Written by: Ready Player Club
Ready Player Club brings together many outstanding entrepreneurs and practitioners in the Web3 industry. We believe that each member's journey, experience and unique industry perspective have the power to inspire and empower more people. Each member's rich experience and insights can bring great help to other cat lovers, especially those who are new to the Web3 field, and promote the development and implementation of the entire industry.
RPC Living Room is an interview program designed for RPC club members. The purpose is to create a platform for members to share and deepen their understanding of each other. In each interview, we will invite one or more members from a specific focus area to share interesting personal stories and industry observations through text or voice.
In this interview, we invited Alma, the founder of Techub News, a leading blockchain media in Hong Kong.
Techub News is Hong Kong's leading Web3 media, which has rapidly risen against the backdrop of Hong Kong becoming the center of the Web3 industry. As an important Chinese information source and communication force in the blockchain and Web3 fields, Techub News has made great efforts in both online communication and offline activities, demonstrating strong creativity and linkage capabilities. Today, we have the honor of interviewing Alma, the founder of Techub News, to learn about her entrepreneurial journey, the development analysis of the Web3 media field, and some industry insights from the media perspective.
1. Welcome Alma to this episode of RPC Living Room. First of all, please introduce yourself and your entrepreneurial journey. What motivated you to enter the Web3 industry?
Hello everyone, thank you very much for the invitation to RPC Living Room. I am Alma, the founder of Techub News, vice president of the Pearl River Delta Alumni Association of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and secretary-general of the Hong Kong Blockchain Association.
I came to Hong Kong in 2013, and before that I taught at a university for four years. In early 2017, I entered the blockchain industry on the recommendation of a friend. At that time, I was curious about the word blockchain. Through the introduction of my friends, I gradually realized that this was a future trend that met market demand. Therefore, I began to understand and get in touch with this industry, and participated in some investments. At that time, the market environment was very good, and almost all investment projects had good returns, and the market enthusiasm was very high.
After I transitioned from a university teacher to an entrepreneur, I have been engaged in traditional Internet entrepreneurship, mainly in marketing and market promotion. During that time, the blockchain ecosystem in Beijing and Shanghai was very active, especially in Beijing, where various meetings of all sizes were held every day. On September 4, 2017, after the government issued relevant policies, many centralized exchanges were closed, and users quickly turned to Binance, which made it rise rapidly. This policy change greatly affected the development of the industry.
In Hong Kong, many Chinese projects choose to do business here, and overseas project parties also attach importance to the Chinese market in Hong Kong. With our understanding of the local market, our team quickly established a reputation and cooperated with many overseas projects. Although Hong Kong is tolerant of blockchain, we did not promote the brand in a big way or raise funds in the absence of clear policies. Over time, we gradually established our own service brand in the industry, focusing mainly on community and publicity work in the Chinese market.
After the new policies were introduced in Hong Kong in 2022, we welcomed new opportunities. Investors came to us to support us, which enabled us to take advantage of the situation. In the past few years, Hong Kong has experienced social movements and the epidemic, which made me realize that it was a pity that there was no precipitation of the brand. Now, under the clear attitude and positive policies of the government, we hope to make up for this regret and build a platform and brand that will last for a long time.
Hong Kong has missed some opportunities in the era of the Internet and mobile Internet, but I believe this time is different. The country's 14th Five-Year Plan positions Hong Kong as an international city of science and innovation, and Hong Kong's fiscal budget also attaches importance to science and technology for the first time. These factors have inspired our team to work hard to build a science and technology media platform, hoping to contribute to Hong Kong's transformation and development. In short, we hope to build Hong Kong into an international city of science and innovation through our efforts, and we also hope to play our part in this process and contribute to Hong Kong's future.
2. Competition in the Chinese Web3 media is still fierce. What do you think is Techub's core advantage? Based in the new global Web3 center - Hong Kong, what is Techub's unique development layout in terms of content and communication channels?
Indeed, we have seen that Chinese blockchain media has undergone a period of change. In fact, as early as before 2017, some media were reporting on this, such as Babbitt. But the real big development was in the second half of 2017. At that time, with the rapid development of the blockchain industry, more and more people began to pay attention to this field, and Chinese blockchain media also began to grow rapidly. I remember that there were probably thousands of media outlets of all sizes at that time.
By 2024, the Chinese media has gone through many rounds of reshuffles, and only a few are left with brand awareness. How can we break through in this fiercely competitive market since last year? I think our core advantage lies in our long-term roots in the Hong Kong market.
