What comes first, the culture or the technology?

The answer is never clear-cut. Rather, it is a flywheel. Cultural shifts will inspire new technological innovations, which will, in turn, further shape culture. 

Over the past decade, the narrative across culture and technology in Southeast Asia has been one of decentralisation and democratisation. From 3G and 4G enabling the mobile revolution of the 2010s to the maturing creator economy of the early 2020s, culture and tech have propelled SEA in one direction – empowering individuals and communities for access, participation, and ownership across culture and commerce.

The arrival of Web3 in SEA is the latest chapter in this broader decentralisation story. Businesses looking to identify an ownable position within Web3 must first understand the anchoring narrative that meaningful opportunities in Web3 revolve fundamentally around democratisation, of access to both practical utilities and passion points. 

One key piece of technology for entry into Web3 is blockchain wallets. The region has seen positive consumer attitudes towards blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general, which has translated into the growing adoption of blockchain wallets.

Beyond its transactional functionality, a blockchain wallet essentially serves as a gateway for all of a user’s Web3 experience. It allows users to manage their blockchain-based assets, a home for NFTs, coins, and tokens and enables users to participate in various activities from using dApps to joining DAOs.

Also Read: 3moji aims to transform the way NFTs are used in metaverse with its composable avatars

There are three key opportunities that wallets present for businesses to meaningfully engage consumers in Web3:

• Wallets as commerce credentials
• Wallets as culture keepers
• Wallets as community enablers

Wallets as commerce credentials

A blockchain wallet functions as a digital identity and gives owners control over their personal information. If Web2 was about (often careless!) data sharing and brands using data for commercial purposes, Web3 and digital identities give individual owners control of their data. 

One key use case for this is driving greater inclusion across social and commercial activities. Temasek-backed Affinidi created a blockchain platform for blue-collar workers in India to store verified employment records and, subsequently, use the data to access education and economic opportunities. 

The immediate opportunity here for brands is token-gated commerce. Firstly, it unlocks new ways for consumers to derive value from their participation in passion points. A DinoPOPS NFT drop inspired by the popular Vietnamese series My Brother is a T-Rex will allow NFT holders to own the IP and will receive a revenue share from YouTube streams of the series. 

Further, token-gated commerce serves the consumer need for social status, driven by scarcity and privileged access. One recent example is the successful NFTiff drop from Tiffany & Co., which allowed CryptoPunks holders to purchase custom jewellery and digital artwork based on their NFTs. Each NFTiff cost 30 ETH (around US$48K at the time of writing), and the collection sold out in 22 minutes.

Wallets as culture keepers

In 2021, NFTs became a pop culture phenomenon. Predictably, 2022 saw a swing in the opposite direction. But the so-called ‘crypto winter’ is helping to (re)set the use-case of NFTs, one of them being a new canvas for self-expression. 

In SEA, it is giving creatives an opportunity to reinvigorate traditional art forms and celebrate the region’s culture in new ways. Diela Maharani, for example, is a Jakarta-based illustrator who partnered with SuperRare and World of Women to launch Metarupa, the first Indonesian NFT community. 

In the coming months, NFT buyers will look for a story that resonates, and that includes narratives about who they are and the culture they belong to. One brand already riding this successfully is Nike.

Spanning customisable CRYPTOKICKS, hoodies you can wear IRL and URL, and a forging system for users to acquire physical merch based on their NFTs, Nike’s creative Web3 projects with RTFKT has brought in an estimated US$185M. That makes Nike the world’s highest-earning apparel brand from NFT sales. 

Their secret to success? Fundamentally, Nike understands sneakerhead culture and leverages NFTs as a canvas to translate their passion. How will your brand empower and celebrate consumer culture across local, regional, and global stages?

Wallets as community enablers

Blockchain wallets hold a user’s tokens, which in turn enable membership in token-gated communities and access to all the related benefits – like social connections, status, and even self-improvement.

Also Read: ‘DAOs aren’t different from community-building efforts seen in Web2’

Founded by Singapore-based entrepreneur Lily Wu, WOW PIXIES is a regional DAO and NFT collection aiming to invest in women-led Web3 projects. The DAO manages an NFT vault and hosts community events that promote knowledge sharing and upskilling for women in Web3. Membership is via ownership of the WOW PIXIES token, which grants access to events and votes on DAO activities and investments.

How might your business leverage token-gated access, whether IRL or URL, to build a community around your brand and deliver on consumer needs for connections and self-improvement while maintaining aspirational clout?

Tying it together

We would argue that the term blockchain ‘wallet’ is a misnomer, as the platform offers much more than an alternative transaction method. Instead, blockchain wallets fundamentally serve as the entryway into Web3 and the next evolution of consumer culture, marked by decentralisation and deeper levels of expression, participation and ownership.

Developing a wallet strategy is therefore crucial for any business looking to enter into Web3 meaningfully. How might you get started? Consider the following questions:

• Focus on user-centricity. How might your wallet strategy add value to the consumers and Web3 communities you want to engage?
• Which wallet platform can you partner with? For example, Coinbase is a publicly-traded company that has an aggressive growth strategy in the Asia Pacific.
• How might you enable your most valued customers to hold a utility-based token? This will allow you to grant exclusive access to goods and experiences, such as airdrops of digital goods. 

This article was a condensed excerpt from the latest edition of Culture Drop, Culture Group’s quarterly publication, titled Winning in Web3: Wallets and the Next Culture Revolution. Access the full PDF here.

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