Montana SB 535, is a new framework allowing eligible post-Phase 1 experimental treatments to reach patients under regulated oversight with special clinic licenses and an expert review board. Stephen explains why traditional Right-to-Try and expanded access programs have struggled to scale, and how Montana could change the economics by allowing biotechs to generate real-world evidence, treat patients, and create revenue earlier in the development process.

They discuss how the pathway works in practice, who qualifies, opportunities for biotech companies and physicians, the relationship between state and federal regulation, the FDA’s role, and whether Montana could ultimately provide a blueprint for accelerating drug development across the United States.

Watch on YouTube

More on this topic:

• Scott Alexander on the Aduhelm Approval

• Jared Rhoads on X

At Infinita, we love showcasing the incredible innovators in our ecosystem. Today, we’re excited to share the story of Anna and Ivan, the founders behind Unlimited Bio.

In less than 2 years, they’ve launched a company, treated patients, generated revenue, secured funding from Infinita VC, and begun preparing one of the boldest experiments in longevity science: a combination gene therapy trial in healthy individuals.

Here’s how they did it — and why they believe regulatory innovation may be just as important as scientific innovation.

The Bottleneck No One Talks About

Both Anna and Ivan come from deep biotech backgrounds.

Anna holds a PhD in bioengineering and previously built multiple biotech companies developing vaccines and age-related diseases. Ivan spent years working on rejuvenation technologies that, despite promising science, were still stuck in preclinical stages.

The contrast became impossible to ignore.

“In the traditional system,” Ivan explains, “you can spend years preparing, testing, filing paperwork — and still be far from injecting the first patient.”

Anna had seen the same pattern. One of the biggest structural challenges is that aging itself isn’t recognized as a treatable condition in most regulatory frameworks. Instead, companies must pursue narrow disease indications rather than targeting the biological drivers of aging directly.

Large pharmaceutical companies often avoid this space entirely. As a result, much of the progress in longevity science comes from small biotech startups and academic labs navigating rigid regulatory constraints.

Even when science moves quickly, infrastructure can slow everything down.

Anna experienced this firsthand when her team developed a COVID vaccine and completed Phase II trials within two years — a remarkable pace by biotech standards. But despite strong safety and efficacy data, the program stalled due to manufacturing limitations and licensing requirements.

“Science can move fast,” Anna says. “Infrastructure and regulation often don’t.”

Discovering a Different Model

Their search for alternatives eventually led them to Prospera, where the first hub of Infinita City is based.

Initially, they planned only a short visit during one of the early pop-up city gatherings. What they found surprised them.

“The depth of expertise was incredible,” Ivan recalls. “You could walk up to almost anyone and get serious feedback — investors, operators, scientists.”

Within two weeks, they had connected with advisors, investors, and collaborators. One of the gene therapy patients they met there later became an investor in the company.

When an accelerator program launched in March, they decided to stay longer — and see how fast they could actually build.

The “MVP” Therapy

Their approach was simple but clever: repurpose an existing gene therapy that Anna knew about.

The therapy had already been approved in Russia in 2011 for patients with lower limb ischemia — a condition where poor blood supply threatens tissue death and amputation. The treatment works by stimulating the growth of new capillaries.

Anna saw another possible use.

“As we age, our microvasculature deteriorates,” she explains. “Capillary density declines. Blood flow becomes less efficient. Why wait until someone is in critical condition?”

Their hypothesis: repurpose the therapy for preventive use — improving muscle oxygenation, aerobic capacity, and vascular health in healthy individuals over 50.

It was a calculated move.

The therapy’s safety profile was already well understood. The mechanism of action was clear. And most importantly, it allowed them to test Prospera’s regulatory framework without spending years on early-stage R&D.

“It was our MVP,” Ivan says. “Not just of the therapy — but of the regulatory system itself.”

The results surprised even them.

It took about nine months to treat their first patient.

Less than a year later, they had generated their first revenue.

For founders coming from systems where first-in-human trials can take many years, that timeline felt revolutionary.

Expanding the Pipeline

Once revenue began, the team moved quickly.

They expanded their pipeline and introduced a second, more advanced gene therapy program, building on the infrastructure and experience they had developed.

But experimentation remains core to their philosophy.

Recently, while attending the Infinite Games, Ivan began running a controlled experiment on himself using one of their gene therapies aimed at hair regeneration.

Half of his scalp received the treatment.
The other half received a placebo.

He doesn’t know which side is which.

Hair growth takes time to evaluate — peak results may appear between six and twelve months — but the experiment reflects how the team thinks about science.

“We don’t just want anecdotes,” Ivan explains. “We want data. Even negative results teach us something.”

Failed hypotheses aren’t losses. They’re information. In science, learning what doesn’t work is just as important as discovering what does.

The Next Big Experiment

Now, the team is preparing something even more ambitious:

A clinical trial combining two gene therapies in healthy individuals.

If successful, it could open the door to multi-gene combination therapies targeting aging more holistically — potentially dozens of genetic interventions working together to address multiple aging pathways at once.

The pieces are already coming together.

Manufacturing is complete. Permissions are in place. The infrastructure is ready.

“We’re almost there,” Ivan says. “Now we’re testing whether we can smoothly run a combo gene therapy trial.”

If it works, it won’t just be a milestone for UnlimitedBio.

It could become a proof of concept for a faster, more adaptive model of developing longevity therapies — one where scientific progress isn’t held back by systems built for a different era of medicine.

July just moved fast here!

Two big events are coming up: Freedom Summit in New Hampshire on August 20-21 and Infinita Startup Week right here in Próspera from August 31 to September 7 🥳

Each a great opportunity to learn about biotech federalism, free cities and special pro-tech jurisdictions.

We also have new podcast episodes, three new partnerships and a new referral program in the Infinita Wallet.

So if this tastes like your cup of tea, keep reading 🍵

🚀 Infinita Startup Week Is Getting Close!

