I’m writing this a few days after the end of May, and calling it “May” undersells what just happened. It wasn’t a one-day summit. It was a month of builders in motion: a three-week Founders Residency (May 11–29) with 6 teams in the room, the Web3 Builders’ Summit landing on May 25 with 300+ builders, creators, and even regulators in the building, a Welcome to DAVAS dinner to close the day, and a thousand quieter conversations stacked in between. The merch is packed, the speakers have flown home, the gelato cart is gone, and I am, predictably, exhausted in the specific way that only spending a month with this many builders can exhaust you.

I’m also sitting with something I didn’t expect to feel: the strangeness of running a three-year-old thing.

Three years ago, sqrDAO was a Discord server, a recurring dinner, and a half-baked thesis I wasn’t fully sure anyone wanted. Today it’s a Web3 builders’ community, an accelerator (sqrBUIDL) whose Founders Residency program just ran its first cohort (EMpower, co-run with Lisk Ventures), an investment arm (sqrFUND), a validator stack (sqrNODE), a flagship summit (Web3 Builders’ Summit) on its third edition, and a physical hub in Da Nang. Somewhere in there the thing I was trying to build became the thing I’m responsible for. Those are not the same job.

I’ll get into what just happened in May and where this is going. But first, a bit of self-reflection, because if a 3-year recap is just a list of milestones, I haven’t actually said anything.

The Reflection

Three years in, the honest emotional state is somewhere between grateful and raw.

Grateful because sqrDAO has become the thing I most wanted it to be: a high-signal room of builders who treat each other seriously. Raw because shipping that room costs something, and I’m at the stage where I can no longer pretend the cost is free.

A few specifics I’ve stopped trying to hide from myself:

• The travel is unsustainable in its current shape. Four trips in six weeks is not a flex; it’s a tell. I need to redesign my own workflows and the whole operational stack so the operation doesn’t quietly require me to be on a plane to function.

• The hardest part isn’t building. It’s holding. Year 1 was almost entirely outbound energy. Year 3 is mostly holding the things I built: relationships, programs, partners, expectations. Holding is harder than building, and almost nobody talks about it.

• I’m a recovering ex-VC who became a community operator who became a founder. I’ve now sat in every seat: coder, founder, accelerator operator, investor, community builder. sqrDAO is the convergence of all of them. That’s an unfair advantage and also the reason no playbook fits cleanly.

What I’m proudest of, though, isn’t any single program. It’s that the community has started to act on its own. Members back each other. Members invest in each other. Members hire from each other. Members ship together. Members organize activities by themselves. The flywheel exists, and it doesn’t have my name on it. I am no longer the single point of failure I was in Year 1, which is the only metric that actually matters for something called a DAO.

Why, How, When

A quick history for the readers who joined recently, and there are a lot of you. Here goes:

Why.

In late 2021, I had a conversation with one of the co-founders of Sky Mavis at a VC event and got pulled out of the ICO-era skepticism I’d been carrying since 2017. Around the same time (early 2022), an old friend dragged me into DeFi. I’d been a coder, a founder, a VC, an accelerator operator, but I’d never seen what Vietnam looked like from the builder side of Web3. When I did, the gap was obvious: world-class technical talent, almost no structured paths to the global stage, and a lot of “community” that was really just noisy Telegram groups. So I started gathering people.

How.

sqrDAO began as a Discord server and a recurring dinner group in 2022: small, in-person where we could pull it off, with the chat happening in Discord alongside. The Substack came up around the same time as the writing channel (the Coming Soon post in March 2022 still sits there as a fossil). As the group grew and the conversations got dense, we migrated the main chat to Telegram, where it still lives. We formalized as an community in late 2023, anchored the operation in Da Nang in 2024, and have spent every year since stacking infrastructure on top of the community: investments, accelerators, validators, and a flagship summit that now operates as the official Web3 leg of Vietnam’s flagship venture summit.

When.

Three years, but more specifically:

Year 1 (2023) was the year I learned how badly Vietnam wanted this. I started Web3 Builders’ Dinners expecting maybe ten people in a room. Instead, we ended up running them across Hanoi, HCMC, and Da Nang, and the rooms kept filling up beyond what I’d planned for. The partner list grew alongside (AWS, Solana SuperteamVN, Kyber, Avalanche, Aura), and the small, curated, high-trust thesis stopped feeling like a wager and started feeling like a description of what was already there, waiting for someone to organize it.

Year 2 (2024–2025) was when dinners became summits. The first Web3 Builders' Summit happened in Da Nang in November 2024 (about a hundred founders). I spent the night before convinced nobody was going to come, because a 100-person summit is a different animal than a recurring dinner. They came. The second edition (The Rise of AI, June 2025) doubled the room. sqrNODE went live somewhere in there, which felt different from events: infrastructure, not theater. sqrBUIDL launched as our accelerator track, running two BUIDL-athon seasons back-to-back (Shipping on Solana first, then Lisk Vietnam BUIDL-athon), and putting real portfolios (ZoneIn, LedgerX, VerIOT, and a long list of others; see buidl.sqrdao.com) on the board. By the end of Y2 I'd stopped wondering whether the thesis behind sqrDAO was real and started wondering whether I could keep up with it.

Year 3 (2025–2026) is the year you’ve been reading about. The Hub stood up. We announced the EMpower Founders Residency with Lisk Ventures in early 2026 (a longer-form evolution of the BUIDL-athons, three weeks instead of a sprint), and ran its first cohort in May, six teams who stuck the full three weeks. The Summit hit its third edition, with the room full of frens from across Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and beyond. We also registered sqrDAO’s representative office in Da Nang in mid-May, formalizing our MOU with DISSC to help shape the local legal framework for digital assets, Web3, and AI in Central Vietnam. The blog passed 3,000 subscribers somewhere along the way; I didn’t notice when. And Vietnam shipped Resolution 05/NQ-CP and opened VIFC Da Nang, almost on cue. Three years of stage-setting met an actual stage this May. I’m still processing what that means.

What Just Happened in May

May was the densest month sqrDAO has ever run, by a wide margin. Two flagship operations overlapped on purpose:

sqrBUIDL Founders Residency, Cohort 1: EMpower (May 11–29).

Co-run with Lisk Ventures. We picked 8 teams out of 51 eligible applications, a 16% acceptance rate I’m proud of, because we genuinely turned down good folks whose shape didn’t fit this cohort. Of those, 6 made it through the full three weeks in Da Nang. The 8 → 6 gap is itself a Cohort 1 lesson, and one we’re carrying into how we structure commitments for Cohort 2. For the six who showed up: three weeks of programming, mentorship, capital access, late-night debugging sessions, and the kind of compounded relationships you only get from being in the same room with the same builders for three straight weeks.

Web3 Builders’ Summit: LFBUIDL 2026 (May 25).

The third edition. The first one that felt like the room had been waiting for it.

