Celebrating The Web3 Tech “Terroirs” of Asia
By Allen Ng
Compiled by: TechFlow
A defense of Asia’s amazing but underappreciated local talent, innovation, and resilience in the Web3 space, and the keys to navigating the region’s unique tech landscape.
What do Asian wine and Web3 technology have in common?
“Terroir.” Sounds strange, doesn’t it?
Not really. For wine experts, the concept of "terroir" may already be familiar. It refers to the unique set of natural and cultural factors, such as soil, climate, topography, historical background and regional practices, that make a final product, such as wine or cheese, unique.
Terroir in wine: from soil to glass. Terroir in technology: from ecosystem to consumer product.
Most of these features cannot be replicated elsewhere. As a result, this uniqueness makes these products extremely scarce and sought-after, sometimes commanding staggeringly high prices.
The same combination of unique factors and superior products applies to technology. There does exist a "unique environment for technology," and Silicon Valley is the most obvious example. However, over the past two decades, Asia has also developed its own unique "tech environment" that provides world-class Web2 and Web3 social and consumer applications with a competitive advantage that is almost impossible to replicate.
The birthplace of social applications
Just as terroir influences the growth of vines and the flavor of grapes, the unique environment of technology is crucial. We grew up in an environment full of unique local social applications in Asia, but it takes skill and talent to develop and maintain this environment in an ever-changing world.
As a frequent traveler between the East and the West, I have to say that the cliché that Asians are only good at mindless reverse engineering and imitation still exists. This perception existed in the Web2 era, but it is even more obvious in Web3, where the market is more borderless and integrated. However, the truth is far from this.
The recent hit game Black Myth: Wukong is a great example of how Asia can create excellent original products and tell great stories at half the cost and manpower of the West.
Don't underestimate Asian developers.
Asia has long been a mobile-first region, and Asia’s super apps, such as WeChat, Line, Kakao, or Grab, are woven into our lives with unparalleled user stickiness, and the trillions of dollars they have generated did not come out of thin air. These results are the result of a large and growing market of developer intelligence, a fertile ground for advanced technology, favorable legal and economic conditions, the “dark matter” of social networks, and hundreds of millions of daily active users hungry for new trends.
These tangible and intangible factors constitute Asia's "technological climate".
People are often surprised to learn that Tencent, the company behind WeChat, is also the largest Web2 gaming company by far. Your favorite mobile games from IPs, like Call of Duty Mobile or Harry Potter, are made by Chinese game developer NetEase. Products like Xiaohongshu and Bilibili have hundreds of millions of monthly active users in multiple countries. While Robinhood struggles to break even in the U.S., its Asian rival Futu is still making billions of dollars in profits with highly differentiated products.
The reason for their success is that they are social and mobile-centric, enabling users to play games or e-commerce anytime, anywhere, while promoting social interaction. Tencent has helped popularize entertainment in markets that are usually ignored by non-Asian game companies by pioneering a free-to-play model instead of a paid model, expanding the gaming market and fostering a vibrant and unique gaming culture in the region and beyond. Xiaohongshu has demonstrated great product-market fit, with its social and e-commerce integration capabilities far exceeding Instagram.
With 1.5 billion active mobile gamers in the Asia Pacific region and double-digit growth, Web3 game developers in Asia are looking to take gaming accessibility to new heights by democratizing game asset ownership and revenue, benefiting those who cannot afford traditional AAA games in new ways and at a scale.
Trung Nguyen, co-founder of AxieInfinity and SkyMavisHQ, has made a splash in the gaming community.
It’s no surprise that Web3 games Axie Infinity, developed by Vietnamese studio SkyMavis, and YieldGuild from the Philippines have seen explosive growth in their respective countries and the wider Asian region. There is a large pool of talented developers here, as well as a fertile market of mobile gamers and tech-savvy users who are looking for alternative investments. Hats off to trungfinity (Axie Infinity) and gabusch (YGG) for their bold and innovative attempts at driving Web3 mass adoption. They essentially pioneered the GameFi market, brought millions of users into Web3, and inspired more developers to embark on this journey.
Gabby Dizon is working on building the future of gaming guilds.
