Performative Company With Deep Structural Issues
Pros
Foodpanda benefits were available, though they mainly applied if you were physically in office. If you worked overtime past 9pm, you could book a Grab home and get reimbursed up to S$40. The fitness and L&D benefits were decent as well, but they were only accessible to full-time employees who had passed probation. Overall though, while the perks existed, they felt relatively minimal and did not really translate into a fulfilling work culture or long-term sense of growth and satisfaction.
Cons
This company markets itself as a crypto/Web3 company, but internally it felt very far from an actual crypto-native environment. Many decision makers and leadership personnel did not appear deeply engaged with the crypto ecosystem, market narratives, or even real-time crypto information flow. The culture felt extremely political and hierarchical. Employees who constantly agreed with leadership, praised company initiatives, and avoided challenging decisions seemed to be rewarded more than people who raised valid concerns or tried to improve products/processes. Questioning product direction or operational issues was often dismissed rather than discussed constructively. Instead of collaborative problem-solving, feedback could be met with defensiveness or condescension. There were major execution and communication gaps between business teams, PMs, and developers. Product issues and infrastructure problems were often unresolved for long periods, yet frontline teams were still expected to deliver results. When performance suffered, accountability tended to flow downward instead of addressing root operational issues. Management culture also felt heavily focused on headcount pressure and performance management rather than long-term team building or enabling employees to succeed. From conversations with many long-term employees, morale appeared low despite the company’s strong external branding. A lot of internal efforts felt optimized toward optics and IPO positioning rather than building a genuinely strong crypto product culture. The work culture in the Hong Kong office was also extremely overtime-heavy. There was a strong unspoken expectation that staying late equated to being hardworking. Leaving on time could sometimes be perceived negatively, even if your work was completed efficiently. Many PMs and employees regularly worked until 10pm or later, and late-night meetings (sometimes 1–2am) were not uncommon due to cross-region coordination and internal culture expectations. Unfortunately, this often created an environment where “visibility” and performative busyness seemed more valued than actual productivity or effectiveness. Employees who stayed online longer or appeared constantly busy were often viewed more favorably, regardless of actual output or contribution quality.
