It’s the most meaningful milestone yet for Srinivasan’s dream of creating “network states,” which he defines as an internet community that secures a physical location and “gains diplomatic recognition from pre-existing states,” he wrote.

The concept has enraptured the libertarian subsection of Silicon Valley; Srinivasan earned praise from Marc Andreessen and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and has inspired fellow crypto enthusiasts to start their own “network states.” In addition to his years at a16z, which ended in 2018, Srinivasan is also known for his year as Coinbase’s CTO after Coinbase bought his crypto startup Earn.com in 2018. And he’s a board member of the crypto nonprofit advocacy and lobbying organization Coin Center, which champions for policies like anonymity for crypto holders from the IRS.