From August 31 to September 7, founders, investors, researchers, and builders will gather in Próspera, Roatán for Infinita Startup Week.

You’ll spend your days collaborating with people building across biotech, AI, crypto, governance, and other frontier technologies.

The week culminates alongside the Free Cities Conference, where you’ll meet the key leaders in the “industry”, and have the opportunity to pitch your startup during Demo Day.

🔗 Get Your Tickets

🧬 Our Next Stop before Roatán: Freedom Summit

Freedom Summit is happening Aug 20-21, 2026 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire is pushing for one of the most ambitious biotech laws in the U.S. right now, and there’s a whole coalition of founders, investors, scientists, and techno-optimists trying to make the state a serious hub for frontier tech.

Register Here

🎁 You Can Now Refer Friends To The Infinita Wallet!

Share your link and earn 2.5% in HIVE on everything they spend in their first month. The more friends you bring in, the more you can earn.

And if you have your Premium Node ID, you get 5% in HIVE on every referral.

Plus this subscription gives you access to all our partner discounts and perks like the ones we’ve been announcing every month. Grow the community, grow your wallet!

Open Your Wallet

🧪 Meet Panacea

A company fresh out of YC is working on something very relevant for our biotech community.

Panacea combines AI with regulatory specialists to help life sciences companies move faster through FDA approval.

They made $500k in bookings in 2 months during YC, and their work feels highly complementary with what we’re building at Infinita: better infrastructure for people trying to bring medical products, diagnostics, therapeutics, and health technologies into the world.

We think they’re a great fit for what we’re building here and we’re looking for Infinitians who want to be early users. If that’s you, get a call with them and mention Infinita.

Book a call →

🔬 Applications Open for the Reactorfield Fellowship

Reactorfield is a free 4-week fellowship backed by Anthropic and Nvidia that helps scientists and deep tech teams embed AI into their existing workflows. The team are YC alumni and have invested in 150+ companies.

They were announced on July 28th and got over 150k views in 24 hours, mentioned by the likes of Peter Diamandis and Derya Unutmaz. And since it’s philanthropically funded, there’s no cost to participants.

Applications are open until August 15th.

Apply now →

That’s it for July, thanks for reading! 🍧

And don’t miss your chance to visit us on August 31, 2026 in our Startup Week!

Must reads this month:

Here are three articles our CEO recommends on Montana’s latest steps toward expanding access to experimental therapies:

• 🔗 MIT Technology Review — Montana’s experimental medical hub

• 🔗 Longevity Technology — Montana takes next step on experimental therapies

• 🔗 Lifespan.io — Montana’s Right to Try law enters a new phase

Latest podcast episodes:

• 🎧 Ep. 113 — Reason on Clinical Trials

• 🎧 Ep. 112 — Tim Urban on Startup Cities

New partnerships this month:

• 🔗 Shefi

• 🔗 Ascend

• 🔗 RAADfest

Follow along 👀

Instagram · X · YouTube

See you again in August 😉,

Nelsi 🌊

RAADfest brings together scientists, doctors, and biohackers around longevity and age reversal.

Their 2026 event takes place from September 4 to 6 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

As part of this partnership, Infinita Premium Node ID members can now enjoy 10% off RAADfest 2026.

To redeem, open the Infinita app, go to Discover → Partners, find RAADfest, and you’ll see the steps to claim your discount there.

Get Your Discount

New to Infinita?

The Infinita Node ID is our membership program. Premium members receive access to a growing network of benefits, including discounts at partner events and pop-up cities around the world, special pricing on services and experiences, access to exclusive programs, and other perks across the ecosystem.

Explore more benefits ↗

Having partnerships like this brings us one step closer to a world where living longer is within reach for everyone.

🧬⚡🔬

He breaks down why investors backing gene and cell therapies care more about a drug’s earning potential than whether it works, and why treatments already in use could be quietly adding years to human lifespan without anyone confirming it. Drawing on his own experience as a trial participant in Roatán, he also explains why Australia has become a faster, cheaper alternative for clinical trials, and how much of that gap comes down to culture rather than actual safety.

Watch on YouTube

More about Reason’s work:

• Fight Aging!

The review board’s role is oversight for early access to treatments before FDA approval. For a $12.5k fee, you can submit a post-phase-1 therapy to our review board.

Montana ETRB

What is a Montana ETRB?

Montana’s model is a major regulatory innovation. National regulators typically review treatments one by one, which causes years-long bottlenecks.

In Montana, registered ETRBs do treatment reviews, licensed specialized clinics (ETCs) provide treatments. The state receives reporting and can take away licenses.

That’s smart regulation. Competitive, efficient, with oversight. That’s what American biotech needs.

First Montana ETRB Members

We are honored to welcome highly esteemed scientists, physicians and bioethicists on the first Montana ETRB

- Matt Kaeberlein, PhD - a biologist internationally recognized for research on the basic mechanisms of aging and translational interventions to extend healthspan

- Felipe Sierra, PhD - a biochemist that served as Director of the Division of Aging Biology, NIA/NIH, where he developed the concept of Geroscience.

- Jessica Flanigan, PhD - a bioethicist who is is the Richard L. Morrill Chair in Ethics and Democratic Values at the University of Richmond, where she teaches leadership and healthcare ethics

- Jamie Justice, PhD - is Executive Vice President of the Health Domain at XPRIZE and Executive Director of the XPRIZE Healthspan Prize

- James M. Burke, MD - is a hematologist and oncologist with more than three decades of experience in cancer drug development and patient care

Each review submitted will have to pass their judgement on adequate safety characterization.

What will the ETRB look for?

An ETRB’s legal mandate is safety-only.

Risks need to be disclosed to patients for informed consent properly, and treatments need to have a safety profile equivalent to a successful phase-1 trial.

After that it’s up to the doctor and patient to decide.

ETRB will compete for reputation.

They are free to approve or not approve according to their assessment. If they wanted, they could even ask for efficacy data as a basis for approval.

