PHILIPPINES – Prominent stakeholders and top Filipino business leaders anticipate that broader adoption of Web3—a budding industry that has already significantly impacted livelihoods and businesses worldwide, especially in the Philippines—will lead to more fresh employment, livelihood, local business innovations, foreign investments, and a brighter future for the Philippines as a whole during the recently held press conference, “The Future is Web3”, held in The Astbury in Makati.
“With the emergence of Web3 Gaming, thousands of guilds surfaced in the Philippines. Guilds are what we believe to be the next digitally native businesses of Web3 and the communities that will drive Web3 adoption. BlockchainSpace (BSPC) itself focuses on building guild infrastructure and tooling for Asset Management, Wallet Technology, Identity and Reputation Systems to legitimize and professionalize these guilds,” said Peter Ing, CEO and Founder of BSPC, the leading data aggregator and tooling provider for Web3 Guilds.
Meanwhile, Gabby Dizon, Co-Founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG), a Filipino-led gaming guild and also one of the largest in the world, emphasized that “the Philippines can impart significant contributions in web3 innovation as a key player in the space. With measures to bolster the Web3 community and innovations within the industry, we will witness more opportunities that will impact not only organizations but also the lives of every Filipino.”
Key speakers from the Department of Information and Communications (DICT), Globe, MetaverseGo, UBX, Sky Mavis, Binance, Galeria Paloma, PH Startup Week, Real Deal Guild (RDG), and Metaverse Ventures Platforms, Inc. (MVP) echoed Ing’s and Dizon’s pronouncements as they discussed the impression Web3 has made on the Filipino community and the prospect of revolutionizing Philippine businesses in Web3.
Nix Eniego, the Philippines Lead of Sky Mavis, the development team behind Axie Infinity, attested to the Philippines as a potential major player in Web3 gaming and innovation, being the real birthplace of Web3 gaming. BSPC Guild Hub General Manager Jen Bilango remarked that the popularity of Web3 gaming presented promising entrepreneurial opportunities in developing countries, which can be seen in the rise of guilds in the Philippines.
Luis Buenaventura, YGG Pilipinas Country Manager, credited the growth in local Web3 gaming adoption to guilds like YGG, RDG, and MVP, providing financial stability for Filipinos and career opportunities. Gamer and Independent council member of Axie Een Mercado stressed that with the rise of Web3, there are new and creative income opportunities that can lean onto various interests such as gaming, content creation, and the arts.
Filipino creatives have also capitalized on crypto, according to Galeria Paloma Gallery Director Kimi Rocha-Delgado. She underscored that promoting NFTs and access to leverage the technology help artists uncover their potential and allow them to showcase their talent on the world stage. Additionally, Delgado believes that Web3 provides a more transparent art world where connections can be made without walls. This, consequently, fosters the growth of the Philippine art landscape.
RDG’s Teresa “Tipxie” Pia and MVP CEO Gerb Inajada shared that their guilds were among the many that drove crypto adoption in the country through financial support to gamers, education, and investments on NFT projects, and hope to continue to do so through tooling, insights, and financing from the Web3 community. Katrina Chan, Co-Organizer of Philippine Startup Week, emphasized that Web3 entrepreneurs must also learn to anticipate disruptions and adapt quickly to crises to ensure longevity.
Several established companies have also ventured into Web3. Globe and UBX are some of the many organizations leveraging the potential of Web3 to uplift FIlipino lives and help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) traverse the Metaverse. For those interested to explore Web3, Ash Mandhyan, CEO of MetaverseGo, which tags itself as the premier gateway into the metaverse, shared that the community has various initiatives and services to help Filipinos navigate the metaverse. These include capacity-building, educational efforts, networking, and support in connecting them to proper channels and Web3 entities depending on what they are looking for.
Expressing support for the rising industry, Director Emmy Lou Versoza-Delfin of the DICT’s ICT Industry Development Bureau said that the department will continue to develop programs that seek to explore and maximize the potential of new and emerging technologies such as the Stimulating the expansion of Emerging Technology in the Philippines (SET PH) application, Tech Trends project, Connect, Harness, Innovate and Protect, and their upcoming Global Blockchain Summit on October 26 to 27.
Binance Spokesperson Kenneth Stern is optimistic that efforts to drive Web3 adoption in the country will make the Philippines an attractive investment destination for foreign companies such as theirs and will help boost the country’s economy. In the first quarter of this year alone, the country has attracted over USD2.44 billion of foreign direct investment.
To further encourage innovation and position the community to massive opportunities, BSPC and YGG, with co-presenters GCash, Globe Telecom, and MetaverseGo, have organized the Philippine Web3 Festival, the premier international celebration of Web3 innovation. To be held on November 14 to 18 in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) with BitPinas as media partner and Binance as official exchange of the festival, the event aims to present more opportunities for Filipinos, while catapulting the Philippines at the center of Web3.
