When it comes to cryptocurrency, India is undoubtedly one of the ace cards in Asia’s crypto hand. As of October 2021, it clinched the second highest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the region, second only to Vietnam.

The meteoric rise of India’s crypto market has translated into a whopping rise in the number of investments in local crypto startups.

In the first half of 2021, these startups had received a total of US$99.7 million in investments, topping the US$95.4 million received in 2020.

What’s even more impressive is that India achieved this growth notwithstanding the rollercoaster ride of the country’s crypto regulatory status. Come December 2021,  there is set to be another twist in the tale of India’s crypto regulation journey as the government would be introducing “The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021” during the winter at the Parliament.

As of the time of writing,  the Indian government had disclosed through a Cabinet note that the bill will be departing from its earlier proposal to ban most private cryptocurrencies.

It would instead be proposing the regulation of these currencies as assets under the purview of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The bill has a somewhat draconian overtone as any violation of the provisions therein would constitute a non-bailable offence which could lead to an arrest without warrant.

Also Read: ICYMI: Singapore just gave a nod of confidence to cryptocurrency

The need for crypto regulation and education

In his keynote address at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s The Sydney Dialogue, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the need for democratic nations to join hands to properly manage the power of cryptocurrency so as to “ensure it does not end up in the wrong hands”.

In particular, Modi highlighted the importance of crypto regulation to prevent attempts by unscrupulous parties from misusing the power of cryptocurrency to mislead youths and crypto traders through over-promising and non-transparent advertising.

He also called for the need for crypto education to educate these groups, not just on the pros of cryptocurrency, but also its potential dangers. 

As the co-founder and CEO of Tokocrypto, Indonesia’s most trusted crypto exchange, I couldn’t agree more with Modi’s assertions. Something as powerful as cryptocurrency requires nothing less than proper regulatory management, which is why we pioneered crypto regulation in Indonesia.

I also concur with Modi’s take on the critical role of crypto education. Lack of education is one of the main stumbling blocks for the development of the domain, resulting in a tendency to resort to sentiment-based investing.

The dangers of this are aptly illustrated by the recent Squid Game crypto token scam which capitalised on the Squid Game hype to attract avid viewers of the show who eventually ended up losing about US$3.38 million to the perpetrators of the scam.

Balancing the two sides of regulation

When it comes to cryptocurrency, there are always two sides to the coin. On the one hand, cryptocurrency stands as a new class of digital assets, allowing more to harness the immense potential of blockchain to facilitate fintech innovation.

On the other hand, there’s no denying the vulnerability of cryptocurrencies to security issues and financial risks, resulting in hackings, frauds and scams.

Also Read: Why only regulation can solve cryptocurrency’s perception problem

Whilst it is perfectly understandable that the Indian government has set out to regulate each and every part of the country’s crypto domain, crypto regulation is very much a double-edged sword.

This was precisely the caution that was sounded by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the adoption of a restrictive approach to crypto regulation.

It warned that such an approach which “implies imposing more broad restrictive measures that affect the market generally … may be premature and affect innovation which could be of the interest of the nation-states.” 

Legitimising cryptocurrency in India, the Indo way

If Indonesia’s crypto regulatory story is anything to go by, the growth of India’s crypto domain is set to skyrocket once it is armed with the gift of regulatory certainty.

In the case of Indonesia, the watershed moment for the country’s crypto domain arrived in September 2018 when the Ministry of Trade enacted to grant official legitimacy to cryptocurrencies in Indonesia by formally authorising the trading of these currencies as commodities.

This was followed by the enactment in February 2019 which established a legal framework for futures trading of crypto assets. 

Two years later in December 2020, the Indonesian government further boosted the levels of regulatory certainty in the local crypto domain by enacting the BAPPEBTI Regulation No. 7 of 2020, which sets out a list of crypto assets that can be legally traded in the country.

This brought about a seismic impact on Indonesia’s crypto market. Data collated by the Ministry of Trade indicates that the number of crypto investors in the country had grown by 62.5 per cent in the six months following the issuance of the list, from 4 million people at the end of 2020 to 6.5 million people by the end of May 2021. 

In many ways, the approach adopted by the Indian government under the Bill is not unlike the approach adopted by the Indonesian government, which has since June 2021 banned the use of cryptocurrencies as payment instruments while continuing to allow the trading of cryptocurrencies as commodities under the regulatory purview of BAPPEBTI. 

