bautista family are the actual landowners of the five miles of coastline, the developers of the area, and the builders of the fantasy playland for the crypto nerds.
The "utopia" is a small district inside the greater Mas colonia project of the uruguayan family's development.
when the money dries up, the Bautistas will still be there, to resell utopia to Argentine vacationers.

 

[mageesa]

How will 'creative professionals' afford to live in Uruguay libertarian utopia when they're unemployed?
Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[Ries]

How will 'creative professionals' afford to live in Uruguay libertarian utopia when they're unemployed?
Inquiring minds want to know!

Uruguay is famous as a money laundering/sheltering location.
I have known Argentines who fly to Montevideo to get their cash, which is safely stashed out of reach of the Argentine taxman.
the creative professionals there are all in money and investment and real estate and architecture and so on, for rich people from around the world.
crypto- the gift that keeps on giving- at least to the rug pullers of the world.
No shortage of lamboghinis and ferraris in Punta.

 

[mageesa]

Uruguay is famous as a money laundering/sheltering location.
I have known Argentines who fly to Montevideo to get their cash, which is safely stashed out of reach of the Argentine taxman.
the creative professionals there are all in money and investment and real estate and architecture and so on, for rich people from around the world.
crypto- the gift that keeps on giving- at least to the rug pullers of the world.
No shortage of lamboghinis and ferraris in Punta.

Haha I was sort of just joking, as a worker in the creative arts. But you're correct, with the flexibility of English, 'creative' might be modifying 'professional' in the sense: creative when coming up with ways to avoid paying taxes.
Either way, I looked up the prices in PlusColonia, and you can get a 35sm studio for $70,000. So it's not impossible, just unlikely that a bunch of struggling libertarian painters and musicians will move there to add flavor.
This is a strictly plebe concern, but what happens if the government of Uruguay sees fit to change tax policy in the future? They would just take the loss or do short term rental of their property; what's a couple million if you have a billion.
If it were to succeed (big 'if' when it comes to utopian city projects), we'd see a lot of fancy boats coming across the river to BA in the evening. Not a lot of nightlife in Colonia. Or they'd buy a pied a terre, like Peter Thiel.

 

[Ries]

Haha I was sort of just joking, as a worker in the creative arts. But you're correct, with the flexibility of English, 'creative' might be modifying 'professional' in the sense: creative when coming up with ways to avoid paying taxes.
Either way, I looked up the prices in PlusColonia, and you can get a 35sm studio for $70,000. So it's not impossible, just unlikely that a bunch of struggling libertarian painters and musicians will move there to add flavor.
This is a strictly plebe concern, but what happens if the government of Uruguay sees fit to change tax policy in the future? They would just take the loss or do short term rental of their property; what's a couple million if you have a billion.
If it were to succeed (big 'if' when it comes to utopian city projects), we'd see a lot of fancy boats coming across the river to BA in the evening. Not a lot of nightlife in Colonia. Or they'd buy a pied a terre, like Peter Thiel.

plus colonia is the Uruguayan development.
Praxis, the bitcoin libertarian "Digital Nation" Utopia, is a small part of the overall development.
They will be screening their own buyers, I would suspect. They claim they will be investing a billion dollars, but currently they are building something like 6 medium sized apartment buildings.

Praxis

The world's first digital nation. Apply to join.

www.praxisnation.com

the bigger project, masColonia, is not a utopian project, its plain old development for money by a family that has been there for generations.

+Colonia | Comunidad colaborativa, descentralizada y sustentable

Descubre +Colonia: una comunidad innovadora, colaborativa y sustentable que impulsa el emprendimiento y la descentralización. Únete hoy.

www.mascolonia.com

you will note they do not mention Praxis at all on their website, and the size of their entire parcel, and their plans for development, are much bigger than the Praxis plans.
we will see what we will see, but my guess is it will end up like a Levittown version of luxury, with echos of Punta, and not a new nation of cargo pants wearing libertarian bros.

 

[mageesa]

Yes, I noticed that! Couldn't find pricing for Praxis specifically, so the $70k is for +Colonia.
It seems like a natural idea to live in a community of like-minded individuals, but it hardly ever works out.
I've always been fascinated by these sorts of planned communities. I've been to Shaker villages, the mysterious Lilydale (home of American Spiritualism), and I worked one summer at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate NY.
Randomly, I also dated the grandson of William Levitt for a while, haha.
Seems like Peter Thiel invested in property closer to Punta del Este, in a regular old gated community.
Probably a wise decision.

 

[Alby]

The Rise And Fall Of Nueva Australia, Paraguay's Ill-Fated Australian Colony

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