Singapore: A Web3 Hub?

Transcript

the topic what we have uh decided for today is going to be very enlightening very educative uh people around Singapore and people who have come all across from various reasons to attend uh this event so I would like to uh I'd like all of you to uh introduce yourself uh tell us something about your company what you do and then we'll start begin the panel yeah IMA from you sure thanks first of all super happy to be here um and uh yeah so I'm I'm a founding partner of long has Ventures we are a uh crypto native fund with headquarter in Singapore um and we run both the web native accelerator as well as a funds focus on across a range of thesis like

defi multi infra gaming infra and and whatnot so we've been around for like six years now and uh yeah happy to share my view H yeah great uh thank thank you and uh excited to welcome everyone to Singapore for a very uh topical session my name is hassin Ahmed I'm the country director of Singapore at coinbase coinbase is a global crypto platform we're publicly created on NASDAQ we service consumers institutions and developers across our various products and services closer to home coinbase Singapore uh has been in Singapore for about 4 years we're fully licensed by the Mas uh and have a local homegrown team that's building in the region for the the region that's TR so yeah Fiona

yeah thank you it's great to see you all I'm Fiona Murray managing director for Asia Pacific at ripple at Ripple we're a One-Stop shop for digital asset infrastructure we help organizations and institutions to move value whether that's Fiat or digital to store value with a custody solution to exchange it with a launch of our stable coin at the end of this year and um really excited to be here in uh in my home in Singapore Where We Are licensed for payments with our NPI license by Mas as well and uh I'm excited to tell you all about how great it is it's wonderful I think uh everybody what we have whom we have in this panel are great going to talk about

Singapore as a whole so Ima I would like to start with you like uh we know Singapore and U it's been almost like 10 or 11th time I am here I have been moving uh to Singapore but uh The Craze for web 3 blockchain what I have seen in the farest reason compared to Singapore it's very prominent so what makes Singapore as a as a potential hub for web 3 what we have seen for the last couple of years yeah I I really just bit of background so I'm originally from China and I came here for my University study and uh and then after that I went to um Australia Hong Kong and moved back to Singapore about 6 years ago and I think

every time when I came back to Singapore I feel like you know Singapore has always been relentlessly seeking talents I think um if I were to sum I think not just becoming a ever more important prominent hub for web 3 but also just generally I think it's become super super important right across other Industries as well so um I think it boils down to a couple factors one I think it's the um meritocracy based kind of society right always open for talents always open to um you know super easy to get Visa to come and work here and then secondly is the tax regulation right um there's no capital gain I think which is

uh you know uh very relevant to a lot of crypto holders um as compared to many other countries tax regulation and the third thing is with regards to specifically to web3 I remember back in 2019 Singapore has already issued the digital token offering guide um maybe I got the name slightly there but I feel like the government has been super Progressive and really trying to understand new technology and coming up with transparent regulatory framework to help the industry progress forward um so I think a combination of those factors have really made Singapore increasingly a h for web 3 oh that's nice so H you also spent quite a long time understanding uh the growth what the

country has seen in terms of uh targeting or inviting web3 so what is what is what you have seen over the last couple of years in terms of innovation in the web Tree in Singapore yeah so I think just taking a step back uh Singapore has uh run a remarkable job at first being a financial Hub and then really over the last decade or 15 years being a fintech hub as well and I think it's that same lineage that's tracking through uh to digital assets as well so I think where you know where Singapore uh really shines is that you know it's an open economy and it's almost sort of by design that they they need that for you know for growth as well uh so all of the the policies and incentive structures are really shaped around just making sure that there's a global inflow

of of uh Global Talent uh you know foreign uh Investments coming in and then also just a lot of focus on incentivizing companies to set up uh their Regional headquarters or at least uh coverage offices uh in Singapore as well for us what as we were going through our thinking and our journey we're fortunate as a global company that you know we could have our pickup spots so uh when we were thinking of how to really enter the APAC region in the right way uh Singapore really stood out to us as sort of that right combination of access to you know gateway to other markets access to Talent just that level of regular Clarity that we needed for our business model to be able to set up Roots here and then invest for the long term mhm okay Fiona what is your view

