作者 | Keegan吴区块链编译2022年4月初，我带着对未来的希望来到了新加坡。三年零四个月后，我们没想到最终还是要离开这个小国。带着这些年的生活、工作、家庭的回忆，我们踏上了新的征程。生活这三年多，我们一直住在荷兰村，住在同一间公寓里，从来没有搬过家，因为周围的一切都是那么方便。首先，交通极其便利。楼下就是一个叫车的上/下车点；街对面是一个公交车站，附近还有几个公交车站。步行几分钟即可到达地铁站。无论是上下班、购物还是周末郊游，出行都毫不费力。二是购物、餐饮都很方便。街对面有一个购物中心——地下室是Cold Storage，楼上有服装店、礼品店、五金店、照相馆、理发店等。右边大楼的地下一层（B1）是我们最常去的另一家超市FairPrice。一楼有面包店和咖啡馆，楼上
那里有餐馆、银行、健身房和诊所。附近的小贩中心、餐馆和酒吧街提供各种各样的选择。 One Holland Village 购物中心内设有冷库，还有大量餐厅、咖啡馆、饮料店、蛋糕店和礼品店，足以满足所有日常需求。该地区银行林立，星展银行、汇丰银行、华侨银行、工行等，金融服务非常便利。社区内还设有多家诊所，日常健康问题可以随时问诊，生活方便又安心。附近有很多儿童游乐设施；这些年来，我们的孩子几乎都尝试过。楼下还有一个社区图书馆；我们的孩子经常借书在家、周末或空闲时阅读
Author | Keegan
Compiled by WuBlockchain
In early April 2022, I came to Singapore with hopes for the future. Three years and four months later, we didn’t expect that we would ultimately have to leave this small country. Carrying the memories of these years of life, work, and family, we set off on a new journey.
Life
For these three-plus years, we lived in Holland Village, in the same apartment the entire time — we never moved because everything around us was just so convenient.
First, transportation was extremely convenient. Right downstairs was a pickup/drop-off point for ride-hailing; across the street was a bus stop, with several others nearby; and the MRT station was just a few minutes’ walk away. Whether commuting to work, shopping, or weekend outings, getting around was effortless.
Second, shopping and dining were easy. Across the street there was a shopping center — Cold Storage in the basement, and upstairs there were clothing stores, gift shops, a hardware store, a photo studio, and a barber, among others. In the basement level (B1) of the building to the right was another supermarket, FairPrice, which we frequented most often. The first floor had a bakery and cafés, and upstairs there were restaurants, banks, a gym, and clinics. Nearby hawker centers, restaurants, and the bar street offered great variety. The mall One Holland Village housed another Cold Storage, along with plenty of restaurants, cafés, beverage shops, cake shops, and gift stores — enough to meet all everyday needs.
Banks were plentiful in the area — DBS, HSBC, OCBC, and ICBC — making financial services very convenient. There were also many clinics in the community, so routine health issues could be seen to at any time, making life both convenient and reassuring. There were lots of children’s play facilities nearby; over these years, our kids have practically tried them all. Downstairs there was also a community library; our child often borrowed books to read at home, and on weekends or during free time, we could always find joy and quiet there.
Singapore’s public facilities are also very user-friendly. Laws and building codes require that public buildings, public housing estates, malls, MRT stations, etc., be equipped with barrier-free access for wheelchairs, strollers, and shopping trolleys. As a result, nearly all pedestrian routes, MRT exits, and mall entrances are connected by elevators and ramps; pushing a stroller or a cart, or even hauling a heavy suitcase, you can move along smoothly without fearing that stairs will “block” you. In addition, many communities, sidewalks, and bus stops are linked by covered walkways, shielding you from the tropical sun and allowing you to pass calmly through downpours, making outings consistently comfortable and smooth. The overall environment is clean and orderly, and public safety is good; even walking home alone at night, you can feel at ease.
There are also many parks in Singapore, and almost every park has playgrounds or water play areas suitable for children. We often went to different playgrounds and splash parks to play — almost all of them were free.
In my view, most importantly, the environment here is especially friendly to children. Safe streets, abundant play facilities, dense greenery, and community activities allow kids to play freely and explore the world; libraries and enrichment classes are everywhere, letting children grow up both safely and with lots of fun. From the community to public facilities, Singapore truly builds a “paradise for kids.”
