Investing in Crypto in Asia

What makes the future of crypto in Asia so exciting?

The West may seem to dominate the crypto space now, but we will see a massive paradigm shift in the future as more and more projects will be emerging in Asia and building a global presence.?

In fact, this shift is already happening: some of the biggest names like TARA, Amber Group, and CoinGecko come from Asia.?

Asia has, by far, the largest retail market and the highest working capital put into this market. Still, a considerable part of the population hasn't gotten involved in the crypto market yet.

Statistics show that approximately 20% of the US population owns crypto. In China, the percentage drops to 3% to 5%. Southeast Asia is also quite underdeveloped. These numbers show an enormous amount of growth waiting to happen.??

I spoke with David Gan, Founder and General Partner of OP Crypto, a venture capital fund that invests in Asia's most promising blockchain entrepreneurs. He shared his insight into the opportunities of the Asian crypto market and how it differs from the US market.?

Watch or Listen to my full interview with David to learn what to expect from the crypto market in Asia, particularly China.?

East vs West: How do the markets compare?

The majority of infrastructure and protocol projects are being built in the West. This work is needed to lay the foundation for Web 3.0.?

On the other hand, products coming out of China are focused on practical applications for crypto custody and trading. These are the projects that entice the mass retail population to join in and acquire crypto assets.?

The top 100 projects according to CoinMarket Cap are all natively built within the Western markets—but all the biggest exchanges, liquidity providers, and market makers are in Asia.

What about China’s ban on all crypto-related activities?

Considering that China is home to some of the biggest crypto miners, the country's policies around crypto have the potential to affect the global space.

So, what is the reasoning behind the ban and how does it affect the outlook for crypto in China??David argues that the government of China is very supportive of the technology but is currently looking for the best way to control the situation and facilitate the development of the ecosystem.?He compares this to how the US instituted regulation concerning security tokens. Similarly, China is trying to get a handle on its own crypto legislation before opening up the market to retail investors.

David is confident that China sees crypto as a high growth potential market and doesn't want to be left behind in the Web 3.0 space.?

The biggest opportunities in crypto in Asia

The largest Asian exchanges are still tackling the challenges of navigating through China’s regulatory scheme. They are also bringing in more technical talent to compete with companies in the West.

The flourishing of the crypto market in Asia is not a matter of “if”, but “when” and David is particularly optimistic about DeFi and the gaming industry in Asia.?

Some of the best games are currently being developed in Asia. There's much talk about how gaming will bring the first 100 million users to the crypto space, and David estimates that at least 80% of that user base will come from Asia.

While it's true that the Asian market still needs more technical talent and more entrepreneurs to come into the space and the investor landscape has become much more competitive; however, the Asian crypto startup space is wide open for investors and there is no shortage of capital to support entrepreneurs with the drive to build and innovate.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple. Stay tuned next week for more insights.

*This content is provided for educational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be construed as legal, tax, accounting, or investing advice.