Kenny Wy

Avoid Vietnam's Thriving Crypto Scene at All Costs! Ever considered steering clear of one of the hottest crypto markets out there? Vietnam's bustling crypto community might seem like a tempting opportunity, but think again! By avoiding Vietnam, you're dodging the headache of tapping into a hyper-competitive market filled with eager investors and enthusiasts. Why bother navigating the complexities of engaging with a dynamic and rapidly growing community when you can play it safe elsewhere? After all, who needs the hassle of expanding your project's visibility and fostering new partnerships in a country ripe with crypto potential? If you're content with staying in your comfort zone and missing out on a wealth of opportunities, then by all means, steer clear of Vietnam's thriving crypto scene. But if you're ready to challenge the status quo and seize untapped potential, let's talk about your visibility at GM Vietnam next month. 😉 #ReversePsychology #MissOutToWinBig #Web3 #CoinstoreExchange #Tokenlaunch #tokenlisting #Crypto

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Today, I turn 38 🎈🎉 (No, I don't have 38 lessons to share) Instead I have 4! One for each decade, cuz I love to look ahead to the future 😉   1. Entertainment is as important to success as competence. As I like to tell my team, "It doesn't matter if you're right, if no one remembers you." How many innovations have been attributed to Steve Jobs, when someone else did the hard work? Take your team, your investors, and your customers on a narrative journey with you. Give them the "wow," backed up by a need-to-have product. 2. Pausing to celebrate and think through today's successes, will turn luck into skill. From post mortems to retros, software businesses are obsessed with learning from their mistakes. This is valuable. But so is enjoying and learning from your successes. After all, what's hypergrowth but 10x-ing or 100x-ing what we get right? 3. Early stage success relies on hiring domain experts, not looking for cheap ways to solve expensive problems. One reason I've seen a lot of my contemporaries fail is that they hire juniors too soon. "Own It" is our first value, and we've embraced hiring a lean, experienced team - who can then operate autonomously to execute our vision. I consider these early employees like additional cofounders, and we do our best to treat them that way. 4. Don't discard a brilliant insight because you disagree with 5% of it - or even 90% of it. Ideas, analogies, and analyses that aren't quite right are often more useful than 'the perfect answer'. Me 5 years ago never would've admitted this. I pursued an idealised version of the truth, which blinded me to wisdom. You’ll have to check back in 10 years for my 5th lesson! 😈

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Token2049 Singapore 🇸🇬 has come and gone, bringing with it a number of observations and lessons: 1) Crypto side events will continue to grow in number. Token itself had over 700+ side events this year. And while it is exciting to see our industry expand, there will be attendance liquidity issues where projects will dump time, money, and energy into an event that ultimately few people will go to. Moving forward, the real winners here will be projects who host short events (2-3 hours) in partnership with other trending projects. Think fractl and Halborn with their brunch series and happy hour events. 2) Speaking of side events... more and more attendees are getting tired of the party and late night scene. Over the past few conferences this year there has been an increased push for fitness and health side events. Look at the One of Us series of events hosted by @oneofusgang or the morning runs from Bankless Ventures. 3) DePIN and AI are getting more attention as the crypto narrative continues its shift during this cycle. But how successful will they be? For DePIN... Projects will need to find a way to plug the gap between finite runway and achieving their end goal. Many DePIN projects have folded... not because they were bad, but because they were ahead of their time and were not able to generate revenue quicky enough or get some form of PoC in the short to medium term to solidify VC confidence. For AI... The projects that end up doing well will be those that ultimately offer the most convenient experience to users and see a consistent number of returning DAUs. This may seem obvious, but a fair amount of blockchain projects are either trying to incorporate AI because it's the trend across both Web2 and Web3... or because they are trying to leverage AI in blockchain to solve an issue that barely exists. 4) DevCon '24 will probably be massive. Token had barely started before I heard excited chatter from attendees about where they plan to stay in Bangkok and what side events they want to attend. #Token2049