We have always been committed to deepening our roots in Hong Kong while radiating to the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2017, we have organized a series of online and offline activities and established multiple communities not only in Hong Kong, but also in Macau, Taiwan, Dubai and Southeast Asia. At present, we have city nodes in 11 cities around the world. These nodes are all industry friends who have been deeply involved in the local market for many years, jointly promoting the development of localization.
In terms of content and communication, we insist on being a serious Web3 technology media. You will find that some news is reported by other media, but we are not, because we insist on delivering attitude and valuable industry information. This is our first point. The second point is in the selection of tracks. We keep up with market changes and have our own investment research team, so we can be at the forefront in publicity and promotion. For example, in the combination of AI and Web3, AI and DePIN, RWA, BTC Layer2 and other sectors, we started to do in-depth reports very early.
In terms of communication, we have our own platform and app, and we also have coverage on other platforms. In addition, we combine with traditional media. Last year, we reached a cooperation with Hong Kong’s largest media “Hong Kong 01” to jointly build Web3 content. “Hong Kong 01” covers 17 million Chinese people around the world. Through this cooperation, we combine our content with their coverage to expand the communication influence. This is also a major feature that distinguishes us from other media.
3. Web3 media can be said to be a very "volume" field. Not only is there news worth paying attention to in the Web3 field every day, but from the perspective of the media industry, readers' preferences are constantly changing with the development of technology. Many Web3 media have had to transform before. Could you please talk about the biggest challenge you encountered in the process of founding Techub? What difficult changes did you and your team make to cope with these challenges?
That's right. In the process of founding Techub News, we encountered many difficulties and problems, the most important of which was the problem of people. Because we are deeply rooted in the Hong Kong market and radiate the Asia-Pacific region, it is not easy to find local people who understand this industry and work in Hong Kong, and can cover the key nodes in the Asia-Pacific region. In this process, we need to find a group of like-minded partners to work together to achieve a common goal.
On the other hand, our team also faced an important discussion point: whether to build a brand or to increase traffic. This is an issue that must be faced by both traditional media and industry media. If you want to build a brand, you need to have a bottom line, principles, and attitude, which may lead to a loss of traffic. Traffic means catering to various needs and doing everything. But in this industry where there are all kinds of people and it is very close to transactions, our team made a difficult choice.
In the end, we chose to stick to our original intention and provide filtered and valuable content instead of publishing everything. We are very cautious about many short-term and one-shot content, and would rather lose traffic than damage the brand. We hope that in this way, we can provide users with truly meaningful information and maintain our position as a serious Web3 technology media.
4. Hong Kong has its own unique media style and popular culture. Could you please share the tastes and preferences of Hong Kong Web3 readers? What types of content are most popular among Hong Kong Web3 readers?
Yes, in fact, Hong Kong readers and the entire Hong Kong region, including the Hong Kong government, have a specific focus on the industry track. Hong Kong is characterized by many traditional circles, old money and institutions, which makes people pay more attention to sustainable and long-term development.
First of all, Hong Kong readers and institutions are more concerned about the long-term development direction. Whether in terms of content or industry track, they prefer projects with long-term prospects rather than short-term hot spots or temporary trends.
Secondly, readers and the Hong Kong government are more concerned about content related to themselves. When we interviewed practitioners, politicians, industry and academics related to the Hong Kong government, we summarized a common concern: how to promote the real economy through the development of virtual assets. What everyone wants to see is the actual driving effect of virtual assets on the real economy, rather than a completely virtual state. Therefore, Hong Kong pays special attention to the two tracks of RWA (Real-World Assets) and DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks).
In our platform content, we have also reported on these related projects many times, especially some industry projects selected at the Hong Kong Government Technology Week. Most of these projects are concentrated in the RWA and DePIN tracks, because these two tracks can be combined with traditional real industries, which is a feature of Hong Kong. Hong Kong prefers projects that are visible, tangible, and can develop sustainably in the long term.
In short, Hong Kong pays more attention to the development of virtual assets and its integration with the real economy to promote the development of real industries. This is also an important basis for us to choose the content and track of reporting when we founded Techub News. We hope to provide valuable content to readers and the market in this way to help Hong Kong's sustainable development.
5. Regardless of Web2 or Web3, all media are currently trying a variety of new ways to spread content. What innovations has Techub made in online and offline dissemination? Do you think that in the field of Web3, can short videos improve the efficiency of media dissemination?
