Taiwan bets on crypto despite global crash

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The same day the disgraced cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas, Taipei Mayor-elect Chiang Wan-an took the stage in front of a packed auditorium to tout the bright future that blockchain technology would bring to Taiwan. .

Chiang’s speech was part of Taipei Blockchain Week, which took place last month in a movie theater on the upper floors of a luxury shopping mall, with a view of the iconic Taipei 101 building. There, attendees heard Taiwan’s presentation to a shaken crypto community: the island nation is set to be Asia’s next crypto hub.

The crowd cheered as Chiang, the alleged great-grandson of authoritarian leader Chiang Kai-shek, said that in Taiwan’s blockchain-powered future, everyone will have a chance to be heard.

At the event, which ran from December 12-17, Taiwan was touted as the place where blockchain founders and backers could hire from deep pools of local tech talent to build the next hub. of crypto from the region. The conference, for which organizers told Rest of World they sold 900 tickets, was organized by Bu Zhi DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization focused on connecting global crypto enthusiasts with the Web3 community in Taiwan. Members of the organization include employees from companies such as Solana, Coinbase, Discord, Twitch, Google, Microsoft, and others. Three days of talks and events were followed by a boot camp for developers working on blockchain projects, culminating in a one-day demo pitch event.

Leu Jang-hua, the country’s digital industries minister, echoed Chiang’s remarks that investing in blockchain technology would bring cybersecurity and empowerment to Taiwan, which already occupies a critical position in the blockchain. global technology supply chain as home to the most cutting-edge semiconductor. manufacturing in the world. Throughout the week-long event, young programmers in hoodies sprawled in the back row of the auditorium, coding speeches from officials.

For years, lawmakers have talked about the country’s potential as a blockchain island.

When the government of neighboring China banned cryptocurrency in mid-2021, many of the oldest and most energetic crypto proponents had to seek a new place for their businesses to thrive. Many of the industry’s top talent, founders of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, as well as backers supporting new crypto ventures have landed in Singapore. But, after a year of high-profile crypto volatility, scams and frauds, the Singapore government no longer enthusiastically positions the city-state at the center of the crypto universe. In October, Singapore’s central bank chief Ravi Menon said the government’s approach to crypto trading would be among the strictest in the world.

Earlier in 2022, Hong Kong had shown signs of interest in attracting the crypto community to build and invest in the territory, only to pass tough requirements for crypto companies that some said would stifle growth. In early October, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan defended Hong Kong as a safe haven for digital assets and indicated that the territory would allow retail trading of crypto assets. In 2023, laws requiring all virtual asset companies to comply with strict anti-money laundering regulations will come into force in Hong Kong.

Taiwan, meanwhile, has laid the groundwork to become the region’s crypto haven. For years, lawmakers have talked about the country’s potential as a blockchain island. In September 2022, the government granted regulatory approval to 24 crypto exchanges, including MaiCoin, BitoPro, and XREX. In December, Hong Kong-based crypto investor Sora Ventures moved its fund to Taiwan. In the first six months of 2022, crypto trading volume in Taiwan grew by more than 30%, one of the fastest rates in Asia. The country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, MaiCoin, now brings in over $20 million in daily trading volume. Leo Seewald, former head of BlackRock in Taiwan and current head of MaiCoin, said the exchange is being run as conservatively as possible in order to show potential crypto investors that Taiwan is the most stable and secure place. safe to trade cryptos.

Taipei is a bit ahead of Hong Kong, from a Web 3.0 perspective, Ian Estrada, CEO and co-founder of decentralized financial services platform XLD, told Rest of the World. The Estradas company enables the exchange of fiat currency into cryptocurrency in economies that depend on remittances, including Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. This gives Estrada an overview of geographies that have crypto-friendly regulations. In Hong Kong, Estrada said, they are cracking down on anything crypto-related.

Singapore was also backtracking, Estrada said. A major bank had, since the end of 2021, closed the accounts of companies even indirectly linked to the crypto community. But if you ask me, is it [Singapore] best place to stay and build? I do not think so.

Taiwan’s efforts to create a stable base for trading could be hampered by some of the same dynamics that have made it difficult for the country’s startup scene to take off. The country’s financial regulators have a reputation for conservatism, even with the new exchange licenses. And while a new company can be registered in less than 48 hours in Hong Kong and Singapore, it can take up to four months in Taiwan, a hurdle for founders to incorporate in the country.

Still, the mood was good at Taipei Blockchain Week, even as FTX continued to crash on the other side of the world. During a Q&A session, an audience member captured the ambition of crypto communities by citing Warren Buffett’s encouragement to be greedy when others are scared. Outside the lobby, models in shimmering silver dresses posed with signs for Taipei-based crypto exchange BTSE.

The conference was themed around a bridge, bringing together attendees from the United States and East and Southeast Asia to meet the local community, a senior Bu Zhi contributor told the rest of the world. DAO who was not authorized to speak to the media. Despite their common interest in seeing the crypto universe grow, not all participants shared the same language. Many presentations on the first day of the conferences were given in Mandarin. There are two ecosystems here, they said. There’s one that takes place in Mandarin, sort of focused on their own hub, and then there are projects here that work with the whole world.

While the contributor said his experience organizing the event was collaborative, other foreign crypto founders did not have the same experience. Throughout the interviews, speakers emphasized that the community must come together to harness the technological talent of the islands. We can build things as fast as anyone else in the world, if not better, said Willy Wu, co-founder of NFT Arcade/Minty trading platform, who previously led Ubers’ expansion to Taiwan. But the piece was still missing to bring Taiwan to this level. Everyone in the world right now is in competition. We really need to understand what sets us apart.

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