Finally, I was off duty from the Asia Tour. I was notified of the tour before I joined. I have been looking forward to this since then. As a Chinese, I have spent a lot of time understanding the Asian culture and Chinese community. Figuring out where are the builders during my last role at FLock as head of DevRel. I think we can not underrate the good talent from Asia. Yet we see many founders who raise large amounts of funds who are European/Americans. But I can tell the moment will eventually land in SEA and North Asia. Here is a summary of this trip covering our journey from Japan’s Webx, Korea’s KBW, Taiwan(I will cover it with my experience from TBW 2023), Vietnam and Singapore’s Token2049.

Before I do some deep dive into the reflects, i would like to thanks all the partners who supported us during the trip and the team and the superhero Nick. To be very honest, building a good ecosystem and community is more complicated than you can ever imagine. It is not about getting incentivised and having a one-round rush. We are hoping to build an extended, sustainable community that we can build together for the betterment of our future. Digging deep via IRL events is always an excellent way to tackle. That is also why I would love to travel on this peace this time. Travelling around the world and working is not going to be possible. These people are scamming you.

Asia, in general, is complex and huge, with many people. China, Japan, Korea, India, Vietnam, Thailand and many more. On this huge land, it also brewed talents and later spread worldwide. Same in Web3, through this trip, I better understood the industry and talent within Asia, not as a whole but more detailed within the region. Now, I will try to cover everything we saw in the difficulties.

IP is huge in Asia; almost everyone understands it. From animation to K-pop idols and now short videos from China, the influence of intellectual property has been passed from one generation to the next. Aside from the big IPs originating from the US, many more have been created within Asia, particularly in China, Korea, and Japan. This evolution of Asian IP was largely influenced by the economic developments of the late 1980s and 1990s, which laid the foundation of today's entertainment landscape.

In Korea, the government began supporting the cultural industry in the late 1990s following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The "Basic Law for Promoting Cultural Industries" was introduced in 1999, leading to significant entertainment investments and eventually leading to the global K-pop phenomenon. Japan's post-World War II economic recovery in the 1950s and 1960s spurred the creation of manga, anime, and music, which became central to the country's cultural export strategy in the 1970s. China's embrace of IP began more recently, with the entertainment industry taking off in the 2000s due to technological advancements and population scale, though IP legislation was still underdeveloped compared to its neighbors.

Thanks to AKINDO team

Japan is well-known as a powerhouse for IP, with its contributions ranging from anime and manga to underground idols and cultural phenomena like AKB48. The country has a rich history of IP development, making it a key player in this space. At WebX, we witnessed this firsthand during our first Story Academy event, where several innovative projects came to demo and showcase their ideas. The turnout was fantastic, and I especially enjoyed the fireside chat with the founder of Galverse, which was so inspiring that I ended up purchasing one of their creations—numerous IP-related projects attended and shared their progress, underlining the strength of IP development in Japan. However, while many builders are here, it can be challenging to find them unless you are on the local scene—primarily due to the language barrier. For anyone navigating this, I recommend partnering with Akindo for support, strong support from the AKINDO team in Japan this time.

My experience at WebX was different from EDCON, and I believe it was primarily due to the distinct nature of the Japanese market. WebX had a unique focus on emerging sectors like XtoEarn and IP NFTs, and I was impressed by some of the projects that aim to integrate blockchain with real-world applications. The booth structure was ideal—it allowed for meaningful conversations without the rush and gave you time to walk around and engage with other projects. As someone who speaks some Japanese (having passed N2 and studied for N1), and being Chinese, I found it easier to navigate and communicate with many booths.

However, I also noticed a clear divide in the Japanese market. While newer projects are open to trying out fresh ideas, traditional companies remain cautious and resistant. For example, when I spoke with representatives from Kodansha and Capcom, there was a notable hesitation around blockchain. Kodansha was somewhat receptive, though they would likely require a proven success story before collaborating. Capcom, on the other hand, outright rejected any discussions about blockchain integration. Despite this, I was encouraged by the strong presence of government-backed projects and exchanges, indicating growing institutional interest in these technologies.

After Japan, we landed in Korea to prepare for KBW. KBW was a significant event for us—the activations, the number of events, the crowds, and the level of traction were all significant. We had a lot going on throughout the week, but my main focus was on validators.

Many great companies are building tools and running validators for the Cosmos ecosystem. For example, Keplr, Cosmosation, and B-Harvest each have 20–30 full-time developers working hard to push the boundaries of Cosmos, which was very impressive to witness. Although I spent most of the week attending our events, the insights I gained into the strength of these projects left a lasting impression. In addition to the projects, I had the opportunity to experience the student event hosted at Hashed’s office. This event made me quite bullish on Korea's new generation of talent. The energy and potential I saw in these students were promising for the ecosystem's future. Korea’s strong idol culture has also greatly impacted its digital landscape. One standout example is TripleS, a Web3 K-pop idol group incubated by Hashed. During one of the events, I met Yun-jin, and as someone who enjoys K-pop—listening to songs and attending concerts—I found it truly unique to encounter a true fan in such a setting. It highlighted the cultural blend of K-pop and Web3 in Korea.

But beyond idol IPs, Korea has also developed a rich culture around online fiction and manhwa (the Korean term for manga). Korea’s entertainment industry is incredibly mature, with an adaptive supply chain to support these cultural products. One of my favourite stories, “Marry My Husband", began as a novel, was adapted into a manhwa, and is now being made into a movie—showcasing the fluidity of content creation in Korea.