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🚀 Key Takeaways on Japan’s Web3 Investment Landscape 🇯🇵 #Japan is gearing up for significant growth in #Web3 investments. Check out the attached graphic for a breakdown of key funds SBI Investment gumi Cryptos Capital Skyland Ventures B Dash Ventures Taisu Ventures Saison Capital Nonagon Capital gmjp Incubate Fund investing in Japan's Web3 ecosystem, highlighting whether their portfolios are focused on local or global projects. Part two of our Japan Web3 long-form research analyzes the investment landscape 🔗https://lnkd.in/gC5zucdy Here are the key takeaways: 1. Growing Web3 Investments: Japan is witnessing an uptick in Web3 investments, driven by government support and regulatory advancements. The Cabinet proposed legislative amendments to allow domestic VCs to invest in crypto assets. If approved, this marks a turning point in domestic #VentureCapital investments. 2. Corporate Venture Capital Dominance: The majority of Web3 funding in Japan is driven by #CorporateVentureCapital (CVCs). Major enterprises like SBI Digital Asset Holdings and BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc. are leading the charge with substantial funds focused on Web3, AI, and the metaverse. 3. Preference for Domestic Startups: There’s a strong inclination toward investing in domestic startups, mainly due to lower public listing valuations and language barriers. This trend could pose challenges for foreign startups aiming to enter the Japanese market. 4. Strategic Opportunities & Challenges: - Opportunity: US #startups should seek strategic investors/advisors, like Pacific Meta, with enterprise partnerships to localize and navigate the market. - Challenge: Japanese #enterprises have long decision-making processes, and business communications are primarily in Japanese, complicating entry for non-Japanese speaking teams. 5. Implications for US VCs: The evolving landscape offers a unique opportunity for US VCs, particularly those proficient in Japanese, to educate traditional Japanese VCs, attract LPs interested in global deals, and establish partnerships with local players. As Japan embraces deregulation and digital transformation, the Web3 space is poised for growth. For investors and founders, understanding these dynamics is key to unlocking opportunities in this promising market. 🌐💡 To best understand the Japan Web3 market, read part one of the report providing background information to Japan's macroeconomy & regulations 🔗https://lnkd.in/gQhyYNrq Join our Substack in link above to get more insights into #APAC Web3 markets! This research was made possible by the insights and contributions of Maria Chak Aleksandra Nik and the many founders, builders and investors we interviewed.

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Founders: Learn to say "tell me more." When faced with challenging questions or negative feedbacks in a meeting with an investor or a customer, or when in a tough negotiation, your instinct will be to respond and counter immediately because you don't want to look bad. Don't do that. Instead, say "tell me more." In most cases, such challenging questions or negative feedbacks are only a very small expressed part of the entire context. By saying "tell me more" you can extract more context behind them and better understand what that someone on the other side of the table really wants to know or concerns about, and it will help you regain the control over the conversation. Especially with investors, if you're a seed-stage company, most of the seed-stage VCs ask challenging questions just to see how you can clearly and logically think and respond as we understand that you may have to change your strategy, product, etc, going forward. In tough negotiations also, even when some things seem non-negotiable with the other side, there are alonost always second best and third best alternatives which you could find simply by saying "tell me more." Of course sometimes those tough questions, negative feedbacks or tough negotiations are the indicator of flat-out 'No’s.' But in such cases, just by simply asking them to tell you more, you’ve just - at the very least, learned a new perspective. So learn to say "tell me more."

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Just wrapped up the networking of Coinfest Asia which started today. I’m here with my passion for crypto, both as an investor and a tech enthusiast. The energy is electric, and the conversations are cutting-edge. One thing stands out: the need to focus on marketing early. This connects directly to my previous post. No matter how great the tech is, marketing and sales validate it. I’m exploring how blockchain projects can launch fast, get feedback, and start selling. Looking forward to more insights tomorrow. If you’re here at Coinfest, let’s connect and talk crypto, tech, and projects, related to #AI. #CoinfestAsia #SalesFirst #Crypto #Blockchain #StartupLife

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Whether #Bitcoin maxis want it or not, the future for the asset is multichain liquidity, wrapped BTC token standards, and dApps—not sitting in wallets as a sluggish store of value. This is how Bitcoin will ultimately achieve its original vision of being a global currency, flowing freely outside of damaging centralized control. A major BTCFi narrative is emerging, just in time for the bull run...

