Malaysia shuts down Network School, Balaji Srinivasan's techno-utopian project, over licensing issues; Srinivasan says he is opening a new campus in Kazakhstan
Wall Street Journal
Context & Ripple Effects
Network School had drawn crypto and technology entrepreneurs to Forest City as a live test of Srinivasan’s Network State ideas, as described in earlier coverage of its entrepreneur community. The licensing intervention turns that experiment from a campus-based project into a test of whether its model can operate across jurisdictions.
The reported Kazakhstan campus plan matters because it is an immediate attempt to preserve continuity after the Malaysian operation was halted, rather than simply an expansion from an intact original site.
First-order effects
Network School’s Malaysian campus and its attendees face an immediate disruption as the project must address the licensing shutdown.
Srinivasan is redirecting the project’s next physical base to Kazakhstan, shifting operational attention away from Forest City.
Second-order effects
The move makes local licensing a central constraint on Network School’s model, not a back-office issue; any restart or relocation must be organized around host-jurisdiction approval.
Participants and organizers may have to absorb the practical costs of moving a community experiment between countries, reducing the continuity a single permanent campus was meant to provide.
Third-order effects
If similar projects keep relocating after regulatory friction, “network state” experiments may evolve less as autonomous communities and more as portable organizations dependent on conventional national permissions.
The episode underscores a broader tension in tech-led community building: digital coordination can travel, but education, residency, and physical campuses remain governed locally.
The trend: Tech communities built around online-first political or social ambitions are discovering that their physical operations remain shaped by the licensing rules of the jurisdictions that host them.
@balajis @stuwoo Bro just wanted to start a country but has no freaking clue how to do it. Now venting at a journalist while embarrassing Singapore. Singaporeans, do you guys want him?
I am pleased to announce that a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Republic of Kazakhstan and Network School. Our new campus will become a haven for global techno-optimism, with expedited visas, streamlined redomiciliation, and active recruitment of talent. […
A Tech Founder Wanted to Start a New Country. An Actual Country Got in the Way. — Wall Street Journal covers Network State cult founder Balaji Srinivasan. — “Federal records indicate he and his wife renounced American citizenship in 2023.” 👀 — Gift link: — www.wsj.com/t…
“Participants complained about moldy rooms, dead nightlife and not enough women—a downside familiar to Silicon Valley.” — Heh. — Gift link. — Ballaji Srinivasan Wanted to Start a New Country. An Actual Country Got in the Way. — https://www.wsj.com/...