Author: Liu Honglin
A year later, I returned to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for the Web3 Carnival. People have path dependencies. Seeing the poster indicating the exhibition area was on the 5th floor, I decisively went up the stairs from last year, only to discover... I had gone to the wrong place.
When returning to the first-floor lobby, I was actually glad I had gone the wrong way. While climbing the stairs, I was thinking that even if the industry is struggling, it couldn't be this bleak.
At the proper entrance, I collected my ticket and entered. The first exhibition area I saw was Hashkey and OKX. Exchanges are indeed the backbone of the current Web3 industry. Interestingly, OKX hasn't obtained a license in Hong Kong, but they are far from low-key. I absolutely don't believe that Hong Kong government officials are unaware of OKX's presence in Causeway Bay.
This year's venue theme of four seasons is quite good. From a market perspective, I think keeping just one winter is basically enough. The main stage's Chinese poetry vertical banner arrangement is especially attractive. Indeed, Chinese classical style combined with a global topic feels very cyber and punk.
The entire exhibition area reportedly expanded 1.5 times compared to last year. Consequently, the venue seemed much quieter than last year, a perception shared by several exhibiting partners I met. Last year's Mancun team had a booth here, and seeing this year's venue state, they're fortunate their team members won't have to stay for four days. I also encountered Conflux partners, who didn't exhibit this year but instead organized an activity at a nearby bar, which likely contributed to dispersing the venue's crowd. People will realize that such events just need a place to meet, whether inside or outside the venue.
The key theme on the 7th was PayFi. I listened to sharing sessions from executives of Circle, ZAbank, and HSBC, and met several old friends in the audience who were from payment companies in the Web2 era. Recently, they've started paying attention to the intersection of Web3 and the payment industry. Outside the venue, I visited payment concept booths and discussed their business scenarios and product services. The core focuses are two areas: B2B cross-border payments and B2C USDT bank cards.
I feel USDT bank cards have become somewhat mixed. I'm concerned that some USDT bank card agents might run away with funds. Therefore, be cautious about USDT bank cards from unknown large institutions. Don't just focus on low transaction fees; the other party might be eyeing your prepaid principal.
The DePIN track, which was hugely popular last year, was completely absent this year. The only hardware-related project was a robot dog somewhere in the middle of the venue.
Surprisingly, the Shanghai Data Exchange also came to exhibit. Director Xie and Ray were at the booth, and everyone greeted each other warmly. Their exhibition focus was the RWA track. Many visitors consulted them, as RWA is a business scenario that allows mainland enterprises to somewhat connect with Web3. Many traditional enterprises, especially bosses worried about financing, are pondering this. I'm genuinely curious and looking forward to how RWA will develop in mainland China.
Another booth similar to the RWA concept was Bosera Fund. From previous PR and booth introductions, their basic approach is to tokenize traditional money market funds and allow qualified investors to purchase them directly using crypto on compliant exchanges like Hashkey, providing crypto enthusiasts with a revenue product during idle periods. Of course, I understand that money market funds are just an initial attempt, and they will likely tokenize more fund products for sale on compliant exchanges. From this perspective, future crypto exchanges will somewhat resemble securities firms, where users can buy crypto assets and securities products. Futu Securities and Victory Securities suddenly have a new competitive track, and the intersection of new and old forces is quite interesting.
Besides the PayFi track, MEME coins also had popular booths. I saw at least three or four such exhibiting projects but didn't engage much, finding them uninteresting. I met a friend from Shanghai who told me MEME coins had cost them millions of dollars in losses over recent months. Truly sighing-worthy.
Interestingly, I noticed DWF Labs had a small booth this year. I remember they had a large exhibition booth last year with many staff, suggesting their trading isn't going well recently. Market-making seems challenging, so they're keeping a low profile.
BSC partners precisely packed up and left at 4 PM. Besides CEX being the mainstream business, other projects seemed to be just going through the motions. In recent days, Binance's two co-founders appeared in Hong Kong after many years, leading some friends to speculate about potential favorable government policies. Who knows?
Perhaps I missed it, but SOL and SUI, which were quite popular in the Chinese-speaking region, seemed absent from this year's venue. Thinking about it, no one seemed to be discussing technology; everyone was focused on finance.
Next to the BSC booth was a project called FoX. From observation, visitors to this booth were older, and based on the information transmitted, I suspect it might be a project with some questionable elements.
The TON ecosystem was the only exhibitor besides the organizers Wanxiang and Hashkey that felt like a true ecosystem. In one exhibition area, TON and around ten projects from its ecosystem gathered like a street, appearing organized and disciplined. I saw they were mainly focused on on-chain transactions, e-commerce, and small games, but the booths weren't very crowded. Compared to last year, when TON dominated an entire forum, this seemed quite desolate. The TON team in the Chinese-speaking region has likely lost many members. A good friend left TON shortly after last year's Web3 Carnival to start his own entrepreneurial project.
Occasionally, some strangers would recognize me and greet me, enthusiastically asking, "Are you Liu Honglin, the lawyer from Mancun?" This shows that daily writing and short video production serve as a proof of work with positive feedback. I must continue to output more useful content for everyone.
At the venue, listening to sharing sessions and chatting with friends, I stayed until the exhibition ended. After leaving through the exit and preparing to re-enter temporarily, I was stopped by an elderly man speaking Cantonese at the entrance, who said entry time had passed. I explained I just came out from the exit and would quickly find someone, but he insisted it was not allowed. In mainland China, this might have been a communication art, but thinking about Hong Kong, people's understanding of rules seems different, so I gave up.
I flew directly from Shanghai to Hong Kong in the morning and took the airport express to Hong Kong Station. Checking the walking distance to the convention center, it was 30 minutes. So I walked along the seaside, with bright sunshine and spring in the air. Seeing people running, having lunch, and sunbathing on the lawn showed me another side of Hong Kong beyond hustle and bustle. Entrepreneurship and hard work are ultimately for a better life.
Sovereign nations and traditional financial institutions entering the market is the core narrative of this bull market. Recent unreliable actions by the US president have made the world seem increasingly absurd and uncertain. Global financial markets have significantly dropped, especially the crypto market. Last night, I saw news that global crypto market value has dropped by 1.1 trillion dollars since Trump took office. While we can't predict market fluctuations, my personal view is: Web3 entrepreneurship has never been about financial market logic. Products and services truly solving user needs are the weapons against market cycles.
During the exhibition, the Hong Kong government said they will release another Web3 policy declaration later this year, further implementing supportive development systems. Friends often say Hong Kong's government moves slowly in Web3 layout. However, my perspective is that for a century-old city, this speed is already quite good. We often overestimate changes in one year but underestimate the power of ten years.
The road is long and arduous, but I remain confident about Web3.0's future in China.
