Launching Ipê Village 2026
Brazil’s pop-up city returns — bigger, more ambitious, and ready to prototype the governance of tomorrow.
In April 2025, something remarkable happened in Florianópolis. Over 150 builders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries gathered in Jurerê Internacional to prototype a new city governance system. For one month, Ipê Village transformed a Brazilian beach neighborhood into a living laboratory for the future of human coordination.
This was not just an event. It was a small step in the direction of establishing new physical villages with a better governance system for their residents—Ipê City’s long-term vision.
Ipê Village 2026 will bring together an even larger community of techno-optimists to continue what we started: building parallel institutions using AI, blockchain, and decentralized technologies to solve problems that legacy governments have failed to address for decades.
The Proof is in the Prototype
Hosting a pop-up city in Brazil seemed like a crazy idea. But it worked.
170+ Residents from 10+ countries, including India, Japan, France, and Germany.
30+ Apps created in just one month.
$3,600+ transacted onchain via the Ipê App.
2M+ Views on social media, sparking global interest.
Recognition of Balaji Srinivasan and an invitation to be a speaker at The Network State conference.
Balaji@balajisStartup societies are happening everywhere. See for example the video below from @ipecity in Brazil. Crypto is mature enough now to build fully digital governance. So they combined onchain ID (via ENS) with an onchain social graph (via EFP) with stablecoins to create a8:18 PM · May 16, 2025 · 163K Views82 Replies · 144 Reposts · 850 LikesWe even sparked 3 new couples within the community.
Why We’re Building This
It’s 2026. Rockets are landing and relaunching. We chat daily with superintelligent AIs. Yet despite annual government budgets in the trillions, basic infrastructure crumbles, bureaucracy expands, and public services deteriorate.
The fundamental problem isn’t a lack of resources or intelligence. It’s a lack of competition and innovation in governance itself.
Traditional governance runs on a 250-year-old operating system. Meanwhile, the modern economy runs on a digital-native operating system - the Internet and blockchains, built on networks and open-source code.
We have a multi-century technological gap between how we govern and how we live. Startups have already disrupted companies, media, and even money. Could they also build new cities and governance systems?
After Ipê Village 2025, we know they can.
What’s New for 2026
Our goal for this edition is to expand our governance operating system (Ipê Super App), improve the rewards for the best Architects, and have a more structured educational and buildathon program.
Some updates:
Themed Hacker Houses We will host specialized Hacker Houses including the AI House, Network State House, Privacy House, and DeHouse (focused on DAOs, DeFi, and DeSci). These hubs serve as dedicated spaces for workshops, meetups, and curated tech experiences for builders living in the same domain.
Tokenized Reputation & Rewards The village runs on its own internal economy. We use $IPE tokens to explicitly track and reward contributions. Whether you are shipping code or supporting the community, your impact is measured and rewarded, creating a transparent onchain reputation system.
Grants, Prizes & Global Opportunities Ipê Architects (residents staying 3+ weeks) will compete for over $10k in grants and prizes. The top performers will also unlock global opportunities, including 5 scholarship spots and one free month at Balaji’s Network School in Singapore.
Choose Your Passport
We have designed three distinct Passport types to match your goals, whether you are here to learn & network, build, or launch.
Explorer
Designed for those who want to learn, connect, and soak in the environment while maintaining their remote work routine.
Access: Full entry to coworking spaces, daily breakfast, and all community events.
Community: Includes 6-month access to the online Ipê Community.
Architect (3+ Weeks)
For the builders ready to ship. This is a high-commitment track limited to 80 spots via application.
Build & Earn: Architects get everything included in the Explorer tier, plus exclusive access to grants and prizes.
Status: You earn verifiable onchain reputation and 1-year access to the Ipê Community.
Team (Product Launchpad)
The ultimate sandbox for startups and protocols. Bring your core team to Florianópolis and treat the village as your live testing ground.
Real-World Beta Testing: Launch your product in a “living laboratory” environment, allowing you to test features with a dense concentration of engaged early adopters.
Daily Iteration: Shorten your feedback loop. Iterate on your product daily based on real-time usage and direct user interaction.
Deep Integration: Don’t just demo your product; integrate it into the village program. Use the pop-up to collect data and prove your utility in a real economy.
The Schedule
The month is structured to move from ideation to production, anchored by key official events while leaving space for community-driven activities.
Week 1 (Apr 6–9): Onboarding & Ideation. The program begins with resident onboarding, networking, and idea pitching to facilitate team formation and project alignment.
Week 1 (Apr 10–11): Startup Society Conference. The experience kicks off with our flagship conference. Past ecosystem events have featured insights from leaders like Balaji Srinivasan, Niklas Anzinger, and Erick Brimen. Expect a high-caliber lineup to set the intellectual foundation for the village.
Weeks 2–4 (Apr 12–30): The Buildathon. This period focuses on deep work. Residents participate in a daily buildathon with regular updates. Simultaneously, the village hosts dozens of community-driven workshops and events alongside the official schedule.
Week 4 (May 1): Showcase & Closing. The village concludes with a final Project Showcase to present shipped solutions, followed by the Techno Meets Optimism Party.
The Venue
Ipê Village takes place in Jurerê Internacional, Florianópolis—known as the “Island of Magic” and one of Brazil’s most dense technology hubs. The village operates as a decentralized campus within a designated neighborhood zone.
The village is anchored by Founder Haus, our main hub. Surrounding this core, specialized Hacker Houses activate the neighborhood, creating a walkable network of activity. Residents are responsible for booking their own accommodation in local hotels or Airbnbs, though we actively facilitate house-sharing to optimize costs.
Join as a Partner
We are looking for protocols, companies, and organizations to build this infrastructure with us. There are three ways to integrate your brand into the village:
Host a Hacker House: Sponsor or co-host one of the vertical houses (AI, Privacy, DeSci, etc.) and own the content and culture of that space.
Become a Tech Partner: Integrate your wallet, L2, or identity solution as part of the “operating system” of the village.
Sponsor an Event: Secure “Presented By” rights for key moments like the Startup Society Conference or the Demo Day.
This Is Just the Beginning
Every great movement starts somewhere. Ipê City started with meetups in 2023. It evolved into a pop-up village in 2025. Now we’re building the infrastructure for something much larger.
The question isn’t whether digital-native governance will emerge. It’s whether you’ll be part of building it.