Thanks to APAC DAO team

We didn’t stay in Vietnam long, but the vibe there was fantastic. From my perspective, there are a lot of strong projects emerging in Vietnam, which has a robust developer culture. Believe it or not, many Vietnamese developer studios and individual validators can run nodes more efficiently than professionals in other regions. This strong developer presence was evident at our event, which was packed with Vietnamese teams building in the space, and I’m sure many more will emerge in the future.

I also want to share some thoughts from my time in Vietnam, as this was my first visit. The use of Grab was incredibly convenient—it’s truly dominating the Southeast Asian region. You can use Grab for payments, food delivery, transportation, and financial services. In many ways, Southeast Asia is similar to China. Many Eastern countries struggled to catch up during the internet boom since the movement began in the West. But as time passed, we’ve entered the mobile generation, where mobile phones are cheaper and more accessible. If we dive into the data on mobile phone penetration rates, we see that the rate in Southeast Asia is extremely high. The entire region has overtaken others in mobile app adoption over the past few years, with platforms like TikTok and Grab leading the charge.

Here’s my takeaway: For years, we’ve seen relatively few successful startups emerge from this region. But I believe IP is a sector where we’ll soon see many Asian projects building and raising funds. Additionally, I think this is fertile ground for growing strong communities. Being behind doesn’t mean you’re disadvantaged—you have room and time to choose where you want to be in the next 10 years. The light of the grassroots will shine eventually.

Thanks to Mole DAO team

Singapore is a complex market, with too many side events for me to focus entirely on one-on-one meetings. Thanks to the prominence of Token2049, the vibe in Singapore tends to attract slightly more established companies. For example, t2.world and NFTGo are both quite successful in their sectors but are continuously looking to grow. Opportunities arise for the right founders in Singapore, and it’s a great time to network with people. However, unlike other events, you don’t often get to meet all your partners in one place—Token2049 has its unique character. While it’s true that Token2049 leans more towards business development (BD), we still had many talented builders attending our events.

I also want to highlight two other events I attended: FarCon Asia and EthGlobal. As a PowerBadge user, I strongly believe in the continued growth of Farcaster, and I think this will lead to great outcomes in the future, aligning with our vision of where we’ll be in the next 10 years. EthGlobal, as always, remains one of the best hackathons. With over 1,300 attendees, 960 hackers, and 309 projects, it’s clear that we are progressing toward greater developer adoption. This is a crucial time for those in DevRel to engage with more developers, build relationships, and understand how to support them as they transition from hackathon projects to MVP startups.

Some honest words—building an ecosystem and a community is incredibly hard. Inflated follower counts of 200k or 300k don’t represent a real community. In Web3, we often fast-track things that may take years to accomplish in Web2, but the “1,000 true fans” theory still applies to us. Sometimes, when I look at many projects, I wonder: what do we really mean by a good ecosystem? Even as someone working in DevRel and as an ecosystem builder, I often question myself. What defines a good ecosystem? Here are my personal views, which don’t necessarily reflect Story’s perspective.

I believe an ecosystem or community is fundamentally about shared energy and alignment in values and vision. You can often tell in a conversation if the same long-term goals and ideals drive someone. This type of connection is what makes a community feel authentic and cohesive. You can often tell, in a conversation, if the person you’re speaking with shares your vision and mindset. The core of a person comes through in how they communicate. During this trip, many people asked me, “Hey, I have this app, and I want to build on Story,” or, “How should I build with Story?” These questions don’t excite me as much as ones like, “Hey, I have this app, we’re working on __, could you help us validate our roadmap?” The difference is subtle but essential—it’s about the willingness to explore and refine rather than seeking a simple formula.

Also, not everyone fully understands how to work with IP directly, and that’s okay. I often ask two key questions: “What is IP in your vision?” and “Where do you envision users creating content?” I believe IP is the result of creation, whether manually produced or generated. However, during this trip, I met many people with a strong understanding of IP and a clear roadmap driven by passion and motivation. Often, I rate passion and motivation higher than someone’s background because true passion and motivation endure longer and fuel long-term success.

Here’s a good example: I met the founder of BIMON in July during EDCON. After I explained the concept of Story, Sen San took it upon himself to conduct extensive personal research and brainstorm on how to build on It. I was genuinely amazed by his attitude and commitment, which highlighted the power of passion over technical expertise.

The primary purpose of this Asia tour was to experience and engage with local communities firsthand. While English is the language most people use, penetrating the core network without native language support can be very challenging—particularly in places like Japan and Vietnam. Having someone speak the local language is still essential, so I’ve started learning Korean.

Being part of this tour has made me reflect more deeply on how we can turn these interactions into actionable building—transforming people into creators who work on top of Story. Community building, like growth, takes time. I hope to contribute alongside our ecosystem partners and fellow DevRels to educate and empower more people to build exciting projects. We must take this journey step by step, but the potential is enormous.

We’ll be hosting some events in Thailand during DevCon, and I have an exciting event idea in mind—still in stealth mode for now. I’m planning to have some internal discussions for evaluation. At this point, it’s unclear how many developers are active in the space. Are we genuinely short on talent or just inflating the numbers? Either way, one thing is sure: our mission remains the same—bring more people into the space, support those with ideas, and foster an open and collaborative community.

Personally, I’d love to see more applications coming out of the Southeast Asia region. There is no shortage of talent here, and many developers are just as skilled as those from other parts of the world. The key is to build trust and dig deeper into the talent pool. If you have any ideas, feel free to DM me. Whether it’s me, DevRelius, Weilei, or anyone else, we’re here to help.