Yat Siu is Chairman of Animoca, a multibillion-dollar firm with 600+ portfolio companies. In this fireside, Yat and Balaji discuss virtual economies, tokenization, and network states. OUTLINE 0:04 - Animoca's digital conglomerate and network states 2:19 - Connecting across corporate boundaries 3:55 - Everyone in crypto has consented to the laws of crypto 7:24 - Gaming today occupies 3.4 billion people daily 11:05 - Virtual economies and ownership 13:09 - Games die because of inflation 14:33 - Tokenization of the digital world LINKS Network State Conference: https://ns.com/conference Full Network State Conference 2025 playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJg2RipiXz8oDoMPCsmOVI_UEaSNbgjA6
Balaji Srinivasan and Yat Siu, the founder of Animoca Brands, discuss shifts in global power, the geopolitical friction between the US and China, and the nature of digital-first societies. They delve into how the internet and gaming communities are creating new forms of identity and capital that challenge traditional nation states. If these ideas interest you, we're building startup societies at Network School. You can apply online at https://ns.com. OUTLINE 3:55 - One of the big misunderstandings around games 7:41 - There's a lot of parallels to the roots of crypto & gaming 10:30 - A Brand is the collection of words & images 23:13 - Nothing that wasn't built on the internet will survive it 30:24 - The Disunited States 33:29 - MAGA has China envy 39:42 - The two barbarian powers are the internet and China 42:40 - The Democrats will eventually side with Chinese communists 51:43 - Keynesianism is communism, but for wimps 1:10:55 - Hong Kong is necessary for China 1:23:19 - The Western lens is more conflict oriented by its culture 1:28:30 - China plays best home game & India plays strong away game 1:53:29 - The Internet is More America than America 2:03:27 - The Chinese Drone Armada: World's most powerful physical force REFERENCES I. Books * The Network State: https://www.amazon.com/Network-State-How-Start-Country-ebook/dp/B09VPKZR3G/ * Tomorrow, the World: https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-World-Birth-Global-Supremacy-ebook/dp/B08FGDS5GW/ * Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty: https://www.amazon.in/Political-Theology-Chapters-Concept-Sovereignty-ebook/dp/B07GL4YSBC * Super Imperialism. The Economic Strategy of American Empire: https://www.amazon.in/Imperialism-Economic-Strategy-American-Empire/dp/3981826086/ II. Videos * Pete Hegseth: "China is Building An Army to Defeat America": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WRj8JFNkiM&t=277s * Chinese shipbuilding capacity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOf_FlWzICM&t=3774s * CEO of Raytheon on how difficult it is to decouple from China: https://youtu.be/r8bF5_WskzQ?si=f0egT8cF3DHiNcKr&t=41 * How Tinder is reshaping human relationships: https://youtu.be/0iVlVVZe-YY?si=sE4hYW03onu0pTaK III. Studies and Articles * China's 200x shipbuilding capacity: https://www.twz.com/alarming-navy-intel-slide-warns-of-chinas-200-times-greater-shipbuilding-capacity * The US military is made in China: https://x.com/balajis/status/1811864350833148145 * U.S. production capacity, and deterring China: https://www.govini.com/insights/numbers-matter-defense-acquisition-u-s-production-capacity-and-deterring-china * Evolution of Earth's economic centre of gravity (History is running in reverse) : https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Evolution-of-the-earths-economic-centre-of-gravity-from-AD1-to-2025-4_fig3_271450876 * US senate passes stablecoin bill : https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-senate-passes-stablecoin-bill-milestone-crypto-industry-2025-06-17/ * Hong Kong passes stablecoin bill: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/22/hong-kong-passes-stablecoin-bill-as-more-governments-recognize-the-digital-assets-.html * Animoca brands financial highlights FY2024: https://www.animocabrands.com/animoca-brands-investor-update-for-the-quarter-and-fiscal-year-ending-on-31-december-2024 * Democrats and Republicans increasingly don't marry each other: https://x.com/balajis/status/1860359135558271396 * Democrats cleaned up SF for Xi : https://x.com/balajis/status/1724665467682631782 * China plays a strong home game, India plays a strong away game: https://x.com/balajis/status/1429423610830020613 * Rhode Island pulls over New Yorker's to keep virus at bay: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/coronavirus-rhode-island-checkpoint.html * Left is the new right is the new left: https://thenetworkstate.com/left-is-the-new-right-is-the-new-left * San Francisco is breaking down : https://x.com/balajis/status/1800171234036154452 SOCIALS https://x.com/ns https://x.com/ysiu https://ns.com/