Latest news with #TheNetworkState
Mint
13 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Indian-origin entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan buys private island to build new nation for techies
Indian-origin tech entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan has purchased a private island near Singapore to build what he calls a 'Network State'- a decentralised, digital-first society for techies, creators, and founders. Srinivasan, a former CTO of Coinbase and co-founder of multiple Silicon Valley ventures, envisions a future where online communities with shared values evolve into globally recognised nations. His project, which once sounded like a futuristic thought experiment, is now unfolding on a real island with real people, and it's creating quite the buzz, TechCrunch reported. The island is home to 'The Network School', a three-month residential programme that merges entrepreneurship, emerging tech, and personal transformation. Participants, handpicked for their ambition and unconventional thinking, wake up to gym sessions and spend the day attending workshops on artificial intelligence, blockchain, and startup innovation. '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. Srinivasan's long-term goal? To build a borderless, crowd-funded nation for digital nomads and tech-savvy changemakers — a concept he outlined in his 2022 book The Network State. According to him, the idea is to create self-improving communities that first exist online, then claim physical territory, and eventually negotiate global recognition. One participant, content creator Nick Peterson, shared a virtual tour of the island and described it as 'an oasis for gym rats and startup founders.' He added, 'I've been living in this real-life experiment called the Network School, where we are kind of testing what creating a new nation would feel like.' Srinivasan says the school is designed to foster 'win-and-help-win' societies focused on truth, health, and wealth. The island curriculum is deeply rooted in his broader mission to rethink governance in the digital age. Born to Tamil-origin physician parents in New York, Balaji Srinivasan holds multiple degrees in Electrical and Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. Over the past two decades, he has co-founded and backed several high-profile tech ventures — including Counsyl, and Teleport — and invested early in Bitcoin, Ethereum, OpenSea, and Alchemy. The 44-year-old is one of Silicon Valley's more provocative thinkers, often stirring debate with his critiques of traditional institutions and his push for decentralised systems. Critics have likened his 'network nation' idea to modern-day techno-utopianism, or even digital-age colonialism — but Srinivasan remains undeterred. In 2024, he launched the first Network School on this Southeast Asian island, with future campuses planned for 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 in a recruitment post.
NDTV
a day ago
- Business
- NDTV
Indian-Origin Entrepreneur Acquires Island Near Singapore To Build A New Country For Techies, Founders
Indian-American entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan has taken a significant step towards realising his vision of a "Network State" by acquiring a private island near Singapore. Mr Srinivasan, co-founder of Counsyl Inc. and former CTO of Coinbase, aims to create a decentralised, digital-first nation for founders, technologists, and innovators. His concept, outlined in his book"The Network State," revolves around building online communities united by shared values, which would eventually acquire physical territory and seek global recognition as a sovereign entity, TechCrunch reported. Instagram user Nick Peterson, currently enrolled in the program, shared a virtual tour of the island, describing it as "an oasis for gym rats and startup founders." Students begin their day with gym sessions and take classes in AI, technology, and other subjects. "I've been living in this real-life experiment called the Network School, run by Balaji Srinivasan, where we are kind of testing what creating a new nation would feel like," he said. Watch the video here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nick Peterson (@nickpeterson17) The Network School Mr Srinivasan's Network School, launched in September 2024, serves as a living experiment and prototype for his Network State vision. Its purpose is to "revitalise democracy for the internet era" and to 'pursue truth, health, and wealth by levelling up our attendees personally, physically, and professionally." The three-month residential program brings together aspiring startup founders and fitness enthusiasts on a private island near Singapore. Notably, the entrepreneur's ultimate goal is to establish a "Network State," a decentralised, digital-first nation for technologists and innovators. On X, he wrote, "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." See the tweet here: THE NETWORK SCHOOL 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. We're starting with a 90-day popup that runs from Sep 23 to Dec 23, right after the Network State Conference.… — Balaji (@balajis) August 16, 2024 At the school, participants engage in activities like: Physical Fitness: Gym sessions to promote holistic growth Cutting-Edge Topics: Classes on artificial intelligence, blockchain, and entrepreneurship Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Encouraging personal, physical, and professional development "We're seeking dark talent. We're seeking people who want to create win-and-help-win societies, focused on both individual and collective self-improvement. We're seeking remote workers, digital nomads, online creators, personal trainers, event planners, self-improvers and technologists of all stripes. And we're specifically seeking those who want to help our nascent community learn technology, earn cryptocurrency, burn calories, and have fun," Mr Srinivasan said. Who is Balaji S. Srinivasan? Balaji S. Srinivasan is an American entrepreneur, investor, and author known for his work in technology and cryptocurrency. Born May 24, 1980, to physician parents from Tamil Nadu, India, he grew up in Plainview, New York. He holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. Mr Srinivasan co-founded Counsyl, a genetic testing company acquired by Myriad Genetics for $375 million in 2018, and 21 Inc. (later a Bitcoin-related startup acquired by Coinbase, where he served as CTO from 2018 to 2019. He was a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz from 2013 to 2018 and co-founded Teleport (acquired by Topia) and Coin Centre. He's an early investor in numerous tech and crypto ventures, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Alchemy, and OpenSea. He authored The Network State: How to Start a New Country (2022), advocating for digital communities to form autonomous, tech-driven societies. In 2024, he launched The Network School in Malaysia to explore these ideas. He aims to establish Network Schools globally, with plans for locations in Dubai, Tokyo, and Miami. His views, including critiques of traditional governance and advocacy for decentralisation, have sparked debate, with some critics comparing his concepts to modern colonialism. Mr Srinivasan is active on platforms like X and Substack, where he shares his philosophy on technology, governance, and wealth creation.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Indian-American entrepreneur buys island to build new nation for tech, first look revealed
