Indian-origin entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan buys private island to build new nation for techies

Mint

17 hours ago

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, Earn.com, 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.