Just weeks after Malaysian authorities shut down a live-in commune for tech entrepreneurs in its $100 billion "ghost town," a local crypto executive wants to take over the site.
Jeff Yew, head of Monochrome Asset Management, told Business Insider that he sees the former Network School campus at Forest City, Johor, as an opportunity to concentrate a crypto-entrepreneurial scene that he says remains "fragmented" across the region.
"Silicon Valley's for tech — why don't we make Forest City a hub for AI and blockchain?" Yew, 32, said. Yew said crypto companies and entrepreneurs remain scattered across Malaysia and Singapore, without a clear physical hub where they can cluster.
Forest City could fill that gap, he said, pointing to its existing infrastructure, proximity to Singapore, and tax incentives. He envisions a campus where people could work, learn from one another, and eventually settle down with their families.
"All it needs is a push in a direction to the right community," Yew, who was born in Penang, Malaysia, said.
The proposal is still in its early stages, but Yew said it would not be a personal venture and tied the project to Monochrome's broader ambitions in Asia.
The Australia-based firm specializes in crypto-asset investments. It manages Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds, which had about $127 million and $4.5 million in Australian dollars in assets, respectively, as of August 18. Yew has not released further information about the proposal at press time.
Yew said he plans to prioritize local digital companies and workers, potentially offering incentives to encourage them to relocate to Forest City, though the details are still being worked out.
"I would not have invested the time to look into this if I didn't think Johor is the best place for this," he added.
Network School's final days in Forest City #
For nearly two years, the campus was home to Network School, a commune for tech entrepreneurs and digital nomads founded in October 2024 by former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan. Membership started at $1,500 a month with roommates and included accommodation, meals, and gym access, a model Network School called "society-as-a-service."
That all began to unravel in July.
The scrutiny began when the Johor government launched a probe on July 14 into whether Israeli nationals had participated in Network School using second passports from other countries. Malaysia, a majority-Muslim country, has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
Malaysia's immigration department said on July 15 that preliminary checks of 266 foreigners from 40 countries found no immigration violations, per The New Straits Times, an English-language daily newspaper published in Malaysia.
Srinivasan, too, pushed back against the scrutiny in a lengthy July 16 post on X, saying that Network School "cooperated fully" with authorities and "all travel documents were in order."
Subsequent inspections by the local city council, however, uncovered issues with Network School's operations.
Of Network School's two premises at Forest City, one was licensed as an office but was being used for classes, while the other was operating without a valid business license. The local city council also found that Network School's signage did not comply with the conditions of its advertising license, according to Media Digital Johor, the Johor state government's official portal.
In a July 18 post on X, Srinivasan called reports that Network School was shutting down "fake news." He said one notice required a change to the text on a sign, while its coworking site — comprising two adjacent units — "evidently has a valid license on the left-hand side but not the right-hand side."
"We have a remedial period for both issues, and will remediate them shortly," he wrote, adding that members were otherwise unaffected.
Three days later, local authorities revoked the school operator's business license and ordered Network School to cease operations the following day.
Srinivasan and Network School did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
A new start #
On July 22 — the same day Network School ceased operations in Johor — Srinivasan announced in a post on X that the school had signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Kazakhstan to establish a new campus there.
A July 27 press release from the Kazakhstan government provided more details about the meeting, including discussions around a proposed "Network City" in Burabay, a resort town in northern Kazakhstan.
On Tuesday, Srinivasan posted an update on X, saying that Network School is "up and running" in Astana, Kazakhstan. The post included a promotional video and encouraged people to sign up. Network School's website has also been updated with details about its Kazakhstan operation, including its space on the fifth floor of Astana Hub.
A $100 billion city still searching for its purpose #
Forest City, situated on a 1,740-hectare reclaimed site in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, was built by Country Garden, once China's largest property developer. The $100 billion project was originally designed to house as many as 700,000 people in luxury condominiums and villas.
But the reality fell far short of those ambitions, and Malaysia has been trying to turn the city into a business and financial hub.
In 2023, the government designated Forest City a special financial zone to attract investment. A year later, it rolled out tax incentives for companies and investors, including corporate tax rates as low as 5% for qualifying businesses in industries such as finance, AI, cybersecurity, and fintech.
When Business Insider visited Forest City in 2022, it found a development struggling to attract residents.
When BI returned two years later, there were more people around, though much of it remained quiet. One Malaysian who had traveled six hours from Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, for a triathlon told BI he wouldn't have made the trip otherwise.
"I wouldn't come here. There's nothing here. It's quite dead," he said at the time.