A year ago, this Summit was where Vietnamese builders went to find each other. This year, it was where they showed up to be found. 300+ builders, 50+ speakers, 40+ partners from across Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and beyond, all in one building for one day. Talking about what’s started actually mattering: stablecoins, RWA, AI × Web3.

Co-hosted with DAVAS (organized under the direct guidance of the Da Nang City People’s Committee), with Lisk and DISSC as Strategic Partners. Three keynotes, three Lightning Debates, pitching sessions for the next wave of Vietnamese builders.

It was also the first major community-led Web3 conference inside Vietnam’s new regulatory pilot framework (Resolution 05/NQ-CP, VIFC Da Nang as institutional anchor). We didn’t engineer that timing. We spent three years building toward a moment where Vietnamese Web3 builders would have a real seat at a real policy table. That seat existed in May. People used it.

But the agenda is the boring part. What I’ll remember: hallway clusters reforming around different arguments, people meeting in person after years in each other’s DMs, the way nobody left early. Some of the best conversations never made it to a stage.

What I told VnEconomy at the Summit:

“The Web3 ecosystem in Vietnam is witnessing significant shifts as institutional infrastructure begins to take shape. Builders in the next phase must simultaneously master three pillars (policy, technical infrastructure, and capital flows) to build products and achieve long-term growth alongside the market.”

And the one-liner I gave Cryptopolitan ahead of the day, which I still stand by:

One moment from the Summit I’ll carry for a while: in his opening remarks, Mr. Le Son Phong of the Da Nang City Department of Science and Technology explicitly placed the builder community (engineers, programmers, tech founders) at the core of Da Nang’s innovation ecosystem. The city government, on record, is saying the builders are the point. That’s not a sentence I would have believed three years ago.

What Comes Next

A few things we’re watching, and a few things we’re building toward.

The regulatory window is 2026–2030. That is a finite window. We have roughly four years to use it well: get real builders inside the sandbox, ship infrastructure that survives the pilot phase, and make sure the policy that comes out the other end was shaped by people who actually wrote code. The cost of fumbling this window is high. Stablecoins will be the obvious test case. They’re already, in practice, doing what Bitcoin was originally meant to do (fast, programmable, borderless money), and they’re the most-used onchain asset in Vietnam by a wide margin. Whatever framework Vietnam settles on will set the precedent for the rest of Southeast Asia.

Da Nang Blockchain Hub becomes the year-round home. W3BS is one day. EMpower is three weeks. The Hub is every day. That’s where most of Year 4 energy is going: turning the physical space into where builders default to working from, not just a place they visit for events. The community deserves a room of its own.

Cohort 2 and W3BS 2027 are both in early planning. New themes, new shapes. We’re going to apply everything we just learned. Ask me again when September ends.

sqrNODE stays focused on sustainability over scale. Validator revenue underwrites the rest of the flywheel: events, residencies, the builders we back. Year 4 is about running what we have reliably, not adding more.

sqrDAO’s operations are becoming agentic. Two pieces are shipping: sqrAGENT (our crypto-native community agent, talking like a member, not a chatbot) and sqrSKILLS (open-source Claude Code skills on github.com/sqrDAO, free for any builder to fork and/or contribute). Thesis: humans set direction, agents do the reps.

One personal goal: redesign the operating model so Year 4 doesn’t require me to be on a plane every nine days. The community is strong enough now. I need to act like it.

The Chads

I’ve used “we” a lot in this post. Time to acknowledge the people behind that word.

What nobody sees about a month like May is everything the Ops Team did before, during, and after. Residency logistics, speaker schedules, comms, design, partnerships, AV, run-of-show, airport pickups. Every photo in this post exists because someone on the Ops Team made sure the moment was worth photographing. The byline on this article is mine. The month wasn’t.

And everyone who pitched in: sqrDAO members who showed up during Summit week and just helped. Side events at their offices, speaker pickups, last-minute translations, impromptu dinners, photos, intros, rides, fixes. None of it was in anyone’s job description. All of it made the week work.

Beyond the events, the Certified Chads keep doing the work even when no one’s asking, and the Chads Council steers strategy, partnerships, and governance alongside me. The people I lean on when the call is too big for one head to hold.

Full roster at sqrdao.com. Every name there did something this year that doesn’t have my name on it. If yours belongs there and isn’t yet, DM me. Three years in, the list only gets longer.

Sign-off

Three years ago sqrDAO was a Discord server and a recurring dinner with no real plan and a community of almost no one. Today there’s a real room, a real program stack, real founders shipping real things, and a regulatory window we have a shot at using well. Whether that adds up to “a successful third year” depends entirely on what we do with the next twelve months, and “we” is the key word.

sqrDAO is a builders-driven community, first and last. Programs, stacks, residencies, agents: all of it is just infrastructure for the room. The room is the point.

To everyone who showed up (at a dinner, on stage, in the residency, in the Hub, in the DMs, on a panel, in an airport pickup line, or just by reading these posts): thank you. None of this works without you. Most of it works because of you.

still in the trenches, with frens.

LFBUIDL.

Castelian
Founder and Head Chad, sqrDAO

If you’re reading this and you’re already registered — we’ll see you at 08:30. Come early. The conversations that matter most at W3BS have always started before the first panel opens.

If you’re on the fence, this is the last nudge you’re getting from us.

What’s happening tomorrow, hour by hour

08:30 — Doors open

Check in, grab coffee, find the people you’ve been meaning to meet in person for the past year.

Morning — Strategy and Policy

Three panels on Vietnam’s policy frontier, the stablecoin stack, and RWA infrastructure. No moderator-softened consensus. We built the format specifically to surface the arguments builders are having in group chats and bring them into the open.

Afternoon — Showcase Batches

The builders shipping onchain financial infrastructure, consumer apps for emerging markets, and AI-native sovereign tech take the stage. Products, not decks.
Plus, three Lightning Debates where speakers actually disagree intellectually. Battles of words and ideas.

Evening — Web3 Builders’ Dinner

The Summit closes with a curated dinner that opens into DAVAS week. The venture partners in the room aren’t there to watch a pitch competition. They’re there to continue conversations that started on the Summit floor.

That’s the format. That’s why it works.

Who’s on stage

• Mr. Ho Ky Minh — Permanent Vice Chairman, Da Nang City People’s Committee

• Oscar Njuguna — Director of Membership, VIFC-DN Executive Agency

• Trung Nguyen — Founder & CEO, Sky Mavis

• Alexis Low — APAC Ecosystem Lead, Lisk

• Queenie Le — Regional Expansion Lead APAC, Tether

• Vo Duc Anh — Deputy Director, DISSC

• …and speakers from Ronin Network, Pharos Network, Aptos, Bitget Wallet, Dash, Spartan Group, Swiss EP Vietnam, Avalanche / Team1, and more.

The logistics

• When: Saturday, May 25 · 08:30 – 17:00 ICT

• Where: Risemount Premier Resort Da Nang · 120 Nguyen Van Thoai, Ngu Hanh Son Ward

• Admission: Free. Approval-gated.

