Winners of the Top 30 Blockchain Figures
Hsiao Huizong: Co-founder of XREX and Group Revenue Officer
Contributions to the industry in the past year:
Serving as the chairperson of the preparatory committee for the Virtual Currency Business Association, participating in the establishment of the 'Republic of China Virtual Currency Business Association' (VASP Association) from scratch.
In June 2024, the Taiwan VASP Association was officially established, and Hsiao Huizong was elected as the first vice president of the association, making significant contributions to Taiwan's cryptocurrency industry entering the regulatory era.
What do you think about the development in 2025?
Q1: What are you most looking forward to seeing in the Web3 industry in 2025?
Appropriate regulation is one of the key conditions for promoting the popularization of the cryptocurrency industry. Although blockchain technology is essentially neutral, during the development of applications, it must face expectations from both ends: one side is market expectations, and the other side is regulatory expectations.
Only by finding a balance between the two can we realize what aligns with 'societal expectations', which is what we call 'appropriate regulation'.
I have often said in the past: 'The essence of technology is to change human behavior; the essence of law is to restrict human behavior.' The development of technology must first create applications based on market demand, and then undergo repeated verification and adjustment in the market.
Only when a technology successfully proves its value and gains a large number of users, or when it triggers large-scale problems, will the law invest resources to formulate regulations.
For startups, resources are limited, and the lifecycle of each round of funding is short. Therefore, in the exploratory stage where regulations have not yet intervened, operators will naturally focus on exploring market demand.
However, when a product or service successfully meets market demand, it may also be misused, accumulating 'regulatory risks'.
At this time, operators need to start balancing the development of technology, gradually applying technology to areas that meet regulatory requirements, to eliminate improper use in the market, and ultimately allow the industry to move towards development that meets 'societal expectations'.
My expectation is that we can develop applications that meet 'societal expectations' and achieve the goal of 'appropriate regulation'.
Looking forward to 2025, I particularly hope that during the initial phase of implementing regulation, we can create a good development environment for operators.
Firstly, operators need to fully understand the necessity of regulation and invest technical resources into developing applications that 'meet regulatory expectations'.
At the same time, the government should understand that the industry has grown in an environment without a clear framework over the past decade, and has not lagged behind internationally.
Therefore, I also hope that the government can help operators resolve the 'regulatory risks' that have accumulated in the past and provide a stable foundation for future development, rather than allowing past development achievements to become burdens for subsequent regulation.
Q2: From your professional perspective, what do you think is the most important trend for the blockchain industry in 2025? What are your insights and observations?
The blockchain industry is still in a relatively early stage, and due to many negative events and stigma labels, establishing mutual trust between the government, society, and industry will depend on three things: regulation, anti-money laundering, and real applications.
A technology and industry that is unregulated finds it hard to mainstream, popularize, and generalize. Recently, the U.S. passing the Bitcoin spot ETF is a great example, which is not only included in regulation but has also become a part of finance, allowing both institutions and individuals to join with greater confidence.
Anti-money laundering relies on technology and infrastructure. In the past year, Taiwan has seen many concrete results through public-private cooperation among operators, the government, and law enforcement agencies, and has gained a leading position in technological competition. The blockchain industry must tear off the stigma label to move forward steadily.
Finally, applications that solve real-world problems are the core. When cryptocurrencies become one of the choices for asset allocation for institutions and individuals, when stablecoins become important tools for cross-border clearing and settlement, and when RWA (Real World Asset tokenization) begins to connect traditional finance with new finance, it will drive the overall blockchain industry’s influence and presence, which is a trend worth looking forward to in 2025.
Q3: Are there any interesting plans or products to share for 2025?
The XREX group will focus on the in-depth development of three major product lines in 2025:
First, it is a cryptocurrency exchange based primarily in Taiwan.
Second, it is cross-border trade payments based primarily on Singapore's XREX Pay.
Third, it is regulatory technology (RegTech) based primarily on the group XREX Inc.
These three major areas have received preliminary verification in different markets over the past few years. We will strive to seek stable expansion methods to further amplify service scale based on this foundation.
In terms of exchanges, we will emphasize the concept of 'asset allocation' to help traditional financial investors find suitable ways to incorporate cryptocurrencies into their overall asset allocation.
This not only expands the application scope of cryptocurrencies but also makes cryptocurrencies a more trusted part of the traditional financial market.
At the same time, we will invest more resources in market education, establishing XREX Academy, which will not only offer more advanced knowledge courses but also digitize these courses and materials, allowing more people to easily learn about Web3 industry-related knowledge.
In the payment field, we have just launched XREX Pay based on Singapore's Major Payment Institution (MPI) license. Unlike most previous cryptocurrency payment services, XREX Pay offers a commercial banking experience, particularly suitable for businesses in emerging markets.
Cryptocurrencies here play the role of an intermediary agreement for cross-border remittances; actual payment settlements can still be done directly through fiat currency, allowing businesses to easily and efficiently complete international payments within a legal and compliant framework.
Finally, we also have a compliance technology product line XRAY, which is mainly a technical solution developed based on our own needs.
Although we have not yet completed a comprehensive commercialization plan for such products, we welcome partners from all sectors to join us in exploring cooperation opportunities in compliance technology.
We believe this will not only help us meet our own compliance needs but also provide better technical support for the entire industry.
More reports
【Top 10 Influential Figures in Blockchain APAC】For the first time stepping outside Taiwan, see the 10 most important Web3 figures at once
【Top 30 Blockchain Figures in 2025】The list is out, who made it? View the selection method and complete list at once