Balaji Srinivasan ( Instagram user Nick Peterson has shared a glimpse of a private island where Indian-American entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan plans to found a future tech nation. Peterson is currently attending Srinivasan's Network School, a three-month, in-person program designed for aspiring startup founders and fitness enthusiasts. Who is Balaji Srinivasan? Balaji Srinivasan is an Indian-origin entrepreneur and investor, and has played key roles in several major tech ventures. He co-founded Counsyl, then went on to serve as the chief technology officer at Coinbase, and was a general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Srinivasan was born to physician parents who migrated from Tamil Nadu to the United States. He earned his BS, MS, and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Srinivasan's vision for a new country Balaji Srinivasan envisions a new kind of nation called a 'Network State'- a digital-first, decentralized, and globally dispersed community that eventually seeks recognition in the physical world. A kind of state with like-minded individuals united by shared aspirations and a set of values, often centered around technology, cryptocurrency, individual freedom, and innovation. Its mission is to 'revitalize democracy for the internet era' and promote truth, health, and prosperity by helping participants grow personally, physically, and professionally. In this instance, the community's core values include longevity, decentralization, and education. What is the school about? Launched in September 2024 by The Network State author Srinivasan, the Network School is a three-month immersive educational program. It acts as a testing ground for his larger ambition, the creation of 'network states,' decentralized, digital-first communities that originate online and ultimately aim to establish physical territory and self-governance. Where is the Island located? In August 2024, Balaji Srinivasan revealed in a Substack post that he had acquired an island and was launching a new school near Singapore aimed at nurturing what he called the 'dark talent of the world.' '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,' said the Indian-origin entrepreneur.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Indian-American investor obtains island to start new country for founders and techies
Instagram user Nick Peterson has given a tour of the private island where an Indian-American entrepreneur one day hopes to start a new country. Peterson is a resident of Balaji Srinivasan's Network School – a three-month, in-person educational retreat for 'startup founders and gymrats'. Balaji Srinivasan, co-founder of Counsyl Inc, aims to start a 'decentralized' nation (Bloomberg) The Network School is a three-month educational retreat launched in September 2024 by Balaji Srinivasan – former CTO of Coinbase and author of The Network State. It serves as a prototype for his broader vision: building 'network states' or decentralized, digitally-native societies that begin online and eventually secure real-world territory and governance. Who is Balaji Srinivasan? Balaji Srinivasan is an Indian-origin American entrepreneur and investor. He was the co-founder of Counsyl, the former chief technology officer (CTO) of Coinbase, and former general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Srinivasan is the son of physician parents who immigrated to the United States from Tamil Nadu, India. He holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Where is the private island where the Network School is located? In August 2024, Balaji Srinivasan announced in a Substack post that he had obtained an island and is 'starting a new school near Singapore for the dark talent of the world'. '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,' said the Indian-origin investor. What is Srinivasan's vision for a new country? Balaji Srinivasan's vision for a new country is centred around the concept of a 'Network State' – a digital-first, decentralised and globally distributed community that eventually gains real-world recognition. A Network State begins as a group of people who share common values and goals – often around tech, crypto, freedom, or innovation. Its purpose is to 'revitalize democracy for the internet era' and to 'pursue truth, health, and wealth by leveling up our attendees personally, physically, and professionally.' The citizens of this country share common values and goals. In this case, it would be a focus on longevity, decentralisation and education. What happens in the Network School? In his post, Srinivasan said the Network School, serving as the prototype for the nation, is based on the principles of learn, burn, earn, and fun. Instagram user Nick Peterson, in his virtual tour of the school, said: 'This place is an oasis for gym rats and startup founders.' 'I've been living in this real life experiment called the Network School, run by Balaji Srinivasan, where we are kind of testing what creating a new nation would feel like,' he explained. Students of the school start their day with gym and attend classes on AI, tech and more.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MAGA's mixed messages on tariffs share one disturbing theme