• Full info: web3builderssummit.com

If you haven’t registered yet and somehow still need to — try your luck at lu.ma/web3-builders-summit-lfbuidl. We review every application. No guarantees this late, but we’d rather you show up than not.

Can’t make it to the Summit?

There’s still a way into the room.

On Tuesday, May 26, at 6:00 PM GMT+7, Dash and sqrDAO are hosting a Web3 Danang Builder Meet-up in Da Nang’s Ngũ Hành Sơn — a curated side event organized together with Unchained Summit and builder communities from across the region. Drinks, snacks, a photographer, short punchy presentations, and the kind of introductions that are actually worth making. Think of it as W3BS with the agenda stripped out and the networking turned all the way up.

One spot is left. If you’re in Da Nang and didn’t get into the Summit — apply now. A waitlist is also available on a first-come, first-served basis if the last spot fills before you get there.

Vietnam is in a structurally different place than it was a year ago. The regulatory framework is live. The International Financial Center is operational. The builders who were quiet about it all year are going to be in this room tomorrow.

That’s W3BS. It’s always been about who shows up before the moment becomes obvious.

See you in Da Nang.

— Leo & the sqrDAO team

Three years in, we’ve stopped calling Web3 Builders’ Summit (W3BS) an event. It’s a checkpoint.

It’s where the builders who’ve been heads-down shipping — quietly, without needing an audience — come up for air, find each other, and remind themselves why the work matters. Every edition has felt like that. This one feels different.

Not because we made it bigger. Because the ground shifted under us.

Vietnam Changed. W3BS Moved With It.

Vietnam’s digital asset ecosystem is entering a structurally new phase. With the Digital Technology Industry Law (2025) and Resolution 05/NQ-CP establishing the regulatory pilot framework for the crypto-asset market, Vietnam’s International Financial Center (VIFC) in Da Nang officially commenced operations on December 18, 2025.

These aren’t soft signals. This is institutional infrastructure being built in real time — and it’s happening in the same city where W3BS has always called home.

That timing isn’t coincidence. Da Nang has been writing a playbook while everyone else was still debating whether Southeast Asia had one. W3BS 2026 is the first major Web3-native gathering positioned inside this new framework — where builders, capital, and the officials shaping policy are in the same room while the rules are still being written.

As our Founder, Long “Leo” Pham, notes:

“Markets cycle. Hype cycles. The builders who win the next phase are the ones who showed up to equip themselves before the rest of the room caught up.”

Da Nang is writing the playbook for Vietnam’s Web3 future, and W3BS is where you connect with the people shaping it.

If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to plug in, this is it. The infrastructure is live. The regulation is being written. The builders who show up now are the ones who shape what comes next.

What W3BS Actually Looks Like

Taking place on May 25, 2026, Web3 Builders' Summit: LFBUIDL 2026 serves as the official Web3 leg of the Danang Venture and Angel Summit (DAVAS 2026). We are bringing together over 200 builders, founders, investors, partners, and community members inside Vietnam’s flagship venture summit, governed by the Department of Science and Technology of Da Nang.

We built this year’s program around a single thesis: Vietnam’s next Web3 phase will be won by builders who understand three things at once — policy, technical infrastructure, and capital.

The day is structured to deliver all three without the filler.

Morning: Strategy and Policy

The day opens with founders meeting the officials shaping Vietnam’s digital asset framework. Three panels covering the Vietnamese policy frontier, the stablecoin stack, and RWA infrastructure — plus three Lightning Debates designed to surface real disagreement on the questions builders are actually arguing about. No pre-scripted consensus. No safe answers.

Afternoon: Technical Showcases

Three Showcase Batches organized around what the market actually needs shipped next:

• Onchain financial infrastructure

• Consumer apps for emerging markets

• AI-native sovereign tech

The builders building the rails are on stage alongside the founders shipping on top of them.

Evening: Web3 Builders’ Dinner

The Summit closes with a curated dinner that doubles as the official gateway into DAVAS week. Founders who spent the day in the panels share the room with the venture partners convening at DAVAS — Quest Ventures, Do Ventures, Antler, MEXC Ventures, and GenAI Fund. It’s where the Web3 conversation moves from the Summit floor into the broader capital conversation Da Nang has spent years building.

Who’s In the Room

Headlining the program:

• Trung Nguyen — Founder & CEO, Sky Mavis

• Queenie Le — Regional Expansion Lead APAC, Tether

• Alexis Low — Ecosystem Growth Lead, Lisk

• Vo Duc Anh — Deputy Director, DISSC (Da Nang’s government innovation infrastructure, on stage)

Additional speakers from: People’s Committee of Da Nang, VIFC-Da Nang, Ronin Network, Pharos Network, Aptos, Bitget Wallet, Dash, Swiss EP Vietnam, Spartan Group, RNS.id, Knotwork, Speedrun Labs, Avalanche Team1, 8SIAN Magazine, and more.

The numbers: 200+ builders · 50+ speakers · 40+ partners · 10+ city-wide events across the May arc.

Partners: Co-hosted by DAVAS. Strategic Partners: Lisk, DISSC. Premium Partners: NEBULUS, Pharos Network, Aquavance, Sky Mavis, Risemount, VICI Foundation. Ecosystem: Swiss EP, Aptos, Avalanche, Laguna Network, Merch3, Dash, Bitget Wallet.

Event Details & Registration

• Date: May 25, 2026 | 08:30 – 17:00 ICT

• Venue: Risemount Premier Resort Da Nang, 120 Nguyen Van Thoai, Ngu Hanh Son Ward, Da Nang

• Format: Approval-gated, free admission. Curated for founders, technical builders, and ecosystem contributors.

Secure Your Spot

Entry is free but approval-gated to keep the room filled with active ecosystem contributors. Public registration is now open.

• Apply here: lu.ma/web3-builders-summit-lfbuidl

• Deadline: May 22, 2026 at 11:59 PM GMT+7

• Learn more: web3builderssummit.com

Markets cycle. Hype cycles. The builders who win the next phase are the ones who showed up to equip themselves before the rest of the room caught up.

See you in Da Nang.

— Leo & the sqrDAO team

This is the cohort. Let’s get into it.

Why we built EMpower

Most accelerators and residencies are built for founders in San Francisco, London, or New York. That’s fine. But the next wave of onchain payments, AI-native products, and infrastructure for the next billion users isn’t going to come out of those cities.

It’s going to come out of Lagos. Kigali. Manila. Jakarta. Ho Chi Minh City. Kuala Lumpur. Bengaluru. And yes — Da Nang.

The founders we care about are already in these markets. They live the problems. They know the payment rails, the regulatory landscape, the cultural texture of what works and what doesn’t. What they often lack is a concentrated, high-signal environment where they can sharpen the pitch, close the round, and plug into a regional network of operators and investors.