Our Montana ETRB has a set of governance principles that guide its decisions beyond the legally required minimum floor, as a guide for its decisionsmaking.

Congratulations to Montana

Thanks to the leadership of Sen. Kenneth Bogner, Montana now has the most forward looking medical access law in the country in SB 535.

Montana’s department of health and human services (DPHHS) provided a tight and comprehensive set of rules for clinic licenses and review boards.

Montana is becoming a biotech frontier.

Towards Clinical Trial Abundance

The FDA has led the world for decades, gating the largest and most innovative biopharma market in the world. But the US’ competitive advantage is evaporating. Regulators in Australia and China have made clinical trials far more cost- and time-competitive. Patients are going to offshore clinics in Mexico and the Caribbean. High-agency patients like Sid Sijbrandij take matters into their own hands, and use multiple available jurisdictions.

The FDA needs to modernize, and lots of federal efforts to this end are underway. We support federal reforms, however these efforts often fall short or are slow.

Let US states innovate. The states can be as a source of regulatory innovation. In states important learnings can take place, and inform better federal policy.

Montana is leading the charge in biotech. New Hampshire is following suit. Utah, Texas and Florida have opened up to stem cells and many states are improving conditions for individualized treatments.

FDA / HHS should give explicit safe harbor to such responsible state medical access programs, to encourage a regulated market forming vs. gray markets.

How to Get Involved

We’re looking for state and federal policymakers to advance this regulatory innovation, clinicians to be the patient-facing stewards for responsible access, scientific reviewers to partake in ETRB oversight, biotechs to provide their novel treatments to these programs to collect valuable data, and ultimately for patients to benefit from potentially life-saving access.

Get in touch! niklas@infinita.co | stephen@infinita.co | contact@montanaetrb.org

Ascend is a 24/7 travel concierge that books your flights, hotels, and ground transport via WhatsApp.

And if you are planning to come to Infinita Startup Week this August 31 to September 7, 2026, you can use it to get here ;)

As part of this partnership, Infinita Premium Node ID members can now enjoy $500 off an Ascend membership.

To redeem, open the Infinita app, go to Discover → Partners, find Ascend, and you’ll see the steps to claim your discount there.

Get Your Discount

New to Infinita?

The Infinita Node ID is our membership program. Premium members receive access to a growing network of benefits, including discounts at partner events and pop-up cities around the world, special pricing on services and experiences, access to exclusive programs, and other perks across the ecosystem.

Explore more benefits ↗

We love building partnerships like this because they give our community more ways to travel smarter, with the added benefits!

✈️🌴🤝

In this episode, he discusses the Space Race, longevity, AI safety, startup cities, and the social conditions that allow new ideas to survive. Tim explains why some technologies move fast while others stall for decades, why the best communities treat ideas like experiments, and why the future may depend less on prediction and more on building better environments for progress.

Watch on YouTube

More about Tim Urban’s work:

• Tim Urban’s X

• What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies

SheFi is a global education platform and community helping women learn, connect, and build confidence in crypto, AI, and frontier technology.

Their next Summer Cohort runs from July 21 to August 13, 2026.

As part of this partnership, Infinita Premium Node ID members can now enjoy 15% off SheFi’s Cohort 17.

To redeem, open the Infinita app, go to Discover → Partners, find SheFi, and you’ll see the steps to claim your discount there.

Get Your Discount

New to Infinita?

The Infinita Node ID is our membership program. Premium members receive access to a growing network of benefits, including discounts at partner events and pop-up cities around the world, special pricing on services and experiences, access to exclusive programs, and other perks across the ecosystem.

Explore more benefits ↗

We’re happy to build partnerships like this because they give our community more ways to access world-class education and grow alongside people who are shaping the future of web3.

🌐💜🚀

Over the past two years we’ve been building a community around one simple idea:

If you want to accelerate the future, you need a place where founders, researchers, investors, and builders can actually build together without being bogged down by bureaucracy and politics.

And that’s why we’re very excited to announce your next best chance to visit Próspera at the Infinita Startup Week @ the Free Cities Conference (Aug 31 - Sep 7).

More details below!

Besides that, we’ll look at Tomas Pueyo’s conversation on how new governance models could shape the future of innovation, two new Premium Node ID partner benefits, and what it really looks like to build a life in Roatán.

Let’s get into it! ☀️☕️

🚀 Come To Build: Infinita Startup Week!

Spend a full week between workshops, founder sessions, startup building, ecosystem tours, and community events before flowing directly into the Free Cities Conference!

Whether you’re already building a company, thinking about your next one, investing, or just curious about frontier technology and governance, this is designed to give you a real feel for what it’s like to build inside Infinita and Próspera, and actually get you to launch your project.

Grab Your Ticket

Take a look at the announcement & share it with others who might be interested!

🎧 Could the Next Silicon Valley Be a Country?

It sounds like a metaphor, but it isn’t. That’s literally what Tomas Pueyo – the famous blogger who got more than 50 million views on his pandemic essays – came here to research.

He sat down with us and Próspera’s Trey Goff to dig into how new governance models could unlock entirely new models of human progress. The conversation touches on everything from why biotech became Próspera’s clearest opportunity, to why you still can’t legally sell an anti-aging drug (spoiler: aging isn’t officially a disease ), to what’s actually limiting growth here right now.

Listen Here

🤝 Our New Partnerships

If you have a Premium Node ID and haven’t checked the partners section lately, you are not taking full advantage of your benefits.

This month we added two new ones:

• Noma Collective — a remote work travel community bringing professionals together in amazing destinations. They’re coming to Próspera this July and Premium members get $300 off.

• Edge Esmeralda — a month-long gathering for founders, scientists, and builders from around the world. Premium members get 20% off tickets.

And if you’re still reading this and don’t have your Premium Node ID yet... let’s just say you’re missing out on a lot more than just these two 😉

Check It Out

🌴 What It’s Really Like to Build a Life in Roatán

What does it actually look like to build a life in Roatán?

