The offshore seastead built off the Phuket coast by Bitcoiners Chad Elwartowski and girlfriend Supranee Thepdet has now been removed by the Thai Navy.
The couple had constructed a platform home known as a “seastead” in international waters 12 nautical miles from the shoreline at Phuket, Thailand’s tourist island playground. Seasteads are permanent dwellings at sea outside the territory claimed by any government, and the name comes from the term “homesteading”, which clearly links to early US settlement where homesteaders were free from government intervention.
Commenting on the seastead from an unknown destination after going into hiding from the Thai authorities Elwartowski is maintaining that the time at sea was not wasted due to the valuable research on ecosystems he conducted while off the Thai coast. Seasteading Institute president Joe Quirk is still impressed with the couple’s achievement despite the Thai government’s accusations of lawbreaking:
“They proved a single-family seastead can float stably in international waters for less than the cost of the average American home.”
Thai authorities claim that the structure was built within Thailand’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone and therefore was a violation of its sovereignty. Ocean Builders refute this, maintaining the cabin was in international waters and beyond Thailand’s jurisdiction.
The couple has been charged with violating the country’s sovereignty and have gone into hiding.
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