So yes, it is true that there is a lot of room for improvement concerning UI/UX and native use cases. Additionally, crypto is still a relatively small portion of the global economy, even in some of the most popular use cases like “store of value,” i.e., Bitcoin.

Despite all that, we need to give web3 credit for the incredible growth it has achieved in just a decade.

“I’m sick of feeling like we have to apologise for our early-stage and walk on eggshells around politicians and regulators. We built a US$2 trillion financial market from scratch in less than a decade with absolutely no institutional help and active encumbrances from the government,” said Ryan Selkis, founder of Messari.

Web3 funding

Intelligent people and explosive traction typically attract a lot of capital. That’s precisely what we experienced in 2021. As a result, dedicated crypto funds are reaching new records of assets under management (AUM).

OpenSea

The increasing venture capital has fueled incredible growth in web3 startups, especially NFT marketplaces. For example, in just a few years, OpenSea has achieved astonishing growth. From a seed-stage startup to a ~US$13B valuations. Just look at OpenSea’s annual transaction volume:

• 2018: US$474k
• 2019: US$8 million
• 2020: US$24 million
• 2021: US$15 billion

For comparison, OpenSea did 80 per cent of eBay’s volume in Q4. All that while having less than a million users…

Helium

Web3 has touched even the world of atoms (i.e., hardware). Helium uses blockchain to create a scalable incentive and payment model for a public wireless network.

As per their official website: “Mining HNT is done by installing a simple device on your office window.

That’s it. Seriously.

Hotspots provide miles of wireless network coverage for millions of devices around you using Helium LongFi, and you are rewarded in HNT for doing this.

And because of an innovative proof-of-work model (we call it “Proof-of-Coverage”), your Hotspot only uses 5W of energy.”

Often referred to as the People’s Network, Helium has reached more than 150,000 hotspots globally. In about two years! Meaning, Helium is the largest wireless network owned by its participants. Not any third-party company.

That’s quite a meaningful milestone. Moreover, it demonstrates how hardware businesses could be bootstrapped with the right incentives.

Decentralised finance (DeFi)

Moving away from single-use cases, let’s consider web3 verticals and DeFi in particular. The most popular protocols for exchanging tokens (i.e., Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and SushiSwap) make more than US$100M in annualised revenue.

Non-fungible-tokens (NFTs)

NFT sales across platforms have seen exponential growth too. Q3 of last year alone resulted in US$10.7B in sales. Thus, it is no surprise that crowdfunding solutions like PartyBid have started popping up.

Also Read: The great rebranding of crypto to Web3

Such products enable groups of friends to bid on an NFT collectively. Pooling funds together is a smart way to trade high-value NFTs. In many cases, such NFTs can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Play-to-earn

Perhaps, the most popular use case of NFTs today is collectibles. Collectibles are a set of assets. Some successful examples include CryptoPunks (lowest price US$292K) and Bored Ape Yacht Club (lowest price US$115K).

Yet, another use case is getting more popular by the day: play-to-earn. Examples of play-to-earn are Axie Infinity, Sandbox, CryptoBlades, and FarmersWorld.

In August last year, Axie generated more than US$342M, about 3000x year-over-year growth. The monster battling game has become the second most successful web3 project after Ethereum (revenue-wise). Ahead of OpenSea and Metamask wallet.

Decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs)

Last but not least, I would like to highlight the fascinating growth in DAOs. While I have not written on the topic yet, it has been on my mind for a long time. This is because DAOs are such a simple yet important use case. Hence, some would argue, the most exciting innovation enabled by crypto.

A DAO is a community of people united by a mission. The governance of the community is handled entirely on the blockchain.

Members of the DAO need to own a token issued by the community. That token is then used for voting rights. Meaning the community decides what and how to be built.

It’s still too early to speculate how things will develop in the DAO space. Yet, DAOs are a lot more transparent than traditional companies. As a result, risks of corruption or censorship are considerably reduced.

“Whereas most technologies tend to automate workers on the periphery doing menial tasks, blockchains automate away the centre. Instead of putting the taxi driver out of a job, blockchain puts Uber out of a job and lets the taxi drivers work with the customer directly,” said Vitalik Buterin.

Crypto Twitter argues that 2020 was all about DeFi, followed by NFTs in 2021, and now 2022 will be the year of DAOs.

After all, more than 100 DAOs launched in the last year or so, collectively managing +US$10B in assets.

A hundred DAOs may not seem like a lot, but that’s because we lack the regulations to legalise them. Over time I expect all that to change. But, additionally, think about all the unique cases that will come out of that. We now have a special type of entity. An entity designed to enable communities to invest, buy businesses, support artists, develop new tools, and so much more.