Another commonality in the crypto regulatory approaches of the Indonesian and Indian governments is that both envision the launching of their respective central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) further down the road.

Also Read: Why the Philippines is set to become the crypto capital in Southeast Asia

Without a doubt, CBDCs would have a key role to play in the global financial sector moving forward. The benefits of these currencies as evidenced by the results of industry initiatives such as Project Ubin and Project Dunbar include almost instantaneous settlement of payment and remittance transactions as well as seamless end-user transaction experience.

From a central banking management perspective, the use of CBDCs could facilitate the tracking by central banks of the financial transaction patterns of the residents of their jurisdictions including both intranational and cross-border transfer of funds. This would help these banks with the devising and management of their respective monetary and foreign exchange policies. 

In the context of India’s CBDC, the fact that the Bill provides for the development of a “facilitative framework for distributed ledger technology” denotes that there is a fair chance that the CBDC set to be introduced by RBI will be blockchain-based, though only time will tell.

What is certain, however, is that the introduction of a CBDC by a government would at the very least serve as a tacit recognition of the potential of digital currencies.  

Having been a crypto advocate in Indonesia since 2016, my personal experience points to the fact that crypto regulation is the direction in which the industry should strive towards as it is the only sure-fire way for cryptocurrencies to gain legitimacy, thereby facilitating the integration of these currencies with the conventional financial sector. In turn, this would pave the way for their mainstream use and acceptance. 

With India set to be joining Indonesia, Singapore, Japan and South Korea soon as Asian countries which have introduced crypto regulations for their respective jurisdictions, this would bring us a step closer to having a region-wide recognition of the legitimacy of cryptocurrency, which certainly bodes well for the prospects of the long-term sustainable growth of the crypto domain in this part of the world.

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With e-commerce set to continue showing double-digit gains in the years to come, everyone –especially those working in sales– wants a slice of the pie. With the pandemic driving more customers to shop online, competition in e-commerce has never been fiercer, online marketplaces more fragmented, and customer expectations higher.

The emergence of “double-digit” sales seasons such as 11.11 and 12.12 has made it even more competitive for brands. Brands only have one chance to get it right and some do succeed. For example, Alibaba moved US$84.5 billion in gross merchandise value for its Singles’ Day campaign this year– the highest tally to date.

To stand out from the clutter, marketers will need to muster all their resources to make a big splash with customers and hit their sales targets. This means covering all their bases from campaign strategy, inventory planning, creative assets, and promotions, to fulfilment.

It’s no longer enough to be on a marketplace platform– how your storefront looks during sales season, how you engage with customers on special discounts and promotions, and how long it takes to deliver your products during the peak shopping season can make or break your brand.

To kick off a virtuous cycle of e-commerce growth, few tenets are more important than the 6Ps of marketing. Brands can start by laying out their plans by month, country, and platform across the significant tasks: orders, products, price, promotions, design, marketing, and customer service.

Also Read: How can European companies win in Indonesia’s e-commerce market?

A comprehensive campaign planning process will allow marketers to pivot and respond to sales performance in real-time.

Brands can increase their average order volume and conversion rates through competitive pricing, a complementary product assortment, attractive product pages, tactical promotions, positive reviews, and free delivery.

Here are three factors that marketers should keep in mind as they navigate the year-end sale season:

Content is king

First impressions matter, especially during the crowded holiday shopping period. Your content will play a big role in grabbing customers’ attention and converting casual page visits into checked-out carts.

A strong gimmick is something we highly recommend to brands. Consumers love a good deal, and gimmicks create a sense of extra value to incentivise them to make a purchase.

One way to do that is through Gift with Purchase (GWP). Free gifts may be the oldest trick in the retail book, but they work wonders online too. For every purchase (for example, an oven), consumers receive a freebie – whether that’s a complimentary item (a muffin tin or a whisk) or a product sample (instant cake mix).

GWP gives consumers an extra push to make the purchase and can be a key differentiating factor that provides an alternative to heavy discounting.

Gamification is another trick to create value and engage with consumers. Some brands like to use a leaderboard to encourage shoppers to spend more by awarding top spenders with a lucky draw, cash prizes, or even a new car.