what you have noticed how the web3 has grown up uh in last so many years yeah so you know Emma and Hassan said it very well we have a very similar view for us you know we could simplify it down to to Really three points we we do see Singapore as a web 3 Hub today so not a potential one but it's it's all it's all happening right here right now um so the first is absolutely that regulatory Clarity and framework which has allowed coinbase Ripple to establish licensed operations here Mas was a you know at the Forefront of bringing that regulatory Clarity on a on the global stage and and we're delighted to have that and would encourage many other jurisdictions to suit so that we can we can do more safely and effectively

together the second piece you know look at the Innovation around at token it's incredible to see that and we all know that even in web 3 what you need to have are banks you you have to have trafi support and infrastructure every entity needs a bank account and that's not a given in many jurisdictions here the banks are encouraged to work with safe responsible web3 organizations and that makes a huge difference to being able to innovate effectively and then lastly for us you know Singapore has a reputation for stability yeah and when you're doing crazy exciting things with technology it's really important that as you're building you've got stability of the

legal system uh and you can rely on the organizations uh around to um to have governance and to enable you to grow without worrying about all of that so yeah AB absolutely sing for is already there so yeah right what you rightly said is so let's talk about you know as you mentioned that in terms of regulation in terms of policies this country is way ahead compared to couple of other countries so uh what sort of specific policies what you have seen what has been implemented in this country to boost and to encourage uh the web3 platform or the blockchain platform yeah so in the case of Ripple we run a Global Payments Network and um and what we do that's different in that network

is we enable the the use of digital assets for real-time settlement across border and we use Singapore as a hub in that in that Network so in Singapore we're licensed with a DPT license a digital payment token license that enables us to sell digital tokens and process all the operations as a hub here for many of our Global operations and that you know that is the framework that has allowed Us and other organizations that are like-minded to come to set up and to establish Singapore as a hub so has have you seen a smooth road map in terms of uh the government or The Regulators bringing in terms of policies yeah I think the the having

that Foundation of look this is a fit for purpose uh licensing framework for what they call digital payment tokens uh really sets the stage right because then it sets the rules of the game in a very clear way and I think in addition to that uh one thing that is uh you know more known to to folks who are here is that the Ms and the industry actually have a very good dialogue because a lot of this is early you know we're helping to shape policy together so the MS will generally put out a consultation paper they will uh take an input via the industry associations or through bilateral uh arrangements and then we will have an opportunity to at least voice you know hey this is what we see in other jurisdictions these are some things that you should think about so that you can balance uh access and

Innovation and consumer protection together so we have enjoyed that relation relationship with the masas and you know being able to formulate these these policies one thing I just want to call out that even outside of of the Mas uh there are other agencies within what we call Singapore Inc as well that are also working pretty tirelessly so for example the economic development Board of Singapore the EDB which is effectively the business development arm of Singapore okay does a tremendous job at attracting companies and really kind of pitching them on why Singapore is the right choice for them Kong has something similar and now Dubai Abu dhab abudhabi have picked up the same model but uh we really see the EDB has done having done a fantastic job with that great so I'll

come back to you with another questions on that point so Emma you wanted to talk about something on the policies what Singapore government has helped in terms of web companies yeah I I think Hassan and Fiona has covered it pretty well uh but maybe like more relevant to the field arming which is like VC investment into tokens um I got into the industry in 2018 I remember that was the time where um 2017 there was like uh you know icos right a lot of projects were trying to figure out what's a safer jurisdiction to do token Insurance set up foundations and a lot of the US projects were actually setting up foundations in Singapore and uh you know seeing Singapore as one of the more favorable jurisdictions to do that and

