In October 2022, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong issued the "Policy Declaration on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong", and since then, Hong Kong's Web3 industry has been "opening up" all the way. Not only does the Hong Kong government continue to release favorable policies, but relevant persons in charge are also happy to participate in various summits and activities, and even the online Twitter Space has actively participated, and has launched in-depth dialogues and exchanges with Web3 practitioners. In 5 months, projects, talents, and funds that focus on Web3 venture capital around the world have quickly gathered in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong's Web3 ecosystem has accelerated its formation. The duck knows first when the spring river water warms up. Although it is 1,084 kilometers away from Hong Kong, since 2023, Hangzhou's Web3 activities have gradually heated up, and cross-border dialogue activities have increased.
Blockchain activities in Hangzhou are increasing, and the wave of Web3 technology is coming
In the past few weeks, a number of events have been held in succession at the China (Hangzhou) Future Blockchain Innovation Center.
From the metaverse to blockchain, from Web3 Social to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
On March 5, Web3 Social, co-organized by Lens Chinese Community and Babbitt, was held. More than 140 entrepreneurs from all over the country gathered in Yuhang, Hangzhou. They are currently the most cutting-edge Web3 social pioneers in China.
At the beginning of 2023, the social application Damus became popular all over the world. Will Web3 social networking subvert traditional social applications such as Twitter and WeChat? As the track with the largest user base, entrepreneurs have been closely supporting technological innovation in this field. As long as they seize the opportunity, they may become the next unicorn company.
In Hangzhou, entrepreneurs discussed technological innovation and how to drive Web3 social networking to bring a new user experience from the perspective of user experience. Entrepreneur Li Xiang said that he had never expected so many of his peers to come to the scene. "Hangzhou's Web3 atmosphere is indeed well-deserved."
On February 24, the Hangzhou stop of the Web3 Play DAO National Tour was also held here, hosted by PlayDAO and co-organized by Hangzhou Timestamp Weilan Co., Ltd., Amazon Web Services, Meta Job, and Jujing Research Institute. The event attracted more than 150 industry guests to attend.
The uniqueness of this event lies in the fact that there are not only Web3 practitioners, project owners, and investment institution leaders, but also many guests from the Web2 industry who want to enter Web3 but don’t know much about it.
Guo Jin is a technical developer at an Internet company in Hangzhou. He was very excited about the open discussion on Web3 technology. "The atmosphere was very good and geeky, which is not found in our traditional Internet circles. Although we didn't know each other, we had a very enjoyable chat and it was worth the trip," he said.
In fact, a few days earlier, several activities including Metaverse training and blockchain internal training were held at the China (Hangzhou) Future Blockchain Innovation Center. With the end of the epidemic, offline activities are increasing, and the China (Hangzhou) Future Blockchain Innovation Center may be the venue with the most frequent Web3 activities in Hangzhou, and it has become a landmark for Web3 practitioners in the west of Hangzhou.
Blockchain technology is "invisible", is the killer application of Web3 about to be born?
On October 24, 2019, blockchain technology was elevated to a national strategy. In the following two years, the term blockchain quickly broke through the circle, leading Internet companies have laid out alliance chains, and A-shares have also set off a batch of blockchain concept stocks, and blockchain entrepreneurship has become synonymous with cutting-edge technology.
In 2023, at several events held at the China (Hangzhou) Future Blockchain Innovation Center, the themes varied, but without exception, the topic of conversation among the guests could not avoid blockchain.
However, compared with the extensive discussion of blockchain technology in the past two years, the frequency of the term blockchain has greatly decreased. Even the content of decentralization, encryption, economic model, etc. has greatly decreased.
What is your product scenario? What problem does it solve? Where are the users? How to generate revenue? Such topics are gradually increasing. This reflects that after the construction of infrastructure and basic protocols in the past 2-3 years, the Web3 industry is entering a stage of explosive growth at the application layer.
How digital technologies such as NFT, AIGC, and blockchain can be combined with existing industries to create scenarios that people have never seen or even imagined, and transform business and life, has become the most eye-catching topic of several events. As one participant said: "Having commercializable value is the breakthrough point of the Web3 industry, and only then can Web3 truly give birth to killer applications with tens of millions of users."
China (Hangzhou) Future Blockchain Innovation Center is the first blockchain industrial park jointly established with Hangzhou Future Science and Technology City. After it was put into operation, it attracted many leading blockchain companies to settle in. There are 5 blockchain quasi-unicorn companies in Hangzhou, of which 4 have settled in the park.
The blockchain companies settled in the platform cover various fields such as media services, underlying technology research and development, big data, distributed storage, intelligent risk control, government affairs, judicial evidence storage, privacy computing, smart cities, smart communities, etc. In the two years since its operation, it has held more than 60 events such as hackathons, technology salons, blockchain product launches, and the World Blockchain Conference.
Next, it is expected that the China (Hangzhou) Future Blockchain Innovation Center will welcome more Web3, AIGC, digital collections and other related activities. I believe that how to create products with tens of millions of users will definitely be the core topic discussed by the participants.
Note: China (Hangzhou) Blockchain Innovation Center is located in Hangzhou Future Science and Technology City. Future Science and Technology City will build a "National Blockchain Industry Development Highland" and a "National Blockchain Application Demonstration Highland" to jointly cultivate and develop the blockchain industry. The types of companies that will be settled in include upstream, midstream and downstream companies in blockchain technology; AI basic layer, AI technology layer, AI application layer and other artificial intelligence-related industrial fields; upstream base station upgrades, midstream network construction, downstream product applications and terminal product application scenarios and other industrial categories. Settled companies can enjoy subsidy policies including rent subsidies, R&D subsidies, etc., as well as tax incentives, talent incentives, etc. For specific policies, please consult the park operators. Relevant companies are welcome to settle in.
C3 Tip: The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author's own and do not constitute investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and transaction involves risk.