Details matter in sales

Now that you’ve got consumers’ attention, it’s time to think about your product detail page.

When it comes to impactful visuals, don’t stop at still images– a good product video can have an outsized impact on conversion. And for product descriptions, think about how to demonstrate the value of your SKUs in a tangible way.

Also Read: Looking beyond the surface of optimising customer experience

Before-and-after images work wonders for cosmetics, whereas pictures of the product being used by consumers in a real-life setting help paint a vivid picture.

Dig into data

Data is indeed a powerful asset that can uncover valuable insights to support your e-commerce marketing efforts in three ways: decision-making, activation, and performance. Brands can start by looking at past campaigns.

You likely already have an abundance of data on page traffic, top-performing products, and ratings and reviews. Pick out some learnings and apply them to your next campaign.

The right audience segmentation also makes a huge difference. You may already have a target audience in mind, but data on your page visitors can show you who’s really clicking and interacting with your page.

Then you can tweak your messaging to speak to the right people who are more likely to engage and make that purchase.

To do targeting and personalisation more effectively, brands can leverage marketing technology and automation tools such as Data Management Platforms,s which can be used to monitor real-time customer behaviour and product preference and design customised messaging.

Customer-first

To build marketing strategies that deliver real outcomes, marketers will need to ensure they understand their customers’ needs and provide them with a seamless purchase experience.

Whether it’s refining your content approach, introducing a new gimmick, or diving deeper into analytics, stay true to your brand and always put the customer first.

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Binance Asia Services acquires 18 per cent stake in HG Exchange
Binance Singapore CEO Richard Teng explains that the two companies aim to collaborate to enhance the blockchain ecosystem in Singapore.

ASEAN, South Korea to build startup economic community
The ASEAN-ROK Startups Partnership gaining new impetus with policy road maps, research and new programmes.

YC style accelerator Iterative raises US$10M to fund 50 SEA early-stage startups
Singapore-based accelerator Iterative follows the Y Combinator style and invests US$150,000 each in a batch of startups twice a year.

Launching a healthcare startup begins with connecting to healthcare APIs
In a guest article, Troy Bannister, CEO and co-founder of Particle Health, stresses why launching a healthcare startup begins with connecting to healthcare APIs.

Flip raises US$48M in Series B co-led by Sequoia Capital India, Insight Partners, Insignia Ventures Partners
This investment into payments paltform Flip marks New York-based Insight Partners’ debut investment in Indonesia.

More unicorns in Southeast Asia as investment looks to break previous records in 2021
Despite the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Asia Pacific (APAC), investment in the tech startups Southeast Asia is producing has remained surprisingly stable. According to the Southeast Asia Tech Investment 2020 Report by investment capital firm Cento Ventures, tech startups survived the havoc wreaked by the coronavirus on individuals, families, and companies.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Xen Capital raises US$7.5M; Kinobi gets US$1M; Peoplefund raises US$64M

Pickupp snags US$37M in Series B to lead ‘logistics network as a service’ in Malaysia
Singapore-based Pickupp provides “flexible”, tech-driven logistics solutions for businesses of all sizes in the region.

Upmesh raises US$7.5M in Pre-Series A, launches Instagram Live selling app
Since its launch in 2020, Upmesh said that it has onboarded hundreds of live commerce merchants in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines

India launches digital payment solutions for feature phones
The country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), recently announced that it would launch Unified Payment Interface (UPI)-based digital payment solutions for feature phones, eliminating the need for an Internet connection.

Singapore identifies core skills required for selected sectors
The “priority skills” workers need to have for the next three years are in the key growth areas of the digital, green and care sectors. These were the findings from the inaugural Skills Demand For The Future Economy report by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), launched by Singapore’s Education minister Chan Chun Sing at the Skills Demand For The Future Economy Forum.

Why failures are intrinsic to my success story
“All feelings at the top of my game were crushed with each failure, but I forced myself to re-examine what I could offer,” writes Rajesh Jain. The internet pioneer of India shares his experience and insights on dealing with failures.

How does a startup get a premium valuation? Here are the key drivers
While every company is unique and has its own attributes and dynamics that ultimately drive valuation, the points below can help companies focus on factors affecting valuation as they focus on their next round of funding or exit.