That’s what EMpower is: three weeks of 80% doing, 20% learning, anchored by a Clear Intent philosophy. Every founder arrives with concrete milestones. Every week is engineered to help them hit those milestones before they fly home. Culminating in a showcase at the Web3 Builders’ Summit and pitch slots at the Da Nang Venture and Angel Summit (DAVAS) 2026.

The numbers behind Cohort 1

We received 51 applications from founders across Southeast Asia, Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and North America. After a rigorous review and interview process, 17 teams made the shortlist. 8 made the final cut — a 16% acceptance rate.

The selection funnel:

51 applications received → 17 shortlisted for interview (33% advance) → 8 in the final cohort (47% advance)

Three weeks is a short runway. We needed every seat in the room to be earned.

What the applicant pool told us

The applications themselves were a signal. Founders weren’t picking tribes — they were picking the right tool for the job:

Base — 22 mentions · Solana — 14 · Ethereum — 13 · Lisk — 13 · BSC/BNB — 7 · Celo, Polygon, Arbitrum — 4 each · StarkNet — 2 · Horizen — 1

Multi-chain, multi-market, eyes on real-world utility. That’s the emerging-market builder posture we were hoping to see — and it showed up loud.

Cohort 1: Geographic spread

3 continents. 5 countries of operation. 7 nationalities.

• Southeast Asia — 4 teams: Tide (Malaysia), Gaian Network, Fystack, PolyPay (all Vietnam)

• Africa — 3 teams: Vouchify (Nigeria), TicketDaddy (Rwanda), Jamit (Nigeria)

• South Asia — 1 team: KOKI’O (India)

A few cross-border threads worth calling out:

• Gian Alarcon (PolyPay) is a Peruvian founder who’s been building in Asia for a decade, now operating out of Vietnam.

• Ike Orizu (Jamit) is Nigerian, incorporated in the U.S., looking to expand into SEA.

• Gavin Ngabonziza (TicketDaddy) is Rwandan, running operations across Uganda and Rwanda, targeting UAE and SEA next.

Emerging-market founders don’t stay put. The best ones are already operating across corridors. EMpower is built for exactly that.

Cohort 1: Sector mix

5 sectors. 8 companies. All solving real problems in markets that have been underserved for too long.

• Onchain consumer infrastructure (3 co.) — TicketDaddy, Vouchify, KOKI’O

• Payments & stablecoin rails (2 co.) — Gaian Network, PolyPay

• DeFi & prediction markets (1 co.) — Tide

• Custody & developer infrastructure (1 co.) — Fystack

• AI × creator economy (1 co.) — Jamit

Meet the Cohort

🎫 TicketDaddy — the experiences economy, rebuilt for emerging markets

Founded by: Gavin Ngabonziza (CEO), Bruce Bagarukayo (CTO), Kayondo Edward (Co-CTO) · 🇷🇼 Rwanda · ticketdaddy.io

TicketDaddy is a one-stop platform for events, travel, stays, and experiences — unifying discovery, access, payments, and management across East Africa, with MENA and SEA on the roadmap. They’ve already processed 600K+ tickets and accreditations through 80+ business partners, Built on Base with NFT ticket verification and 48-hour Mobile Money payouts — against an industry standard of 7–30 days. A Lisk $20K grant recipient and AyaHQ × Lisk ‘25 accelerator selection, now actively raising a $6M seed round. AFCON 2027 is on their horizon.

🛡️ Vouchify — turning Africa’s informal service economy into recurring revenue

Founded by: King Chukwumere · 🇳🇬 Nigeria · usevouchify.com

Vouchify is B2B infrastructure that lets local merchants — gyms, salons, maintenance providers, supermarkets — convert one-time services into subscriptions through programmable digital passes stored natively in Apple and Google Wallets. Already live across three countries with 39 premium partners including Simba Supermarket and Brioche, $300K+ processed, and 4,000+ subscriptions on-chain. Built across Base, Polygon, Celo, BSC, and Ethereum. Delaware-incorporated. Now raising a $350K pre-seed.

🎙️ Jamit — the Audible × Wattpad for AI-native audio storytelling

Founded by: Ike Orizu · 🇳🇬 Nigeria / 🇺🇸 USA · jamit.app

Creators use Jamit’s AI “Magic Producer” to turn ideas into podcasts, audio dramas, and audiobooks in minutes — then monetize globally through stablecoins, NFTs, and fan communities. 100+ creators onboarded, 200+ stories generated, 170K+ listeners reached. Multi-chain architecture across Lisk, Base, and Soneium. Backed by LAVA, Lisk DAO, and strategic angels with ~$500K raised; now raising a $1M seed. Ike previously scaled TruSpot to 8 million users — he’s done this before.

🔐 PolyPay (Quantum3Labs) — privacy-preserving payroll, mathematically guaranteed

Founded by: Gian Alarcon · 🇵🇪 Peru · operating from 🇻🇳 Vietnam · polypay.pro

Every block explorer is a privacy leak. PolyPay solves this with zero-knowledge proofs (UltraPlonk circuits compiled from Noir, verified via zkVerify) that hide multisig signer identities while preserving auditability — unlocking crypto payroll for DAOs and crypto-native teams across emerging markets where onchain salary exposure is a dealbreaker. Live on Horizen and Base. 1,100 multisig wallets, 1,200 unique users, 20K+ transactions. The Horizen Foundation is an active pilot partner. Where competitors bolt privacy on, Gian built it into the core architecture.

🌊 Tide — continuous prediction markets, built for the Hyperliquid era

Founded by: Jo Lim (CEO), Eason Chai (CTO) · 🇲🇾 Malaysia · tide.markets

Prediction markets today are binary: yes or no. Tide is building the first primitive for continuous outcome markets — where traders can price every possible outcome on a single unified liquidity curve and express views like “BTC ends the month between $80k and $85k.” Already a top-5 Hyperliquid hackathon winner with 160+ beta testers and 30+ markets. Closing a $3M seed round with a tier-1 lead in DD. SEA is their primary market from launch.

💸 Gaian Network — the orchestration layer between stablecoins and local fiat

Founded by: Fay Nguyen (Head of Strategy), Kelvin Truong (Head of Product), Nguyen Bui (Head of Growth) · 🇻🇳 Vietnam · gaian.network

Gaian is the intelligent routing layer between global stablecoin liquidity and local banking rails (VietQR, InstaPay, PromptPay, UPI, PIX). One API lets wallets, neobanks, and Web3 payment platforms deploy stablecoin liquidity into real-world payments — instantly, invisibly, across borders. 5 wallets live with 10,000 users. $500M TPV committed from 5 institutional clients. 20+ clients in pipeline. Backed by operators from Phantom and Superteam. Raising $1.25M pre-seed. Live on Solana, Base, BNB Chain, and Ethereum.

