The BlockchainGov Newsletter #26 | October 2025
Welcome to this months newsletter!
This issue features the launch of the Network Nations podcast series, the ISBE governance collaboration, and our usual business on advancing the study of decentralized institutions.
Dive in with us!
I. 🌐 Network Nations Podcast — New Mini-Series Launch
This month, the Network Nations Podcast officially launched as part of the Greenpill Network, hosted by Primavera De Filippi and Felix Beer.
The mini-series explores how emerging Network Nations — translocal communities connected by shared values, digital tools, and collective governance — are reimagining what sovereignty means in a networked age. Each episode brings together leading thinkers from technology, culture, and politics to examine how coordination, culture, and cooperation can shape the next generation of global governance.
🎧 Listen to all episodes: networknations.network | greenpill.network
Episode 1 — What Are Network Nations?
Hosted by Primavera De Filippi and Felix Beer, the opening episode introduces the concept of Network Nations — translocal communities that organize beyond borders through technology, culture, and commons-based governance. They explore how Network Nations differ from Network States, the historical roots of the idea, and how digital sovereignty and Web3 tools can empower civil society to coordinate globally. 🎧 Listen here →
Episode 2 — Memes & Narratives
Joined by Douglas Rushkoff (Team Human) and Jordan Hall, Primavera and Felix unpack how memes, stories, and cultural frames shape political and digital realities. The conversation explores how narratives can either reinforce control or catalyze bottom-up coordination — helping define the mythos of Network Nations as a new form of civil society. 🎧 Watch on YouTube →
Episode 3 — Commons, Mutualism & Entanglement
Together with Sara Horowitz (Mutualist Society, Freelancers Union) and Michel Bauwens (P2P Foundation), this episode explores how commons-based collaboration and mutualist economies can form the backbone of resilient, self-organizing communities. They discuss the role of trust, solidarity, and cooperative ownership in building interconnected network nations grounded in local action and global cooperation. Two of the people in the world, that know the most about commons, mutualism & entanglement. Make sure you: 🎧 Listen here →
Get involved: You’re all invited to take part in the ongoing collective building of Network Nations — where thinkers, builders, and organizers come together to explore new forms of digital sovereignty and self-organization.
💬 Join our regular community calls and become part of the conversation shaping this emerging movement. All information and links available here → networknations.network
Together with Regulatory Equivalence and E2C, Network Nations will be one of Blockchaingov’s main focus areas this year.
We can’t wait to see how this emerges.
II. BlockchainGov x ISBE collaboration.
The Spanish Blockchain Services Infrastructure (ISBE) is a strategic initiative led by the Community of Madrid in collaboration with Alastria, developed under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan – Next Generation EU. It aims to create a national blockchain network infrastructure that serves as the foundation for innovative digital services, bringing blockchain technology closer to SMEs, startups, large enterprises, and public administrations.
As the first infrastructure jointly formed by public and private entities, ISBE ensures regulatory compliance and legal validity across all processes. Its interoperable blockchain networks enable the secure, transparent, and immutable exchange of data, fostering public–private collaboration and accelerating institutional and business innovation.
ISBE is also developing a phased governance model, beginning with a temporary framework and transitioning toward a final, long-term structure to align governance with technical and institutional growth. BlockchainGov is supporting this process as a consultant, preparing a governance report to guide ISBE’s evolving governance roadmap.
Read more about their project here:
https://redisbe.com/
III. Governance Futures - Season One Finale
October marks the close of Season One of the Governance Futures Podcast, co-hosted by Eugene Leventhal and Jamilya Kamalova — who have spent the past year geeking out on how we govern in a networked world.
The final four episodes span Minecraft servers and DeFi exploits to European policymaking and neural governance systems, tracing the many ways communities coordinate, self-organize, and evolve.
A huge thank you to Eugene and Jamilya for curating such a thoughtful first season — and to all the guests who helped illuminate the future(s) of governance.Still from S.1 E.17 with Isaac PatkaStill from S.1 E.17 with Isaac Patka
🧩 Recent Episodes:
Prof. Seth Frey, (UC Davis) on Scaling Local — what online communities can learn from Elinor Ostrom, why DAOs fail for lack of community managers, and how bureaucracy can enable fairness and creativity.