uh uh Maas came up with very um Progressive like what I mentioned the digital token offering guide right took a very practical approach um and try to apply uh take existing regulations but also cater to the new technology so I thought that was very good and then um in addition to the efforts mentioned by Ms EDB um I would like to give a shout out to tamasic because that's the Singapore's Sovereign fund and they have been instrumental I think in seeding the ecosystem here so under tamasic they have I think three efforts under the overall blockchain right they have the um venture building platform manala which is to build blockchain related businesses and then second part is the

fun of funds which is to see the leading crypto funds and then the third part is the Crypton native funds called superscript which is they can allow them to uh invest into Crypt native businesses so the superscript actually is an investor into our accelerators as well and I think um very few Central Bank related entities in the world are doing things like that and this was back in since 2019 right so I feel like there's really Collective effort right by people within Singapore ecosystem trying to push the space forward in a very practical way yeah that's a very valid point H I wanted to uh come back to like in terms of regulations what we are seeing in SEC and other countries and all so let's see how Cooperative in

terms of regulations the government are bringing like tomorrow I want to start a company web three company in Singapore so in terms of regulatory Health how much it is prone and how much it is encouraging uh web3 startups yeah so I think uh you know with with Singapore one of the the just foundational things is is that it's very easy to incorporate it's very easy to get started um there's a very clear blueprint for you know how one goes through that uh business incorporation process I think in addition to that you know one of the other kind of delineations here is that if you're running a a self- custodial business or you know an onchain protocol that's regulation exempt and even the the letter of the law is very clear about that so so I think it's very encouraging to see in in Singapore as a hub that you

know unlike other jurisdictions us included that they're not trying to overreach onto the the protocol and self- custody side and attempt to um you know regulate that before you know before there's any warranted need to do so so for you know I'd say web 3 Builders and developers that are looking uh to move here there are uh grants available even from the EDB uh for encouragement it's easy to set up there's access to to local and Global Talent you you can even sort of Nearshore you know with Malaysia a lot of protocols that are set up here have this dual model going on as well uh so overall I'd say that it's relatively straightforward it's still complex but it's relatively straightforward I think the other uh maybe thing to call out is when we think about ecosystems is that

they're ecosystems because they're multifaceted and they're multi-dimensional so we have Builders and projects we have VCS like long has we have service providers like Ripple and coinbase you know and we have Regulators that are also in the mix and so you really have that Village uh that's kind of working together to make sure that these things are are circular and we're able to grow together as well okay Fiona what is your like uh you know what we have observed in US is like uh when you're starting a business so one you go one step ah uh back forward and one step back but in US you go one step and they pull you back two steps uh this not happening in Singapore Singapore is very prone so what is your thought on that yeah so we're we're headquartered in San Francisco and we run a global

business you know working with some of the world's largest banks when they're self- custody working with some of the you know the new entrance to the space who are tokenizing on The xrp Ledger and what we have seen in the US is that the regulator there through a lack of clarity has completely stifled Innovation so that innovation has moved elsewhere to places like Singapore the UK uh Europe UAE where there there are and and Japan you know where the where the regulator is embracing progress partnering with the private sector and bringing Clarity and you know that there's just no dispute about that so um you know here in Singapore again you

know where we we have that that license structure we run our Global Payments Network more than 50% of Ripple's global payment flows through the digital asset goes through Singapore so you can not the US in fact it's uh not worth mentioning the the the comparison so you know it really does make a very big difference where you have that that Forward Thinking regulator and um and we see much more growth and some of the really big players moving into this space in Asia Pacific as well because of that Clarity here in Singapore yeah that's a that's a valid point okay now I'll come to uh uh I'll continue with you like how are the educational institutions in Singapore adopting to

support uh the growing web3 sectors so education is inevident like you know today people are talking about AI but people are missing out that AI is something not new which has been there for ages and it do that we started exploring so in terms I mean education is must so what what is your view on that I I love this question on education not least because I'm Asian and Asians love education and and I have a I have a toddler so we're already planning out his uh his educational future but um I'll say that Singapore is fantastic at um at predicting what trends there are and then building talent to fit those requirements and those needs that are

coming up we see that in Singapore you know the universities do a wonderful job of providing world-class education and um what I really like to see here is actually their openness to collaborating with the private sector as well so at Ripple we take this super seriously in 2018 we launched the University blockchain Research initiative so we partner with universities around the world to provide and so far from 2018 we've provided over $60 million in funding to help universities and Academia do real world research and solve real world problems which is something that I think we all agree is really important in the web 3 space how many universities you have tied up across GL many many our Flagship

