1. Balaji Srinivasan was the co-founder of Counsyl, the former chief technology officer of Coinbase, and former general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
12 Facts About Balaji Srinivasan
1. 2.
Balaji Srinivasan is the son of physician parents who immigrated from Tamil Nadu, India.
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Balaji Srinivasan received BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a MS in Chemical Engineering, from Stanford.
4.
In 2013, Balaji Srinivasan co-founded 21e6, which later became 21 Inc, a Bitcoin mining startup raising over $120 million from investors.
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Balaji Srinivasan failed as a bitcoin mining business and pivoted to become Earn.
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In 2013, in a talk at Y Combinator's Startup School titled "Silicon Valley's Ultimate Exit" and in a Wired article called "Software Is Reorganizing the World", Balaji Srinivasan urged the technology industry to digitally exit the United States and move abroad.
7.
In 2022, in a self-published book titled The Network State: How To Start a New Country, Balaji Srinivasan elaborated on his ideas about online nationality and the need to break away from geographical governments.
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Balaji Srinivasan's article drew from Srinivasan's September 2023 podcast interview in which he called for tech-friendly people to seize political power and take control of cities.
9.
Balaji Srinivasan said his plan would exclude Democrats from areas the techies control.
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Balaji Srinivasan suggested bribing the police to prevent them from enforcing laws disadvantageous to technology companies.
11.
Duran argued that Balaji Srinivasan's ideas reveal an "appetite for autocracy".
12.
Forbes remarked shortly after the bet was made that Balaji Srinivasan owns "a considerable amount of bitcoin" and his $1 million bet on Bitcoin "might be a mere marketing ploy or even a pump-and-dump scheme".