The Future of Citizenship
Bridging the industrial age and the network age
I'm methodically acquiring citizenships and residencies across the globe—with a goal of having five to ten passports in the next decade. This isn't about prestige or novelty. It's about sovereignty in a world where the old models of citizenship are restricting human potential.
My first citizenship came from the Soviet Union's successor state. Like millions of others, I was assigned a nationality at birth, only to learn that it fundamentally conflicts with who I am and what I believe. I left Russia to build technology that enhances human freedom and connection—values that have become increasingly incompatible with the Russian state. Now I can't safely return to the country where I was born.
Even after building multiple technology companies and employing dozens of people in the United States, I face constant mobility barriers. I cannot see my family because they can't get US visas. Every international trip risks triggering "administrative processing" that could strand me outside the country where I'm building my business. This has happened twice now, where I’ve been locked out of the US for months at a time. Despite creating significant value and opportunities, my freedom of movement remains severely constrained by paperwork and bureaucracy.
This isn't just my story. Thousands of talented founders and builders face similar barriers, their potential constrained by the accident of where they were born. We talk about talent being globally distributed, but opportunity remains locked behind arbitrary borders.
My response is strategic citizenship acquisition, which ensures that as the geopolitical landscape gets more chaotic, I will have options. But here's the critical insight: not all citizenships enhance freedom. Some, like US citizenship, can actually restrict mobility through citizenship-based taxation—a system where you remain a tax resident regardless of where you live. The only way to escape double taxation is by renouncing your US citizenship entirely. That’s why the goal isn't to collect passports indiscriminately, but to build a carefully curated portfolio that maximizes sovereign mobility while minimizing new forms of control.
This strategy has become even more critical recently. I had been considering pursuing EU citizenship until I watched France arrest Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, despite his French citizenship. His crime? Building technology that preserves privacy and resists centralized control. It's a stark reminder that even traditionally strong citizenship models can become control points rather than protections as states, or entire coalitions of states, trend toward more authoritarian approaches.
Another stark example emerged recently, as thousands of Belarusians—including friends of mine—found themselves unable to renew their passports after fleeing the country's authoritarian regime. In response, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has proposed a 'white passport' initiative, asking the UN to grant international recognition to Belarusians in exile. This proposal represents more than just emergency aid. It's an early experiment in decoupling citizenship from state control.
Our current model made sense in an industrial age where physical location determined most opportunities. But it breaks down spectacularly in a world where value creation has gone digital and communities form around shared values rather than shared borders.
The talent visa process offers the clearest example of this absurdity. A founder could be deemed "extraordinarily talented" by US immigration through the O1 visa process, spending months and thousands of dollars to prove their credentials. Then they need to prove the exact same things to the UK through their Global Talent visa program, then again for Australia's Distinguished Talent visa, then again for Canada's Global Skills stream—or just for extending their original O1.
Each process demands identical evidence: proof of international recognition, outstanding achievements, commercial success. Each costs thousands of dollars of legal fees and months of effort. It's like having to retake your driver's test every time you cross a state line—except the stakes are your ability to work and create value. The most talented builders in the world spend countless hours proving, over and over again, that they can contribute what they've already proven they can contribute. All while new technologies and companies wait to be built.
We're already seeing early signals of change. Digital nomad visas and remote-first companies hint at new possibilities. The UAE has become arguably the main hub for nomads by implementing a 0% income tax and offering a 1-week process for obtaining work permits. But the real transformation will come through digital infrastructure that enables "network states"—global communities organized around shared values and goals rather than shared territory.
This isn't entirely without precedent. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta has maintained international sovereignty for centuries without controlling territory, issuing valid passports and maintaining diplomatic relations with over 100 countries. It's organized around humanitarian mission rather than geographic boundaries. Now imagine that model upgraded with digital infrastructure that enables trusted coordination and resource allocation across borders.
There also have been some examples of new approaches to this like Praxis, Zuzalu, Cabin, Edge Esmeralda and others. Some DAOs are experimenting with on-chain governance structures like quadratic voting or futarchy. There’s still a lot to figure out for these models to work reliably at scale. ZK-based DID is something we’re working on at Human.
I don't yet know for sure how network states will evolve beyond traditional passports and citizenship models, let alone how they’ll fit into our everyday lives. But what's clear is our current system limits human potential, and the concept of citizenship is already becoming more fluid and multidimensional. Future generations won't be bound to one or two nation-states—they'll participate in multiple virtual communities with national status.
This transformation won't happen overnight. Nation-states will remain important for decades to come. That's why I'm methodically building my citizenship portfolio—it's a bridge that solves immediate problems while we build toward something better. The real work lies in creating infrastructure that makes citizenship what it always should have been: a reflection of our values and aspirations, rather than an accident of birth.
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For anyone pursuing a US talent visa, my friend Sigil built an online database of people who have successfully navigated the process. I contributed my initial O1a case from 2020 in the hopes that it could help others.
CitizenX can help you obtain citizenship through investment programs (including qualifying private funds) in over 15 countries. This is how I got my Grenadian passport, and I highly recommended them for ambitious builders looking to maximize their sovereignty.