Among the emerging Web3 innovations, the Stepnofficial phenomenon is also worth noting. Founded by Jerry10240 and yawn_rong, Stepn popularized the concept of the "move2earn" fitness app, making Web3 more integrated into our daily lives, attracting a large number of Web2 users and top brands such as Adidas and ASICS. STEPN has been the top dApp on Solana for nearly half a year. All of these novel experiments have been largely ignored or excluded by the mainstream media.
While the Web3 revolution won’t be widely covered on television, innovation and experimentation will continue on-chain and in Asia.
Rugged terrain breeds prosperity
Returning to the metaphor of wine terroir, the "imperfections" in the vineyard and topographical features such as altitude, slope and orientation to the sun affect the sunlight, water and air flow received by the vines. This in turn becomes a source of charm, quality and uniqueness of the final product. Rugged terrain encourages the vines to take deeper roots, resulting in more "complex" fruit that can age for a long time.
Likewise, Asia’s economic environment may be challenging in multiple ways, but it’s these very imperfections that are driving local builders to demonstrate their antifragility, resilience, and drive broader Web3 adoption. As the saying goes, “tough times make strong men.” Not so hard that it prevents Web3 entrepreneurship from developing in certain parts of the world, but hard enough to hone imaginative and resourceful builders and shape the diamonds of Web3 projects of the future. The sweet spot. The perfect terroir.
For example, six of the top ten countries in the world for cryptocurrency adoption are in Asia, surpassing all of North America and Europe, which have not developed in the same economic “hard environments”. In Southeast Asia, one of those “hard environments” is the lack of accessible traditional financial infrastructure, which has created a vacuum that has given countless small investors a huge opportunity to become a new class of truly Web3 native consumers. For example, only 1% of the population in Vietnam owns stocks, but more than 10% own digital assets. Like Axie Infinity, coin98_wallet (founded by serial entrepreneur imlethanh98) has also played a key role in the development of Vietnam’s Web3 ecosystem. With more than 300 full-time employees, C98 provides a diverse range of products to 9 million users in Southeast Asia and supports many founders in the ecosystem.
Thanh Le, Co-founder of C98
On the other hand, founders in Asia benefit from an existing culture rooted in naturally occurring mentorship, brotherhood, and “guanxi.” This cultural climate enables founders to build networks among each other that can provide invaluable guidance, resources, and “special advantages.” It’s almost like the relationship between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, or the PayPal Mafia in Silicon Valley. It can be a challenge for outsiders, but once you work to get in and earn trust, it can also become a lasting competitive advantage because of the powerful and unstoppable network effects.
In Asia, business is about relationships.
Who comes first? Does it matter?
Sure, Asia may not have been "first" in the industry, but history sometimes (in fact, often) doesn't thank those who first invented it, but instead shines the spotlight on those who popularized it. The history of wine is no exception. Today, the most prestigious wines come from countries like France or the United States, but in fact, viticulture originated in Persian civilization and was spread to the Mediterranean region thousands of years ago by Phoenician traders. Who remembers them today? Almost no one.
In the crypto space, Coinbase and Kraken are some of the oldest established crypto exchanges, but Asia, and especially the Mandarin-speaking world, is home to the largest and most user-friendly exchanges, such as binance (cz_binance) and okx (star_okx) which dominate the industry today, demonstrating that innovation can still be achieved by building on existing foundations.
Star Xu and Chanpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founders of OKX and Binance respectively
Whether it’s wine or Web3 projects, they reflect their origins, becoming an expression of their unique terroir. Companies in Asia benefit from lower development costs and a superior work ethic, being able to iterate faster and offer a better user experience, even if they’re not first on the scene. I often tell my friends in the West: a million raised in the US is very different from a million raised in Asia. Here, we can do more with less. As the stereotypical Malaysian comedian ronnychieng puts it, “things are cheap and delicious and open.”
"Need someone to take charge? Pick an Asian. We'll work while you eat."
An overlooked treasure
When startups receive large amounts of funding, it usually means they have demonstrated strengths in talent, product, and execution, and therefore have earned corresponding valuations. However, projects and builders in Asia are often undervalued and raise less money than their Silicon Valley counterparts.
We hope to debunk a common misconception that Asia being “cheaper” means poor quality and can be reduced to a simple, uninspired copycat factory. In fact, many Asian teams are incredibly efficient with the same amount of funding, able to iterate quickly and move faster, surprising the world.
