The Network State
Overview & Context
📘 The Network State is a 2022 book by Balaji Srinivasan, entrepreneur and former CTO of Coinbase, proposing a vision for creating digital-first nations—or “network states”—built around online communities, shared values, and blockchain-based governance.
🌐 Core Concepts
- Startup Societies: Begin as internet-based communities with aligned moral visions.
- Proof of Concept: These groups must demonstrate real-world coordination, including crowd-funding, land purchases, or infrastructure.
- Network State Formation: Through diplomatic recognition and physical presence, they evolve into full-fledged sovereign entities.
💸 Techno-Political Philosophy
- Embraces crypto technologies for identity, currency, voting, and enforcement.
- Views legacy institutions as obsolete or corrupted; proposes exit over reform.
- Ties personal sovereignty to digital autonomy, surveillance resistance, and decentralization.
🧠 Ideological Significance
- Builds on traditions of libertarian secessionism, techno-utopianism, and accelerationist thought.
- Promoted heavily in Silicon Valley, particularly among Web3, effective accelerationism (e/acc), and post-political thinkers.
- Related to broader movements like The Dark Enlightenment, Neoreactionary thought (NRx), and techno-feudal visions of governance.
“A network state is a digital community that is capable of collective action, has a moral vision, and eventually gains diplomatic recognition.” — Balaji Srinivasan
Citation
Srinivasan, B. (2022). The Network State. Retrieved from https://thenetworkstate.com/book/tns.pdf
OpenAI. (2025). Summary generated by ChatGPT (GPT‑4). Retrieved from chat.openai.com