Balaji Srinivasan

Former CTO of Coinbase, Independent

00 - Network State Conference 2026 - Opening Address by Balaji

📅 Oct 08, 2026 Network State Podcast 12 MIN 615 VIEWS 16 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS

Balaji Srinivasan is the author of The Network State and founder of Network School, now built in partnership with the Republic of Kazakhstan. Website: https://balajis.com OUTLINE 1:06 - This year's Network State is decentralized 4:10 - Network state in the sense of network plus state 7:52 - Kazakhstan's time has come 9:33 - Zcash becomes the encrypted cash of individuals 11:27 - If cryptocurrency is your digital tribe, crypto identity is your physical tribe LINKS Network State Conference: https://ns.com/conference Full Network State Conference 2026 playlist: • Network State Conference 2...

What Balaji Srinivasan said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Balaji Srinivasan opened the Network State Conference 2026 in Singapore, tracing the movement from the 2022 book 'The Network State' through the 2023 Amsterdam conference, the 2024 Network School, and the 2025 growth of startup societies. He highlighted the 2026 partnership with Kazakhstan, including an MOU with the government, work with the AIFC crypto regulator on digital assets, and plans for a crypto city in Alata City. He noted that 10 other countries are interested in similar partnerships. He praised Kazakhstan's speed, size (3,000 times Singapore), and tech talent, and argued that global capital is fleeing places like California and Washington. He framed the conference themes around internet disruption and responses, contrasting scapegoating with building digital states. He previewed sessions on Zcash, startup societies, a fireside with Curtis Yarvin on decentralized democracy versus American monarchy, and talks on identity and currency.

Key takeaways

Kazakhstan signed an MOU with Network State, a precedent for internet communities partnering with nation states.
10 other countries want similar partnerships with the network state movement.
Kazakhstan is 3,000 times the size of Singapore, offering space for startup cities.
Zcash will become the encrypted cash of individuals, while Bitcoin remains a transparent reserve asset.
The conference includes a fireside with Curtis Yarvin on decentralized democracy versus American monarchy.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
3,000 times	Kazakhstan's size relative to Singapore	metric	4:58
10	countries interested in similar partnerships	metric	4:05
2022	year 'The Network State' was published	timeline	1:02
2023	year of first conference in Amsterdam	timeline	1:02
2024	year Network School opened	timeline	1:02
2025	year movement was built with dozens of startup societies	timeline	1:02
2026	year of alliance with governments	timeline	2:03

Chapters

0:00Movement history and progress
2:03Kazakhstan partnership details
3:10Global capital flight and Kazakhstan's appeal
4:05Network state continuum and other countries
4:58Kazakhstan's digital state ambition
6:30Kazakhstan's tech advantages
7:54Conference themes and agenda
8:50Zcash and Bitcoin roles
9:43Upcoming sessions and speakers

Questions asked in this interview

0:34So, without further ado, could you please give a warm welcome to Balaji?

Noah Jessup 0:34 ↗

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Network State Conference. We've got an incredible show for you today. My name's Noah Jessup and I'll be your MC. So, without further ado, could you please give a warm welcome to Balaji?

1 more exchange in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Srinivasan, B. (2026, October 8). 00 - Network State Conference 2026 - Opening Address by Balaji [Interview transcript]. Network State Podcast. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3015477/

MLA

Balaji Srinivasan. "00 - Network State Conference 2026 - Opening Address by Balaji." Network State Podcast, 8 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3015477/.

BibTeX

@misc{srinivasan2026_3015477,
  author       = {Balaji Srinivasan},
  title        = {00 - Network State Conference 2026 - Opening Address by Balaji},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Network State Podcast. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {oct},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3015477/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (2)

“We have built network school now in partnership with the republic of Kazakhstan and Kazan is an incredibly high-tech country as I'm going to explain in a second and we've basically fully integrated where you know we signed an MOU we proved that it was possible for an internet community to actually sign an agreement with a nation state which is a precedent setting thing. We are working with AIFC wh”

▶ 2:25 POLICY

“Kazan has all the physical because it's got cheap land and it's got energy, and it's got the ability to build, but it's also got all the digital, which is the AI and the crypto. And they've got very smart people. They tied for number one in the physics Olympiads. But what's the only thing most people know about Kazan? Yeah, there's a Hollywood movie on it, right? So legacy media will never tell yo”

▶ 6:36 POLICY

Mentioned in this interview

Kazakhstan: Partner country for network state, praised for tech and space.

