Building Hong Kong in Honduras

I’m Niklas, the guest on this week’s Underthrow podcast.

Max Borders asked me to reach out because he thought this would resonate with you as a reader, especially if you’re already familiar with Prospera, the free city in the Caribbean.

I’ve spent the last 3.5 years in Prospera building a VC fund and now leading Infinita—a biotech-focused district that hosts events and pop-ups. We’ve welcomed Naval Ravikant, Bryan Johnson, Balaji Srinivasan, Tim Draper, Brian Armstrong, and Vitalik Buterin—all of whom have become strong supporters.

After the crucial Honduran election in a few weeks, we’re optimistic about 2026 and want to celebrate liberty and human enhancement with friends old and new.

That’s why we’re hosting the Infinite Games 2026—a series of competitive and recreational tournaments designed for athletes, biohackers, and anyone who values freedom and progress.

Bring your team, your family, or come solo.

The setting? Roatán, a tropical paradise just two hours from Miami or Houston. It’s perfect whether you want to explore what living here could look like or simply want a quick getaway.

Hope to see you there. —Nik

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Episode Overview

In this engaging discussion, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Niklas Anzinger speaks with host Max Borders about his work building Infinita City within Prospera, Honduras—a startup city experiment that’s redefining governance and innovation in Latin America.

Topics

Layers One and Two Framework

Anzinger describes Prospera as “layer one”—the foundational governance and legal infrastructure—while Infinita City operates as “layer two,” focusing on bringing people, industry, and community together. Prospera provides the common law-based legal system and special economic zone framework, while Infinita specializes in biotech startups and community building. Multiple layer two projects are emerging, including Bitcoin, wellness, and fashion-focused districts.

Survival and Growth Against the Odds

Despite a hostile socialist government that campaigned on shutting down the project, Prospera has maintained an impressive 80 percent year-over-year growth in new businesses. Anzinger attributes this to focusing on early-stage startups that benefit from regulatory advantages and a supportive investment community, including Tim Draper, Brian Armstrong, and Balaji Srinivasan.

Building Culture and Community

The conversation explores how culture emerges organically rather than through rational planning. Anzinger describes various cultural touchstones that have developed naturally—from biohacking experiments to “electric knife fights” in the “Infinita Dome.” The community maintains a roughly 65-35 male-to-female ratio, which is healthier than that of many tech-focused environments.

Local Integration Success

Approximately 50 percent of residents and businesses in Prospera are Honduran, and Anzinger’s own team reflects a similar draw of home-grown talent. He emphasizes working with over 100 local businesses and creating more than 1,000 jobs directly and indirectly—a level of local involvement he believes is unmatched in the competitive governance movement.

The November Election

Honduras faces critical elections with three major candidates—two favorable to Prospera, one opposed. Anzinger estimates 60-80 percent odds of a positive outcome. A friendly government could unlock 27 pending zone applications that were blocked by the current administration, potentially bringing billions in foreign investment within a year.

The China Parallel

The discussion touches on China’s special economic zone model, particularly Shenzhen’s transformation from a fishing village to a manufacturing hub. While acknowledging the differences between political systems, Anzinger sees parallels in how economic liberalization in designated zones can drive national prosperity.

Competing with Established Hubs

When asked about competing with places like San Francisco, which benefit from built-in network effects, Anzinger focuses on serving founders at the margins—those for whom regulation is the primary barrier. Rather than competing head-to-head with established centers, Prospera targets entrepreneurs whose innovations are stifled elsewhere, particularly in biotech and crypto.

The Infinite Games 2026

Anzinger announces a two-month event (February 1 - March 31, 2026) with a broader cultural appeal than previous pop-up cities. Infinite Games 2026 will feature athletic competitions, longevity challenges, poker tournaments, a STEM olympiad for teens, and a biotech residency program culminating in a demo day.

Notable Supporters

The project has attracted prominent figures, including:

• Tim and Adam Draper

• Naval Ravikant

• Balaji Srinivasan

• Brian Armstrong (Coinbase)

• Brian Johnson (longevity entrepreneur)

• Vitalik Buterin

Key Insights

On Incentives and Ideas. Anzinger emphasizes that successful movements require more than ideological commitment—they need concrete benefits that make adopting new ideas economically rational, as Bitcoin did by educating millions about monetary theory through financial incentives.

On Starting Cities. Building from scratch requires accepting “venture risk” with uncertain returns. Success depends on coordinating early adopters willing to make irrational individual bets that become rational collectively if enough people participate.

On the Movement. Anzinger believes Prospera’s success or failure could accelerate or delay the competitive governance movement by 5-10 years, making the upcoming election critically important for similar experiments worldwide.

Conclusion

This conversation reveals the practical challenges and strategic thinking required to build a new city and governance model from the ground up. Anzinger’s approach combines entrepreneurial pragmatism with long-term vision, focusing on margins, building genuine local relationships, and creating value propositions that make the “irrational” decision to relocate increasingly rational for pioneers willing to help write the next chapter of human flourishing.

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