Investible closes second fund with US$36.8M in committed capital
Investible has made four investments from this second fund with US$1.5 million deployed across Australia and Singapore to date. Recent investments include Quantum Brilliance (AU$13 million in seed funding) and Functionly (AU$3.6 million).

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Grab shares slump on Nasdaq; Carsome raising US$200M; AC Ventures closes US$205M Fund III

Cakap scores US$10M in Series B funding round to scale across Indonesia
Edutech startup Cakap claims to have experienced significant growth and achieved profitability in the last two years. The injection comes a year after Cakap‘s US$3 million Series A+ round in December 2020.

How play-to-earn is fueling the next wave of blockchain adoption
Play-to-earn games are becoming more popular than ever, attracting mainstream users who have no prior knowledge about blockchain. To date, the technology is rapidly evolving to support various industry verticals, such as payments, cloud computing, smart contracts, and of course, DeFi and NFT.

7 startups graduate from F10 Singapore’s second acceleration batch
GreenArc Capital, New Wealth, Doomoolmori, BlueFire AI, Onchain, Senseforth, and InvestaX will continue to work alongside F10’s corporate partners in their ventures ahead. During the three-month acceleration programme, F10 did a comprehensive 360-degree analysis with the startups.

NUS launches manifesto on building human-centred digital society
The Centre on AI Technology for Humankind (AiTH) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School has rolled out recommendations on how society and organisations should approach Artificial Intelligence (AI) in ways that truly promote human interests and well-being.

Fintech boom leads to talent war in Southeast Asia
Labour shortage exposes need for skill improvements in key markets. The region is seeing a mad rush to fill jobs that did not exist a decade ago, with emergent fintech hub Singapore reporting a vacancy rate of up to 7.7 per cent in the financial services and tech sectors.

Analysis: Alibaba’s e-commerce empire under threat from Douyin, Pinduoduo
Last month, Alibaba also cut its annual revenue forecast while sales for gross merchandise value (GMV) for Singles Day this year climbed only 8.5 per cent. This mark the smallest rise to date.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: CME Solar Investments raises US$12M; Indonesian crypto exchange delists Vidy, VidyX coins

Rapyd to acquire Hong Kong-Based Neat
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and it is subject to regulatory approval. According to Rapyd, by integrating Neat into its global payments network, SMBs will be able to incorporate new companies in minutes, streamline receivables and payables in a single venue. It will start with Hong Kong and soon in other markets.

How to encourage digital transformation among Vietnamese enterprises
The Ministry of Planning and Investment in the country is cooperating with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to guide Vietnamese enterprises in digital transformation through a new programme during the 2021-2025 period.

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Cultivhacktion, a hackathon for agritech solutions in Indonesia, has named the three digital platforms as its winners.

Supported by the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and the West Java Provincial Government, the agritech hackathon was held as a result of a partnership between TaniHub Group, World Bank Group, and Microsoft.

The three organisations and their partners will continue to provide supports to the winning teams, together with partners of the programme, including GIZ, Plug and Play, FAO, Bogor Insitute of Agriculture (IPB), Data Science Indonesia, GrowAsia, Planet, and MDI Ventures.

The following is a list of the three winning teams and the solutions they build:

1. Teman Pasar by Teman Pasar team

Teman Pasar is a platform that enables customers to buy groceries in the nearest traditional wet markets in Indonesia. They aim to solve the problem faced by traditional wet markets in the country, where the number of sellers are experiencing an eight per cent decline every year due to decreasing customers. By checking a list of product catalogue, customers are able to purchase goods the way they do in typical online marketplaces.

Also Read: Agritech ecosystem in Thailand: More than 60 per cent of startups have not raised external funding

2. Dr. Tania by Neurafarm team

Dr. Tania is an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based plant management and protection platform that aims to minimise the risks of harvest failures, increase profits for smaller farmers, and decrease the amount of chemical waste. In the future, the platform will also be able to increase farmers’ productivity through data-based farming, large scale harvest and pests prediction, and field work management.

3. PemPem by PemPem team

PemPem builds a mobile software to manage the supply chain matters for informal and micro-businesses in the commodity market. The app arranges, optimises, and connects all operational and financial aspects of the businesses. The features in the platform include a feature that enables buyers to bid for the best prices, revenue and productivity management, and digital payments.

Since opening its registration in September, the hackathon said that it has received more than 30 proposals. The shortlisted participants received mentoring from experts in the agricultural, business, and tech sectors in developing the solutions.