The list goes on. The region’s nearly inexhaustible pool of high-quality engineering talent has led to the creation of Solana superteams in India, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, who drive innovation under determined leader calilyliu. For example, the success of ethereum scaling solution 0xPolygon is largely due to Indian developers and founders. Malaysia is known for its innovative DeFi projects, such as pendle_fi (founded by tn_pendle) and Solana’s largest decentralized exchange JupiterExchange (founded by weremeow), which has promoted the development of DeFi. In fact, even Ethereum itself has deep Asian roots, as Vitalik Buterin personally built the community there and won initial support among Mandarin-speaking supporters.
Sandeep Nailwal, COO, Polygon
The valuations of Asian Web3 tech companies are like a fine wine that is highly regarded by connoisseurs, but nonetheless sells for a reasonable price. Their lower valuations do not imply a lack of appreciation potential or poor quality, nor do they represent weak fundamentals. Instead, these valuations highlight different ways to succeed in entrepreneurship and demonstrate the resilience and adaptability of Asian builders.
At the end of the day, a great wine is a great wine, no matter where it’s made. This isn’t a zero-sum game between regions. At EVGHQ, we build businesses and support founders across four continents. But it’s key to acknowledge and celebrate our differences. Asia has already produced some of the best tech “Grand Crus.” There are many more waiting to be discovered if you’re willing to try.
Singapore’s Token2049 has proven to be an industry-defining event
Finally, the viticultural practices, winemaking techniques and historical background that have been passed down from generation to generation in a region also influence the terroir of the wine. Asian builders stand on the shoulders of giants and benefit from this proven business knowledge.
Historically, the development of Asian “conglomerates”—i.e., a holding group company operating different lines of business (e.g., Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu in China, chaebols like Samsung and LG in South Korea, conglomerates like Mitsui, Sumitomo, Mitsubishi in Japan, and family-owned businesses like CP Group and Kerry Group in Southeast Asia)—has resulted in a unique approach to innovation characterized by deep social, even personal, collaboration, and strategic investments with key partners.
We have also seen similar early developments in Web3 operating groups in Asia. For example, animocabrands, led by visionary founder and veteran entrepreneur ysiu, has expanded from a business focused on NFTs, IPs, and games to include digital asset consulting services, Web3 application and platform operations, investment management, and development of institutional blockchain applications. Another example is hashed_official, headquartered in South Korea, which has expanded its business to Singapore, Silicon Valley, and the Middle East, involving venture capital, incubation, and research.
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands
As we’ve said before, social networking in business is the secret sauce of Asia’s tech landscape, and its importance cannot be overstated. Unlike in the West, where academic qualifications and alumni status are valued, in Asia, who you associate with can significantly influence your entrepreneurial development.
Don't ignore Asia, "because when she wakes up, she will shake the world."
At EVGHQ, as Web3 venture creators, we are aware of and proud of our Asian roots. We couldn’t develop our products without the large pool of mature, affordable, and hardworking engineers in Asia. Our products like OpenSocialLabs, the Web3 social infrastructure that enables anyone to build their own community dApps, wouldn’t have achieved early network effects without the open-mindedness of Asian users. We at EVG know we are standing on the shoulders of giants and remain humble about it. This is yet another proof that Asia is where things are happening fast.
Whether you are a founder, general partner or blockchain project, it is crucial to develop a solid strategy for Asia to take your Web3 project to new heights and break through. Rather than going it alone, work with local partners or "insiders" who understand the local environment. Spend some time in the local area and get to know us: there are a series of top conferences coming up, such as kbwofficial in Seoul, token2049 in Singapore, FinTech Week and chainlink SmartCon in Hong Kong, and efdevcon in Bangkok.
There are many more Asian founders who created amazing products and paved the way for emerging builders like us. hotpot_dao from megaeth_labs, yq_acc from alt_layer, AveryChing from Aptos, justinsuntron from trondao, jihanwu from Matrixport_EN, bobbyong from coingecko, heyibinance from Binance, ZAGABOND from Azuki, ZhuoxunYin from MagicEden, benbybit from Bybit_Official, gan_chun from kucoincom, GracyBitget from bitgetglobal, and many more.
Without you, Web3 would not be as important as it is today.
Thank you all for the inspiration. Who knows, the 2024 halving cycle may become an “AsiaFi” cycle?
One thing is certain: the sun of Web3 will rise in the east. Don’t miss out.