WAGMI

I dislike making robust predictions because my experience has taught me better. Yet, I cannot imagine a future web3 is not part of.

There will probably be several market crashes— an inevitable outcome given what has happened in the past and the pace of innovation.

It will take time to transition from exploration and sophistication to mainstream adoption. But in the long run, crypto is most likely an unstoppable force. Tailwinds remain strong.

Capital is abundant. Talent is pivoting careers, and we have started seeing more successful use cases. I will end today’s essay with Ryan Selkis’s predictions on what may happen next in web3:

“1) most likely, we experience a blow off top before the end of Q1 2022, followed by a shallower, but still painful multi-year bear market; 2) we rocket to a $20 trillion bubble that lasts all year, and sits on par with the dotcom boom in real dollars – unlikely, but possible given accommodative monetary policies worldwide, neverending government spending, and crypto’s accelerating narrative momentum; 3) we march slowly and steadily higher into perpetuity (the “supercycle” thesis). Ironically, the most bearish case here (Q1 blow-off top) may be the most bullish long-term and vice versa.”

– Ryan Selkis, Founder of Messari

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As the pandemic swept across Asia Pacific and businesses rallied against the impacts of safety restrictions on their operations, small and medium businesses (SMBs) and how they are managing the disruption, has come under the spotlight.

Many have been recognised for their resilience and ability to pivot to gain a competitive advantage, and governments across the region have offered support to help them manage in this challenging business environment.

Midsize businesses are an important subset of SMBs and indeed a crucial part of the economy. In my experience working with SMBs over the past decade, I have found that this segment, sandwiched between small businesses and large enterprises, is in a sweet spot when it comes to business and digital transformation.

They have the resources and operating systems in place to invest in technology and support effective onboarding of new processes while remaining agile and nimble to make changes efficiently.

As we approach the start of a new year, I would like to highlight three trends that midsize businesses should leverage to take their transformation to new heights and seize opportunities ahead.

Hybrid everything to power agile, resilient organisations of the future

As businesses continue to adapt to changing restrictions, a key question is being raised – what does the future of work look like? Employees today are putting a higher value on flexibility and want more control over their hours and where they are working from.

Also Read: How Warung Pintar builds tech solutions to help warung owners embrace the future

In enabling such hybrid working arrangements, it is critical for companies to invest in effective technology solutions to allow employees to stay productive and engaged while working apart from their colleagues and ensure companies can remain agile when facing unforeseen disruptions.

Against this backdrop, we are seeing an accelerated shift to the cloud in the past year due to hybrid work arrangements. The demand and adoption of cloud in the Asia Pacific are forecasted to exceed that of the rest of the world, with overall cloud spending in the region expected to reach USD200 billion by 2024, according to Gartner.

The business of tomorrow will operate in a “hybrid everything” ecosystem, with hybrid work being the norm, and cloud being a driving force for success and expansion

Cloud serves as both a technology and business transformation strategy. It offers a host of benefits including cost savings, more flexibility for employees to collaborate with others, and simplified management. However, what makes the future of cloud unique is that every organisation starts from a different base, and midsize companies will not follow a singular, pre-defined route to cloudification.

They have the opportunity to become the chief architect in their digitalization journey, mapping out an infrastructure that truly fits their requirements across aspects like employee needs, customer needs, and resources available.

This is why we are seeing increasing adoption of the hybrid cloud model, in which organisations use a mix of public and private cloud services to leverage their respective advantages.

A strong cybersecurity posture will become even more important in this hybrid and distributed environment. This is key for midsize businesses especially, as over three in five companies in the region have suffered a cyber incident (63 per cent) in the past year, according to Cisco’s recent research.

Even for those who are aware of cyber threats, bolstering cybersecurity resilience is no easy task. Challenges companies face range from staying abreast of continually evolving technologies and security requirements, to keeping up with constantly evolving cyber threats, and the ability to recruit cybersecurity talent.

Also Read: How SMBs can use conversational commerce to boost year-end sales

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) are emerging as effective architectures that support the demands of hybrid cloud and hybrid workplaces.  As a cloud-based, as-a-service model, SASE provides strong, secure edge-to-edge access covering everything from datacenter to remote offices, and individual employees, to support the hybrid workplace.

XDR is an integrated security approach that brings security solutions for different parts of a company’s IT infrastructure under one roof, enabling faster incident response as well as greater visibility of cyber threats across the private network and public clouds.

Leveraging AI, ML and fostering strong IT governance

2022 is the year businesses will contemplate how they can keep pace with the acceleration of technology. Be it interacting with customers, or collaborating with colleagues or partners, companies are using multiple applications every day.

They are also leveraging technologies like AI and ML to enhance the customer experience or improve their operational performance by making sense of the vast amount of data that they are generating through digital touchpoints.

