The Consensus Conference, known as the "Super Bowl of Blockchain" and "Web3 World Cup", the world's top industry summit, crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed in Asia for the first time in its tenth year. It was grandly opened at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center from February 18 to 20, 2025. The conference brought together major financial policy makers, thought leaders and investors in the crypto field in Asia, as well as blockchain, digital assets and Web3 industry experts from all over the world to jointly outline the future of Web3.
In recent years, Hong Kong has gradually established an important position in the global Web3 landscape with its unique policy advantages, sound financial infrastructure and increasingly active innovation ecosystem. When technological innovation meets an open and inclusive regulatory environment, how can Hong Kong drive Web3 from concept to industrial implementation? How can it build a global collaborative innovation network?
In order to deeply decode this feast of ideas, the 51st TinTinWeekly event specially invited Glen, head of 0xU BD, Li Yizheng, director of Web3 and financial technology development of Cyberport, Joe, deputy editor-in-chief of Foresight News, Lishu, head of Gear Foundation China, YoSean, founder of CancerDAO and professor of CityUHK, and Movemaker to gather at the online roundtable at 20:00 on February 27 to discuss "Web3.0 Development in Hong Kong: Consensus Records"! The cumulative number of viewers of this event reached 1,200. Next, TinTinLand will take you to understand their unique experiences and thoughts at the Consensus conference and interpret the latest developments of Web3 in Hong Kong.
🎯 Friends who missed the live broadcast can click to replay: https://x.com/i/spaces/1mnxegqleLWGX
Purpose and Gains of the Hong Kong Conference
Community building and market development
The core goal of Glen, the head of 0xU BD, for attending the conference was to help the 0xU community promote BD and successfully hold an offline event to expand its influence. He actively shuttled between various side events as he attended a large-scale international conference for the first time, gained an in-depth understanding of different project parties, and accumulated valuable resources for future cooperation. As the director of Web3 and Fintech Development at Cyberport, Rachel is concerned about how to promote the development of Hong Kong's innovative technology ecosystem. She hopes to help Web3 companies in the park connect with more investors, facilitate cooperation, and provide support in compliance consulting. She mentioned that a Pitch Day was successfully held during the conference, attracting dozens of investors to participate, and also supported stablecoin-related activities. Overall, she and her team supported more than 20 events, with a total of more than 3,000 participants.
In another frontier field, YoSean, founder of CancerDAO, organized a DeSci (decentralized science) themed event during Consensus to discuss how to attract scientists to the Web3 ecosystem and the layout of the DeSci track by various ecosystems. During the event, a total of 8 projects conducted roadshows, and the number of applicants far exceeded expectations. The actual number of spectators on the day was as high as 400-500, reflecting the industry's strong interest in the DeSci track. In addition, they also focused on discussing Hong Kong's policy support for the development of Web3, and hoped to guide more people to join the DeSci field through this event.
Industry Exchange and Trend Observation
As a Web3 media, Joe, deputy editor-in-chief of Foresight News, sees this conference as an opportunity for communication and information acquisition. He hopes to take this opportunity to communicate face-to-face with industry friends, understand the latest market trends, and complete news reports. He pays special attention to the differences between this Consensus and previous industry conferences in order to more accurately judge market trends and industry changes.
Lishu, the head of Gear Foundation China, also believes that the Consensus in Hong Kong is a rare opportunity for him to personally witness the development of the local Web3 ecosystem. He emphasized that the biggest advantage of offline activities is efficient communication, and face-to-face communication with project parties and industry friends often brings unexpected gains. Although market sentiment has not yet fully recovered, industry insiders are still actively communicating and discussing future directions together, which makes him excited.
Why is Consensus Hong Kong so unprecedented in scale?
Policy and geographical advantages: Web3 resource aggregation hub
Glen, the head of 0xU BD, pointed out that the reason why this conference was so popular was that it was the first time that Hong Kong hosted an international Web3 conference, which naturally attracted global attention. Secondly, the policy environment after 2025 has become the focus of the industry, especially after Trump took office, and practitioners hope to observe the changes in the policy window. In addition, Hong Kong's convenient geographical location further reduces the overall cost of participants.
Rachel, Director of Web3 and Fintech Development at Cyberport, also agreed that this was the first global Web3 conference since Trump took office, and the industry hopes to use this opportunity to discuss the direction of change under the new policy environment. Rachel added that Hong Kong's historical accumulation as a traditional financial center and the origin of many exchanges starting here make Hong Kong a natural hub for the aggregation of Web3 resources.
Internationalization: Cross-regional integration of Web3
Joe, deputy editor-in-chief of Foresight News, observed that the proportion of European and American practitioners at the main venue of this conference far exceeded that of previous Hong Kong Technology Week and other events, and the international participation reached a new high. It has been four or five months since the last large-scale conference Token 2049 in the Asian market. The industry's potential has been released in a concentrated manner, which has promoted the popularity of this conference.
YoSean, founder of CancerDAO, also noted that the conference attracted a large number of Web3 participants from Europe, America and Asia, further proving that Hong Kong is becoming a key hub for the development of global Web3.
The rise of AI and DeSci tracks: a new direction for the development of Web3
The hot topics of this conference have also changed. Lishu, head of Gear Foundation China, observed that the discussion on financing has decreased significantly, while AI-related topics have become a hot topic. All AI-related activities are almost full, reflecting everyone's strong interest in exploring the combination of AI and Crypto.
