Visiting Network School: A Web3 Utopia Built in an Abandoned Building of Country Garden in Malaysia

Author: June, Deep Tide TechFlow

Is spending 1500 USD to join Network School, an experimental community founded by former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, really an IQ tax?

The author visited the Network School located in Forest City, Malaysia, to find out more.

Build a Network School in a ghost town of real estate.

In August 2024, Balaji officially announced via Twitter that Network School will undergo a 90-day trial operation phase from September to December of the same year.

Balaji excitedly stated in a tweet: “Through the power of Bitcoin, we now have a beautiful little island near Singapore, where we are building the Network School.”

This tweet quickly attracted widespread attention and discussion in the Web3 community, and Balaji's wording filled people with longing for this “beautiful little island.” However, the reality is much more complicated.

Specifically, Network School is located in Forest City, Johor, Malaysia, and can be reached by car in about half an hour from the city center of Johor Bahru.

Forest City is a large project developed and constructed by China's Country Garden, consisting of four artificial islands. However, with the real estate market becoming sluggish in recent years, this project located in Malaysia has not been spared.

This city is even referred to as a “ghost town” by the BBC, with a large number of modern high-rise buildings but few people, becoming an abandoned city. This is another reflection of the downturn in the real estate market and the difficulties faced by property companies.

superior geographical location

It is undeniable that the geographical location of Forest City still has great advantages.

It takes only about 1 hour by car to travel from Forest City to Singapore, and Network School also provides dedicated round-trip transportation services for its members; on the other hand, despite being separated from Singapore by a narrow strait, one can enjoy a relatively low cost of living. As an important international financial center and technology hub, many key events and conferences in the crypto space are held there, providing excellent learning and networking opportunities for members of Network School.

However, there is always a gap between ideals and reality.

Although the geographical location is advantageous, the convenience of daily life still needs significant improvement. Residents mainly rely on ride-hailing services like Grab to reach the nearby city center, and the public transportation infrastructure is relatively weak, which somewhat limits the range of activities and convenience of life for community members.

This relatively isolated and desolate state has, to some extent, created a unique atmosphere for the community.

Welcome to Network School

People who step into the Forest City for the first time may feel a bit surprised by the scene before them.

Walking into the forest city, what hits you is a coexistence of modernity and desolation.

The dense greenery makes this place look vibrant, contrasting sharply with the long-closed shops. Every building's balcony is adorned with lush plants, just as its name, “Forest City,” suggests. Chinese elements are everywhere—spicy hot pot shops, Chinese supermarkets, red lanterns, and familiar Chinese signage, making it feel like a small town in China. The empty streets and scattered shops are occasionally traversed by small groups of explorers who have come here from all over the world.

For practitioners in the Web3 field, this seemingly strange and strong contrast may not be unfamiliar.

Many people in the country also choose a lifestyle of “geographical arbitrage.” For example, writing code by the Erhai Lake in Dali, holding online meetings by the seaside in Anaya, or maintaining remote work in Hegang at one-tenth the cost of a first-tier city.

The desolation of Forest City and the vitality of Network School are strikingly similar to the Web3 industry itself: beyond the mainstream view, a group of people is building something on the ruins.

The people gathered here mostly share similar backgrounds: tired of the internal competition in traditional tech companies, they have faith in the future of Web3 and are willing to exchange a lower cost of living for greater entrepreneurial freedom. They may have just attended Token2049 in Singapore and then returned to this quiet little island to continue coding.

This community, created single-handedly by Balaji, is trying to build an ideal Web3 nation in the most unlikely of places.

Hello, welcome to Network School —— an ideal city that is not defined by the secular world and is ambitiously trying to create a new era Harvard.

Cost of living and accommodation arrangements

The main community activities of Network School revolve around two locations: the Community Activity Center and the hotel area.

The community activity center located on the ground floor of the apartment is equipped with meeting rooms and co-working spaces.

The permanent base of Network School is located within a seaside hotel, where short-term participants typically choose to stay in hotel rooms. Other public facilities, such as a gym, conference rooms, a dedicated Network School café, and a library, are all centrally located within the hotel.

In terms of living costs, the monthly fee for a double room is currently 1500 USD, which covers accommodation, three meals a day, access to fitness facilities, and participation fees for all courses. Network School remains open year-round, allowing participants to flexibly choose their length of stay according to their needs and plans.

Short-term participants, such as those planning to stay for only one month, will stay in fully equipped hotel rooms, while long-term residents will choose two-bedroom apartments with better amenities, enjoying a more comfortable living space.

In terms of catering, the community provides a complete three meals a day: breakfast and dinner are served buffet style, while lunch offers bento boxes. It is particularly noteworthy that the community has adopted a healthy eating plan promoted by Bryan Johnson (founder of Blueprint), focusing on nutritional pairing and a healthy lifestyle.

The gym at Network School is also a major highlight. This gym was built from scratch on the hotel's vacant land, with a full range of equipment available, and members can also independently initiate fitness training activities.