What corresponds to this convenience and comfort, however, is a relatively high cost of living.
In the first year after we arrived, we would habitually convert each expense into renminbi and compare it to spending back home in China. By comparison, we often felt reluctant to spend. At that time, I usually ate lunch at the office, keeping the average to around SGD 7. As we adapted, that average rose to the low teens in SGD, and sometimes even over SGD 20.
Household expenses were similar. Early on, we often cooked at home, keeping weekly spending to around SGD 150; monthly food expenses came to about SGD 750. But as we settled in, we loosened up and would dine out from time to time; later, weekly spending was around SGD 500–1,000, and monthly food expenses were at least SGD 4,000–5,000.
Overall, our three-plus years in Singapore let us deeply feel the city’s convenience, comfort, and safety. Convenient transport, well-developed public facilities, a clean environment, and good public security made daily life easy and reassuring. Abundant educational resources, child-friendly public spaces, and community activities allowed our children to grow freely. Yet convenience and comfort don’t mask all issues — especially the high cost of living and certain deeper misfits — which ultimately sowed the seeds of our departure.
Work
Compared with China, I quite like the working environment in Singapore — not the specific office facilities, but the overall vibe and culture.
Here, salaries are typically paid at the end of the month — current month’s pay arrives in the current month — unlike many companies in China, where last month’s salary may only be paid mid-month.
As for leave, many Singaporean companies offer 14–20 days of annual leave, and when you add public holidays, total days off are generally more than in China. Moreover, holidays here are rarely “offset” by working weekends; you can truly rest and arrange family life. This system makes work–life balance more palpable.
Regarding overtime, Singapore’s work culture emphasizes efficiency and results rather than “sitting in the office for long hours.” Overtime typically happens because a project is pressing or a task requires it — not due to cultural pressure. Most industries and companies don’t work overtime as frequently as some firms in China; employees can arrange the rhythm of work and family relatively freely.
In addition, the job market is relatively stable, without the frequently mentioned “age 35 crisis” or “age 40 crisis.” As long as your skills and experience match the role’s requirements, age isn’t an obvious barrier; career advancement depends more on personal capability and performance than on age or unspoken rules. I was nearly 37 when I came to Singapore, and this environment let me devote myself to work with peace of mind while balancing family life.
After arriving in Singapore, I went through three jobs, each bringing different challenges and gains.
The first was at Bybit, where I worked on the ApeX project. It was my first time truly integrating into a local, international team. The pace was fast and standards were high, which quickly helped me adapt to the working model here and significantly boosted my hands-on experience in blockchain.
Later, I moved to ORA (formerly HyperOracle), responsible for developing an on-chain ETF product. This job was fully remote, saving commuting time and letting me spend more time with family. However, since the boss and several core members were in North America, time-zone differences reduced the frequency of communication, noticeably slowing the project’s tempo and making me realize the limits of remote collaboration in maintaining rhythm.
Finally, I started a business with a friend — NamePump. I poured myself into it for over half a year, juggling product, technology, and operations while dealing with market uncertainty. But in June 2025, Singapore abruptly tightened policies for the Web3 industry, directly impacting our business, and we had no choice but to wind it down.
For me personally, however, the biggest shortcoming was English. While I could handle everyday interactions, in a work setting — especially in meetings and when communicating with colleagues of different nationalities — English remained a clear constraint. This not only added psychological pressure at work, but also became a potential obstacle when competing for higher roles and larger projects. On top of that, Singapore’s job market is highly concentrated in certain sectors; if your language and professional background don’t fully match, your career growth can be limited.
External changes amplified that uncertainty. In June 2025, Singapore abruptly tightened regulation of the Web3 industry, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) introducing the DTSP (Digital Token Service Provider) regime, effective immediately: any company or individual incorporated in Singapore and providing digital token services to local or overseas clients must be licensed, or face fines of up to SGD 250,000 and even three years’ imprisonment. More importantly, the licensing requirements were extremely stringent — high paid-up capital, a resident compliance officer, annual audits, and robust AML/CFT systems — greatly raising industry entry barriers and leaving little room for the flexible, international operating models of the past.