University partner in Singapore is n us so with them uh we help them launch their fintech um their fintech group they have uh sponsored hackathon student Le hackathon so they can attack really what the your students want to do and and build utility in this space um you know speaking of talent what we did during covid which was a tough time for everybody with in partnership with n us was we funded the enrollment of 300 students and mid-career professionals here in Singapore who wanted a career change and at the end of that at the end of that course 200 of those 300 students found full-time work in fintech so we

see you know that education has a direct impact on your ability to to work and and for and the ability for Singapore to uh to to fuel the talent in this space um I'll say one more thing on the topic and that's once you have education and you build and you inspire a group of people to to build in web 3 and blockchain you need to have more funding so the next thing that we've done is we have um the xrpl Etc accelerator program we have a hub here in Singapore and year to date we've provided 11 organizations with early stage seed funding so that they can build on chain here out of Singapore wonderful that's a great initiative H do you think that

education is needed and educational institutions should come forward uh in terms of teaching web3 and blockchain everything yeah I think there's uh strong technical Talent uh and strong technical programs coming out of the secondary institutions here so so um like Fiona said I'd say n us is probably the most premier one um in in the market but uh we also see very strong talent coming out of n as well and for business roles uh SMU so uh for our part you know we have uh we started our summer intern program uh in Singapore last year which was very successful so this this summer we actually had our largest intern class ever uh mostly from from the institutions that I mentioned and we

have a an ongoing conversation you know with the these uh both student groups as well as uh The Faculty that are thinking about how to shape curriculum and want to stay up to date with what's happening from the practitioner point of view as well so we will be uh exploring programs for how do we um you know provide more input uh into inter curriculums uh with these universities yeah as you said education is an ongoing process like learn There Is No Death of learning yeah IMA your view on this in terms of educating uh more and more people around about web3 and how Singapore is actually doing yeah happy to share um I think crypto started being a very small cyer Punk very tax Savvy type of like Community right but today it's becoming more and

more mainstream you actually have a lot more people who didn't have a technological background right and I myself came from non like Computing background right I was a banker and then a consultant and McKenzie so when I got in the industry in 2019 I was like oh my God what can I do cuz it's like two person St both of them code right and there's not much BD you do um but today I feel like Singapore has this complete ecosystem of like head of BD head of ecosystem right like also from educational perspectives um like kassan and Fiona were saying um both of the leading universities uh and uh N US SMU they all have blockchain clubs um right and some of the leading um ecosystem

project actually originated from n us like zika were found by N US professor and the PhD students right back in 2019 okay uh kyber the same N US PhD and then all ler Fed so in a way I think because you kind of planted that seeds very early and some of the founders become successful right then they go back started blockchain clubs starts to host H hackathon right then there's a lot more like initiatives around education and for us as well like we start to run accelerator since 2019 and Enterprise Singapore has been provide provide us with fundings to host like hackathons and educational seminars workshops and

whatnot so I think now the ecosystem is becoming a lot more complete around uh education okay so now we have spoken about uh the influx of web3 companies in Singapore uh how far it has impacted the local market and how far it has uh impacted the job market in Singapore uh let's say 3 years four years down the line lot of companies have come to Singapore they have established there is a success story with story with every company so how far it has impacted Hass yeah so I think the impact has been um steady uh in a long-term uh view it's been cyclical just as sort of the crypto cycle has has played out this is actually U an area where the industry