This month, our ambassador Kiandra shares her own experience of growing up on the island, building a career, and creating opportunities without having to leave home.

Her story is a reminder that Roatán isn’t just a place to visit. For many people, it’s a place to build.

As she says, “The island was never the limit, it was always my starting point.”

Watch her reel here

Thanks for sticking to month’s newsletter ☀️

We have our July community call coming up where Stephen Martin (the “Right To Try Guy”) is going to talk about medical freedom, Right to Try of course, and what’s happening at the frontier of biotech access. Join here

The next chances to visit are:

• Noma Family (Jul 5 – Aug 2, 2026) 🔗 Link
  ($300 off if you’re a Premium Node ID member)

• Infinita Startup Week (Aug 31– Sep 7, 2026) 🔗 Link
  (Stay tuned for member benefits)

Must read this month:

• 🔗 From Brazil to Próspera: How Westy Is Building Bridges for the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

• 🔗 The story of Octavio Sanchez and the long fight to create zones of governance experimentation in Honduras.

Follow along 👀

Instagram · X · YouTube

See you next month 😊,

Nelsi 🌊

We’re excited to finally open registrations for the Infinita Startup Week!

Over the past two years we’ve been building a community around one simple idea: if you want to accelerate the future, you need a place where founders, researchers, investors, and builders can actually build together without being bogged down by bureaucracy and politics.

That’s what this week is about!

Explore Infinita's Startup Week

Startup Week is four days of workshops, founder sessions, startup building, ecosystem tours, and community events before flowing directly into the Free Cities Conference.

Whether you’re already building a company, thinking about your next one, investing, or simply curious about frontier technology and governance, this is designed to give you a real feel for what it’s like to build inside Infinita and Próspera.

You do NOT need to be a founder to apply.

What You’ll Experience

Throughout the week you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Learn how startups are leveraging Próspera’s legal framework to innovate faster.
  

• Develop and refine startup ideas through workshops and working sessions.
  

• Receive feedback from experienced founders, operators, and investors.
  

• Meet entrepreneurs building across biotech, longevity, crypto, AI, network states, governance, and frontier technologies.
  

• Explore startup opportunities uniquely enabled by Próspera.
  

• Pitch your company or idea during our Startup Demo Day.
  

• Build meaningful relationships with people shaping the future.

Preliminary Programming

freecitiesconference.com/infinita-week

Be part of Infinita Startup Week leading up to the Free Cities Conference, featuring renowned speakers including Titus Gebel (Founder of Tipolis & Author of Free Cities), Erick A. Brimen (CEO of Próspera), Joe Quirk (President of the Seasteading Institute), Mikkel Thorup (Founder of Expat Money), Niklas Anzinger (Founder & CEO of Infinita City), and many more!

Enjoy the Lifestyle of a Caribbean Paradise in an Actual Free City

Spend your mornings working from a beachfront coworking space, grab lunch with founders building frontier technologies, take a dive break in the Caribbean, join community dinners in the evening, and continue conversations long after the sessions end.

Take a peek at what everyday life in the community looks like on our Instagram!

What are Infinita and Próspera?

Próspera is the world’s most advanced pro innovation jurisdiction, with a regulatory framework designed to help entrepreneurs build and launch faster.

Infinita is the biotech district built within Próspera, helping founders accelerate biotech, longevity, healthcare, AI, and frontier technologies by using its advantageous regulatory system.

There are two ways to join Infinita Startup Week:

Infinita Startup Week Ticket ($400)
Includes workshops, founder sessions, community dinners, Investor Demo Day, Roatán ecosystem experiences, Demo Day video distribution to 500+ investors, and $100 in LIVES.

Full Ecosystem Bundle ($2,500)
Includes the Startup Week ticket, 7 nights at Duna, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner, airport transfers, $250 in LIVES, and a 1-year Infinita Premium Node ID membership.

The Free Cities Conference ticket is purchased separately.

Whether you’re building a startup, exploring new ideas, or simply curious about the future of innovation, see you on the ground!

Reserve Your Spot

Noma is a digital nomad travel company creating curated remote-work communities where professionals live, work, and connect in inspiring destinations around the world.

Their next Noma Family Edition, is taking place here in Próspera, Roatán, Honduras! from July 5 to August 2, 2026!

As part of this partnership, Infinita Premium Node ID members can now receive $300 off a Noma Collective trip.

To redeem, open the Infinita app, go to Discover → Partners, find Noma Collective, and you’ll see the steps to claim your discount there.

Get Your Discount

New to Infinita?

The Infinita Node ID is our membership program. Premium members receive access to a growing network of benefits, including discounts at partner events and pop-up cities around the world, special pricing on services and experiences, access to exclusive programs, and other perks across the ecosystem.

Explore more benefits ↗

We’re excited to build partnerships like this because they give our community more ways to take part in experiences happening around the world, with the added benefits!

🎟🤝🥳

This session was recorded live in the Infinity Dome in Prospera. Antonio explains why crypto is not just a new financial system. It is a direct challenge to one of the oldest powers of the state: controlling money and deciding who owns what. If you can send USDC on Base to anyone in the room in less than a second for less than a cent, and no bank or government can stop it, the foundations of the current world start to shift.

From there, we move into the friction between digital freedom and physical geography. Antonio, Niklas and Eric talk about Próspera as a real world network state, why San Francisco stays a magnet even when it fails on the basics, and which places have the energy to become new tech hubs. Miami, Dubai, Singapore, and the American West all come up as examples. They also look at the hard questions: how to build a business model for charter cities, how the US might allow Prospera-style zones through interstate compacts, and what needs to change in education and citizenship to attract long-term residents.

This is a conversation about the future of crypto, but also about the future of how people live, build, and move. It is one of the clearest snapshots of where the network state movement is heading.