Isaac Patka (Shield3 / SEAL) on Resilience in Web3 Security — what real security means when most exploits begin with people, not code.
Listen here ▶️
Dr. Joachim Schwerin (European Commission, DG GROW) on Responsible Innovation — how privacy underpins self-organization and why the future of governance lies in communities that act, not just deliberate.
Anke Liu (Stellar Development Foundation) on Neural Quorum Governance — rethinking participation, trust, and culture through modular, reputation-based funding systems.
Listen or watch all episodes here: 👉 YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
IV. Governance for New Leadership — PBA Bali
In September, BlockchainGov hosted the inaugural Governance for New Leadership track at the Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA) in Bali. As last months newsletter was dedicated to our Symposium - this project get’s highlighted now. The program brought together over 60 decision-makers, builders, and public officials from Indonesia to explore how governance can evolve alongside technological innovation.
Led by Primavera De Filippi, Lovisa Björna, Nathalie Boyke, and the PBA faculty incl. Filippo Franchini, the week-long module bridged theory and practice — from public-sector governance frameworks to on-chain coordination mechanisms. Participants engaged in discussions on legitimacy, institutional adaptation, and systems design, gaining a shared vocabulary for leadership in the Web3 era. We also hosted a joint workshop with developers focused on Regulatory Equivalence — exploring how technological design can fulfill the intent of law and bridge innovation with public policy.
The launch of this track marks an important step toward governance-aware education, empowering policymakers and innovators to lead technological change with clarity, responsibility, and imagination.
🌐 Learn more: polkadotblockchainacademy.org
🌐 Read more about Regulatory Equivalence here:
V. Research & Community Highlights
This month, Tara Merk continued expanding the conversation on decentralized governance and community infrastructure. She ran two “Imagining Community Data Centers” workshops at the Weizenbaum Institute, contributed a guest lecture to the AI Without Bosses class at The New School, and attended the Academic Steward-Ownership Conference in Berlin.
Tara also recorded a forthcoming episode of The Good Robot Podcast (to be released in 2026), in addition - she is leading another cookbook project…this time related to E2C. Keep your eyes open!
Sofia Cossar presented at the 2º Congreso Mundial de Democracia Digital, Directa y Participativa, organized by the Fundación Liderar con Sentido Común. Her talk, “Blockchain y la Elección del Futuro: Cómo Aumentar la Confianza en el Proceso Electoral,” explored how blockchain technologies can strengthen trust and transparency in electoral systems — bridging research on decentralized governance with practical public-sector applications.
At the International Law Symposium in The Hague, Dr. Morshed Mannan (Lecturer in Global Law and Digital Technology, University of Edinburgh Law School) presented on the Global Digital Compact and the UN Pact for the Future. In his talk, he highlighted how data and infrastructure cooperatives can offer practical solutions to many of the challenges outlined in the Pact — illustrating how cooperative governance models can help ensure equitable access, shared ownership, and long-term resilience in the global digital ecosystem. Read the full writeup here.
In addition, earlier this month, Morshed Mannan, apart from his full time job at University of Edinburgh & BlockchainGov treated us to an ongoing exchange on the governance of DAOs and the coordination of labour. He emphasized the importance of viewing DAOs not only as technical systems but as participatory and ideological experiments in collective organization. Drawing on cooperative traditions, he argued that their true potential lies in developing solidarity-based, democratic governance models that integrate human agency with technological design. His forthcoming article in Internet Policy Review explores whether DAOs can create working conditions aligned with the values of the solidarity economy - double clicking on the emerging concept of regulatory equivalence again.
Read his exchange here (recommend to see his reasoning in action for those who had not had the pleasure in person)
VIII. Coming up
Next month we will be back with a full writeup of Argentina Onchain residency that Sofía Cossar , Lovisa Björna & Ori Shimony are in the middle of hosting. Along with a recap from Devconnect, where the BlockchainGov team will be present. If you’re attending — come say hi!
Primavera De Filippi will be giving a keynote on Governance Challenges. Agentic AI and Algorithmic Decentralization. Sign up for the event here: https://luma.com/0wtkrh93
That’s all from us this month. Thank you for reading this months newsletter!
Keeping you posted as always,
Until soon, The BlockchainGov Team 🕸️👀