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Another RoboAdvisor's downfall proves exactly that they can't even manage their own finance while providing investment advice via the software they make. How fraudulent this market can be more? I once explained why these systems don't work (post still on LinkedIn). If you really believe in your market analyzing why don't invest by yourself but spend time to deceive users instead. That's why we at BlackFox Trading will forever be a private firm. There're VC's knocks but my default reply is: No. I keep building new startups and we need you on that, not this. Though we can help other fintech startups build an effective product. Feel free to contact me like so.

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Performance Comparison of Asset Classes in Malaysia (2019-2024) #Malaysia #Bitcoin #RealEstate #Stocks

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🤯 A locally licensed crypto exchange in the Philippines just sold USDC at a price of ₱1 per 1 USDC. It has been some days since we first got ahold of this story - after numerous posts on social media and private messages sent to BitPinas by users who experienced the issue, we look into the matter, which has not yet been covered by news sites and mainstream media. People are torn with how this should be resolved 1. On one hand, one key aspect of crypto transactions is finality. Crypto traders have come to expect that if they send crypto to a wrong address, they can never get it back, they cannot ask for customer support etc. It’s the price crypto users pay in exchange for having control of their own money. 2. On the other hand, the crypto exchange is a centralized entity that has its own rules and regulations it has to abide to. But the same finality applies. If I send to a wrong address inside any of the top exchanges, that transaction is final and no amount of pleading will make them reverse the transaction. So when Maya sold USDC for ₱1, users expect the transaction to be final. Maya however thinks otherwise, saying this is a pricing error. This is important, because this is all happening at the backdrop of Bitcoin reaching a new all time high of $75,000. And users still cannot take out their crypto out of Maya. They can only only sold it for pesos inside the app. The responsible thing to do is publish the story once we have quotes from both sides. And that we did - we emailed Maya about the issue and they said they are going to send a statement. We publish the story only after Maya has sent their side of the story. Please check out our article which has the full story including Maya’s response. https://lnkd.in/gWiSmfAf Myself and BitPinas writer Nathaniel Cajuday worked on this story.

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Released only 2 days ago, $MOCA Token is up 211%. As a holder, You can either Sell now or Stake… But: Yat Siu, (token launcher & founder, Animoca Brands) has fueled the sentiment for the latter, stating that the token is all about Network effects. An article to be read… here You go: https://lnkd.in/d3zuXDvM Animoca, the web3 investment company, is building the open metaverse, Mocaverse + Moca ID to induce user gaming experience. It holds 400+ portfolio businesses and registered around $280m in 2023 revenue. So Yat speaks of $MOCA ownership as being part of a strong Network effect. What do I think: ~ He is right, pretty much! If you hold the token, then you’re betting that it’ll do well in the future. Regardless of your holding intention, as a pure-profit play or a true investment gem, you’re banking on network effects to push price up. Value added to Moca is a result of expanded network effects. ~Value is never the same. Projects have different strengths, some will attract more value as it grows, many won’t grow. Value is also different among network participants, financial & identity disparity clearly shows that, quality matters over quantity. ~ Expect to see many more tokens, we wanted decentralization, well here it is. It’ll become even harder to navigate towards great projects. So if you find a good community, don’t let go. ~ Builders are building! Players and seekers of pristine digital experience: little by little, we’re getting there. Yat Siu has impressed via his ‘Masa Son’ investment style in web3, grabbing that many games under his belt is not a small feat. I admire him though I’m going a different route in Gaming. I seek instead, service firms that will support all those games & their developers. So reach out for funding if you’re building something cool especially around marketing, hiring and R&D. 💪 https://lnkd.in/dswQqzaP #moca #gaming #token #web3 #invest #money