🔑 Fystack — custody infrastructure built for emerging-market fintechs

Founded by: Thi Nguyen · 🇻🇳 Vietnam · fystack.io

Fireblocks and BitGo price out 90% of Southeast Asia. Fystack doesn’t. Thi is building developer-friendly custody infrastructure with an open-source MPC wallet engine (140+ GitHub stars) at the bottom of the funnel and paid enterprise deployments converting at the top. ~400 signups, 5 fintech customers, ~$5M in processed volume, 7 active pilots. Serving clients across US, Europe, Africa, Vietnam, and India. Raising a $500K seed via SAFE — half already committed.

📱 KOKI’O — privacy-first eSIM for the sovereign traveler

Founded by: Arpit Kumar, Manul Singh Parihar, Tanmay Goel · 🇮🇳 India · kokio.app

Buy eSIM coverage in 200+ countries with no KYC, no account creation, no data collection. Pay in crypto or fiat. Authenticate with biometrics. Connect instantly. Currently in alpha with 70+ users; the team is launching their beta live during the residency, with Da Nang itself as a real-world target market. Built on EVM + Base Sepolia. Incorporated in Singapore. Raising a $500K seed this quarter.

What happens during the three weeks

This isn’t a content-lecture program. It’s a builder-led residency. Here’s what the cohort walks into:

• Deep-work sprints with structured milestones — fundraising readiness, product launches, GTM validation, partnership closures

• Direct investor access via dedicated pitch slots at DAVAS and the Web3 Builders’ Summit showcase, plus warm intros through the Lisk and sqrDAO networks

• Peer-led workshops where founders teach what they know best — ZK integration (PolyPay), Mobile Money rails (TicketDaddy), open-source GTM (Fystack), privacy UX (KOKI’O), DeFi product design (Tide), B2B sales for Web3 infra (Gaian Network), creator platform growth (Jamit), stablecoin merchant infrastructure (Vouchify)

• SEA market entry support — for the African and Indian founders planning to test Southeast Asia as their next expansion region

• The city itself — Da Nang is the regional hub we chose deliberately. It’s 90 minutes from Singapore, HCMC, Bangkok, and Manila. Affordable enough for founders to focus on work instead of runway. And culturally generous in the way that matters when you’re trying to compress months of progress into three weeks.

How to engage

If you’re an investor or ecosystem partner looking to meet the cohort — whether for follow-on checks, ecosystem integrations, SEA market access, or partnership conversations — reach out to the sqrDAO team.

If you’re a founder interested in future cohorts, follow sqrDAO and keep an eye on web3foundersresidency.com.

If you’re in Da Nang between May 11–29, come say hi. Residents will be at the Web3 Builders’ Summit and around the city. The best way to meet them is in person.

To the eight teams landing in Da Nang in May: welcome. We built EMpower for founders like you. Let’s go build something worth talking about.

LFBUIDL 🛠️

sqrDAO × Lisk Ventures team

(Note: The podcast was recorded when Lynn was still CEO. She has since left Saros.)

Who is Lynn?

Lynn is a veteran in crypto operations, having navigated some of the industry’s most turbulent waters from the inside. With a professional pedigree that includes senior leadership roles at FalconX and FTX US, Lynn has managed the complex friction between traditional institutional standards and the frontier of decentralized finance. Today, she stands as a mentor and strategic advisor, championing a shift toward “stakeholder capitalism” and long-term building.

The FTX “Movie”: A Lesson in Operational Resiliency

Lynn describes the collapse of FTX as “almost like a movie,” highlighting a culture of intense focus and betrayal. While the world saw the headlines, Lynn saw a team working day and night, often at the expense of their own interests.

• The Sacrifice: During the asset extraction chaos, many team members were so focused on assisting users that they forgot to withdraw their own funds.

• The “Boring” Moats: Her experience reinforced that the most resilient companies aren’t built on hype, but on “boring” pillars: rigorous accounting, legal compliance, and internal governance.

• The Fallout: Lynn emphasizes that while money can be remade, the lessons on who to trust—and who not to—are the most valuable assets she carried out of that period.

Health as the Ultimate Asset

A core theme of this episode is the necessity of balance in an industry that never sleeps. Lynn argues that for any builder, physical and mental health is the only asset that truly guarantees a second chance in the market.

• The 2 AM Grind: Lynn recalls the transition from an 8-hour TradFi day to a 16-hour crypto day, admitting she often questioned why she was putting herself through it.

• The Disconnect: She encourages builders to “stay balanced and out of the bubble” by engaging in non-crypto routines.

• Physical Discipline: For Lynn, this means high-intensity spin classes (”going to the club without the alcohol”) and weightlifting to clear the mind.

The Vision for Vietnamese Builders

As a leader in the Vietnamese tech community, Lynn is pushing for a transition from “outsource shops” to “world-class product builders”.

• Beyond Copy-Paste: She critiques the “copy-paste” culture, noting that users will rarely switch to a product that is only marginally better than an established giant.

• Long-Term Stakes: She challenges founders to look beyond the “short-term game” and focus on building for multi-cycle longevity.

• Global Benchmarks: Pointing to success stories like Kyber Network and Axie Infinity, Lynn believes Vietnam has the talent to lead the “Open Metaverse” if builders prioritize original problem-solving over quick narratives.

Watch the full interview below:

Connect with Lynn:

• X (Twitter): @LynnWWins

Join the Conversation

We are building this platform for you—the builders, the dreamers, and the executors of the decentralized future. Your support helps us bring more world-class guests like Sebastien to the show.

We Want Your Feedback: This is Episode #1, and we want to get better. Who should we interview next? What topics do you want us to demystify?

Drop a comment below or reply to this email—we read every single one.

LFBUIDL

sqrDAO Team

The center of gravity for on-chain innovation is shifting. While the West debates regulation, Southeast Asia is busy building the infrastructure for the next billion users.

Today, we aren't just announcing a residency; we’re planting a flag in Da Nang for the Ethereum ecosystem. In partnership with Lisk Ventures and sqrDAO, we’re opening the gates to a high-intensity, zero-equity launchpad for the founders who are actually shipping the future

The Shift to Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has quietly become one of the most dense hubs for on-chain innovation globally. From high mobile-first adoption to a relentless builder culture, the region is no longer “emerging”—it is leading.

This May, Lisk Ventures and sqrDAO are doubling down on this momentum. We are officially opening applications for the EMpower Founders Residency in Da Nang, Vietnam.

We aren’t looking for “ideas.” We are looking for 15 growth-stage Ethereum founders who have already found traction and are ready to scale their impact globally.

🎥 Watch: The Residency Vision

The “Equity-Free” Advantage

In a market where capital often comes with heavy strings attached, the EMpower Residency offers a different path. We provide the infrastructure, the network, and the luxury accommodation—without touching your cap table.

What’s included:

• 📍 3 Weeks of Strategic Execution: Live and build alongside 14 other elite founders in a private villa in Da Nang (Fully funded by Lisk).

• 📍 Institutional Access: A dedicated pitch slot at DAVAS 2026 and the Web3 Builder Summit in front of over 200+ VCs.

• 📍 Hands-on Mentorship: Direct access to ecosystem leaders to help you ship, scale, and navigate the complexities of global expansion.