Yet, the accelerated pace of digitalisation has also exposed a myriad of gaps and vulnerabilities companies might face, especially as departments risk working in silos, as they rapidly innovate and evolve their strategies and priorities before the right infrastructure is put in place in tandem with the IT department.

Contrary to popular belief that IT processes will slow down innovation; the right IT governance can accelerate innovation and ensure smooth and seamless operations amid rapid change.

In addition, IT departments also face the issue of shadow IT, where employees use IT systems, applications, and devices without the IT team’s visibility. Continued hybrid working arrangements and the shift to the cloud have given rise to shadow IT especially as users become increasingly comfortable downloading and using apps and services from the cloud.

This has introduced a host of new issues, from security gaps and collaboration inefficiencies to wasted time and money. Issues like these can be addressed with a formal IT governance framework that sets out policies for the deployment of IT and monitoring of usage.

Also Read: SMBs need to prioritise their digital strategies. This is how Facebook plans to help them

To this end, Full-Stack Observability, which provides real-time observability across the modern technology stack, including applications, software-defined compute, storage services, network, and more, is a crucial capability for companies to gain visibility of their entire IT infrastructure.

This enables them to easily access, explore and search a plethora of data and correlate application performance to business outcomes.

Armed with such visibility, companies can better understand the usage of applications and address issues in real-time to improve end-user experience and enhance business outcomes or mitigate potential issues and vulnerabilities.

Skills and mindset change will drive the culture of growth and resilience

As the adoption of technology accelerates and new business models emerge, midsize companies need to ensure employees stay relevant and knowledgeable in a highly competitive and complex market.

Notably, the region is also facing a talent crunch, with management consulting company Korn Ferry estimating a shortage of 47 million tech talent by 2030 within the Asia Pacific, which could threaten the recovery and growth of different economies and sectors.

Against this backdrop, companies should actively implement measures to address this deficit especially as the demand for technological skills is only set to grow. Continuous upskilling and retraining of talent are key ways to enhance the digital skillsets of current employees and bridge the talent gap.

In fact, over half (54 per cent) of APJC Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and IT Decision Makers are upskilling talent within the next 12 months, higher than the global average of 46 per cent, according to Cisco’s Accelerating Digital Agility Research.

Making sure employees keep pace with the evolution of skills required in their roles enables them to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world. Moreover, every IT organisation, and in fact, every department, has a set of skills and roles that are in decline, and a set that is in demand.

Employers should aim to align those with declining roles against open or potential positions that are poised for the future and prepare them to transition to new roles with higher value-add and support the company’s sustainable development.

As hybrid working continues to be the mainstay, a cultural shift is needed and this begins with fostering a high-performance culture in which employees achieve a greater sense of job satisfaction and are empowered to be their best selves through continuous learning and upgrading.

Also Read: How TikTok co-creation strategy is supercharging Southeast Asian SMBs

Change is never easy, but one thing the pandemic has taught us is that change is sometimes thrust upon us. Whether we are talking about adopting a hybrid work or IT model, strengthening IT governance, or embracing a new culture, the companies and people who emerge stronger through crises are those who are ready to proactively evolve with the times and stay ahead of the competition.

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As 2022 continues in the development of decentralised apps, or popularly known as DApps, more ideas are coming to fruition. To date, there are over 3,901 DApps, both in use and under development.

Among the players leading the blockchain revolution is Avalanche, having contributed to the success of over 400 projects in the past 15 months alone. Some of the major factors behind this growth are the Avalanche subnets, or sub-networks with unlimited scalability. They can be configured for specific needs such as gaming and metaverse apps that require very fast and low cost transactions. Avalanche has also successfully launched their cross-platform Ethereum to Avalanche bridge in 2021.

Fast forward to this year, Avalanche just announced the biggest online blockchain hackathon for global developers interested in Asian markets and resources. The hackathon, aimed at gathering top developers globally and attracting quality partners in Asia, is flagged by household names in the industry, including AVATAR, DoraHacks, Blizzard, Elevate Ventures, among others. This hackathon aims to take the blockchain ecosystem to a whole new level as it makes major strides to bring meaningful apps to mainstream users.

An opportunity for global developers to tap into Asian blockchain resources

The hackathon is for the entire blockchain community, including developers, investors, and community DAO members, who play a critical role as voting members. All developers, as well as early-stage projects built on Avalanche, are eligible to apply and submit their projects.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Central and Southeast Asia are among the top regions globally, leading in blockchain adoption and applications, just after Europe and Northern America. In 2021, the region experienced a 701 per cent growth in raw value.