This sharp turn from “policy-friendly” to “heavy-handed regulation” made a previously stable career environment suddenly hard to predict. For me, the overlap of language constraints and industry uncertainty became one of the key reasons that ultimately pushed us to leave Singapore.
Education
One important reason we chose Singapore was to give our children a better education. Singapore’s education system is highly regarded globally, especially at the K12 stage: academic performance stands out, and the bilingual policy gives students strong abilities in both English and their mother tongue. We originally hoped our children could build a solid academic foundation here while broadening their horizons in an open, diverse environment.
To be honest, there was also a very personal reason behind this decision. My wife has always valued learning; she understands how crucial educational opportunities are and hopes our children can have broader choices and vision. So she has always wanted to do everything she could to ensure the kids receive the best education possible and don’t miss out due to circumstances.
In fact, our finances weren’t exactly abundant. To give our children better education, we made many trade-offs in daily life and bore considerable financial pressure. But in our view, it was a worthwhile investment.
Over these three-plus years, both our children attended decent international schools. Although the educational investment wasn’t small, we truly witnessed their growth — not only more confident and independent academically, but also showing more curiosity and tolerance in life.
Take our younger daughter, for example — she was just over two when we arrived and still confused by many things. Today, English has become her first language; she speaks naturally and fluently, while her Chinese has regressed to the point of barely being able to speak it. We bought her many English books, and she reads even faster than I read Chinese books. She has built a solid foundation in math, science, and the arts, and stays highly interested in learning. She also studies piano, violin, and swimming, with broader interests than before.
Our older daughter started first grade when we arrived, and her changes over these three-plus years have been even more striking. For instance, she can finish a thick English edition of Harry Potter — about 760 pages — in three days; if it were me, I’d probably need three months. The development of language skills and reading habits like that is hard for us to imagine back home. Beyond that, her drawing and swimming have long surpassed mine.
Watching our children grow bit by bit, we became more certain that, despite the pressure and trade-offs, this study experience in Singapore would be a lifelong asset for them.
Leaving
The decision to leave Singapore wasn’t impulsive; it was the result of long deliberation on many fronts. Over the past three-plus years, we lived, worked, and raised children here, experiencing its convenience, safety, and diversity, as well as high living costs, career constraints, and ever-shifting industry policies.
At first, we thought we would stay longer. The kids adapted well at school and made many friends; we ourselves gradually settled into the rhythm. Yet life isn’t only about comfort and affection; it also requires consideration of long-term sustainability. My disadvantage in English made me feel there was always a ceiling professionally; policy changes injected more uncertainty into our original career plan. Meanwhile, the long-term pressure of education and living costs forced us to recalculate the future.
Ultimately, we realized that if we wanted a more stable educational path for our children and more space for ourselves in career and life, leaving might be the more rational choice. This is not a rejection of Singapore — on the contrary, we still like its cleanliness, safety, and inclusiveness, and we’re grateful for the opportunities and experiences it offered us. It’s just that every chapter in life has a beginning and an end; perhaps our chapter here has reached its close.
Where to go after leaving was another question we pondered for a long time. We wanted our children’s schooling to transition smoothly while easing the long-term financial burden.
We considered returning to China — Guangzhou or Shenzhen, or going to Zhuhai or Foshan. But given our children’s difficulty re-adapting to the domestic education model, our only option would be international schools, and the tuition at suitable schools remained high — roughly on par with Singapore.
Another option was Malaysia. We compared international schools in Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang, and found that Penang offered the best overall cost performance. Last month we even traveled to Penang to inspect schools and the residential environment in person, and ultimately decided to settle our new life there.
All in, education costs there can be reduced by about two-thirds compared with Singapore, and living costs are significantly lower. Housing, for instance: our current rent is half of Singapore’s, the space is three times larger, and we even have a sea view. Daily food is also much cheaper. Yesterday, our first home-cooked meal cost only MYR 11 (just over SGD 3) in ingredients; in Singapore it would likely be at least SGD 15.
But we haven’t truly settled yet — we’re here on tourist visas, and whether we can smoothly obtain long-term visas remains uncertain. This is especially thorny since I’m currently unemployed. Even so, we’re willing to face the upcoming challenges with an open mind. Whatever the outcome, we hope to create a more stable and expansive growth environment for our children, while finding our own place in this new stage of life. The road ahead may not be easy, but we hope it will be just as worthwhile.
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