Are You the Right Fit?

We are highly selective, focusing on teams that are ready to move from “Minimum Viable Product” to “Global Standard.”

1. Network: You are building within the Ethereum ecosystem.

2. Stage: You are a growth-stage founder with a working product and real-world traction.

3. Commitment: You are able to relocate to Da Nang for 3 weeks (May 4 – May 30).

The Timeline

• Applications Close: April 2

• Cohort Announcement: April 14

• Residency Dates: May 4 - May 30

The future of Web3 won’t wait for the next bull run. It’s being built now, in the villas of Da Nang. Are you coming?

APPLY TODAY

LFBUIDL,

sqrDAO & Lisk Ventures

In February 2026, Da Nang Innovation Startup Support Center (DISSC) and sqrDAO entered into a strategic partnership that sets the stage for Da Nang’s evolution into a global digital powerhouse. Signed by Mr. Vo Duc Anh from DISSC and our founder Long “Leo” Pham (Castelian) under the witness of Da Nang city leaders, this MOU is a direct response to Da Nang’s ambitious vision to enter the Global Top 300 startup ecosystems.

The Road to 2030: A Vision for Global Leadership

The partnership between sqrDAO and DISSC is not an isolated initiative; it is a critical engine driving Da Nang’s long-term transformation. As highlighted in recent reports by Báo Đà Nẵng, the city is striving to enter the Global Top 300 startup ecosystems and foster its first tech unicorn by 2030. This ambition is anchored in a robust legal and strategic framework, including Resolution No. 43-NQ/TW of the Politburo on the development of Da Nang and the “Da Nang - Innovation City” scheme.

Building the Pillars of a “Unicorn” Ecosystem

To reach these milestones, the sqrDAO x DISSC partnership focuses on three essential catalysts:

• Global Talent & Capacity Building:

  • We are coordinating large-scale training programs, workshops, and hackathons specifically focused on Blockchain, Web3, and Fintech.

  • These initiatives target not only startup founders but also management agencies, universities, and incubators to ensure a unified, high-tech workforce.

• Strategic Tools & Policy Innovation:

  • sqrDAO provides specialized strategic consulting on data, technology, and Web3 policies.

  • This ensures that Da Nang’s regulatory environment acts as a “Sandbox,” allowing frontier technologies to integrate seamlessly with the city’s digital infrastructure.

• Community & Capital Integration:

  • By co-organizing national and international events such as DAVAS and the Web3 Builders’ Summit, we are placing Da Nang on the global investment map.

  • We are actively facilitating fundraising and market development activities to connect local startups with the global capital flowing into the city.

Powering the International Financial Center (IFC)

As the Da Nang International Financial Center (VIFC) (🔗 vifcdanang.vn) grows, it requires a sophisticated technological backbone to compete on a global scale. The Da Nang Blockchain Hub serves as this decentralized engine.

By fostering a world-class ecosystem of builders and innovators, we are ensuring that the IFC is not just a hub for traditional finance, but a leader in the next generation of digital assets and decentralized financial services. The talent and tools developed through this partnership will provide the liquidity, security, and innovation necessary to sustain a multi-billion dollar financial hub.

The “Silicon Beach” of Vietnam is calling!

If you’re building in Web3 and Blockchain, then Da Nang Blockchain Hub is your gateway. Follow us for upcoming event announcements! 🚀🔥

• Website: danangblockchainhub.com

• Blog: blog.sqrdao.com

Join us at our next curated event:

Join Our Next Events

Keep BUIDL-ing,
sqrDAO Team

Sébastien Borget, the Co-Founder and Ambassador of The Sandbox and President of the Blockchain Game Alliance, has been at the forefront of digital ownership long before “Metaverse” was a household name. In this candid conversation with our founder, Leo (Castelian), Sébastien takes us behind the scenes of his 15-year journey, from the early days of peer-to-peer technology to building a virtual world that has onboarded millions.

We don’t just talk about the past. Sébastien gives us an exclusive look at SANDchain, the new Layer 2 backbone for the creator economy, and shares his “battle-tested” advice for founders navigating the current market headwinds.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Origin Story: How BitTorrent and P2P shaped Sébastien’s view on decentralization [02:19].

• The Pivot to Web3: Why The Sandbox moved from a 40M-download Web2 game to the blockchain [05:13].

• SANDchain Revealed: The future of the “Culture-Driven” L2 and empowering the next generation of creators [13:08].

• The Reality of Web3 Gaming: Addressing the “80% failure rate” and what it takes to survive [23:02].

• Leadership Under Fire: How Sébastien handles industry rumors and the hard decisions behind buying back publishers [26:42].

• The Builder’s Playbook: Why you must be a “power user” of the tech you build [36:52].

Whether you are a developer in Vietnam looking to transition to Web3 or a creator curious about the future of digital real estate, this episode is your masterclass in persistence and vision.

You can also watch the full episode on Youtube:

Join the Conversation

We are building this platform for you—the builders, the dreamers, and the executors of the decentralized future. Your support helps us bring more world-class guests like Sebastien to the show.

We Want Your Feedback: This is Episode #1, and we want to get better. Who should we interview next? What topics do you want us to demystify?

Drop a comment below or reply to this email—we read every single one.

LFBUIDL

sqrDAO Team

At sqrDAO, our mission has always been anchored in “Proof of Build.” We believe that the strongest ecosystems aren’t just bought; they are engineered. As we move into 2026, the landscape of decentralized finance demands more than just participation—it demands conviction through infrastructure.

Today, we are officially introducing sqrNODE: a strategic expansion of the sqrDAO ecosystem designed to secure the networks we believe in while building a sustainable treasury for our future.

Beyond Hardware: Turning Conviction into Consensus

sqrNODE isn’t just a collection of servers. It is the physical manifestation of our belief in decentralized networks. By operating high-performance nodes, we are moving from being observers of the web3 revolution to being the very foundation it rests upon.

Here is how we are securing the frontier:

1. Strategic Infrastructure with Meta Pool

Sustainability requires long-term commitment. We are now entering our third month in the NSP #2 (Node Studio 2) with Meta Pool. This partnership allows us to position sqrDAO at the vanguard of Liquid Staking, ensuring our treasury grows in tandem with the protocols we support.

2. Securing the Pharos Network

We are honored to join the 4th batch of validators for the Pharos Network. Standing alongside industry leaders like Nansen, Zellic, Stakely, Kudasai, and Brightly Stake, sqrNODE is currently active on the Private Mainnet. We are hard at work paving the digital road toward the Public Mainnet launch in the coming months.

3. Leading Ethereum’s Security in Vietnam

Our role as the Lido Finance Lead Representative in Vietnam remains a cornerstone of our identity. Over the past year, we’ve taken the technical complexities of the Lido CSM program and brought them to the streets of Hanoi and HCMC.

Through hands-on technical workshops, we are bridging the gap between local talent and global Ethereum security. IRL education meets on-chain security.