“This hackathon comes at a time when we realise an enormous pool of valuable blockchain resources in Asia and talented developers all over the world. With the industry’s rapid innovations, we are driving serious incentives for developers and projects to utilise,” says Wilson Wu, Founder at AVATAR and Head of Asia at Avalanche.

The prosperity of the ecosystem is inseparable from the growth of native DApps, therefore this Hackathon hopes to discover and encourage talented developers to develop Avalanche native DApps. At the same time, developers who are building early stage projects on EVM-compatible chains, such as Ethereum, are welcome to join the hackathon and bring their apps to Avalanche. Developers don’t need to build projects from scratch when porting from EVM-compatible chains to Avalanche thanks to the availability of developer-friendly tools.

Top projects to win from the US$5 million + prize pool

The hackathon attracts a total prize pool of more than US$5 million, where the top 10 projects will win 90 per cent of the pool. Ten per cent of the fund will be rewarded to projects voted by the community DAO. Avalanche invites global community members to echo their views by voting for quality projects via the DAO.

“We invite contenders to share their ideas, ask pertinent questions, and ignite conversations with our ecosystem, who represent a global community of blockchain innovators,” says Wilson.

Projects delivering real-life solutions for popular blockchain verticals will stand a chance to emerge among the top winners. The multi-million dollar rewards are set to transform ideas into business models that will enrich the broader blockchain ecosystem. The hackathon invites participants to compete in various categories including Web3, DeFi, Metaverse, Infrastructure and Tooling, GameFi, and NFT.

The Avalanche Asia Hackathon comes at the opportune time

The Avalanche hackathon comes at a time when the blockchain industry requires fresh innovation to take it to the next level. In addition to capital resources, contenders can tap into technical support provided by the hackathon contributors. This support includes technical workshops, online office hours contact, media resources, alongside business networking.

Also Read: NFTs provide new ways to handle IP management, empower content creators: Inmagine CEO Warren Leow

This hackathon brings major opportunities for Asian-based investors, global developers and the worldwide community to join the ecosystem shaping the foundations of Web3.

“We have witnessed hundreds of projects leading the way for DeFi, GameFi and enterprise blockchain solutions. It’s that time for a new wave of Web3 to take on greater adoption as more people are realizing the benefits of smart contracts. AVATAR is here to support this growth by connecting worldwide talents, especially to the Asian market. In addition, Avalanche has demonstrated to be a hot ecosystem for blockchain development,” says Wilson.

The fastest smart contracts platform in terms of time-to-finality is bringing one of the biggest blockchain hackathons to date —a rare opportunity that life-changing projects shouldn’t miss.

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The content was first published by The Human & Machine.

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Singapore-based Cialfo, which provides access to international higher education options for students globally, has secured US$40 million in a Series B round of financing, led by global investor Square Peg and Australia-based SEEK Investments.

SIG Global, Vulcan Capital, DLF Venture, January Capital, and Lim Teck Lee participated in the round.

This capital will enable the edutech company to grow its user base and develop new features for high school students, counsellors, families and universities.

This latest round brings Cialfo’s total funds raised to date to US$57 million, including a US$15 million in Series A funding in February 2021.

Started in 2017 by Rohan Pasari, Stanley Chia, and William Hund, Cialfo is a platform that aims to transform the higher education landscape by simplifying the college application process and making education accessible to all.

Cialfo aims to empower students and schools — from K12 to university — throughout the career exploration and college search and selection process.

Also Read: College admission platform Cialfo raises US$3M Series A funding

With over 170 employees across Singapore, India, the US and China, Cialfo connects high school students, their counsellors, and families with over 1,000 colleges. Its university partners include Imperial College London in the UK, The University of Chicago in the United States, and IE University in Spain.

The company is currently working on a new tool called Direct Apply that allows students and counsellors to seamlessly apply, track, and send documents to hundreds of programs globally using a single application form.

According to Education Data, the international higher education sector is expected to rise to more than 7 million students by 2030 and increase in total market value from US$280 billion to US$400 billion.

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Starting a company is hard enough, but hiring and retaining talent is much harder.

Our guest today is Michael Podolsky, the founder and CEO of Wiser Brand, which helps brands with their marketing efforts. His company has over 80 employees, and today we learn how he has built his team to last.

Specifically, we talk about:

– What were the most important first hires?
– The importance of hiring in-house?
– When should you recruit an HR Manager?
– How does your company change after hiring an HR Manager?
– How does having an HR Manager help with the recruitment process?
– How often should you communicate with your department heads?
– What can you do to retain your employees?
– How have you changed over this entire process?

Also Read: How to simplify the overcomplicated hiring process

If you don’t see the player above, click on the link below to listen directly!

Acast
Apple
Spotify
Stitcher

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The article was first published on We Live To Build.

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