Editor s note: This is Part 1 in a three part series by the Reno Gazette Journal exploring the unprecedented pitch to lawmakers to allow tech companies to form their own governments in Nevada. On Tuesday, read about how the proposal has set two colorful powerbrokers at odds for control of Storey County. On Wednesday, you ll finally learn the backstory of the man behind the entire enterprise. This kind of journalism takes time and resources. To read the entire series, please consider subscribing.
Back in September, Jeff Berns, the CEO of Blockchains Inc., introduced Gov. Steve Sisolak to a big idea a proposed 35,000-person, Blockchains-owned “smart city,” complete with its own energy and transportation grid, on 5,000 acres of mountainous desert in Storey County.