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Vietnamese company Society Pass, which provides a data-driven loyalty platform, today announces its establishment of regional headquarters in Singapore.

The firm emphasises its acquisition ambition to build, scale and expand its service offerings to accelerate high-growth e-commerce businesses in the region.

In November, Society Pass launched a US$26 million initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US, marking the firm as the first Vietnamese startup to complete a traditional IPO on a foreign bourse.

Founded in 2018 by Nguyen, Society Pass operates seven e-commerce and lifestyle platforms across its key markets, serving both consumers and merchants in a dual-facing business model.

The company focuses on collecting user data through the regular circulation of its universal loyalty points.

Also Read: 3 easy tips for SMEs to build overseas customer loyalty

Society Pass claims to have over 1.5 million registered users and over 3,500 registered merchants and brands to date.

As an acquisition-led technology company, in September, the firm relaunched Leflair that it acquired in June this year after the luxury e-commerce brand filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Before the acquisition, Leflair generated over US$10 million in sales y-o-y and was ranked amongst the top 5 e-commerce platforms in Vietnam. The addition of Leflair complements Society Pass’s other existing businesses such as SoPa, an online ordering and loyalty platform, and #HOTTAB, a POS service provider specialising in payment infrastructure, loyalty management and joint marketing programmes for merchants.

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Australia- and Singapore-based early stage venture capital (VC) firm Investible today announced that it has closed US$36.8 million in committed capital for its second fund.

This update followed the first close of the fund that the firm announced in June this year.

Investible said that it has made four new investments from this oversubscribed second fund with AU$2.2 million (US$1.5 million) deployed across Australia and Singapore to date. Recent investments include Quantum Brilliance (AU$13 million in seed funding) and Functionly (AU$3.6 million).

Investible has also approved an additional seven investments for Fund 2, most of which it expects to finalise before the end of the year.

In September, Investible announced that it is launching a new US$72 million fund for climate tech startups. It is also currently developing a new climate tech growth hub for startups and scaleups, set to open in Sydney in early 2023.

Also Read: Investible aims to raise US$38M fund targeting early-stage startups in SEA, Australia

In a statement, Investible CEO Rod Bristow said that the momentum of this second fund’s close reflects investors’ confidence in the firm’s performance to date and growing investor interest in accessing quality early stage tech investing.

“Investing right at the start of a founder’s journey is still inherently risky. Smart investors are looking for venture capital firms who have a demonstrated ability to source and comprehensively screen a large pool of high-quality opportunities. In combination with a support offering that reduces the time between the Seed and Series A raises, this approach is key to attracting the world’s best founders,” said Bristow.

“Investible’s approach to building large, diversified early stage portfolios resonates with investors and the success of many of the companies in our first fund show the depth and impact of our active founder support,” he added.

He cited Crunchbase data that said, among global VC funding, early stage funding grew the most: up 104 per cent YoY with over 1,900 companies raising at this stage globally.

“Traditional asset classes are delivering lower returns but alternative assets, including venture capital, are attracting greater allocations of global capital. In a low-rate environment, we see VC as the best way to bring alpha and diversification to the traditional asset portfolio. Our model of investing early with a portfolio approach of a minimum of 35 companies in each Fund is proven to have the best risk-to-return profile when investing at early stage,” he added.

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Cakap, an edutech platform in Indonesia, has raised US$10 million in an oversubscribed Series B round co-led by Centauri Fund, a joint investment vehicle of Telkom Indonesia’s MDI Ventures and Korea’s KB Investment.

Singapore-based PE and venture capital firm Heritas Capital also co-leads the round, alongside KB Investment and other undisclosed investors.

The injection comes a year after Cakap‘s US$3million Series A+ round in December 2020.

The fresh capital will be used to expand Cakap’s certified course offering, as well as to bolster its market expansion in providing better access to high-quality education in the archipelago.

A portion of the funds will be channelled to improve Cakap’s technology such as machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a more personalised learning journey for each student through adaptive learning.

Also Read: Edutech is surging, but here are the 3 issues it is facing

Established in 2013, Cakap develops online learning applications enabling two-way interaction between students and professional teachers through video calls and text conversations.

