Fostering East-West Collaboration and Innovation in Crypto | Erica Kang - Kryptoseoul

uhuh hello everyone um I'm more of an Executor I I organize a lot of events like this uh it's more smaller but um it's definitely an honor to be a speaker um at e Denver it's my second time thanks for being here uh my name is Erica King I'm the founder of crypto planet um previously it was crypto soul and it just rebranded so uh I just want to talk about how to collaborate and how I am collaborating eastn West and um facilitating innovation in crypto so just a brief introduction of who I am um I'm def founder of crypto Soul since 2018 so I'm kind of a uh I've been in the space for a long time I've expanded to crypto Planet since 20123 trying to be more Global um I'm also the host of bidle Asia conference and eat soul and a builder breakfast I'm not I'm not sure if you've seen the Builder breakfast in Denver but IO it's my third builder breakfast I host um in Denver I I do a lot of satellite events around bigger conferences like e Denver etcc um and Devcon I'm also shifi um soulle chapter lead um there's a shifi booth over there uh if you can say hi I also hosted over seven conferences six hackathons I think 50 plus meetups and side events since 2017 so I've been in space for a long time uh and those are my Logos um it's pretty cute um and my personal mission in crypto for eight years has been to facilitate coordination Innovation between Asia other parts of the world um and it's really hard to connect Asia and uh to kind of highlight that area especially in the Builder community and I'm all for the Builder Community like the East Denver uh crowd here um and how to bring this culture to Asia right um and using what I'm good at which is communication event organization uh coordination connection so forth and um in my own way I've been curating many um events in Asia and pulling together all founders good Builders um students um and trying to represent the Asian Community uh that is a healthy ecosystem that a lot of fun stuff is going on in Asia a lot of cool stuff healthy ecosystem can be built in Asia and Asia is a very big animal so like I don't want to really generalize Asia into one big lump but in Asia there's East Asia Northeast Asia southeast Asia you know all sorts of countries and each culture is very different so I I'm from Korea personally so it is you know um I'm more like Korea and Vietnam focused but also I also um represent you know countries in like maybe Singapore I also help with Indonesia Hong Kong and so I'm trying to kind of give a more General introduction about Asia in this presentation so hopefully this helps um so as you might might probably know um I think 2024 will be the year for Asia uh because of many reasons um so I think general interest uh in the region has grown exponentially this year and I've gotten so many DMS so many um like requests for calls due to the interest in Asia um many reasons contribute to this and just I just kind of highlighted a few um you know us regulations is not the most friendly and of course the S commissioner was here but still I think in general the US policies has not been the best environment for companies to thrive right um and especially in crypto uh and and in like as a you know comparatively in Asia it's been more friendlier and especially like in Singapore Hong Kong Korea Japan it's relatively more open and even now there's more room for growth and so that's why it's I think the a shift has slowly been towards Asia um also there's built uh growing interest in Builder communities I think Asia's been mainly known for uh speculate speculation although a lot of retail investors um which is still the case a lot of good exchanges are in Korea right like up bit bam uh I'm sure you've heard of some of them um but I mostly work on Builder communities and I think that is definitely becoming a highlight as well some people are believing oh actually it can happen there can be some good hackathons spish in Asia as well um so the interest in that perspective has generally grown uh general interest in Asia also uh I know maybe I I'll highight later but you know Devcon is happening in Asia um later this year and I think that's garnered a lot of interest in Asia in general like some people are considering to move to Asia for like six months and to kind of like look at Southeast Asian region as a whole um and like reaching out to me for recommendations so I'll talk more about it later um so Asia has been H having this pivotal role in evolution of web 3 and many reasons and I kind of want to highlight a few um so regulatory foresight technological innovation Community enthusiasm um and as you've seen in many reports these days there's a lot of highlights on the region of Southeast Asia which has not been the most like highlighted recently but I think like uh in 2024 there's been a lot 2023 there's been a lot of interest in Southeast Asia region as a whole in terms of crypto adoption I don't know if you know but I lived in um like Vietnam for two years and I've seen many gamers um especially axi Infinity I don't know if many of you play axi but um Vietnam is a very big hub for axi infinity and a lot of Gamers a lot of you know players contribute to the user adoption and so um I think a lot of contributors are actually based in Southeast