Looking Ahead: The Rooms Worth Being In

2026 will be defined by the quality of the signals we follow. At sqrDAO, we are curated by intent. We are building the “rooms worth being in”—spaces where high-level builders and long-term thinkers collaborate to solve the hardest problems in Web3.

The engine is running. The nodes are live. The conviction is verifiable.

Join us at our next curated event:

Join Our Next Events

Stay BUIDL-ing,
sqrDAO Team

The 2025 season has officially come to a close. Looking back at the past twelve months, it wasn’t just a series of dates on a calendar—it was a sequence of pivotal moments that shaped our network, accelerated raw ideas, and fortified the regional Web3 ecosystem.

From high-energy sports sessions and intimate builders’ dinners to high-stakes BUIDL-athons and global summits, every milestone shared a singular mission: to help builders ship, connect, and stay in the game.

As we close this chapter, we’re taking a moment to analyze the data of our collective growth and pull back the curtain on what’s coming next.

2025: The Year in Review

Our growth in 2025 was fueled by the energy of the community. Here is a snapshot of what we achieved together:

The bottom line: If you were in these rooms, you felt the momentum. If you weren’t, the results of the next cycle will speak for themselves.

2026: Access, Depth, and Compounding Advantage

Our strategy for 2026 isn’t about “doing more.” It’s about leverage. We are moving away from the noise and doubling down on high-signal environments. Here is what you can expect:

• sqrBUIDL Founders Residencies: This is our flagship initiative. We are moving toward small cohorts, providing real capital, elite mentorship, and the kind of execution pressure required to build unicorns.

• Web3 Builders’ Voice: A new series of deep-dive conversations. No fluff—just systems, trade-offs, and the hard lessons that usually take years (and significant capital) to learn.

• Web3 Builders’ Dinners: Curated, invite-only environments. These are the rooms where the most significant outcomes move before the announcements ever hit the public.

• Web3 Builders’ Summit: LFBUIDL 2026: A tighter, more globally-integrated summit. We are bringing the world’s leading foundations and protocols directly to the doorsteps of Vietnamese builders.

The Road Ahead

This journey isn’t for everyone. It is for the builders who value substance over hype and compounding returns over quick wins. 2025 is wrapped, but 2026 is already loading.

If you are building for the long run, stay close. The rooms worth being in are being prepared.

Join Us

LFBUIDL

sqrDAO Team

The Web3 landscape is rapidly evolving, and fostering a vibrant community driven by innovation and collaboration is crucial for its success. Recognizing this, sqrDAO and AWS Web3 APAC are thrilled to announce a strategic partnership in 2024. This collaboration signifies both organizations' commitment to empowering individuals within the Web3 space across Southeast Asia.

Through a series of exciting initiatives, sqrDAO and AWS Web3 APAC will provide a platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and networking. Get ready to participate in:

• Monthly Web3 Builders' Dinners/Breakfasts: Connect with fellow enthusiasts, builders, and professionals in a casual setting.

• Joint Technical Workshops: Deepen your expertise alongside industry experts from leading blockchain firms and foundations. Workshops will cover a range of multi-chain technical topics.

• Builder-Driven Meetups: Share ideas, showcase projects, and forge connections at these community-driven gatherings.

Our Shared Goal: A Thriving Southeast Asian Web3 Ecosystem

By creating a platform for knowledge sharing and collaboration, AWS Web3 APAC and sqrDAO aim to equip individuals with the tools and resources they need to navigate the ever-evolving Web3 landscape. This partnership will ultimately contribute to the growth and development of a robust Web3 community across Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Don't Miss Out! Join the Movement

Stay tuned for specific event announcements and registration details by following sqrDAO's Luma calendar:https://lu.ma/sqrdao-events.

We're excited to embark on this journey with you and build a stronger, more connected Web3 community in Southeast Asia. Let's build the future together!

RainmakerDAO

An Overview on Vietnam’s Cryptocurrency Market, Part 1

Source: Kyros Ventures, Vietnam Cryptocurrency Market Report 2021 1. Macroeconomic Overview Since opening up again to the global market in the early 1990s, starting with the Reformation movement kickstarted by the government, Vietnam has experienced steady economic growth. Despite certain periods of economic struggles due to global depressions, Vietnam ha…

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4 years ago · 1 like · Long "Leo" Pham

3. NFT & GameFi Leading the Trends

Built upon the rising adoption of cryptocurrency as well as a strong tech talent base, Vietnam has seen the skyrocketing launch and growth of some of the best and brightest projects in Web3, particularly among NFT & GameFi.

Axie Infinity (ticker: AXS) is noticeably the most famous GameFi project that has come out of Vietnam. Per their whitepaper, Axie Infinity is an NFT game powered by the Ethereum blockchain and described as a cross between CryptoKitties and Pokemon. Launched in 2018 and developed by the gaming studio Sky Mavis, the game has exploded in the past 2 years based on its Play-to-Earn model, which allows users to play the game and trade digital assets that are part of the in-game economy as well as earn from in-game activities. In November 2021, Sky Mavis raised USD 152 million in a Series B round led by venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the blockchain startup at around USD 3 billion. At the time, the game claimed to have over 2 million Daily Active Users (DAUs), USD 2.2 billion trading volume in NFTs, and USD 4.5 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Ronin (AXS’s Ethereum sidechain).

The rise of Axie Infinity has led to an inflow of VC funding for other NFT game developers in Vietnam, such as Sipher, which raised USD 6.8 million seed round led by Arrington Capital, Hashed, and Konvoy Ventures last October, and Thetan Arena, a MOBA/battle royale game co-developed by Wolffun Studio and Kardiachain. While Sipher hasn’t officially launched their gameplay, Thetan Arena has already released their playable version on both PC and mobile App Stores, with significant traction: According to the company, at the end of 2021, Thetan Arena has already racked up over 7 million in-game users.

“Vietnam is one of the most exciting and fast-growing markets in the world today for blockchain adoption. Local communities are realizing the potential impact of this emerging financial system and, in particular, the opportunities in play-to-earn gaming. Ancient8 has built an incredible gateway for the play-to-earn ecosystem as Vietnam’s largest blockchain gaming build and we’re excited to partner with them.” — Paul Veradittakit, Partner at Pantera Capital.

The Play-to-Earn model, pioneered by Axie Infinity, also gave way to the rise of crypto game guilds. Traditionally, a gaming guild is an organized collection or group of gamers that play certain video games together on a regular basis. Crypto game guilds, on the other hand, go beyond that: they seek to become a platform to support new gamers (which they called “scholars”) through the necessary funds (usually called “scholarships”) and tools to experience a growing roster of Play-to-Earn games, in exchange for a percentage of players’ earnings. While global guilds like Yield Guild Games, Merit Circle, UniX Gaming... have established their brands through early successes, Vietnamese guilds have recently risen to compete with the major players. Vietnamese guild Ancient8 raised $4M in January 2022 in a seed round led by Dragonfly Capital, Pantera Capital, and Hashed.

