Startup Cities Become Scam Enclaves

Shwe Kokko’s 'blockchain smart city' promised Silicon‑Valley‑style innovation with private utilities, Starlink internet, and an on‑chain payments app used by most merchants. In practice, it became a protected base for cyber‑scam factories run with trafficked labor, showing how 'exit' zones without accountable governance invite criminal capture. — It challenges charter‑city and network‑state visions by showing that tech and private governance alone, absent legitimate state capacity, can produce lawless criminal sovereignties.