The co-founder of Counsyl Inc. and former CTO of Coinbase, Indian-American entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan, is out to create a digital-first nation for innovators and technologists towards realising his vision of a ‘Network State’.

He has acquired a private island near Singapore where he hopes to develop this decentralised concept, discussed in his book ‘The Network State’. The aim is to build online communities that first come together with shared values, and then own a physical territory from where they would seek universal recognition.

Srinivasan’s the Network School that launched in September 2024 offers a three-month program for fitness enthusiasts and aspiring startup founders, who would learn the art of revitalising democracy for the internet era.

Those who enrol in the school would be involved in sessions on technology, AI, entrepreneurship and related subjects. Srinivasan hopes to launch similar schools in Dubai, Tokyo, and Miami as well.

Remote workers, online creators, personal trainers, digital nomads, event planners and technologists are qualified to apply.

According to Srinivasan, the Network School is for Indian engineers and African founders, for makers from the Midwest and the Middle East, for Chinese liberals and Latin American libertarians, for Southeast Asia’s rising technologists and Europe’s remaining capitalists. “It’s for everyone who doesn’t feel part of the establishment. But it’s definitely not only for tech, because a community does not run on tech alone. Ideologically, the Network School is for people who admire Western values, but who also recognize that Asia is in ascendance, and that the next world order is more properly centered around the Internet — around neutral code — than around either declining Western institutions or a rising Chinese state,” he said. – editor@nrifocus.com