Impressions from Token 2049

Last week, our team was at Token 2049, a leading crypto conference bringing the crypto industry together in Singapore. Among other things, we finally revealed what Astar Supernova was about. Thanks to everyone who joined us, the organizers, for a tremendously well-executed conference with gripping talks and many insights.

We left Singapore feeling more optimistic than ever about the future of crypto, especially in Asia, and are excited to contribute to this space. While we gave talks, we also took the opportunity to listen in to panels and learn from other stakeholders where they see the industry moving and the most significant trends.

Here are a few of them:

Real World Assets (RWA)

Real World Assets or short RWAs remain a major focus in DeFi and beyond, driven by increased earnings on government bonds like T-Bills. RWAs describe financial assets such as real estate, gold, loans, bonds, and other securities that are brought on-chain through tokenization. Benefits of RWAs onchain include their enhanced liquidity, price discovery, accessibility, automation via smart contract, and previously impossible levels of transparency.

Organizations like Maker DAO are currently earning record revenues from holding RWAs, and DeFi protocols like Goldfinch and Centrifuge work with financial institutions to increase the RWA portfolio.

In Japan, megabanks like MUFG are providing the infrastructure necessary to issue stablecoins and other security tokens, recognizing that RWAs could be the catalyst to onboard more traditional financial organizations and allow big pension funds to hold onchain assets.

Some thought leaders recognize the rise of RWAs now as a sign of maturity of the industry since the idea itself isn’t new, yet it has only taken off now. Watch this space.

Layer-2s & ZK Technology

ICYMI, Layer-2s are the next big thing in crypto, as everyone agrees that the base layer of Ethereum does not scale, and a lot more block space is needed to facilitate mass adoption. While the Layer-2s with the biggest adoption and TVL are still optimistic rollups, the trend is toward integrating Zero-Knowledge-Proofs. As zero knowledge technology is maturing, we’re collaborating with Polygon to launch Astar zkEVM. This fully EVM equivalent zk rollup will bring together the Polkadot and Ethereum ecosystems and increase the cross-chain functionality of Astar Network.

Web 2.5

Another trend we’ve witnessed is the increased collaboration between web2 companies and web3 to build what is dubbed web 2.5 products. Examples of that include Telegram’s integration of a web3 wallet and Grab’s addition of web3 capabilities in their product. Both of these applications together boast a user base of more than 1 billion. If successful, this could propel other web2 apps and social media companies to follow suit.

The move coincides with an increased focus on easing the onboarding process, removing friction such as safeguarding a seed phrase, obtaining funds for gas payments, and bridging. Account abstraction allows developers to create seamless experiences that rival the web2 experience of logging in with a social account.

Regulation in Asia

While regulators in the USA, like the SEC and the CFTC, have been going after DeFi companies and exchanges - Asian regulators are moving in the opposite direction. Overall, the sentiment has been very positive, with news from Japan suggesting that companies will now be able to raise capital via tokens. Similarly, other regulators in the area have focused on providing clarity and frameworks for crypto startups and enterprises to experiment, innovate, raise, and invest, all while maintaining high regulatory standards.

Overall, we left Token 2049 energized and excited to continue building in the space to bring web3 to billions.