Malaysia is reportedly shutting down Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School
Malaysia has reportedly ordered the closure of the Network School, a startup-focused community founded by entrepreneur and investor Balaji Srinivasan, according to the Wall Street Journal. The venture, based in a converted Malaysian hotel, was conceived as the first stage of Srinivasan's broader ambition to build an entirely new society outside conventional nation-states, reflecting his stated belief that the United States is in irreversible decline.
The programme, described by the WSJ as "part tech incubator, part self-improvement retreat," reportedly faces closure due to licensing issues, and attendees had complained of poor conditions and a lack of women and nightlife. Srinivasan, who renounced his US citizenship in 2023, responded on X by calling himself "a proud Singaporean" and accusing the WSJ of preparing a "hit piece." He has already announced a new agreement to open a replacement campus in Kazakhstan.
- Malaysia reportedly orders closure of Srinivasan's Network School community
- Closure cited as due to licensing issues at Malaysian hotel site
- Srinivasan has already lined up a new campus in Kazakhstan
New here? Start with this
Malaysia is home to the Network School, a members-only community for entrepreneurs and tech workers set up in a converted hotel. It was founded by Balaji Srinivasan, a well-known figure in Silicon Valley and former executive at the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, who has long argued that people should be able to build new kinds of societies outside traditional nation-states. He has previously written about the idea of "network states," communities organised online before eventually seeking physical territory and recognition, and the Malaysian project was widely seen as an early real-world test of that concept.
Srinivasan is a prominent voice in tech and investment circles, known for bold predictions and provocative commentary on politics, technology and the future of governance. He gave up his US citizenship in 2023, reflecting his often-stated view that the country is in decline, and has since positioned himself as a citizen of the world who can choose where to base himself and his projects.
This story matters because it touches on a live debate about whether tech-driven alternatives to conventional government and citizenship can work in practice, and how host countries respond when such experiments run into local rules. It also reflects broader tensions between ambitious "build your own society" ideas popular in parts of the tech industry and the everyday realities of operating within existing legal and regulatory systems.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Malaysian authorities have a legitimate interest in ensuring that any commercial or residential venture operating within their borders complies with licensing, safety and immigration regulations, regardless of the prestige or ambition of its founder. Enforcing these rules consistently protects local residents from unregulated or substandard accommodation, upholds the rule of law, and signals that foreign entrepreneurs cannot bypass ordinary regulatory processes simply by branding a project as visionary or exceptional.
The case against
Advocates of ventures like the Network School would argue that experimental, small-scale communities of this kind pose little public harm and represent exactly the kind of bold, borderless innovation that benefits a host economy through investment, skilled visitors and global attention. From this perspective, bureaucratic licensing disputes can become a heavy-handed or overly rigid response to a novel business model, stifling experimentation that a more flexible regulatory approach could instead accommodate or fast-track.