Balaji Srinivasan signs Kazakhstan memorandum after Johor shuts Network School

Why it matters

Network School's move shows both sides of Srinivasan's thesis: internet communities can relocate quickly, but every physical campus still depends on a host state's laws and consent.

Balaji S. Srinivasan lost Network School's operating base in Malaysia on July 22nd, when local authorities revoked its business license and sealed part of its Forest City campus. Kazakhstan has also announced a five-year memorandum with Srinivasan to establish a Network School campus there.

The change of venue puts Srinivasan's network-state thesis through its most concrete test. He has spent years arguing that internet communities can gather members, build institutions and eventually establish physical territory. Malaysia demonstrated the limits of that portability: online coordination still ends at a building governed by local licenses, immigration rules and national politics.

The shutdown followed a two-year experiment inside Forest City, the $100 billion Chinese-built development in Johor near Singapore. Srinivasan assembled furnished housing, coworking areas, talks, fitness programming and community meals into a paid residential program for founders, engineers and remote workers.

The Wall Street Journal reported on August 1st that participants had also complained about mold, limited nightlife and Network School's gender balance. Srinivasan supplied the larger ambition in a podcast quote cited by the Journal: "I just want to start a new country."

The school was always a political prototype

Srinivasan launched Network School on August 16th, 2024, with an initial 90-day program scheduled from September 23rd through December 23rd. Shared rooms cost $1,000 a month and solo accommodation cost $2,000, according to his launch post.

His pitch went beyond coliving. Srinivasan described Network School as an internet-first alternative to American universities, which he argued had become expensive, selective and ideologically narrow. He wanted to find what he called "dark talent": capable people outside the institutions and credential systems that usually distribute opportunity.

That thesis comes directly from Srinivasan's own career. His public biography lists four Stanford degrees, including a PhD in electrical engineering, and co-founding roles at Counsyl, Earn.com, Teleport and Coin Center. He was also a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. When Coinbase acquired Earn.com in 2018, Srinivasan joined as Coinbase's first chief technology officer.

Network School combined that technical pedigree with Srinivasan's political project. Members were selected for a live-in community organized around technology, fitness, remote work and a shared belief that new institutions could be built from internet networks rather than inherited geography.

Srinivasan said the first cohort drew more than 4,000 applications from over 80 countries for 128 places. Those figures are self-reported. In February 2025, he announced a second version for 256 members and described plans for a permanent campus housing more than 1,000 people. The proposed sequence ended with open-sourced campus designs and multiple affiliated startup societies.

Malaysia enforced the physical layer

Network School's Malaysian operator, NSO Malaysia Sdn Bhd, held an office-use license. The Iskandar Puteri City Council said activities at the campus differed significantly from that approved use and that Network School operated another premises without a valid license.

The Star reported on July 22nd that Iskandar Puteri City Council enforcement officers inspected the Forest City premises, sealed it and posted a closure notice at an entrance. The newspaper also reported that the main Network School sign had been removed before the officers arrived and that other signs outside a hotel had been covered.

Malaysia's Higher Education Ministry said on July 15th that Network School was not registered as a private higher-education institution and had no recorded partnership with a Malaysian public university or registered private institution. The ministry instead described Network School as a private residential community and coworking space for technology entrepreneurs, investors and digital workers.

The regulatory action unfolded amid allegations that Israeli nationals, who face entry restrictions in Malaysia, had attended Network School using passports from other countries. The Business Times reported on July 17th that Malaysia's Immigration Department had found no evidence of Israeli participation at that point. Authorities were separately reviewing travel documents, visa categories and whether participants' activities matched their stated purposes for entering Malaysia.

The license decision cited premises and licensing violations. It also carried consequences beyond the campus. Business Today reported that MDEC revoked the operator's Malaysia Digital status after the Johor license cancellation.

Srinivasan had said Network School invested more than RM100 million in Malaysia and was considering another RM500 million, or about $123 million. Those are Srinivasan's figures, reported by The Business Times, rather than a disclosed financing round or independently audited investment total.

Kazakhstan offers a state-backed reset

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development announced that Srinivasan and Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev had signed a five-year memorandum. The agreement covers a prospective Network School campus, AI education, startup programs, research, international events and efforts to attract technology workers and investors.

The Kazakh agreement gives Network School a more explicit government relationship than the arrangement described by Malaysian regulators. It also aligns Srinivasan with a country that is actively recruiting technology institutions and building national AI programs.

Network School's homepage now promotes a community in Kazakhstan, including founder talks, workouts, meals, remote work and social events. The product remains the same basic package Srinivasan tested in Forest City: residency as infrastructure for an internet-assembled technical community.

The move preserves the founder's central insight that online communities can relocate faster than conventional institutions. Malaysia exposed the cost of treating location as a replaceable component. Housing, visas, permitted land use and political consent are core dependencies for any internet community that asks people to live together.

Srinivasan has found another host for Network School. The five-year memorandum gives the project a second opportunity to show that a startup society can negotiate a durable place inside an existing state before it starts imagining a new one.