The startup also expanded its offering into self-paced learning and certification courses that combine sequential multimedia learning, assessments, and LIVE Class ad discussions, giving their students much flexibility to complete a certification for new job-specific skills.

Buoyed by the pandemic’s negative impact on the education sector, the firm claims to have experienced significant growth and achieved profitability in the last two years.

With over 1,000 teachers across the regions, Cakap is said to give its adult and kid students a wide selection of professional teachers both locally and internationally.

The firm is said to have acquired 1.5 million students, with 500 per cent YoY growth in active students and more than 1 million downloads of its apps.

Despite the return of offline schools, Indonesian edutech sector remains excited as hybrid learning has become a useful tool to complement in-person training.

In addition, the archipelago has one of the largest education systems in the world with over three million teachers across 300,000 schools. This creates a fertile ground for edutech startups to thrive, with funding in this sector tripling in 2019.

Other prominent edutech players in the market included Ruangguru, Zenius, CoLearn and HarukaEdu all secured sizable deals this year.

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Blockchain technology has come a long way since Satoshi Nakamoto introduced it as a decentralised peer-to-peer financial system. In a nutshell, it presented a solution secured by cryptography for transacting value without relying on any centralised entity.

To date, the technology is rapidly evolving to support various industry verticals, such as payments, cloud computing, smart contracts, and of course, DeFi and NFT. But still, the average consumer is reluctant to fully embrace blockchain because the technology is still in its infancy. Blockchain is adapting to serve more use cases relevant for mainstream people, which requires sufficient learning and time.

Fortunately, the rise of DeFi and NFT is rapidly changing that notion. We are now witnessing a new wave of global blockchain adoption, fueled by powerful incentives. DeFi grew 335 per cent in 2021 alone, to a total value of US$85 billion raising interest from institutions and consumers. The NFT market cap is now more than US$7 billion, recording US$400 million in monthly sales.

The DeFi and NFT sectors continue to surge in total locked value as well as user activity. Together, they are creating novel opportunities for more people to embrace blockchain through the play-to-earn ecosystem.

Play-to-earn: a natural fusion of NFT and DeFi

Play-to-earn games are becoming more popular than ever, attracting mainstream users who have no prior knowledge about blockchain. Players are earning income by having fun while learning about the core tenets of DeFi and NFT under the hood. Through play-to-earn games, thousands of players are inclined to try new platforms that encompass the benefits of DeFi and NFT.

Also Read: Blockchain technology for climate action? Here’s why it works

The idea of DeFi’s peer-to-peer lending and borrowing is stemming into the world of NFTs, where gamers can lend their items to generate additional earnings. In a panel discussion with The Human & Machine Podcast, Tom Tirman, Co-founder and CEO of PARSIQ, illustrated how their IQ Protocol technology is creating solutions for anyone to lend NFT assets without collateral.

“A lot of these assets are becoming very expensive, and we are seeing that people in play-to-earn games are not necessarily the people who can afford to buy a five-figure NFT. This inspired us to create solutions where anyone can borrow NFTs with lower cost and no risk, so more gamers can realistically obtain the NFTs required to participate in play-to-earn platforms,” says Tirman.

DeFi’s lending and borrowing model is empowering new ways for players to enrich their play-to-earn experience. It allows asset owners to earn by lending an expirable version of the NFT to others who borrow it for a relatively low fee. This can help players to try new games without shelling out high upfront capital for each and every play-to-earn platform.

How play-to-earn is creating an inclusive ecosystem

The gaming society has various types of users and stakeholders. Investors seek to deploy capital and help game developers to generate profit. Gamers devote their time to playing hours behind the screen, while others have the skills and capabilities for building them. As an important pillar, developers help grow blockchain adoption by building robust underlying structures. These are crucial to enhance the overall performance of play-to-earn platforms.

“We are channeling resources to various smart contract projects through developer fund programmes. This offers the highly demanded support and funding necessary to build high-performance apps that drive mainstream adoption, instead of merely focusing on the overall user experience,” says Wilson Wu, Head of Asia at Avalanche.

Think of it as a community whose members depend on each other to sustain an economy. The gamers want more features, while investors and developers can supply that. Moreover, organisations such as Yield Guild Games (YGG) are also growing the play-to-earn ecosystem by providing educational support, networking and scholarships. For instance, YGG helps onboard community members to start with play-to-earn games as a scholar, where initial resources are sponsored as part of a profit-sharing model.