Asia not many of you know but um yeah so a lot of good insights are coming from Southeast Asia in terms of adoption lots of um actual usage of crypto apps right and also just generally introdu like in uh interest in like digital asset innovation in Asia so a lot of um mobile applications are very easy to use in like Korea or southeast Asia for example I was so amazed at how easy it is to use through QR codes and just you know be really uh familiar with uh mobile apps and I think that really facilitates how crypto apps can also be implemented uh in Asia as well um yeah so also like rise in activity and adoption as I kind of explained before um and kind of there's a lot of unbanked population still in Asia Southeast Asian countries and I think it's getting better um and there's a lot of interest among governments as well to kind of reach the UN banked as well through Innovative Financial Solutions right um and also like I've realized I talked to many uh governments in Southeast Asia but they've been just interested in general in fintech in general and I think they kind of relate fintech to crypto in many ways um and they do a lot of studies in it government has a lot of task forces um that kind of study VTech and crypto together and try to say how can we make a healthy um defi you know Trend right in Asia in their own respective country um and I've seen this trend also in universities based in like Vietnam for example our MIT Vietnam has done extensive research in um in like defy fintech and so I've been requested to talk um about fintech trends defi Trends in Korea but you know I think that interest just reflects how much you know rise in activity has been grown in Asia um and so and Regulatory advancements as I said before us is not I mean of course us standards are very important to Asian governments as well um but also I think a lot of respective countries in Asia have had their own stand towards crypto and mostly chars like the pro right um they're taking significant steps um especially Singapore Hong Kong Indonesia um and as you can see there's many attempts to um accept crypto uh ETFs um and Singapore of course Mass has been really like taking forward of course they've been kind of going to really free to strict and you know they do have their strict policies but at the same time they're trying to do the right thing right they're trying to really make it right um and that's why a lot of projects are based in Singapore and talking to regul ERS they're talking to other policy makers to make this right and there's been a lot of collaborative effort initiated by Mass to kind ofate facilitate this communication um also Hong Kong I I was in Hong Kong last year and I was so amazed at how many you know projects want to come to Hong Kong to kind of talk to all the policy makers and so um yeah it's a really positive movement a lot of good uh flows coming into um Hong Kong as well Indonesia um it's really real uh mostly well known for web 2 tech companies but I talked to some startups um that are based Indonesia um that are mostly conc on web 2 but they ALS they actually showed interest in coming into web 3 and they asked me for a consultation so I thought that was a very positive movement and they wanted to also persuade the government in kind of uh making this a friendly environment for crypto so I mean we can maybe see some um e Indonesia happening in a in a couple of months we'll see what happens but if that's the case I would love to contribute to Indonesia as well and kind of go to um Jakarta to host events there but it's really a positive movement um like gradually and Indonesia has been trying to implement digital certificates for public services which is a really good use case right for crypto uh of course I cannot uh not talk about Korea and Japan which are you know my area of EX um Forte um and Japan has been kind of starting from scratch and they really are having this really structured approach um people have been kind of bearish on Japan I mean early on but I think increasingly there's a lot of traction in Japan interest in Japan because they're really trying to do the right thing also South Korea is going back and forth has been going back and forth for a long time um they've been looking at the US they've been looking at Japan they've been looking at like China um and I think they're slowly getting it right um they're getting there um and especially major Enterprises are based in you know Japan and Korea they're they still have their blockchain uh task forces they still have their teams for example I talked to Nexon which is a big Gaming Corporation in South Korea and they want to speak at my conference um because they want to showcase what they've are building right now and they're ready to show it to the world right so they're taking meaningful strides is great and especially South Korea right now it's very interesting because elections are coming up in South Korea um and so a lot of uh Hot Topics going on among political parties and um right now we're I mean as a Korean citizen it's like I'm I'm scared to kind of face the crypto tax implemented in 2025 but actually the the structure that they're trying to implement is actually pretty positive it's not too it's not too intimidating it's actually pretty structured um and so a lot of people are um not looking