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Zuzalu

Ethereum popup village network

Luštica Bay, Montenegro / GlobalFounded 2023zuzalu.city

It also pushed CommunityOS ideas and open-source coordination for temporary societies.

Later Zu-branded villages and fellowships trace much of their culture back to Zuzalu’s Montenegro cohort.

It brought together ~200 builders, thinkers, and researchers in longevity, crypto, AI, and network states for coliving and collaboration.

Zuzalu is especially important because it minted the popup village model that provided a concrete organizational form to the network state movement.

Dec 2023 Decentralization Moment Vitalik proposed a shift from centralized events to independent, global popup villages.

The original popup village network that kicked off the modern Zu- ecosystem.

Zuzalu was the event that marked the birth of the pop-up village movement.

It currently runs as a global network of nodes experimenting with decentralized coordination, identity, and privacy tech.

Location

  • Zuzalu Pop-up, the first pop-up village ever, was hosted in Luštica Bay, Montenegro
  • Currently, Zuzalu doesn’t own a physical hub, but its branch nodes host pop-up villages worldwide:
  • Zanzibar, Tanzania
  • Zuitzerland Residency
  • Swiss Alps, Switzerland

Duration

  • Zuzalu Pop-up ran for 2 months, from March to May 2023
  • Zu’s decentralized communities organize pop-up cities that last 10 days up to 2 months:
  • Zuitzerland v0.1
  • 1/9/2024 - 10/9/2024
  • 15/4/2025 - 5/5/2025
  • Zuzalu Montenegro
  • 25/3/2023 - 25/5/2023

Pricing

Zuzalu Pop-up Montenegro

  • • $100/week for breakfast, co-working space, and access to events
  • • Food was estimated at an extra $50/day
  • • Payments were made via crypto. Students and others needing financial support could apply for a subsidy
  • • Zuzalu Montenegro was invitation-based. Core organizers invited ~15 residents each, and
  • • each resident could invite 2 guests. Some participants were selected via application

Amenities

Co-working spaces

    Conference and workshop venues

      Community events and social programming

        Accommodation was not included

        • • Zuzalu focused on three core themes:
        • • Cryptography & Privacy. ZK proofs, programmable cryptography, privacy-preserving tech
        • • Longevity & Biotech. DeSci, longevity research, biotech innovation (co-organized with VitaDAO )
        • • Governance & Coordination. Network states, decentralized governance, public goods
        • • Programming included talks, workshops, hackathons, and unconferences led by participants

        History

        1. By 2022, Vitalik Buterin had long been thinking about topics like crypto cities and network states

        2. By 2026, Zuzalu.city is a decentralized

        3. open-source operating system that connects users to Ethereum's ecosystem applications

        Posts