📹 Watch on YT

More about Antonio’s work:

• Website

• Books

• Linkedin

Explore Infinita City:

• Explore the Archive: The Infinita City Times

• Visit Infinita City

• Join the Builders’ Hub on Telegram

• Follow Infinita City on X

Five years ago, Sebastião never imagined he would move to a small Caribbean island to experiment with the future of governance.

At the time, he was living in Brazil, watching the country’s political landscape with growing frustration. But what began as ordinary political frustration quickly turned into something deeper: a question about whether our current systems of governance are really the best we can build.

Today, Sebastião is the co-founder and CTO of Westy, a startup helping Brazilian companies access more agile global jurisdictions through Prospera, a charter city project in Honduras. His story isn’t just about startups or financial tools—it’s about exploring new ways of organizing societies and enabling entrepreneurs to operate globally.

Discovering the Charter City Movement

Sebastião’s curiosity about governance eventually led him to the world of charter cities and special economic zones.

One of the ideas that shaped his thinking came from the book Free Private Cities by Titus Gebel, which explores the possibility that governance systems could operate more like service providers—offering clear rules and competitive environments for citizens.

The idea resonated immediately.

“If competition works for products and services, why wouldn’t it work for governance?” he says.

Through research and conversations with others interested in institutional innovation, Sebastião eventually discovered Prospera—a special economic zone on the island of Roatán designed to experiment with new governance models.

At the time, in 2023, the project was still in its earliest stages.

That didn’t stop him.

“I joined that community very early—about three years ago,” he recalls. “Niklas and Kara were the first two foreigners to move to Prospera. I was the third. So it was really, really early.”

What Sebastião found in Prospera was more than a policy experiment. It was a community of people trying to rethink how cities, governance, and entrepreneurship could work.

The atmosphere was dynamic, experimental, and sometimes chaotic.

“Back then the events were intense,” he says, referring to the early Vitalia pop-up city gatherings. “There were people from all sorts of backgrounds, all interested in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.”

Among those people was Ariel Amar, who would later become his co-founder.

Together they noticed something important: while many innovative thinkers were gathering in Prospera, the opportunity was almost completely unknown in Brazil.

So Sebastião decided to change that.

“I thought, Brazilians don’t know this exists. I’ll be the guy putting Prospera on the map in Brazil.”

Brazil is full of talented entrepreneurs. But it is also known for heavy bureaucracy, complex regulations, and high taxes. Many founders want access to more flexible global environments—but relocating an entire company is rarely practical.

That insight eventually became the foundation for Westy.

Building Westy

Westy helps Brazilian companies connect with Prospera’s regulatory and financial infrastructure—without needing to move their operations out of Brazil.

Their first product is surprisingly simple: a corporate card designed for companies’ international expenses—especially SaaS tools and digital advertising.

For startups that pay for services in dollars, these costs can add up quickly.

Westy helps reduce those expenses and returns part of the savings to companies as cashback.

“Right now companies save around three to five percent on their dollar spending,” Sebastião explains. “That may sound small, but for startups with large SaaS budgets, it adds up quickly.”

It’s a practical entry point—but also part of a much bigger vision.

Why Prospera Matters

For Sebastião, Westy is not just a fintech startup. It’s also a way to support the growth of new governance models.

By helping companies connect with Prospera, Westy brings economic activity—and tax revenue—into the jurisdiction.

“That was important for us from the beginning,” he says. “We love Prospera, and we wanted to help it succeed.”

The broader mission is more ambitious: introducing competition into governance itself.

“Governments today are basically monopolies,” he explains. “But when markets compete, we get better services and lower costs.”

Charter cities, special economic zones, and experimental jurisdictions could create a world where governance systems compete to attract citizens, entrepreneurs, and investment.

A Future of Networked Cities

Looking ahead, Sebastião doesn’t believe there will only be one Prospera.

Instead, he imagines a network of similar jurisdictions around the world—each experimenting with governance while sharing common infrastructure.

He compares the idea to the Hanseatic League, the medieval network of autonomous trading cities that collaborated across Europe.

“Imagine if you could register a company in Prospera Roatán and that identity worked in Prospera Zanzibar or other future cities,” he says.

The concept echoes the broader vision of network states—communities that span borders through shared digital infrastructure, governance systems, and cultural alignment.

The path to that future won’t be simple.

Sebastião believes the biggest challenge is political.

“Governments are often reluctant to give up even small amounts of power,” he says. “Even when doing so could bring huge economic benefits.”

But he remains optimistic.

If projects like Prospera demonstrate success, others will follow.

“Countries copy success,” he says. “Once people see it working, they’ll want their own version.”

A Long-Term Mission

For Sebastião, the mission behind Westy ultimately comes down to empowering individuals and entrepreneurs with more options.

“The best way to safeguard freedom is to give people more choices,” he says.

When individuals and businesses can choose jurisdictions, move capital easily, and operate globally, governance systems themselves must evolve.

That evolution won’t happen overnight.

“It’s a long road,” Sebastião says.

But every new bridge—between countries, companies, and communities—brings that future one step closer.

Edge Esmeralda is a month-long gathering for people building a brighter future, bringing together founders, scientists, technologists, investors, artists, and builders from around the world. This year’s event takes place from May 30 to June 27, 2026.

As part of this partnership, Infinita Premium Node ID members can now receive 20% off Edge Esmeralda tickets. To access your discount code, simply open the Infinita app, navigate to Discover → Partners, and your code will be available there. And use the code at the checkout in Edge’s website.

New to Infinita? The Infinita Node ID is our membership program. Premium members receive access to a growing network of benefits, including discounts at partner events and pop-up cities around the world, special pricing on services and experiences, access to exclusive programs, and other perks across the ecosystem.