The operating philosophy of Network School revolves around four core concepts: Learn, Burn, Earn, and Fun. A typical day here might look something like this:

• Morning: Get up, exercise, and have breakfast according to the Blueprint diet plan.
• Morning: Head to the Co-working Space, each focused on remote work.
• Afternoon: Book Club, Vibe Coding, AI Status Discussion, DeFi 101 Course, or freely arranged side projects.
• Evening: Community dinner, a small event organized spontaneously.

The gathering place for dark talents

“Many people see Network School and instinctively think of it as a school, but in essence, it is more like a community for like-minded Web3 individuals. There is no fixed timetable here; learning is free.” Nikki explained.

Nikki (@nikkideyy) from the Philippines has been living here since June this year, and it has been 4 months now.

Network School does not have a curriculum or unified learning tasks. However, the community occasionally presents interesting learning challenges, such as discovering technical vulnerabilities on the website, creating promotional content, or shooting short videos. Here, “education” is more like a continuous process of joint exploration.

According to Nikki, the current cohort consists of 270 people, making it the largest cohort to date. The Network School has gone through two development phases: the first phase was a 90-day trial operation period from September 23, 2024, to December 23, 2024.

The second phase will officially start operations on March 1, 2025, and this phase is known as “Society-as-a-Service”. Its goal is to systematically train “social builders” and prepare for the future permanent campus.

“Some people are digital nomads, while others have moved their offices here, along with various accelerator and incubator projects, such as Solana Superteam and Monad Residency, which have established their operational bases here.”

The Solana Superteam from Singapore conducted a 6-week Ignition incubation residency program at Network School from May to June, while the Monad Founder Residency launched a 3-week residency program in August this year.

For participants of Network School, the most important aspect is probably the community atmosphere. Living, learning, and communicating with like-minded people is the biggest highlight here. Nikki can relate to this, saying, “I am at the intersection of wanting to create something and wanting to join something, and Network School has given me a perfect opportunity to explore what I really want to do in the future.”

Her feelings also reflect the core values of Network School: this is a gathering place for Dark Talent, those who have not been accepted by the traditional education system but are eager to create the future. These talents possess innovative thinking and a practical spirit, but may be overlooked in the mainstream system due to their non-traditional backgrounds.

Different people use this platform in different ways. Some move their office directly here, while others use it as a transit station to explore what to do next.

Network School is gradually becoming the intersection of Web3 culture and entrepreneurship.

The view from the presidential suite

The meeting room in the hotel has now become the activity center for Network School members. Nikki also took us to visit the presidential suite, which has the largest meeting room. The hotel is located by the coast, and from the balcony, you can clearly see Singapore across the water, as well as the panoramic view of the forest city, with towering skyscrapers in the distance and a large area of well-planned residential zones. However, it is regrettable that most of these buildings are still vacant.

The view from the presidential suite, taken by the author.

In this regard, Nikki admitted that she used to jog with friends in a nearby residential area, but found that most of the houses along the way were unoccupied. Nikki joked that what was supposed to be an ordinary running experience ultimately turned into a peculiar adventure.

In fact, the spectacular scenery surrounding Network School itself is a unique selling point. As you drive into the forest city, you can see the towering skyscrapers lined up along the road, contrasting with the relatively flat terrain around them, making it particularly impressive. At the entrance of the hotel, there is a prominent exclusive sign for Network School, and as soon as you step into the hotel lobby, you are greeted by the modern NS Cafe set in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

The NS Cafe, located in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, offers members free coffee and drinking water.

Author's Postscript

Before setting off, I had already heard a little about the story of Forest City. What impressed me the most was the “ghost city” video that circulated widely on social media two years ago. In the video, Forest City appears dilapidated and dark, with shop signs long fallen, making the entire city look like a ghost town.

It is precisely for this reason that I am very curious about the Network School established here.

As I drove from the highway into the forest city, the first thing that caught my eye was the row of tall buildings, resembling a movie scene. After entering the forest city, I first visited the community activity center located beneath the apartment building. The brand new appearance of the activity center seemed very out of place against the backdrop of the abandoned shops surrounding it.

At that moment, I couldn't help but wonder, is the so-called Network School really just like this?

After arriving at the Network School's permanent hotel, the author completely changed their perspective. Upon entering the lobby, the members were quietly working in the café, with a clear blue sea view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. Nikki led the author on a tour of the meeting rooms, dining area, library, yoga studio, and gym. All facilities are open to all members, who can also independently create clubs or organize sports activities.

Nikki and her partner, who is also a holder of Pudgy Penguins, established Pudgy NS and held the Pudgy Party event.

Since moving in June, Nikki has also indicated that recently more and more shops have started to open. After visiting the site, it was found that Forest City is not as deserted as reported on the internet; it is not messy, and there are staff everywhere cleaning up fallen leaves. There are security personnel guarding the buildings, as well as maintenance staff taking care of the building equipment.

So, is it worth spending 1500 USD to join Network School?

Perhaps the answer does not lie in the height of the fee standard, but in whether you are willing to build a utopia of the digital age here with these “dark talents.”