GM Vietnam 2024 Recap: Which Narratives Will Take Over the Vietnam Web3 Market?

1. Introduction

There is no need to talk about the state of the Vietnamese market. With all the positive indexes related to crypto adoption and ownership, Vietnam has become the number one market in Southeast Asia. Hundreds of crypto-related events have been hosted to showcase the potential of the Vietnamese market. From hackathons to NFT meet-ups, these events have enhanced the image of Vietnam to foreign projects. Furthermore, trendsetters like CZ or Vitalik have already visited and shown interest in such a dynamic market. GM Vietnam was the first event to utilize the Vietnamese market in terms of hosting a large-scale event hosted by Kyros Ventures.

First introduced in 2023, GM Vietnam this year has over 10,000 participants, 120 speakers, and over 500 projects and crypto companies worldwide. This year, GM Vietnam was hosted in a bullish market with many ongoing narratives. A wide range of speakers such as CEOs from Wintermute, Nansen, and Tether have stated that the Vietnamese market is huge and full of opportunities. Throughout two days of main events and a dozen side events, we found the following narratives will mostly dominate the Vietnam market throughout the rest of 2024.?

2. Narratives in GM Vietnam 2024

2.1. BTC L2 ecosystem

In the context of finding out how to expand the Bitcoin ecosystem, the terms of Bitcoin Layer 2 were introduced. Similar to Layer 2 on Ethereum, their main purpose is to solve the scalability problem for Bitcoin.?

At GM Vietnam this year, several booths and panel talks focused on BTC L2 projects. LayerEdge, a Gold Sponsor, had one of the largest booths, rivaled only by those from major CEXs. During their panel discussions, it became evident that BTC L2 will be a significant narrative for 2024 and 2025. Numerous side events also centered around BTC L2 as a primary topic.

At "The Future of BTCFi" events, LayerEdge and Avail, a modular blockchain project, emphasized the importance of building infrastructure for Bitcoin. The mission of L2 solutions is scalability, and BTC L2 is no exception.

Bitcoin has always been the market leader, and BTC L2 is poised to follow as a top narrative. With Bitcoin ETFs being approved in many countries, it is clear that Bitcoin remains the hottest keyword in the industry. Interestingly, Western influencers have not extensively discussed BTC L2. However, as BTC L2 is a relatively new entrant to the market, there is significant room for development and improvement. As noted in our previous report, Vietnam has a robust pool of developers, making it an ideal location for the development of BTC L2 projects.

2.2. GameFi

Back in 2021, Axie Infinity significantly elevated Vietnam's presence in the GameFi sector. Since then, there has not been a GameFi project that could surpass the influence of Axie. However, the importance of GameFi to the Vietnam web3 market is undeniable.?

The GM Vietnam 2024 main conference also featured numerous booths showcasing GameFi-related projects, along with various side events. Key discussion points included issues such as unhealthy in-game economies, poor game experiences, and misaligned token economies compared to the previous GameFi cycle. While the anticipated "new wave" to address these problems has yet to arrive, the consensus was that game projects are increasingly incorporating new technologies into gameplay to enhance the user experience.

The discussion around GameFi persists for two primary reasons: its appeal to both retail and institutional audiences. From the retail side, GameFi is appealing because it allows players to earn rewards while gaming. From the institutional perspective, GameFi serves as a prominent method for massively onboarding non-crypto audiences, making it an indispensable part of the ecosystem. Historically, projects like Axie Infinity and StepN (run-to-earn) have successfully attracted a substantial number of non-crypto users. Introducing a game is significantly easier and more engaging than explaining complex DeFi projects, which contributes to GameFi's widespread adoption.

We were also able to identify new trends in Vietnam. In addition to the current mobile games that dominate the GameFi ecosystem, tap-to-earn and click-to-earn games on the TON platform, which hosted a side event at GM Vietnam 2024, are emerging as a new trend in the gaming industry.

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