Get Your Discount Code

More importantly, we’re excited to see members of both communities connect, collaborate, and build together in real life. Partnerships like this are one of the ways we’re creating more opportunities for builders across the broader Infinita ecosystem. Explore more benefits ↗

In the months since, I have thought a lot about that quote. I’ve seen it reflected in a lot of the discontent with current systems inside and outside the world of network states. People approach it differently - some attempt to provide alternatives that sit outside of mainstream governance on blockchains, others choose to focus on their immediate vicinity, building small scale communities of friends, building new real estate projects focused on walkability and nature.

So what would “better” look like to you if you woke up in a position to materially change things? Would you go into it full swing and attempt to implement systemic change? Or would you go about it incrementally?

This was the question that faced Octavio Sanchez, the chief political architect of Honduras’ controversial ZEDE law – a law that has allowed for the development of Prospera and its layer 2 network state Infinita City, on the island of Roatan, Honduras.

The idea and the idealist

You might recognise this train of thought from “Petri Dishes” , a piece I published a few weeks ago that looked at medieval charter cities and their potential for IRL governance experimentation. Now, I’m going to take you through the real world example of Sanchez and his attempt to implement this theory into practice.

Sanchez was young and idealistic when he came into office. Since his teenage years he had been percolating futuristic policy solutions, going so far as to write a science fiction book at age 16, imagining government bulletins from Honduras in 2050.

His core conviction was that Honduras’ poverty was a problem of institutions. “Many all over the world,” he told NPR in an interview from January 2013, “don’t understand we are poor not because we are dumb; we are poor because of institutional arrangements, not because of lack of capacity to imagine things.”

By 2002, while working under future President Porfirio Lobo Sosa when Lobo led the Honduran Congress, Sanchez had begun advancing the idea alongside American development consultant Mark Klugmann. Together they envisioned a Hong Kong-style zone within Honduras, a place where better rules could prove themselves before spreading outward. The idea simmered for nearly a decade, waiting for the right political moment.

That moment came unexpectedly. A 2009 constitutional crisis, in which the military exiled President Zelaya for attempting to extend his term, reshuffled the political deck entirely.

Lobo Sosa won the election that followed, and Sanchez was sworn in as his Chief of Staff in 2010, finally holding the executive leverage to turn decades of thinking into policy. He and his colleagues were facing the tall task of changing the trajectory of what was then described as a “failed state.”

A modern charter

In 2010, Sanchez and Lobo Sosa along with National Congress President (and future President) Juan Orlando Hernandez sat down in Miami with Paul Romer, a celebrated economist who had championed the idea of bringing back charter cities during a TED talk in 2009.

“The real challenge then, is to try to figure out how we can change rules [...] if we can find ways to give more choices to both, that will give us a set of rules for changing rules that get us out of traps.

If you try to change the rules in the nation, you can’t give some people a chance to hold back, see how things turn out, and let others zoom ahead and try the new rules. But cities give you this opportunity to create new places, with new rules that people can opt in to. And they’re large enough to get all of the benefits that we can have when millions of us work together under good rules.” Romer had said.

Shortly after, the administration presented the idea of Regiones Especiales de Desarrollo (Special Development Regions) or REDs, quickly followed by the introduction of a law in July 2011. REDs signed off significant governance authority in special zones to attract investment and growth, much like other charter cities which came before. They were to be overseen by a Transparency Committee, which Romer announced he would lead.

The dream of the REDs was, however short lived. Following the revelation that an agreement had been signed without the Committee’s knowledge, Romer and four others resigned. While others involved said the Transparency Committee was not yet officially appointed and therefore the move was justified, in October 2012, the Honduran Supreme Court deemed REDs unconstitutional, and they were no more.

As we now know, that was not the end of Honduras’ special economic zone development, nor of Sanchez’s determination. Dismissing the Supreme Court defeat as a matter of internal politics rather than genuine public opposition, he, along with jurists Carlos Pineda and Ebal Diaz pushed for a new constitutional amendment. The ZEDE (Zone for Employment and Economic Development), was adopted the following year along with a new oversight committee called CAMP - Comité para la Adopción de Mejores Prácticas (Committee for the Adoption of Best Practices) of which Carlos Pineda became the secretary. The committee consisted of 21 global members, 4 of which were Honduran.

With renewed fervor, Future President Orlando Hernandez campaigned heavily on the ZEDEs’ benefits and in 2017 Prospera was born.

Despite the authorisation, ZEDEs have been mired by controversy throughout their existence, with Prospera in the middle. Repealing the ZEDE law became a focal point of President Xiomara Castro’s 2021 campaign and during her tenure were subject to a number of votes to repeal.

The 2025 Honduran election became a nail-biting peak, off which the future of ZEDEs and Prospera could topple. Ultimately, Trump-backed Nasry Asfura won the vote, officially embracing the ZEDE model in early 2026 and securing Prospera’s future.

Bringing in charter cities to the present day

Sanchez’s journey with the ZEDE law that would allow the development of charter cities is a useful case study in what it actually takes to implement the structure for cities experimental governance to prove their case. Although founders now say there is much more appetite from global leaders to embark on this process, Honduras’ swings between acceptance and rejection demonstrate the rocky ground they have to navigate.

“Part of what’s unique about the Honduras program is that it wasn’t outsiders. It was their initiative. They created the laws and Octavio was critical in all of that,” says Patri Friedman in a call with me on the way to the airport. Friedman is leading the Liberty Acceleration Summit from 26th-28th March (next week) in collaboration with Infinita City of which Sanchez will be a key speaker. After the summit, he is hosting a “founders retreat” for network state project leaders, a more closed event that founders can apply to join.

“I’m really excited for him to come to an event finally and get some credit,” Friedman continues. He sees the summit as a chance to “celebrate the beneficial elections, celebrate Octavio and bring together Latin American officials,” who are interested in Honduras’ journey with the charter city model and special economic zones.

The summit itself is particularly focused on Latin American development as a whole – “Socialism is receding in Latin America. But will this be another cycle of the same old swings between right and left, or is this the time for real, lasting change? Could Latin America even be leading the world in liberal governance? The ingredients for a New Latin American Liberty are there, and they’re coming together at this summit.” reads the event page.