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Idiotopedia Lite: Geronimooooo....... https://lnkd.in/gRc5eVF8 "GOTO, oh GOTO... Again, why do I keep using this company as a bad example of my understanding about ethical investing? Anyway, let me take a closer look at how GOTO's stock has performed. At Rp.50, the share price is falling sharply, which is a bad sign. But let me go back to GOTO's IPO to understand the story. Anchor investors bought shares back then for an average price of more than Rp.200 each, and some paid as much as Rp.338." But there was a catch: GOTO was already losing tens of trillions of rupiah and didn't see a way to end the loss. Now, years later, things are very different from what people thought they would be,. Even though GOTO's sales have gone up by 22%, its losses have only gone down by 76%. This means that the company will likely have a long and risky time before it starts making money. This throws doubt on the company's story of getting better, especially since the share price of Rp.50 is so low compared to the IPO price that it's scary. Then... Now, GOTO is using its own cash of Rp.3.2 trillion to buy back shares through a scheme called "buyback." It sounds like this is a good sign, but is it really? Think about this: wouldn't this money be better spent on core business activities that would clearly help GOTO's finances and stock price? Well, retail investors should be wary of these kinds of tricks. These number games can give people a false sense of security, which is bad for investors and the environment as a whole. Companies that put short-term gains ahead of long-term value creation make investors less likely to spend and slow down industry growth. My opinion from this article: What's the lesson here? Don't let PR change your mind. When it comes to the stock market, hard numbers are more important than long-term goals. Pay attention to businesses that have a history of making money, and don't be afraid to walk away from ones that don't seem trustworthy. Any other thoughts?

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Big Development: CZ is banned from managing or operating the exchange. CZ provided the last clarity on ownership of WazirX, as now CZ is banned. It is now essential that #Binance clarify why WazirX is dragging its name in Singapore court. What is the truth?

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💡 Web3 Weekly Round-up - 17/05/24 🌱 - Probably nothing... 1️⃣ 🇺🇸 Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group) to launch Bitcoin spot trading 2️⃣ 🇦🇪 Dubai recognised as fastest growing start-up ecosystem globally 3️⃣ 🇵🇭 Philippines begins Peso-backed stablecoin sandbox testing 4️⃣ 🌍 Real World Asset (RWA) protocols have seen a resurgence, Total Value Locked (TVL) has soared to nearly $8 billion over the past year 5️⃣ 🇹🇷 Proposal to regulate and enhance security of crypto-asset transactions has been introduced to the Turkish Parliament. 6️⃣ 🇺🇸 U.S. pension funds likely to invest in bitcoin, predicts MicroStrategy 7️⃣ 🇬🇧 Interactive Brokers brings crypto trading to U.K. customers 8️⃣ 🇩🇪 Deutsche Bank to test asset tokenization with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Project Guardian 9️⃣ 🇦🇪 Blockdaemon sets up entity in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) 🔟 🇪🇺 DeFi may struggle to stay decentralized after new EU law ❓What else happened? Gradually then suddenly... #bitcoin #blockchain #ecosystem

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Notes from «Ded» in Singapore. Day four. End of the TOKEN2049 Token2049 is officially over… as are 656 side-events. There were only four days for all of this, which seems a bit short to me, but we’ll talk about the length a bit later. Up next, Solana Breakpoint… and 133 more side events. Then it’s two days on the road and home sweet home. The main narratives that are in the air in Singapore during the conference: - AI and all its possible combinations with Web3. It looks like it’s with us for the long haul, also because with available APIs, Big Data and trainable models, things have gotten a lot easier to use. They can be bought as in a store - Memes, memepads, and everything related to that. - The TON Foundation ecosystem — and it’s not just tap game and mini-apps. It’s also lending protocols, Curve on TON, and so on. The tools that every ecosystem needs to fully develop. - Interoperability, crosschain, and that’s about it. Most liquidity is on Ethereum, and bridges are an unreliable thing. It’s a mess. - Abstractions for end-users and frameworks for developers. Anything that makes it easier to interact with complex technical stuff. Developers get the ability to create smart contracts and tokens in a conditional one click, and end-users get all those transaction confirmations, complex addresses and other things ‘under the hood’. About the duration of Token2049. At first I thought that with so many stands, speakers, visitors and partners it would be possible to stretch the conference for 4–5 days. But then I came to the conclusion that the key word here is ‘stretch’. If you have specific goals for the conference, you have done your homework, prepared lists, arranged meetings, then one day will be enough for you. And if you came just to go back and forth, then God is your judge — what difference does it make whether it lasts two days or five. Read the full article at the link: https://lnkd.in/ewFBh5NB #crosschain #Memecoins #Singapore #Solana #Breakpoint #SolanaBreakpoint #Token2049 #Ethereum #TON #Incrypted #crypto

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