[Historical]
This program concluded in 2026-06-30. No active applications are being accepted.
Zuzalu
Zuzalu was the foundational two-month pop-up city in Montenegro (March–May 2023) that launched the global Zu-village movement. There is no ongoing program to apply to.
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Timeline
Ran March 25 - May 25, 2023, at Lustica Bay, Montenegro. Approximately 200 residents. By design, there was no DAO, token, or formal governance structure — Vitalik Buterin later noted a 200-person, two-month community was 'either too short, too small, or both' for formal on-chain governance.
ZuConnect, Istanbul, October 29 - November 11, 2023, ~300 full-time residents plus 100+ part-time visitors.
In December 2023, Buterin proposed 'reopening the frontier,' funded by Gitcoin grant rounds totaling 500 ETH, removing central authority so anyone aligned with the mission could start their own 'Zu-village.'
Technical & cultural legacy
The most significant lasting output was Zupass, a zero-knowledge-proof identity system built by the 0xPARC team, allowing residents to prove community membership without revealing identity — enabling anonymous polling and gated access. Zupass infrastructure underlies identity systems used by several successor projects, including Zuitzerland.
Descendant programs
Direct descendants include Edge City and Zuitzerland (both separately listed on Stead), plus dozens of independently-organized 'Zu-villages' worldwide including Zugrama (India), ZuVillage (Georgia), and others.
Successor programs on Stead
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