4. Other Growing Sectors

While NFT & GameFi lead the trends, the crypto ecosystem as a whole continues to develop steadily. Chainalysis’ **Global Crypto Adoption Index ranked Vietnam 2nd globally in terms of DeFi adoption. According to the crypto research firm, “While grassroots cryptocurrency adoption generally is highest in emerging markets, DeFi adoption is strongest in high-income countries that already had substantial cryptocurrency usage, especially amongst traders and institutional investors.”

This substantial level of adoption has driven global crypto investors to deploy capital into Vietnamese DeFi platforms. Coin98 Labs raised USD 11.5 million in July from a group of investors led by Hashed and Spartan Group, then another strategic funding round from Binance Labs, the venture arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Another DeFi platform, Rikkei Finance, raised USD 5.6 million from a host of investors in the blockchain industry, including HyperChain Capital, Kyber Network, Signum Capital...

5. Regulatory Contexts

Despite all the promising growth and development described above, cryptocurrency in Vietnam is still legally not recognized, especially crypto trading. In layman’s terms, cryptocurrency trading involves exchanging one cryptocurrency for another, buying and selling coins, and exchanging fiat money into crypto.

According to Vietnam Briefing, a news outlet of the law Dezan Shira & Associates, Vietnamese law does not mention cryptocurrencies as a legal means of payment or recognize them as an asset or a foreign currency; yet, possessing, trading, and investing in cryptocurrencies is not forbidden nor permitted according to the current laws. Another legal op-ed from Indochine Counsel stated that issuing, supplying, using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as forms of payment is an act prohibited in Vietnam, according to its study on the regulatory actions from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). LNT & Partners also issued an op-ed explaining in detail about the current legal standings of cryptocurrency in Vietnam, in which Vietnamese laws do not permit cryptocurrency trading but also do not prohibit this activity either, because cryptocurrency trading is listed in neither the system of economic branches of Vietnam under Decision No. 27/2018/QD-TTg nor on the lists of conditional or prohibited business lines under the Law on Investment 2020.

Nevertheless, the Vietnamese government does not plan to sit on the sideline of cryptocurrency growth. On August 21, 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued Decision No 1255/QĐ-TTg, paving the way for completing the legal framework for managing virtual assets, cryptocurrencies, and any other electronic currencies. In addition, the Prime Minister also issued Directive No. 10/CT-TTg on 11 April 2018 to tighten the management of bitcoin-related activities and other virtual currencies. The Directives play an important role in putting cryptocurrency trading under control and minimizing its potential negative impacts on the Vietnamese market.

Then, on June 15, 2021, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued Decision No. 942/QD-TTG (“Decision 942”), approving the strategy for the development of e-government towards the digital government for 2021-2025 with an orientation for 2030. Decision 942 is very remarkable because a key pillar of this regulatory guideline is the research and use of cryptocurrency as one of the solutions to develop the digital government. In particular, this Decision sets out a space for all the pilot digital services and assets, defined as follows:

“The space for pilot digital service provision shall be a digital space that allows for pilot deployment of all innovative digital products and services which are not yet regulated by legislative documents and the scope, size and operating models of which are under strict technology-based supervision. Such products and services shall undergo assessment when pilot deployment has reached a certain scale to establish necessary legal parameters.” — Clause IV.1.h, Decision 942

6. Conclusion

Vietnam is a young, growing economy in Southeast Asia with a vibrant tech ecosystem and robust IT talent base. Consequently, it has seen a meteoric rise of successful blockchain projects in the last few years, especially in NFT & GameFi as well as other sectors such as DeFi. Axie Infinity, Sipher, Coin98, etc are only a few noticeable names among the rising stars in the global blockchain industry that have stemmed from Vietnam.

Nevertheless, the legal contexts are not immediately clear, as the government still struggles to path the charts towards sustainable development and responsible regulations for cryptocurrency. Therefore, in order to expand and thrive in this market, one must exercise its setup and operational plans with utmost caution and, suggestively, have the local expansion led by individuals and/or partners who possess detailed knowledge about the market.

To learn more about RainmakerDAO and what we’re building, join our community on Discord!

JOIN US!

Source: Kyros Ventures, Vietnam Cryptocurrency Market Report 2021

1. Macroeconomic Overview

Since opening up again to the global market in the early 1990s, starting with the Reformation movement kickstarted by the government, Vietnam has experienced steady economic growth. Despite certain periods of economic struggles due to global depressions, Vietnam has enjoyed what the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently dubbed “economic miracle”.

This impressive growth, while quickly transforming the economy and society, also comes with sustainability. According to WEF’s Inclusive Development Index, Vietnam has deployed heavy public investments into building infrastructures and human resources. Through hefty improvements in education, especially at the primary level, Vietnam has produced a numerous generation of IT and software engineers, enough for international corporations like Intel, Bosch, Samsung, etc to set up R&D centers here while also nurturing the development of local IT companies such as FPT, VNG, CMC, and so on.

The capital injection into local infrastructure also exhibits successful returns, with Vietnam becoming one of the most mobile-friendly countries in APAC. Per a new 2021 report by WeAreSocial, Vietnam grossed 68.72 million Internet users and 65.08 million unique mobile users, with 94.3% of which converted into smartphone users. This level of penetration has helped Vietnam’s Internet economy almost triple between 2019–2021, reaching $21 billion in 2021, according to a Google/Temasek/Bain report on Southeast Asia’s Internet economy.

2. Cryptocurrency’s Mass Adoption Growth

Building on the aforementioned macroeconomic advantages, Vietnam has achieved significant tractions in the mass adoption of cryptocurrency. A 2021 survey by Statista found that Vietnam ranks 2nd globally in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, with 21% of the respondents saying that they either owned or used cryptocurrency.

In August 2021, the crypto-analysis firm Chainalysis also published its second-ever Global Crypto Adoption Index. The Chainalysis team tracked data across 7,000 crypto service providers and found “meaningful crypto activity” in 158 countries, among which Vietnam topped the adoption index as the most active market. The adoption in Vietnam as well as other developing countries, according to Chainalysis, “in large part because they have huge transaction volumes on peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms when adjusted for PPP per capita and internet-using population.”

Another survey by Finder.com early in February 2022 even indicated that Vietnam has the highest rate of cryptocurrency ownership in the world, with 28.6% of its online population saying they own a form of cryptocurrency. Furthermore, the report found that Vietnamese Internet users have a remarkably positive attitude and high awareness towards cryptocurrency: 59% of the respondent are aware of cryptocurrency, whereas 68% feel positive about crypto use. The majority of crypto users are also very young, as 70.1% of the crypto users belong to the age group of 18-34.

Read Part 2 here:

RainmakerDAO

An Overview on Vietnam’s Cryptocurrency Market, Part 2

Read Part 1 here…

Read more

4 years ago · Long "Leo" Pham

To learn more about RainmakerDAO and what we’re building, join our community on Discord!

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