Crypto Adherents Advance a Vision for City-Building in Zanzibar

Near the tip of the Fumba Peninsula, a thumb of land jutting out of Zanzibar Island’s western coast, invisible lines delimit a nondescript rectangle of 71 hectares (175 acres). Right now, nothing is there but dirt and wild vegetation. But in early July, when Florian Fournier guided a small group of technology entrepreneurs across the area, he told them that patch of land would become a Cyber City.

French-born Fournier is the co-founder of OurWorld, a technology venture creator firm headquartered in Mauritius. The company is working with the government of Zanzibar to develop and operate a special economic zone ...