Olaf Carlson-Wee Founder & CEO: Investor from Polychain, present in Kazakhstan.

Larry Page: Forced to leave California, cited as example of capital flight.

Zuckerberg: Forced to leave California, cited as example of capital flight.

Sergey Brin Co-Founder & Director: Forced to leave California, cited as example of capital flight.

Elon: Forced to leave California, cited as example of capital flight.

Bezos: Had to leave Washington, cited as example of capital flight.

Binance None-Binance: Present in Kazakhstan, part of the build-out.

Earlier, on the same topics

“The only way to kind of protect and preserve democracy is going to be between states rather than within them. So to give people a choice over what their government is, we want to have a hundred or a thousand startup societies and you apply to the best country you can get into at age 18 just like you”

startup societies · May 17, 2026 at 22:40 →

“Bitcoin has a provably finite supply. Gold has a close to finite supply; Bitcoin has a provably finite supply. It's scarce, it's minable but with difficulty, it's verifiable, and it disciplines states by being this scarce asset that they can't print.”

bitcoin · Apr 20, 2026 →

“We just did Zcash recently which is truly encrypted private um capital. It's like basically Bitcoin but with zero knowledge. There's a proposal [from Coinbase] to do ZKYC where you can prove you're not on a terrorist blacklist without giving up anything else.”

zcash · May 01, 2026 →

“I think it's going to be successful but I think its role is now provable global institutional collateral. Why provable? You can prove how much digital gold you have. You can't really audit Fort Knox in the way that Kelly can prove his digital gold reserves in the collapsing trust western world. Basi”

Jul 13, 2026 at 41:51 →

Every Balaji Srinivasan interview →

More interviews with Balaji Srinivasan

The Zcash Moment - TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026Oct 17, 2026 · TOKEN2049 · 34 min
Balaji Srinivasan - The Open Source Network State - TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026Oct 17, 2026 · TOKEN2049 · 19 min
The Code Based Order - Balaji Srinivasan & Illia Polosukhin & David Hoffman - Quantum & Privacy DayOct 14, 2026 · Quantus · 21 min
13 - Network State Conference 2026 - Vitalik and Balaji on AI, Cryptography and Network SchoolOct 10, 2026 · Network State Podcast · 35 min
25 - Network State Conference 2026 - Chad Cascarilla and Balaji on Fiat CurrencyOct 10, 2026 · Network State Podcast · 21 min
TOKEN2049: Bunker Mode? feat. Balaji & Arthur Hayes LIVE - The Chopping BlockOct 09, 2026 · Unchained · 42 min

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About Balaji Srinivasan

Balaji Srinivasan, founder of The Network State and Network School, spoke at multiple events in Singapore in October 2026, including TOKEN2049 and the Network State Conference. He discussed the concept of network states, describing them as cloud communities that crowdfund territory and eventually seek diplomatic recognition. He highlighted Network School's partnership with the Republic of Kazakhstan, calling the country "Singapore with space to build" and stating that it has the physical and digital infrastructure to become a global tech hub. He also said that most countries are small and can be engaged like enterprises, and that mobility serves as a non-violent alternative to military defense. At TOKEN2049, Srinivasan participated in a panel on Zcash, where he argued that privacy-focused cryptocurrency is necessary as a hedge against surveillance and seizure, and he described Zcash as "insurance against Bitcoin." In other appearances, he discussed the intersection of AI and cryptography, stating that "AI is the sword, ZK is the shield," and expressed the view that public key cryptography will continue but may face security challenges. He also commented on fiat currency, describing it as "proof of future work" and suggesting that the dollar will not maintain its store of value.

All Balaji Srinivasan appearances → Network State Podcast on YouTube →