YoSean, founder of CancerDAO, analyzed the special features of this conference from the perspective of DeSci. He pointed out that this Consensus is the world's first large-scale conference involving the theme of DeSci, and the industry's attention to the DeSci track is rapidly increasing, especially Ethereum founder Vitalik and Binance CEO CZ both stood up for DeSci, which triggered heated discussions in the market. He predicted that the next wave of DeSci narratives will be combined with data and AI to promote the gradual materialization of Web3.
One word to describe my trip to Hong Kong: bustling, diverse, settled and hopeful
Lively and diverse: the intersection of the global Web3 ecosystem
Glen, the head of 0xU BD, described the trip to Hong Kong as "lively". A large number of Web3 practitioners, especially overseas participants, gathered at the site, various side events were held one after another, and exchange activities were extremely popular, showing the vitality of the industry and its high attention to the Hong Kong market.
Rachel, Director of Web3 and Fintech Development at Cyberport, emphasized "diversity". She observed that both the track and the background of the participants showed great diversity. In addition to DeFi and infrastructure, AI and DeSci have also become hot topics, and the backgrounds of the participants are also rich, coming from different regions such as Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia, highlighting the international characteristics of the Hong Kong Web3 market.
Sedimentation and exploration: The industry returns to rationality and seeks real needs
Joe, deputy editor-in-chief of Foresight News, used "sedimentation" to summarize his feelings this time. He believes that compared with the craze of Token2049 last year, Consensus is more calm and rational. Market confidence has not yet fully recovered, and the future development of some ecological projects is full of uncertainty. But he also sees the positive side, such as the implementation of encrypted payments, such as international phone cards and data cards that support cryptocurrency payments, which are solving actual needs. He believes that the industry has paid too much attention to speculation and meme coins in the past year, but is now entering a period of sedimentation and returning to pragmatic innovation.
Lishu, head of Gear Foundation China, also expressed a similar view. He described the industry as being in the stage of "looking for light in the tunnel" and everyone is actively exploring the direction. He believes that Hong Kong has unique advantages, rich talent and institutional resources, and stablecoins and payment applications will become the key direction of the Web3 industry's bottom-up transformation, which will help promote the mass adoption of Web3 in cross-border trade and daily payments.
Hope and long-termism: the key to a project’s true survival
YoSean, founder of CancerDAO, summed up this Consensus with "hope". He recalled that when he first paid attention to DeSci, few people were interested, but now seeing more people joining, he saw hope. He believes that the market has been full of short-term speculation in the past year, and the projects that will survive in the end are those that adhere to long-termism and truly create value. He hopes that the industry will gradually move away from "gambling-style innovation" and turn its attention to more valuable explorations, so that Web3 can truly integrate into the real world.
Hong Kong Web3 Outlook: Policy support and ecological take-off
Policies are advancing steadily, and Web3 is welcoming new opportunities
Rachel, Director of Web3 and Fintech Development at Cyberport, emphasized that the Hong Kong government's support for Web3 continues to increase. The February 26 budget mentioned virtual assets, and a new policy statement will be released soon, continuing the policy tone at the end of 2022 and providing the market with stable expectations.
Glen, the head of 0xU BD, also believes that Hong Kong, as an important market for the development of global Web3, has natural advantages in the fields of finance and payment. He is optimistic about projects such as PayFi that solve industry pain points, and believes that the application scenarios of Web3 combined with traditional industries will become more and more abundant. He also mentioned the globally used Crypto transaction phone cards, believing that such products are very interesting and may become an innovative direction in the industry.
Growth space for public chains, exchanges and emerging tracks
Joe, deputy editor-in-chief of Foresight News, believes that exchanges, public chains and niche tracks are still the core of the Web3 ecosystem. He believes that exchanges are still an important pillar of the Web3 ecosystem, and in terms of public chains, Solana, Base, Sui, TON and BTCFi are worthy of long-term attention. In the niche tracks, Joe recommends paying attention to AI, RWA (real world assets), PayFi and other fields, especially the AI track, because it has the dual benefits of policy promotion and technological breakthroughs, and may explode in this cycle.
Project side perspective: Seize the opportunity of ecological development
Lishu, the head of Gear Foundation China, revealed that their team will pay more attention to the Greater China market in the future and plans to actively participate in the Wanxiang Blockchain Conference in early April. He emphasized that the combination of high-performance computing and Web3 application scenarios is the key direction in the future, and plans to launch new products in the second half of the year.
YoSean, founder of CancerDAO, said that the DeSci track is developing rapidly. His team plans to conduct tours in Hong Kong universities and explore incubator and funding opportunities to help more scientific research teams enter the Web3 ecosystem. He believes that DeSci will become a key bridge connecting scientific research and blockchain, bringing more practical application scenarios to Web3.
Conclusion: The Eastern Hub for Web3 Innovation
The successful conclusion of Hong Kong Consensus 2025 is not only an important opportunity for Web3 practitioners to exchange in-depth views on industry trends, but also further consolidates Hong Kong's position as a core hub for global Web3 development. From AI, DeSci to stablecoins and RWA, the industry is undergoing a critical transition period from conceptual innovation to actual implementation, and Hong Kong, with its open policy environment, mature financial infrastructure and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, is becoming an ideal testing ground for this change.
Although the market is still in the stage of adjustment and exploration, the enthusiasm of participants, global resource integration, and the rise of emerging tracks all indicate that the Web3 industry is moving forward steadily. In the future, with the further improvement of the regulatory framework, cross-border payments, on-chain finance, public chain ecology and other fields may usher in greater breakthroughs, and Consensus 2025 is only a starting point in this process. What will be the next step for Hong Kong Web3, how will it continue to unleash its potential in diversified integration? Let us wait and see.
