How Sovereignty Is Quietly Moving From Land to Code

How Sovereignty Is Quietly Moving From Land to Code

For centuries, sovereignty has been anchored to geography. Borders defined power, passports defined mobility, and governance stopped where territory ended. That framework is now undergoing profound change, write Yeva Stepanova and Nirbhay Handa in a guest contribution for finews.asia.

The Digital State Project, a flagship report released by Multipolitan, sets out to dissect this shift. Spanning 80 pages and 8 expert contributions, the report draws a panoramic view of how governments are building the infrastructure of tomorrow: resilient, interoperable, and increasingly defined by code.

Nations You Can Log Into

In his article, Nirbhay Handa defines a phenomenon of «Nations as a Service» – a model in which digital identity, Web3 infrastructure, and global mobility allow individuals and companies to interact with multiple sovereign systems at once. «The passport of the future will not sit in a drawer,» he notes. «It will live in your digital wallet.»

This transition is already visible in practice. The places Handa points to – Singapore and the UAE – set the benchmark of where state infrastructure is heading. In Singapore, more than five million users rely on SingPass to access over 5,000 public services. The UAE Pass has similarly productised access to government services, delivering measurable gains in efficiency and citizen experience.

The piece draws on real-world examples to support the theory that «We will soon log into nations, not just fly into them.»

Identity That Lives On-Chain

Digital identity sits at the centre of the future Digital State. William Wang examines Palau’s digital residency programme as one of the clearest examples of sovereignty extending beyond borders.

Palau became the second country after Estonia to offer digital residency, launching the programme in 2021. In just over three years, it has attracted roughly 50,000 digital residents – more than twice the country’s physical population.

Residents receive both a government-issued digital ID and an on-chain credential, making Palau’s model decentralised. Once minted, the identity belongs to the user.

«Sovereignty can now be extended into the digital domain through trusted, interoperable credentials,» Wang says. The result is a model in which states project authority outward, rather than merely enforce it inward.

Sovereignty Backed by Innovation

For some countries, however, digital statehood is not an efficiency exercise, but a response to existential risk.

James Ellsmoor speaks of Tuvalu, a nation of roughly 12,000 people whose highest point sits just 1.5 metres above sea level. As climate change threatens the country’s physical territory, Tuvalu faces a question international law has yet to answer: can sovereignty survive without land?

Tuvalu’s response has been to innovate. It is digitally preserving culture and government services while asserting a legal claim that sovereignty persists even if territory becomes uninhabitable.

From Digital States to Agentic States

Ukraine offers a different lens: sovereignty under active threat.

Oleksandr Bornyakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, reflects on the development of Diia, the country’s flagship digital governance platform. Diia unified identity, documents, and public services into a single digital layer, scaling rapidly under wartime conditions and supporting tens of millions of users.

Building on Diia, Luukas Ilves, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister, outlines the shift toward an «agentic state,» where AI replaces static services with autonomous agents that anticipate needs and coordinate across government.

«We’re entering a period of experimentation in every sector, including government,» Ilves notes. The challenge lies in moving from deterministic, rule-based administration to probabilistic systems that pursue outcomes rather than process.

For Ukraine, this shift is pragmatic. With population displacement and ongoing security risks, AI becomes a way to sustain state capacity with fewer people, allowing governance to remain functional under extreme conditions.

When Governance Moves Into Virtual Space

As governance digitises, it also extends into new environments that demand policy, protection, and enforcement.

Briar Prestidge, an advisor to Interpol, examines immersive environments like digital twins as an emerging domain of state responsibility.

In this context, legitimacy is shaped not only by law but by how effectively states protect individuals in digital environments. As Briar notes, people will increasingly judge nations «by how they are treated and safeguarded in virtual spaces,» where harm to identity, assets, or reputation can be as consequential as in the physical world.

Hrish Lotlikar extends this argument to place-based governance. Digital policy, he argues, often overlooks geography.

Through platforms such as SuperWorld, cities are acquiring programmable digital layers that allow people to own, transact, and interact with digital twins of real-world locations. Hrish explains how ownership and participation are no longer limited to physical land – they require governance frameworks that operate across both physical and virtual space.

The Orbital Layer of Sovereignty

The contribution of Anna Hazlett situates digital sovereignty above the atmosphere.

Satellite networks and Earth observation now underpin financial markets, logistics, climate monitoring, and national security. From her viewpoint, «there is no digital state without digital infrastructure, and no digital infrastructure without space.»

Today, nearly 100 countries operate national space agencies. Launch costs to low Earth orbit have fallen from $2,000-$3,000 per kilogram five years ago to roughly $1,000 today. With fully reusable systems such as Starship, that figure could eventually drop to $100.

With increased accessibility, orbital infrastructure becomes a strategic choice rather than an exclusive club. Sovereignty, in this context, extends not only beyond borders but beyond the planet.

As access lowers, orbital infrastructure becomes a strategic choice rather than an exclusive club. Sovereignty, in this context, extends not only beyond borders but beyond the planet.

Competitive Reality

With its 8 articles, «The Digital State Project» makes a clear claim: governance is no longer confined to borders or bureaucracies. As we speak, digital sovereignty is emerging as a form of infrastructure – strategic, investable, and increasingly decisive.

«This is not science fiction,» Handa concludes. «The choices countries make now about digital identity, AI, talent, and infrastructure will determine who attracts the next generation of citizens, companies, and capital.»

In a world where states can be logged into, the competition for relevance, trust, and participation has already begun.