Talks include discussions on the geopolitical climate in the region and mainly feature leaders from the charter cities and network states movements, although Peruvian economist, Hernando de Soto is earmarked for a conversation in the morning of the first day.

Whether Honduras ultimately proves to be a replicable model for governance reform or simply a story of one unusually persistent insider navigating a uniquely chaotic political environment remains an open question. The ZEDE experiment is still young, its long term impact on ordinary Hondurans still unclear.

What Sanchez’s journey does demonstrate is something more modest but arguably more useful, that structural reform of this kind doesn’t move on ideas alone. It moves on relationships, timing and an almost irrational willingness to start over.

The summit next week will frame Honduras’ journey with ZEDEs as the beginning of a Latin American moment. That may be optimistic. But then again, so was a sixteen year old in Honduras writing policy bulletins from the future.

This week’s newsletter was sponsored by Infinita City.

Food for thought

• If you’re free next week and fancy a trip down to Roatan, theres still a few spots left to attend the Liberty Acceleration Summit. Patri’s founders retreat which takes place after is also open to application – I’ve met some of the people going and it sounds like it’s going to be great. If you (like I) are not able to attend, Infinita City will be posting recordings of the talks from the summit shortly after.

• If you’re not aware of Paul Romer’s approach to charter cities, take a few minutes to listen to his TED talk from 2009, it explains the theoretical basis behind many of the network state approaches that are being taken today. If you have time to go into 2009 governance ideas a little more, Paul Collier’s TED talk on post-conflict recovery within nations goes even deeper.

FAQ Section

Q: What is Honduras’ ZEDE law and how did it come about?

A: The ZEDE (Zone for Employment and Economic Development) law is a Honduran constitutional amendment that allows designated zones to operate under distinct governance structures, with the aim of attracting investment and testing alternative institutional arrangements. It was developed by Octavio Sanchez, who served as Chief of Staff under President Porfirio Lobo Sosa from 2010, after an earlier version — the Special Development Regions (REDs) law — was struck down by the Honduran Supreme Court as unconstitutional in 2012. Sanchez had been developing the underlying concept since the early 2000s alongside American development consultant Mark Klugmann, drawing on economist Paul Romer’s charter city framework. The ZEDE amendment was adopted in 2013 with a new oversight body called CAMP, consisting of 21 global members.

Q: What is Prospera and where is it located?

A: Prospera is a ZEDE located on the island of Roatan, Honduras. It launched in 2017 following the passage of the ZEDE constitutional amendment and operates with significant autonomy from standard Honduran law, including its own regulatory and legal frameworks. Infinita City is described as a “layer 2 network state” built within Prospera’s structure. Prospera has been consistently controversial: repealing the ZEDE law was a central plank of President Xiomara Castro’s 2021 campaign, and the zone’s legal future remained uncertain until the 2025 Honduran election, when Trump-backed Nasry Asfura won and officially embraced the ZEDE model in early 2026.

Q: Who is Octavio Sanchez and what role did he play in Honduras’ charter city experiment?

A: Octavio Sanchez is a Honduran politician and policy architect who served as Chief of Staff to President Porfirio Lobo Sosa and is credited as the primary driver of Honduras’ special economic zone legislation. His interest in institutional reform began in his teenage years — he wrote a political science fiction book at 16 imagining government bulletins from Honduras in 2050. His core argument, articulated in a 2013 NPR interview, was that “we are poor not because we are dumb; we are poor because of institutional arrangements.” He navigated two rounds of legislation, a Supreme Court defeat, multiple repeal attempts, and more than two decades of political turbulence to bring the ZEDE framework into existence.

Q: How do charter cities relate to the network state movement?

A: Charter cities and network states share a foundational premise that governance can and should be tested in bounded, opt-in environments before being adopted more broadly. Economist Paul Romer, whose 2009 TED talk influenced Honduras’ RED legislation, argued that cities allow new rules to be trialled without forcing an entire nation to adopt them simultaneously. Network states extend this logic into digital and community-first contexts, sometimes anchored on blockchains, sometimes in physical communities. Prospera’s relationship with Infinita City, described as a layer 2 network state built within the ZEDE, represents one attempt to layer these models. Patri Friedman, who is leading the Liberty Acceleration Summit in late March 2026 in collaboration with Infinita City, sees Honduras as evidence that governance experimentation can originate from within a country’s own political figures rather than being imposed externally.

Listen on YouTube

More about Tomas Pueyo’s work:

• 20 Ideas to Grow New Communities

• Tomas Pueyo’s X

  ---

More about Trey Goff’s work:

• Trey Goff’s X

On March 28, 2026, twelve startups presented at the BioHub Demo Day. In this article, we’re highlighting seven of them.

The Demo Day was part of the Liberty & Acceleration Summit and served as one of the wrap-up moments of Infinite Games 2026, our series of events and programs that took place earlier this year across Próspera and Infinita.

The event also gave founders direct exposure to investors and guests from Infinita’s broader ecosystem, including firms such as Pronomos Capital. Octavio Sánchez, the mastermind behind Honduras’ special economic zone framework and Próspera’s legal foundation, attended the Demo Day alongside the famous blogger Tim Urban.

Over the years, we have brought renowned global leaders including Balaji Srinivasan, Naval Ravikant, Patri Friedman, Tim Draper, Aubrey de Grey, and Bryan Johnson.

Let’s take a look at some of the startups that pitched in our last Demo Day!

Unlimited Bio: Advanced rejuvenation gene therapies

Unlimited Bio is developing combination gene therapies targeting aging-related conditions, with a focus on accelerating therapeutic development pathways connected to aging and healthspan decline.

🔗 Learn More ↗

Ora Biomedical: Longevity and resilience research

Ora Biomedical is advancing research around radiation resistance and cellular damage. The company is initially approaching the market through cosmetic applications while building research with broader implications for aging and resilience science.