recognizes that hey we know that there's a good impact happening both at a job creation level as well as FDI but we've not done enough to quantify that so this year the there's an organization called the Singapore fintech Association uh and that has like a web three arm so we're actually running a survey that is expected to come out in November which will uh for the first time publish a formalized report uh for what this looks like but just very roughly based on you know my anecdotal observation and you know from the big companies that I see here my guess would be that it would be you know somewhere between 15 to 25,000 jobs uh that are currently occupied by web 3 companies uh both kind of you know centralized providers as well as uh more

onchain protocols and uh you know there's a really great Community organization uh called SC builders that uh started out last year as a Grassroots effort and they've done a lot of work in cataloging all the different uh crypto companies uh that are in the space so I think there's roughly about 800 to to 1,000 uh companies that are operating in Singapore that touch crypto from different angles um so those are just some baseline numbers but excited to see what the final report is going to look like Fiona um your company is regularly established and you have employees across the globe so uh talking about the job market how it has impacted uh with the innovation of lot of web3 companies what you have observed you

know I think Hassan covered everything very very beautifully there and um and there's very little for me to add Beyond you know whenever we see new technology coming out it's it's really really important that the community rallies that we have mentorship programs that um that we're providing advice to those young entrepreneurs and uh and giving them regulated institutions which they can operate with and learn from MH Anda uh is it creating uh this web influx of web is creating a job market people are actually getting it and uh understanding the market sorry what was with the influx of web3 companies in Singapore do you think it's creating more uh job hubs

for people and the scenario of job market is increasing yeah absolutely I think two Matrix right one is how big the sector has become right and you look at some of those company have become multi-billion dollar companies right from like a startup a few years ago so these companies hires you know hundreds of employees right over the last couple of years um and that kind of multiplies um secondly I want to point out is the quality of the it's not just simply creating jobs what I've observed is uh a lot of the um leading crypto companies would have their um leadership team right either Regional or Global Leadership team based out of Singapore or Founders

right of very successful projects from say Vietnam uh China Thailand right and they all tend to kind of want to come to Singapore after after you know the company gets to a certain level because of the uh sophistication of the ecosystem so I think it's not just about creating jobs but High Caliber jobs high impact jobs okay yeah okay uh if you want to the last last word on Singapore as a next or the web three Hub which the enter global globe should recognize any last thought on this yeah we're here come join us yeah that's very short and sweet yeah Hass yeah we you know we're very excited about Singapore overall like our journey here has been

um you very smooth um you know relative to other jurisdictions that we operate in and again it's it's due to a lot of the factors that we we already discussed I think the one thing that I would just add on top of it is that you know with with coinbase like coinbase has has many different products and and you know different services so so the one that I didn't really touch on as much is is base which is our Layer Two protocol and you know even just this week we're having like six different like base Community meetups and these meetups were just organized by the community and they told us hey we're you know we're doing these meetups like come join us and we're just seeing a lot of projects uh and a lot of just you know developers like young hungry entrepreneurs who want

that shot who want to make it in life and you know they want to do something important uh and they're really uh gravitating towards uh at least kind of at least using Singapore as like a starting base with like a holding company and then thinking about hey how do I sort of spread my wings and how do I make my dollar go further so I I think just having that like kind of you know effect like flywheel effect uh that we discussed is really really important and Singapore sort of going through its I'd say like second or third cycle you know with digital assets I'd say that you know post FTX like there was like a little bit of a recuse of okay are we sort of going in the right direction there was actually a little bit of calibration as well in that uh there's

been more focus on hey where is the actual utility like how do we actually make sure that entrepreneurs are focusing on the right things like onchain payments like real world asset tokenization and we're starting to see some of those Pilots that are actually some of them are Mas sponsored as well starting to slowly go from just the pilot stage to how do we sort of commercialize this and how do we move this into the next stage so you know once you have that level of sponsorship and and this much kind of level of uh energy and and ground swell that meets meets that topown mandate I think you can expect that good thing and special things will happen so we're very excited to be a part of that experience and we're trying to do our part to push that movement forward as well all right thank

you very much guys uh just time to wrap up thank you very much it was really a uh great panel and great topic to talk about Singapore as a whole thank you very much thanks B thank you