A tropical island near Singapore is becoming the launchpad for one of Silicon Valley’s boldest ideas. Balaji Srinivasan, the Indian-origin tech entrepreneur and former Coinbase CTO, has purchased the island to build a “Network State” — a decentralised, digital-first society aimed at techies, creators, and founders.
What once seemed like a sci-fi thought experiment is now taking shape in the real world, TechCrunch reported.
Srinivasan’s vision, detailed in his 2022 book The Network State, is to create borderless, crowd-funded communities that exist online, claim physical territory, and seek global recognition.
“We got an island. That’s right. Through the power of Bitcoin, we now have a beautiful island near Singapore where we’re building the Network School,” Srinivasan posted on X (formerly Twitter).
At the island’s center is The Network School, a three-month residential program blending entrepreneurship, emerging tech, and personal development. Participants, chosen for their ambition and unconventional thinking, start days with gym sessions and attend workshops on AI, blockchain, and startup innovation.
The school, Srinivasan says, is designed to foster “win-and-help-win” societies focused on truth, health, and wealth, and reflects his larger mission to rethink governance in the digital age.
“I should mention that the Network School is a ‘product’ that I built for the young version of myself—the aspiring young engineer. This is the community I want to live in: a technocapitalist college town, a Stanford 2.0 that’s globally affordable and genuinely meritocratic. So, I’ll be on campus full time. Bryan Johnson and I are supervising the setup of everything from bench press to French press. And we’ll eventually be recruiting faculty in the form of content creators, fitness influencers, and angel investors for the learn, burn, and earn portions of our program respectively. But all that in due time,” he wrote.
Born in New York to Tamil-origin physician parents, Srinivasan holds multiple engineering degrees from Stanford. Over two decades, he has founded and invested in ventures like Counsyl, Earn.com, Teleport, and was an early backer of Bitcoin, Ethereum, OpenSea, and Alchemy.
“As mentioned, our focus is the dark talent. The more respect you have for legacy institutions, and the more respect they have for you, the less suitable you’ll be as an applicant,” he added, describing the school as a haven for outsiders from diverse backgrounds.
Despite critics labeling his vision techno-utopian or even colonial, Srinivasan remains undeterred. After launching the first Network School in 2024, he’s eyeing new campuses in Dubai, Tokyo, and Miami.
“We’re looking for remote workers, digital creators, personal trainers, developers — people who want to earn crypto, build things, burn calories, and have fun,” he said.
