Walking through the crypto jungle during Korea Blockchain Week

Blockchain technology is all about decentralization and virtualization, so it’s a bit ironic that folks love to fulfill in person at big blockchain events. That’s what happened last week in Seoul, where a record 17,000 people and 300 speakers gathered for Korea Blockchain Week.

Like traditional technology conferences, the event highlighted many famous names in the field, each well-known (including Vitalik Buterin, Richard Teng of Binance, and Mark Karpeles) and unknown (researchers, professors, and plenty of founders of recent startups).

Unlike the usual chats, this time it was also possible to get to know the scientific profile: the list also included monkeys, penguins, geese and bears.

No one would ever accuse the crypto world of lacking in cheerful pranksters. Despite all this, there stays a powerful, underlying undercurrent of unease in the crowd. Widespread adoption seems to have stalled, and with the US election approaching, there may be a giant query mark over what future regulation will appear to be.

We walked the event corridors and spoke with a lot of the attendees. Here are a few of our impressions:

Beyond the protocols

Scalability has historically been a significant concern for blockchains with high fees and slow transaction speeds. Now, second-layer blockchains (so-called “layer 2 blockchains”) have made transactions faster and cheaper, meaning scalability isn’t any longer a difficulty for many use cases. The hottest layer 2 blockchains can handle tens of millions of transactions per day with none disruptions.

But despite this, usage shouldn’t be necessarily growing, partly because we still live in something of an application vacuum.

“I think the expectations of what the app actually contains have increased significantly,” said Simon Kim, CEO Hasheda enterprise capital firm focused on blockchain and crypto. In an interview with TechCrunch, Simon emphasized the need for more practical use cases.

There are some glimmers of this, especially in the world of IP tracking. Last month, Story raised $80 million to construct a blockchain that can help IP owners more effectively track the use of their content. And Sony Block Solutions Labs, a three way partnership between Sony and Startale Labs, exposed its latest public blockchain network, Soneium, which guarantees to make it easier for users to guard creators’ rights and fairly share profits.

“This is an industry first in trying to create a content-centric IP ecosystem,” Simon said.

Other show attendees said they were searching for more practical applications that will be comprehensible to consumers.

“We’ve been building infrastructure — roads and highways — in the cryptocurrency world for the past six years. Now we need to focus on the things that people like or use, like convenience stores, clothing stores, and department stores,” said Steve Lee, co-founder Neoclassical Capitola Miami-based cryptocurrency investment firm backed by enterprise capitalists Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik.

The company, it seems, is concentrated on applications in consumer and financial services. “From a consumer perspective, we’re particularly bullish on use cases in IP gaming, entertainment, and social applications,” he said.

Neoclassical launched its first fund in Apriland the company intends to pursue more investment opportunities in these sectors. “While the West may continue to lead in infrastructure development, we believe Asia has greater potential in this area (consumer Web3 use cases) compared to the West,” he said, citing the large variety of bitcoin transactions in the region and its history in areas resembling gaming and entertainment. Countries resembling Japan and Korea, he said, “are leaders in adopting new technologies faster than any other country in the world.”

Tradition with a touch of cryptocurrency?

While some cryptocurrency firms are still searching for breakthrough successes, others try to persuade traditional businesses that they need to add a crypto twist to their existing products.

Justin Kim, Head of Asia at Ava Laboratoriesa blockchain platform focused on decentralized applications (“dApps”) and enterprise blockchain deployments, has seen increasingly organizations launch their very own custom blockchains on top of Avalanche.

“The list includes California DMV, Konami Digital Entertainment, Nexon MapleStory Universe, OtherWorld Solo Leveling Animationand financial institutions resembling JP Morgan AND City“- he said.

Tokenization of recent asset classes can be a recent trend, Justin added. For example, RepublicNew York-based investment platform tokenizes funds to support film financingIT consulting firm Questry and Japanese bank Mizuho Securities tokenize fund to support the production of animated contentJustin noted that each projects are based on the Avalanche platform.

Stablecoins are also finding their way into popular financial and messaging apps.

One notable event was PayPal’s introduction of a stablecoin called PYUSD and other messaging apps resembling Japanese line AND Telegram integrating cryptocurrency wallets. Naver, co-owner of Line, also recently launched a cryptocurrency wallet on its payments app in Korea. “Stablecoin trading activity is picking up,” Simon said.

Hashed has partnered with other traditional firms, resembling the Korean entertainment company IT’S MOVINGa gaming company based in Japan Nexonand financial institutions KB Kookmin Bank in South Korea and Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand, Simon said.