Also Read: Leveraging AI, big data and blockchain to build your dream home

This means that players can receive scholarship funding through guilds to start earning. Scholars can then earn NFTs and crypto to eventually exchange them for fiat currency, ultimately leading them to realise their dreams. People across all walks of life can benefit from this communal ecosystem, such as many Filipinos who are earning from Axie Infinity. As a result, gaming guilds are quickly establishing new systems to drive the mainstream adoption of play-to-earn.

Key takeaway

The convergence of DeFi and NFT is painting fresh opportunities for blockchain adoption. You no longer have to be tech-savvy or an experienced trader to take advantage of DeFi. Nor do you need to be a wealthy investor to trade NFTs. With the play-to-earn ecosystem, faster global adoption of blockchain technology can be realised. Now it’s up to the developers, players and organisations to continue defining this path of innovation.

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The article was first published by The Human & Machine.

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The Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) is a recently launched agency set up by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI). In a pre-launch event held on November 9, MRANTI laid out its mission to accelerate higher “Return on Ideas” in the area of R&D commercialisation. 

According to Dzuleira Abu Bakar, Group CEO of Technology Park Malaysia (TPM), the overall focus of MRANTI will be to “raise the profile of Malaysia as an innovation hub to attract foreign investment, create more jobs, and ensure that affordable products and solutions are accessible to improve the quality of life for all.”

Dzuleira led the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) as CEO for two years before taking the role as TPM Group CEO in April this year to oversee the consolidation of MaGIC and TPM to the setting-up of MRANTI. 

MRANTI will be positioned as the one-stop agency with the resources to accelerate the commercialisation of ideas and take them to impact. “We want Malaysia to be better positioned to tackle structural issues hampering the progress of the local startup ecosystem such as low commercialisation rate, low expenditures on R&D (GERD), low R&D spend by the private sector, and overlapping of roles between government agencies,” added Dzuleira.

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MRANTI was launched after a task force comprising members from MaGIC and TPM analysed gaps and opportunities within the technology and commercialisation ecosystem in Malaysia and upon engaging with stakeholders across the ecosystem. The task force found that by devising the right support structures and systems, they can unlock synergies between the different agencies and drive faster commercialisation of ready to market technology and innovations developed in Malaysia. 

In setting up MRANTI, the task force studied successful innovation accelerators created in other countries such as A*STAR in Singapore and Innovate UK, as well as several technology parks in the region. While MRANTI will adopt key learnings, they will not try to simply replicate those models wholesale in Malaysia but to localise and improve upon them, Dzuleira explained.

Return on ideas: the MRANTI mandate

Two game-changers have been identified to accelerate technology adoption and innovation in Malaysia: enhancing digital connectivity for inclusive development as well as aligning R&D towards commercialisation, wealth generation, and economic growth. MRANTI is envisioned as a key enabling agency to realise the government policy of accelerating technology adoption and commercialisation. 

In an effort to shape Malaysia’s development into an innovation-driven economy, the introduction of MRANTI will create a technology and innovation launchpad so companies can maximise their Return on Ideas at a quicker rate by implementing better scalable commercial models. “This is itself an innovative concept that will have a great multiplier effect on the Malaysian economy. While the conventional ROI — Return on Investment conveys fiscal yields from capital outlays, Return on Ideas broadly refers to the conversion of knowledge to fiscal earnings,” pointed out Dzuleira.

The premise behind setting up MRANTI is that it will fast-track Malaysia’s innovation ecosystem to become among the world’s best — with diverse industries and a solid foundation rooted in tech and innovation.

This mission, Dzuleira said, will be achieved “by combining developmental expertise with tech infrastructure and services.” Dzuleira added that they will be guided by the “Ideas to Impact” roadmap to help researchers, innovators, and enterprises maximise their Return on Ideas or ROI at a quicker rate.”

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MRANTI will connect problem statements (demand) with solutions (supply), bridging collaboration between public and private sectors and increasing private sector participation. They will accelerate R&D commercialisation through active interventions and by facilitating the participation of academia, industry, government, and society as a whole.

This focus is cemented by Budget 2022 which has allocated RM30 million to transform MRANTI into an Industrial Revolution 4.0 Hub. This hub will act as a centre of excellence and support the innovation ecosystem by developing new technology clusters such as smart manufacturing, biotech, agritech, smart city, green tech and enabling tech clusters (e.g AI, 5G, IoT).

