Booted from Malaysia, Balaji Srinivasan moves his $1,500-a-month ‘network state’ to Kazakhstan
What's the deal? Balaji Srinivasan relocated his Network SchoolDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to Kazakhstan after Malaysian authorities shut down its campus on July 21, 2026. The former Coinbase chief technology officer signed a memorandum of understanding with Kazakh authorities the following day, pitching the new site as "a haven for global techno-optimism, with expedited visas, streamlined redomiciliation, and active recruitment of talent."
What is Network School? Launched in 2024 inside a hotel in Malaysia's Forest City — a $100 billion, largely empty Chinese development — it mixes startup incubator, co-living and self-improvement retreat. For $1,500 a month, participants get lodging, meals, gym access, and tech workshops. The first cohort had 128 participants, later growing to several hundred guests.
What's the endgame? The school is a prototype for Srinivasan's book, The Network State : a community that starts online, pools capital, acquires land, and eventually seeks political recognition. "I just want to start a new country," he said on a recent podcast.
Why Malaysia shut it down: Authorities investigated after online claims that Israeli nationals had joined the programme on second-country passports — Malaysia does not recognise Israel and bars Israeli passport holders. The probe found no travel-document violations, but the Iskandar Puteri City Council revoked the school's business and advertising licences, citing breaches of premises-use rules.
Why now? The licensing action escalated into a diplomatic incident. Malaysia's foreign minister said one dual US-Israel citizen was ordered to leave, prompting the US State Department to summon Malaysia's ambassador. Srinivasan called the original post a "hoax" and said the school abided by Malaysian law.
What could go wrong? Other founders have hit the same wall. PrósperaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a "startup city" launched on a Honduran island in 2017, now faces a legislature that moved to end its special economic zone; the project sued the state. The pattern underscores that enclaves remain dependent on the governments whose territory they occupy.
The signal: Srinivasan's quick pivot — he says several countries offered to host — shows demand for crypto-friendly experiments in governance, and the limits of them. Even those trying to reinvent the state must first operate within the rules of one that already exists.
Read more: fortune.com, calcalistech.com, The Wall Street Journal
Image credit: daltonwb
