On July 21, 2026, Malaysian authorities pulled the plug on Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School by revoking its business license, forcing the innovative education project to shut down immediately.
Just a day later, Srinivasan signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, securing a new home for the program.
The Network School had been operating in Forest City, Johor, Malaysia, near Singapore. It offered a residential program focused on digital nomadism and startup culture, following a "Learn, Burn, Earn, Fun" approach, with daily skill-building tasks and bounties.
A social media video, though vague about the location, drew local attention in Malaysia, triggering official scrutiny. Authorities concluded the school violated local rules, leading to the license cancellation.
Kazakhstan’s agreement includes hosting hackathons, conferences, and innovation events, leveraging the country’s International Financial Centre in Astana, which uses common law to attract Western tech investments.
The Network School embodied Srinivasan’s 2022 vision of "The Network State," aiming to build cloud-first communities with real-world presence and digital values.
Despite the upheaval, this shift has not affected any crypto markets since the project has no token or DeFi elements.
This episode highlights a key lesson for crypto projects combining physical and digital components: regulatory risks go beyond token laws and can hinge on geographic factors.