Unlocking synergy between TPM and MaGIC

TPM is the largest and most developed incubator service provider in Malaysia based on a combination of physical incubators and tech infrastructure, while MaGIC has played an important role in cultivating technology startups and innovation ecosystems with a wide range of interventions ranging from capacity-building to social innovation.

“The consolidation of TPM and MaGIC will achieve holistic support for commercialisation as we strive towards achieving the larger goal of becoming a high-tech and high-income nation,” remarked Dzuleira.

While TPM has already incubated entrepreneurs in robotics, drone tech, and has provided support to tech-driven SMEs, Dzuleira believes that “TPM has much more to offer to the tech start-up ecosystem, and I’ve been tasked to unlock the potential and value of this organisation through a transformation programme. We are in that transformation process, we are looking at the areas of strengths and weaknesses that the local ecosystem and infrastructure have.”

At an operational level, TPM is a large entity with a complex structure. Over the years, TPM investments towards creating world-class infrastructure and a comprehensive ecosystem for tech-driven businesses have totalled over RM1 billion. 

TPM has provided a platform to large tech industry enterprise players such as ASTRO, Standard Chartered Global Business Services, Iris Technologies, Oppstar Technology, Vivantis Technologies, Solution Group and Solidify Technology. 

Moving forward, TPM — soon MRANTI, is looking at attracting more top technology companies as anchor tenants and plans are in place to build an artificial intelligence (AI) Park along with an integrated AI ecosystem. 

A recent KPMG study placed Kuala Lumpur in the Top 10 cities with destination potential for innovation hubs. The announced plans on the AI Park will give the city a lift in demonstrating its capabilities as an innovation centre. “There will be a lot more technology development within the MRANTI Park located in Bukit Jalil as we turn the corner to increase our revenue base,” expressed Dzuleira.

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MRANTI Park has a lot of potential waiting to be unlocked. Firstly, they hold 686 acres of prime land within proximity to KL city. The designated 300 acres of land area in a prime area of Kuala Lumpur has been plotted for the iconic AI Park that will drive acceleration and adoption of AI in Malaysia, which still lags behind the region. “There is a huge opportunity for AI to flourish in Malaysia with the government also truly invested in the idea that AI holds the key to the nation’s growth in the future,” Dzuleira added. 

“In addition, the commercial zones will be activated to infuse the elements of lifestyle, learning and business. Ultimately, MRANTI Park will be redesigned to make high potential R&D and early technology products economically viable through holistic and comprehensive commercialisation support.”

MRANTI targets and goals

MRANTI is tasked with leading the implementation of the policies announced by the Malaysian government under the RMK-12 framework. Some of the ambitious plans that have been announced by the agency are as follows:

• Upgrade MRANTI Park into an International Innovation Hub: The aim is to impact 5,000 technopreneurs and develop 15 intellectual properties in 2022
• MRANTI will play host to the first Artificial Intelligence Park in Malaysia
• Commercialise 500 products/solutions through the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) and Malaysia Commercialisation Year (MCY)
• Drone Development Zone: Area 57, a five-acre land bank has been identified to develop a centre of excellence in drone development

Developing the remaining MRANTI land plans include building an innovation zone for technology testing, validation, and incubation, all of which are part of the NTIS platform. “Ultimately, the park will be redesigned to make high potential R&D and early technology products economically viable through holistic and comprehensive commercialisation support,” said Dzuleira.

As many as 26 Ministries, 19 government agencies and 19 Innovation Acceleration Networks have committed to participating as partners in this programme. Dzuleira feels this will give a huge boost to encouraging the culture of innovation in Malaysian society and lead to a multiplier effect on the overall economy.

With Malaysia’s RMK-12 Policy Enabler goal, targets are set for MRANTI to accelerate technology adoption and innovation in the following:

• Increasing the share of gross domestic expenditure on R&D to 2.5% of the GDP
• Increasing the share of 70% business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) to GERD
• Position Malaysia as one of the top 20 countries in the Global Innovation Index 

Based on their mantra of taking innovation forward, MRANTI ultimately hopes to accelerate innovation so Malaysia quickly develops into a high-income, high-tech nation.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by MaGIC

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