forward to it but you know they're embracing it I think a lot of Traders are embracing it and trying to you know say okay this is a positive Movement we need regulation to some degree right um and also a lot of exchanges are right now currently listing a lot actually uh if you seen maybe some of you have seen um before restriction is happening uh with um exchanges and also there's two major political parties in South Korea and they're both implementing Pro crypto policies which is very surprising usually it's been the like one political party would cry for pro crypto but actually both parties are actually for crypto now so which is a very positive movement I think they're trying to win the votes for the Young Generation as well and uh so we'll see what happens and also this is um what I'm mostly enthusiastic about um but to kind of bring about like cross-cultural um like communication coordination also to bring interest in general in Asia is to like bring this to Asia right what's happening here to Asia um and I think the Asia's increasing role in um the web three like event scene has really helped uh to gain more interest in Asia because like physical you know you have to be IRL you have to be there present to see what's happening in Asia to experience it right to meet the right people um and like e Ember is wonderful I really I always come here to to be inspired by the you know Spirits here and also the healthy Builder communities here but I wanted to bring that to Korea right and also to all of Asia and 2024 will be very very interesting because this year there's Defcon happening in Southeast Asia which is actually it's going to be a huge interest in in general Southeast Asian region in total so I've heard like so many projects trying to make a six-month tour in Southeast Asia like for example not only Bangkok Thailand but also going to like Indonesia uh Vietnam um like Singapore of course Hong Kong all those neighboring countries and even Korea to drop by right and so there's defon southeast Asia salana breakpoint as you probably oh salana is here too uh they're having their Singapore event in uh September and smarton I believe is happening in uh in Asia as well uh and etcon is happening also in in July in um in Tokyo I believe or Japan and so a lot of these eth friendly events a lot of Builder focused events are happening in Asia this year year and so that's why a lot of teams are you know interested in Asia as a whole and I think just just the beginning right and also not only the this year specials but also there's a popular usually popular ones um brought by the local community which are e typ e Soul hosted by me and ble Asia also by me Korea blockchain week um eth Singapore and token 2049 that's always the kind of like the Asia like targeted events um that's happening every year and I think it's getting better and better um each year everybody's really interested in what's happening in Asia in general so everybody's just um coming to look at the scene and I mean I I know there's a lot of amazing events happening in us and Europe which I always respect and I always go to um but I think like the US Europe Centric conferences are definitely shifting a little bit towards Asia as well and I think that's a really positive movement and a symbolic move as well to kind of reflect oh actually you know Asia has some important meaningful implications right and we should really look into what's happening there um so you should join us and just kind of do an introduction of what's Happening next month actually a month like literally next month uh in bid Asia um so I'm hosting bidd Asia and soul it's a little uh Shiller um uh slide but um it's Builder focused like e Denver it's a small definitely smaller but Community Driven um and technological you know uh research driven as well and so coming in person uh not uh on online um to kind of also support the Asian region as well it's really applaudable that he's coming over in person to you know support communities like like me and it's really um uh respectable and uh yeah I mean like driving interest bringing Founders uh Builders to Asia in person it really does facilitate a lot of coordination Innovation even within the conference and also in a longer term as as well so I've experienced that for seven years now and I think you know more events should be in the making as well uh come join us V Asia in a month um but you know follow me on Twitter um for more information but it's going to be amazing um you know introduction to Asia and what's happening in Korea specific as well uh yeah and the M the Asia momentum is just beginning right it's literally just beginning I think it shouldn't be just like a onetime thing it is a good momentum to start this year but also we should really keep this movement going and kind of having more regular events happening or actually more um like bringing Asia here as well is also meaningful as well just connecting how to connect wisely East and West in through like a crosscultural communication or even events is really helpful and so I really welcome fellow organizers Builders Founders to Asia and I really hope to coordinate together and spittle together yeah thank you so much thank you Erica it's so great to have people like you supporting creating equal opportunities here and across the world