The Mu helps stand up popup villages across multiple cities while staying engaged with local communities. Shanghai is a notable base, but the operating model is multi-site facilitation. Early editions focused on blockchain in emerging economies; recent programs emphasize robotics, AI, and bridges into China's tech ecosystem. The community prioritizes open source development, a doer mentality, long-term thinking, and positive-sum outcomes.
Events connect global participants with local ecosystems through unconference-style workshops, factory tours, hackathons, and cultural immersion. Notable editions include muChiangMai (2023), muBuenos Aires and muAccra (2024), a 2025 Ethereum showcase at World Expo, and muShanghai (2026) at Alibaba HQ. A facilitator network for popup villages and local community projects worldwide. the-mu is a community of digital nomads organizing pop-up cities focused on blockchain, cryptography, and web3 technologies.
Location
the-mu hosts pop-up villages across various continents, though its roots are in Asia.
2024 muBuenos Ran a 6 week grant supported and developer focused popup city in Buenos Aires.
2024 muAccra Organized a 2 week popup city in Ghana to expand network reach into Africa.
In 2023, it hosted muChiangMai, the first web3 pop-up city in Southeast Asia.
Duration
the-mu's pop-up villages typically last 2 to 6 weeks.
The year after, muBuenos ran for six weeks in Argentina and muAccra for two weeks in Ghana.
Pricing
Most pop-up villages that the-mu hosts are free to attend Accommodation is usually included for developers and may be partially covered by housing grants Hackathons sometimes feature prize pools in the tens of thousands of dollars
History
the-mu has been organizing pop-up cities across various continents since 2023 In 2023, it hosted muChiangMai, the first web3 pop-up city in Southeast Asia.