Reuters (April 10, 2025)

01/14/2026

As the Trump administration intensifies efforts to acquire Greenland from Denmark — or take it by force — some Silicon Valley tech investors are promoting the frozen island as a site for a so-called freedom city, a libertarian utopia with minimal corporate regulation, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The discussions are in early stages, but the idea has been taken seriously by Trump’s pick for Denmark ambassador, Ken Howery, who is expected to be confirmed by Congress in the coming months and lead Greenland-acquisition negotiations, the people said. Howery, whose involvement with the idea hasn’t been previously reported, once co-founded a venture-capital firm with tech billionaire Peter Thiel, a leading advocate for such low-regulation cities. Howery is also a longtime friend of Elon Musk, a top Trump advisor.

Howery declined to comment. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Sources who spoke to Reuters requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.

The vision for Greenland, one of the people said, could include a hub for artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, space launches, micro nuclear reactors and high-speed rail.

The discussions reflect a longstanding Silicon Valley movement to establish low-regulation cities globally, including in the United States, which Trump himself promised to do in a 2023 campaign video. Proponents use different names for variations on the idea, including startup cities or charter cities, with the common goal of spurring innovation through sweeping regulatory exemptions.

Thiel, a libertarian and early Trump supporter, wrote in 2009 that he no longer considered democracy compatible with freedom and has advocated escaping politics by colonizing outer space or seasteading — building communities in ungoverned oceans.

Fellow venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, an informal advisor to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is part of a tech-investor consortium seeking to build a city on grazing land outside San Francisco. Another venture capitalist and informal DOGE advisor, Joe Lonsdale, also promotes low-regulation cities. In a statement to Reuters, Lonsdale celebrated “expanding our country to Greenland” but did not comment on plans for a city there.

Thiel and Andreessen, leading proponents and financiers of the startup-city movement, are among those supportive of a Greenland outpost, two of the sources said. Reuters could not determine whether the two billionaires are actively lobbying the Trump administration for a Greenland city.

Thiel has invested along with Andreessen and Pishevar in Pronomos Capital, a venture-capital firm that has launched a half dozen charter-city projects globally, according to Pronomos founder Patri Friedman, the grandson of famous free-market economist Milton Friedman. Most Pronomos projects are in development and negotiations with various governments, Friedman said, but it has helped finance one existing startup community in Honduras called Próspera.

Pronomos also invested in Praxis, a city-building venture that in October announced $525 million in financing for a new city. Praxis’ investors include Lonsdale, a fund launched by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his brothers, and Pishevar, who co-founded Hyperloop One, a defunct venture that tried to commercialize an idea championed by Musk.

Praxis co-founder Dryden Brown told Reuters other companies have approached Praxis about helping to establish a Greenland city. Brown flew to Greenland last year. He advocates for building a city there in part because its harsh environment could provide a test site for colonizing Mars – one of Musk’s highest ambitions.

“We must build a prototype of Terminus on Earth before departing for Mars,” Brown posted on X in November, using Musk’s term for a red-planet settlement. “I believe Greenland is the place, @elonmusk.”