Blockchains Inc, a private cryptocurrency company, has been imaging a desert smart city near Reno, NV for years, but one element is standing in its way: water. The Nevada Independent reported that although Blockchains amassed 67,000 acres of land near the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center to build its “Innovation Zone” and purchased a portfolio of water rights valued at $35 million in 2020, the plan was derailed.
Routing water to the new smart city became the barrier to entry, with issues around piping the water source into the city from hundreds of miles away. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe reservation and the Black Rock Desert, home to Burning Man, impeded progress, according to The Nevada Independent. The state denied Blockchains’ permit, citing a conflict in the chain of title.
Blockchains sued the state for not officially recognizing its ownership of the water rights. However, a judge ruled in favor of the state and squelched the cryptocurrency company’s water usage, reports The Nevada Independent.
The Innovation Zone was meant to act “as an incubator for how blockchain technology could be used in a physical setting,” but Blockchains’ brainchild might never come to life. The stalled Innovation Zone is not the first smart city to fizzle out, though. Sidewalk Labs’ smart city overhaul of a Toronto waterfront failed, and the more recent California Forever project has attracted a steady stream of commentary and criticism.
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