🔗 Learn More ↗

AccessBio: Biotech venture creation platform

AccessBio is building a cross-border biotech venture creation platform designed to help advanced therapies move from research into scalable companies and clinical deployment.

🔗 Learn More ↗

EpiBone: Regenerative bone engineering

EpiBone is engineering living bone and cartilage using adult stem cells to help treat skeletal defects and degeneration through regenerative medicine approaches.

🔗 Learn More ↗

Public Good Pharma: Affordable medicine development

Public Good Pharma is building a healthcare cost-containment platform that helps fund the development of affordable medicines and lower-cost treatment pathways.

🔗 Learn More ↗

Reality Network: Decentralized cloud infrastructure

Reality Network is working on decentralized cloud infrastructure powered by everyday devices instead of centralized server systems.

🔗 Learn More ↗

Andén: Digital economic zone infrastructure

Andén is building compliance infrastructure that transforms legacy free trade zones in Latin America into operational digital economic zones using existing legal frameworks.

🔗 Learn More ↗

We’ll continue sharing more about the founders and startups building in and around Infinita through our Instagram, X, and upcoming Substack features, including deeper startup spotlights, founder interviews, and ecosystem updates.

Stay on the lookout for future Demo Days and startup acceleration programs coming soon!

We also have a new community call coming up - A virtual hangout to hear what’s happening on the ground at Infinita and what’s coming next, and how you can get involved from now, even if you’re not onsite in Roatán.

Join our Community Call
🗓 June 3, 2026
⏰ 11AM EST / 9AM Roatán

RSVP: Join Our Community Call

Whether remotely or eventually onsite in Roatán, we’re excited to continue growing this ecosystem alongside founders, researchers, investors, creators, and builders from around the world.

More startup programs, Demo Days, partnerships, and ecosystem updates are already in the works.

🤝 If you have any questions, want an introduction to one of the startups, or are interested in joining future accelerator programs or Demo Days, reach out to us at startups@infinita.city

Stay tuned!

Coming in with a new edition. Nice to meet you, I’m Nelsi! :)

From now on I’ll be sharing what’s going on here on the ground, month by month, and (hopefully) convincing some of you to come see it for yourselves.

In May’s edition, we’ll cover:

• How Sid Sijbrandij cured his own cancer.

• Updates on Node ID benefits

• Peek into our killer-Instagram

So grab a cup of coffee, or a glass of something stronger, and let’s get into it 😁

🎧 From the Podcast: "I'd rather die of a potential cure than from cancer."

That’s how Sid Sijbrandij put it when he sat down with us in the CiVL podcast studio here in Próspera. Honestly, one of the most powerful conversations we’ve recorded.

Sid is the co-founder of GitLab, one of the largest open-source software companies in the world. After being diagnosed with an aggressive bone cancer, doctors told him the standard treatment path was limited. He didn’t accept that as the only option. He built his own system.

He ran whole genome sequencing, single-cell analysis, and over 10 experimental treatments in parallel, combinations with no clinical trial behind them, reasoned through first principles and AI.

Because of that, he’s still here.

Listen Here

💊 Why You Can’t Use Your “Right to Try”

In theory, patients with serious or terminal illnesses can access experimental treatments still in clinical trials.

In practice, access is extremely limited. Our own Steve Martin breaks down how the issue isn’t only FDA approval, it’s biotech participation. From their perspective the risk/reward is broken: participating means potentially existential regulatory risk - and for what? They can only charge at cost.

One patient with glioblastoma got halfway through a trial and was seeing real results, until the trial stopped. He spent $10,000 trying to use Expanded Access and was denied.

Montana’s SB 535 is now his last hope.

Read The Full Article

🪪 Node ID is Getting More Valuable

We’re excited to share that Node ID, your Infinita membership, just got an update. We’re always working on ways to make it better for you.

If you’ve been around, you know about our $LIVES token. It’s Infinita’s community token for payments within the ecosystem. It’s pegged 1:1 to the dollar, and it saves you money.

Here’s what’s new:

Basic Node ID (Free) You get it automatically when you create your account at infinita.city/wallet.

• 5% off every time you buy $LIVES (so effectively, 5% off every purchase)

• 2.5% back in HIVE points (1 HIVE = 1 LIVES)

• Access to Missions, complete challenges, earn rewards

Premium Node ID ($1,000/year) Everything in Basic, doubled.

• 10% off

• 5% cashback

• 2x Mission rewards

• Plus, included access to Infinita-organized events

• Access to exclusive partners perks and discounts (more on this coming soon!)

If you’ve been waiting to upgrade, this is a good moment.

🖥️ Join Our Virtual Hang Out

Missing Roatán? Join our Community Call 🗓 Jun 3, 2026 · 11AM EST / 9AM Roatán

Todd White, Managing Director of The Thalion Initiative, will share an update on Thalion’s work on the biology of aging.

After his talk, we’ll break into small groups of 3–4 to talk, connect, and share what we’re building, and swap ideas.

Join the Call

📱 Our Instagram Community is Killing It!

Our Infinita ambassadors have been busy - check out @infinita.city on Instagram.

We’ve been having a lot of fun with our community and ambassadors living here on the beautiful island of Roatán; people inside the ecosystem, on the ground, going about their day.

That’s it for May, thanks for reading! 🌸 And if any of this sparked something, the best next step is just to come see it for yourself.

The next chances to visit are:

• Noma Family (Jul 5 - Aug 2, 2026) 🔗Link
  ($300 off if you’re a Premium Node ID member)
  

• Free Cities Conference (Sep 3 - 6, 2026) 🔗Link
  (Benefits details coming soon)
  

• Prospera Chess Cup (Jun 26 - 28) 🔗Link
  (Following the great legacy from BTC Chess at Infinite Games!)

Say you’re coming from Infinita to enjoy a special benefit, reward, or perk to each of these events!

Talk soon,

Nelsi 🌊