Another area that’s attracting attention from the industry, he identified, is the gaming space. The gaming industry is certainly one of the fastest-growing sectors, especially as a result of the growth of online transactions, Simon added.

“So there’s content, and then AAA games will start pouring out of the market later this year,” Simon said. In the past, blockchain games with experimental tokens or NFT ownership were released while they were still experimental. “Now, you’re seeing well-executed, high-quality games coming out.”

Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Animoca BrandsThe Hong Kong-based gaming and software firm, which also runs VC firm web3, disagreed, saying gaming projects, which were essentially launch pads for tokens, had underperformed thus far.

“People aren’t excited about (games) right now, but I think we’ll come back,” Siu said.

Similarly, NFTs have not caught people’s attention yet, but proponents are still hopeful.

“Before, when people didn’t see the internet as interesting or real, they just built it and eventually it just grew, right? That’s how I see the (NFT) space,” Siu added.

Big Sponsors and Bigger Regional Forces

In 2023, lower- and middle-income countries drove cryptocurrency adoption; this yr, adoption is more evenly spread between richer and poorer countries, said Diederik van Wersch, regional director for ASEAN and Hong Kong at blockchain data platform Chain evaluation.

“The widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies may be a result of the launch of Bitcoin-based ETFs, which has driven up the total value of Bitcoin-related activity across all regions,” van Wersch told TechCrunch.

In line with that, institutions are facilitating cryptocurrency adoption in countries like Singapore and Indonesia, he said. The United States has followed an analogous path. When the United States launched a Bitcoin ETF, Siu said it was a step change for the market.

“Tokens that have institutional backing do better. That’s how things are shaping up in the future of cryptocurrencies,” Siu said.

“In Singapore, we have seen an increase in the use of cryptocurrency trading services, while in Indonesia, cryptocurrencies are used as a trading instrument and have become one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency markets in the region, with the highest year-on-year growth of almost 200%,” van Wersch said.

It’s not all excellent news: As more people adopt them, there’ll likely be more crime, he added. “As adoption increases, crime will increase. And today, cryptocurrencies span all types of crimes—including fraud and narcotics.”

Optimistic about Telegram’s future (despite Durov’s arrest)

The arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France last month actually led to an aftershock for Telegram-linked Toncoin, which plummeted in price following the news. But when KBW emerged per week later, the mood was already upbeat.

Rushi Manche, Co-Founder Movement Laboratoriestold TechCrunch that Telegram has grow to be a useful communication tool for a lot of in the cryptocurrency community, and that is unlikely to vary anytime soon.

“What happened with Pavel Durov and what’s happening with Telegram and TON is proof that decentralization works quite well. Despite the fact that Pavel was arrested, everything still worked,” Siu told TechCrunch. “I would say that’s a net positive and, in my opinion, shows the resilience and the power of decentralization and the benefits of running something on a blockchain. So I’m very bullish on TON and Telegram in the long term.”

Animoca Brands is an investor in TON, a blockchain technology tightly integrated with a messaging app.

Simon admitted that this incident made us realize that it’s obligatory to create latest regulations that can allow for the independent management of those virtual spaces, because in the digital world there are not any physical borders and states cannot control what’s on the Internet.

Regulation stays a significant obstacle

The issue of regulation repeatedly got here up as a top concern amongst those we spoke to at KBW, and not only amongst those working in the cryptocurrency industry in Asia, but additionally those from other regions.

“Until a few years ago, many blockchain developers would set up shop in Singapore,” Simon said. “Recently, the UAE has emerged as the most industry-friendly country, providing clear regulations and guidelines in the country.”

Regulation — and particularly the clear establishment of lighting regulations — shaped the areas wherein development has thrived.

“The main concern we hear about is the need for clarity in the regulations across Asian jurisdictions,” said Manche, Movement Laboratories“However, this is driving a push for more coherent, innovation-friendly policies. Regulatory clarity should improve globally, potentially accelerating institutional adoption. We also anticipate a focus on sustainable blockchain solutions and the innovative token economy.”

Much of this, nevertheless, has been piecemeal. Japan was an early mover in the space, and Singapore also got in early, with a light-weight regime focused on anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT), in keeping with Chengyi Ong, head of APAC policy at Chainalysis. Hong Kong and India followed suit, creating their very own regulatory frameworks. “And that’s how we ended up with a regulatory patchwork,” she said.

The U.S. election in November may very well be the moment when a few of this finally involves a head in the country. “Depending on who wins, this industry will accelerate. But I think cryptocurrencies will continue to grow in America regardless,” Siu said. “This is not an endorsement, by the way.”