Compiled by: Foresight News
The KBW 2023 Korea Blockchain Week and its surrounding events have come to an end. From the KBW Festival Eye, a three-day hackathon called Ethcon 2023, to the main venue KBW 2023 and various peripheral activities, Web3 practitioners, developers, KOLs, and crypto enthusiasts gathered here to discuss infrastructure, DeFi, social platforms, NFTs, metaverse, and blockchain games, sparking more ideas and possibilities.
Foresight News has collected and organized part of the trip to Korea’s crypto world, hoping that more people can gain some insights from the participants of KBW.
Foresight News researcher Karen: I attended about twenty events, hackathons, and After LianGuairty from the 1st to the 8th. I also saw familiar faces who were active in multiple events. Through communication with Korean media personnel, developers, and KOLs, I learned that at its peak, there were about 8 million cryptocurrency traders in Korea, accounting for more than 15% of the total population. Most of them are young people in their twenties and thirties. However, many retail investors have become less active after the LUNA incident, and the negative impact of the Delio incident is much more severe than what the reports have shown. Most people are more focused on socializing. Unfortunately, I did not discover many innovative and interesting new projects.
Foresight News Carrie: Hello Korea! In addition to the main venue KBW IMLianGuaiCT, the most vibrant event I experienced was ETHcon Korea, the most innovative event was KBW Festival Eye hosted by Ret Games, the most informative event was KBW Builder House, and the most unexpected was accidentally walking into the Privacy Event co-hosted by Blur and other brand projects with Karen. On to the next event…
Foresight News overseas partner Fiona Wang: The Korean market is a unique market. If you want to go fast, you won’t get far. To question the Korean blockchain market, to understand the Korean blockchain market, become a part of the Korean blockchain market.
Sun Yuchen: During KBW, I saw the enthusiasm of the Korean industry community. Although Korea is an independent region, it is still very important for developers. The United States and other regions have taken aggressive regulatory actions against the crypto industry, making decentralization in the crypto industry particularly important. Cryptocurrency technology is a global strategy, and everyone will be deeply involved. Personally, after entering the 11th year of entrepreneurship, communicating with industry colleagues and users in Korea still excites me about the rapidly changing new things in the industry.
Korean KOL Kim Young-taek (owner of the largest Korean Telegram group, Hobby Living Room): Compared to last year, there are fewer people attending this year’s event, but what has actually decreased is the noise. Instead, there are more valuable projects and opportunities.
Korean KOL subi: With Hong Kong accepting cryptocurrencies and the increased possibility of the SEC approving the spot ETF due to the phased victory of Grayscale’s lawsuit against the SEC, the crypto industry is currently going through a historical transformation. I am very excited about the new blockchain projects and investment opportunities that appeared at the KBW conference.
QuestN Co-founder Chess: The Korean market is like half water and half fire for Web3, like an elephant sitting on the ground, like the barbarians at the door, like a vulgar novel, and even like Reply 1988.
ZKM Co-founder Kevin: In Korea, ZK is not as popular as EthDenver and LianGuairis, but the enthusiasm for learning is high, and the future is promising.
Consensys/MetaMask Developer Relations (DevRel) Manager: ERC-4337 allows users to seamlessly connect to decentralized blockchain ecosystems while retaining the user-friendly experience familiar to Web2 users, and provides the convenience of using smart contracts to significantly enhance the user experience.
OKX Web3 Jinny: This trip has discovered that the web3 market in Korea is independent and interesting. We hope to explore more high-quality projects to become our partners.
Deribit Asia-Pacific Business Manager Lin: Korea is one of the largest markets in the cryptocurrency industry, with a high penetration rate among retail investors. All overseas “sickles” want to enter the Korean market, but wealth effects and communities are what customers need. In a bear market, we need more builders and educators to work together.
Taiko Community Manager Ben Wan: At Ethcon and KBW, we saw a vibrant developer community. Their enthusiasm, collaboration, and diverse skills are the core driving force behind blockchain innovation.
zkLink Co-founder Vince: “ZK”! With the organization and participation of the local ZK development community in Korea, discussions and activities related to ZK have significantly increased this year. Many L2 projects have participated in KBW to share their insights and progress. zkLink also shared insights on topics such as zk-Rollup, L2, multi-chain liquidity aggregation, and L3.
Orderly Network Co-founder Ran Yi: The interwoven discussions and insights are like a huge puzzle, and we are witnessing builders painting the orderly outline of Web3’s future.
BitMart Market Manager Jake Ji: Bear market? Crypto winter? Once you step into the venue, you won’t think so. The enthusiasm and expectations of all participants are beyond words, and the market is not that bad.
Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance (ABGA) Secretary-General Yoka Zhou: KBW is the top Web3 event in Korea, and many local elite teams are active in it. Through contact and communication with them, we have discovered more characteristics and charm of this fourth-largest independent market in the world. Looking forward to more cooperation and exchanges in the future!
Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus: After participating in the Korean Blockchain Week, you can understand why Korea and Asia are leading in Web3 and the crypto field. We have met many people who are passionate about this industry and have an open mindset. After launching the Chiliz Layer 1 public chain, we have received many cooperation invitations from Korean companies who want to collaborate with us and our 80 sports teams. Although we are aware of the existence of a bear market, it is important to see the motivation and opportunities ahead of us. That’s why we invited Alexandre Dreyfus this time, and that’s why we continue to cultivate the Asian market five years after launching Chiliz.
Xangle Co-founder Lihan Lee: Although we are still in the crypto winter, we can see the high enthusiasm of individuals and businesses towards blockchain. Although the volatility of many assets in the Web3 ecosystem is very high, with traditional companies continuously entering the Web3 space, the path to mass adoption of Web3 is not too far away.
Coin 98 Co-founder Thanh Le: This is a memorable conference experience, discussing and exchanging ideas with like-minded developers. I believe that Web3 will soon be widely adopted.
Web3 event Founder Dawns Xu (Ueno): We have counted more than 200 peripheral events, and we expect four to five thousand participants from around the world to attend this conference. No industry has the vitality and globalization of the Web3 industry. Technology is iterating, capital is accumulating, and the mass adoption of Web3 is unstoppable.
AltLayer Growth Manager Dorothy: Klaytn hesitates to take the throne, Wemade competes fiercely, and Neo continues to shine. Upbit is like a dragon, appearing and disappearing, and Hashed is seen as a last resort. By the way, Tieshun is usually low-key.
Ontology Growth Manager Clare: At KBW, I saw speakers discussing the development of Web3 infrastructure, scale-level adoption supported by account abstraction, and the innovation of DeFi and NFT. It exceeded my expectations. In addition, there are more Korean developers than we imagined.
Opside Co-founder and CMO Wen Dong: It’s great to see some old friends who left the industry years ago come back. The atmosphere in Korea is great. People are more focused on infrastructure, with ZK/OP-Rollups still being the main narrative, and the shared sequencer also generating a lot of discussion.
NFTScan Business Director Rose:
Other countries at 9 PM: “The event is over, let’s go home.”
Korea at 9 PM: “Come on, the event is just beginning!”
At KBW, we met teams from around the world who are dedicated to building. The future looks bright. Looking forward to the mass adoption of NFTs and the release of their unique value.
Solana Foundation Head of Chinese Growth Yao: Higher quality communication can only happen in a relatively relaxed environment. The bear market topics may be boring, but everyone’s enthusiasm and confidence are still high. We have met many excellent partners and are pleasantly surprised to meet many builders who are enthusiastic about Solana. Many people say to me, “I love Solana,” and many people ask me why Solana is so active recently, what’s next? What’s next? Keep buidling! Korea -> Singapore -> Amsterdam, WAGMI!
Neo Market Director Songping: Since the Neo Asia-Pacific Hackathon started in July this year, we have been to various Asia-Pacific markets such as Japan, Vietnam, India, and Korea. During KBW, we encountered the most international teams and the hottest SocialFi projects. We felt the most positive and enthusiastic community. The Neo team is looking forward to the journey at Token 2049!
Beosin Business Director Alvin Lu: Besides carrying the vitality and enthusiasm of cryptocurrency trading as usual, Korea has also demonstrated a strong momentum for Mass Adoption of Web3 through numerous localized projects.
GoPlus ALianGuaiC BD Head Stan: Web3 user security may not be the most focused topic, but as part of the Web3 infrastructure, GoPlus is happy to keep BUIDLing.
CoinMarketCap Kim LianGuairk: In short, it’s great!
StarryNift Founder Martha Zhang: The cold winter is a gentle night suitable for moving forward, carrying sixpence to traverse the LianGuairaverse and find the bright moon.
852 Web3 Founder Winchman: The liveliness of KBW clearly shows that Web3 has gradually entered the mainstream society’s field of vision in Korea, but Hong Kong has a better foundation in comparison. Looking forward to the progress of Web3 development in various countries in Asia.
Mirror World CPO Jialin: After understanding the entire economic development history of Korea, you will find that whether it is the frenzy behind various financial investments or the development of various Web3 sub-tracks, it reflects a strong consistency and rationality. With the constraints of compliance and localized handling, all these elements have made the Web3 market in Korea a very interesting market.
BG Trade CMO Hakan: This KBW attracted the enthusiastic participation of blockchain experts, cryptocurrency enthusiasts, and investors, and held more diverse and colorful ancillary activities than in previous years. BG Trade’s activities on the tokenization of real-world assets have also promoted cooperation with RWA projects. The increasing number of these activities reflects the bright prospects of Web3 and its innovation potential.
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