I think the media has now fully entered the era of integrated media, and its dissemination channels and forms are becoming more and more diverse. In our industry, short dramas and short videos are also very popular. Therefore, from the first day, we combined the text section and the video section for dissemination. For example, when we do some interviews, we will disseminate the content of offline meetings through online platforms to achieve seamless connection between online and offline.
We also work with some professional video production teams to produce high-quality video content. This not only improves the professionalism and level of the content, but also makes it easier for readers to understand the industry. After all, the threshold of our industry is high, so we hope to use the simplest language and form to make it easier for everyone to understand. If you pay attention to our video content, you will find that we use easy-to-understand language to let more people understand this industry.
In addition, our communication strategy also includes a variety of online and offline activities, from offline meetings to online live broadcasts, striving to make the content more three-dimensional and diversified. Through these methods, we hope to provide readers with a richer and higher-quality content experience and further promote the development of the entire industry.
In general, in the process of establishing Techub News, we always insist on combining text and video content, and disseminating it through multiple channels online and offline, so that more people can easily obtain industry information. This method not only makes our content more attractive, but also helps more people understand and participate in this industry.
6. As a Web3 native media, I believe you and your team have come into contact with a large number of Web3 projects and entrepreneurs. From the perspective of a media person, what new industry trends have you observed? What future developments do you think are worth paying attention to?
Because we work in the media, we are at the forefront of the industry and have come into contact with a large number of industry professionals, including investors, entrepreneurs, various institutions, media communities, etc. From the beginning, we not only focused on the dissemination of our own content, but also combined it with the Big Demo Day event. We hold a large roadshow event with our partners at Hong Kong Cyberport every month, as well as various small events. These events are designed to get more people involved and get in touch with more industry builders.
We have held 13 Big Demo Days, and each one has received support from many industry organizations, especially Cyberport. In the process of contacting these project parties, we found that we have contacted hundreds of entrepreneurial projects, whether through Demo Day or actively approached by the platform. At present, the industry's focus is as follows:
ETF drives liquidity: This round of market fluctuations is different from the previous rounds. After the ETF was approved, institutional investors entered the market in large numbers. Therefore, the main driving force of this round of the market comes from the large flow of Bitcoin, while other altcoins or projects have not seen much growth.
The rise of the Bitcoin ecosystem: The popularity of the Bitcoin ecosystem this year reflects the pursuit of fairness and transparency by industry participants. People are increasingly inclined to a bottom-up approach, paying more attention to fairness and participation, which makes the traditional way of continuously raising valuations through VC unsustainable. Retail investors are now very smart and will not easily follow the past routines.
AI+Web3: The explosion of AI technology has driven the combination of AI and Web3 industries. This is the track that all parties are focusing on and investing in. Whether in the East or the West, the combination of AI and Web3 is a key investment area. I believe that some high-quality long-term projects will emerge in this track.
RWA track: The RWA track is a trillion-dollar market. In this round of the market, some projects will also emerge in this track. We have been exposed to these projects since the early stage and have seen them doing various infrastructure construction.
Meme track: The meme track is also a very interesting field that can convey the voice of retail investors. More bottom-up and community-driven, the growth and influence of this track cannot be ignored.
In summary, through our series of activities and in-depth reports, we have not only promoted exchanges and cooperation within the industry, but also helped all parties in the industry to better understand market dynamics and development trends. We hope that through these efforts, we can drive the entire industry towards a more fair, transparent and sustainable development direction.
7. Web3 is gaining more and more attention in Hong Kong. How do you view the social and public pressure that comes with the attention? What measures has Techub taken (or what plans does it have in the future) to convey the correct Web3 energy and values in Hong Kong and Asia?
Indeed, since the Hong Kong government issued its virtual asset policy declaration at the end of October 2022, the industry has gone through a process from questioning to rapid policy implementation. TecHub News has been committed to sorting out and interpreting relevant government policies to help traditional circles understand and participate in this emerging industry. During this period, many people actively entered the market, but with it came certain risks and investor education issues, such as the widespread attention caused by the JPEX incident.
In terms of investor education, we have done a lot of work to protect investors from losses due to lack of understanding. For example, we worked with Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang, who organized an anti-scam alliance, and TecHub News was the only media support partner to publicize the activities of the anti-scam alliance to help the local community better understand and protect themselves.
This industry is very close to assets and transactions, and many new investors are vulnerable to losses due to lack of understanding. We believe that only through continuous education and publicity can we truly protect the interests of investors and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the industry. In the future, we hope that the government can provide more support and work with more institutions to further strengthen investor education and create a safer and more transparent environment for the industry.