What exactly is the vision for America that Trump and his people are trying to create with these reckless, chaotic policies? It seems as if it's different for everyone. Trump BFF Elon Musk is thought by some to be a believer in a techbro vision of "The Network State" in which the titans of tech will replace the dollar with Crypto, as God intended, and divide up the world into mini-states that they will control like medieval fiefdoms. Unfortunately, there will have to be a purge of undesirables who do not meet the genetic standards of the new Superman to repopulate the earth with their superior genes. I wish I were kidding. Wired reported just last month that "Several groups representing 'startup cities' — tech hubs exempt from the taxes and regulations that apply to the countries where they are located — are drafting congressional legislation to create 'freedom cities' in the U.S. that would be similarly free from certain federal laws, " (Recall that Trump himself was promoting "freedom cities" during the campaign.) But Musk may actually be beyond that vision with his infiltration of the federal government. As Kyle Chayka of the New Yorker explained, Musk no longer has any need for these little techtopian enclaves. Musk appears to be a techno-accelerationist (a subcategory of techno-fascism), which is defined as the total destruction of the existing order "to create a technologized, hierarchical one with engineers at the top." That sure sounds like a lot of fun. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, on the other hand, apparently believes we are in a MAGA cultural revolution, Mao Zedong-style. He told Tucker Carlson in an interview this week, "The president is reordering trade. We are shedding excess labor in the federal government and bringing down federal borrowings. And then on the other side that will give us the labor that we need for the new manufacturing." So now we know that CDC scientists, NIH researchers, IRS tax experts, computer techs, program specialists and other professionals who've been fired by DOGE are going to be sent to work on the assembly lines. Maybe they'll learn to be good, productive citizens instead of "villains," as Trump's Director of the Office of Management and Budget (and project 2025 author) Russell Vought refers to them. But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has other ideas. He says those jobs are all going to be taken by robots— but there will be some mechanic types who'll fix the machines. And I'm sure there will always be a need for janitors to keep the place clean, so there's that. More likely, we'll need lots of workers to pick all the food, work in the meat packing plants and fill the jobs of servants for the massively wealthy billionaires, like Bessent and Lutnick, so all those teachers, scientists and educated professionals will no doubt have many job opportunities even if the factories are automated. Trump just announced that he's bringing back coal mining in a big way, so that presents some excellent possibilities as well. Trump's vision is very different than any of that. He wants to go back to the Gilded Age of William McKinley in the 1890s. On Monday, he repeated the fatuous nonsense he's spewed for ages: "Our country was the strongest believe it or not from 1870 to 1913. You know why, it was all based, we had no income tax then in 1913 some genius came up with the idea of let's charge the people of our country not foreign countries." Tariffs, as everyone knows except him, are paid by American businesses and consumers. They were then and they are now just another form of taxation, and a regressive one, which he simply cannot fathom. We know he didn't read a book about it, so at some point, someone told Trump that the country was very wealthy after the Civil War because it ran surpluses. Yes, back in the days of William McKinley, the federal government was funded almost entirely by tariffs. But the government was much smaller then and did very little for the people so they did have surpluses and there was a lively debate about what should be done with them, as Chris Isidore at CNN explained: Funding the federal government with tariffs wasn't nearly as difficult as it would be today. Federal spending was relatively minuscule in those years. Federal spending made up less than 3% of the nation's gross domestic product, the broad measure of the size of the nation's economic activity. By contrast, the $6.8 trillion that the federal government spent in its most recent fiscal year comes to 23% of GDP, with most of that money going to servicing the national debt, military spending and entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps. During the Gilded Age, the country was in the midst of a rapid economic expansion (which, not incidentally, was heavily stoked by mass immigration), and to the extent it was "wealthy," almost all of the wealth accumulated at the very top among the robber barons. I find myself in agreement with Brian Beutler, who observed that none of these facts and figures are the probable genesis of Trump's obsession with this era. It almost surely stems from his knowledge that the rich were very rich and built lavish, ornate mansions, which is what defines prosperity to him, as Beutler notes: He lives in Mar-a-Lago, which was built by Marjorie Merriweather Post in the 1920s. And while she, as heiress to the Post Cereal fortune, was not a 'robber baron' in the traditional sense of the word, that's the vibe he likes. It's what you'd expect in a 'rich country.' Just look at what he's done to the Oval Office. It's become an ersatz Versailles with phony gilt tchotkes jammed in every corner and gaudy picture frames crowded together on the walls: The average citizen during the Gilded Age lived a bit differently: The average family's annual income was around $500 (about $18,000 in today's money), according to an 1892 report from the Senate Finance Committee, yet the top 1% of families owned over half of America's wealth. During this era, known as the Gilded Age, the wealthiest families in America, such as the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts, formed a new social elite akin to European aristocracy. On the other side of the wealth divide, workers and immigrants faced harsh living who weren't protected by law from physically challenging labor, had often started contributing to their households by age 10. In New York City, the population doubled every decade from 1800 to 1880. Tenement housing, where families packed as many people as possible into apartments by using cheap materials to create walls or add floors to existing buildings, quickly dominated parts of the city. These settlements often lacked indoor plumbing or ventilation, leading to a rapid increase in the spread of illnesses. The cramped conditions also led to many fires in major cities. That was what it was like for most people when Trump believes America was "great" — they were poor, uneducated, sick and overworked — and they paid all the taxes while the rich got richer. And when you get down to it, while the billionaires in his orbit may have different visions, whether it's a futuristic techno "Freedom City" or back to the time of the Vanderbilts and the Morgans, in the end, they all want the same thing: They want it all.
