Organized by: Yuliya, PANews

WebX Conference Highlights

At the WebX summit held in Tokyo from August 25 to August 26, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers from the global cryptocurrency and Web3 sectors gathered to discuss macro trends, technological innovations, market opportunities, and future challenges in the industry. From macroeconomic cycles to specific project applications, from the integration of AI and Web3 to national strategic layouts, the conference painted a complex and vibrant panorama of the industry.

Macro Perspective: New Cycles, New Narratives, and National Strategies

Arthur Hayes (Founder of BitMEX) believes that the cryptocurrency market will enter a super bull market lasting until 2028. He predicts that during this cycle (until 2028), the price of Ethereum will reach between $10,000 and $20,000. He stated that the U.S. will drive its economy through large-scale re-industrialization and fiscal expansion to respond to global economic competition, leading to a sustained "money printing" effect. He forecasts that stablecoins will become a key tool, with the U.S. potentially using dollar-pegged stablecoins to export dollars globally through social platforms, thereby financing the U.S.'s massive debt. The stablecoin market is expected to reach $10 trillion by 2028, with Hyperliquid capturing 26.4% of the market share, significantly boosting the development of the DeFi sector. At that time, ENA could rise 51 times, and ETHFI could achieve a 34-fold return. He believes Ethereum will outperform Solana in this process and suggests focusing on companies that can enter the S&P 500 index. Hayes specifically mentioned that the Hyperliquid token (HYPE) has a potential upside of 126 times, with annualized fees expected to reach $258 billion by 2028. Additionally, he is optimistic about projects like Ethena, Hyperliquid, Ether.Fi, and Codex, believing these platforms will provide innovative investment opportunities for stablecoin holders while weakening the control of national monetary policies. He also emphasized that funds are shifting from centralized exchanges to decentralized platforms, advising investors to pay attention to the expansion of new financial services within the stablecoin ecosystem.

Zhao Changpeng (CZ, Founder of Binance) expressed similar views on the macro environment. He pointed out the U.S. government's 180-degree shift in attitude towards cryptocurrencies, particularly the pro-crypto policies promoted during the Trump administration, which have had a profound impact on the global industry. He believes that government and traditional financial participation will drive the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies, while also being optimistic about the combination of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies in the payment sector. Regarding the rapid development of AI, CZ believes that future trading will primarily be in a machine-to-machine (M2M) model, especially in high-frequency trading and DeFi, where automation has become a trend. Large language models (LLMs) can enhance data analysis and trading efficiency, and cryptocurrencies may become a natural payment tool for AI, fundamentally changing the way financial markets operate. When discussing the trend of tokenization, he believes it is still in its early stages; although stablecoins and U.S. Treasury tokenization are developing rapidly, the tokenization of other assets like gold, real estate, and stocks still faces liquidity and technical validation issues, and the products are not yet mature. In communicating with a younger audience, CZ emphasized that entrepreneurship requires adherence to ethics, creating value, and finding things that are both loved and valuable to others, supporting long-term efforts with passion. He reminded that the entrepreneurial journey is full of challenges, and only the right values and continuous learning can help one persist and ultimately succeed in a market downturn.

Shinzo Abe (Former Prime Minister of Japan) elevated Web3 to the level of national strategy in his speech. He compared the current technological transformation to a "once-in-a-century turning point," believing that Web3 and AI are at the core of a new round of industrial revolution. He emphasized that the Japanese government is vigorously supporting emerging industries like Web3 and AI through the "New Creation Development Five-Year Plan," while also promoting local economic innovation, such as the town of Ama in Shimane Prefecture using Web3 platforms to solve local issues and utilizing regional currency as a reward.

Three top analysts—Matsushima Masato from Monex Securities, Nagasawa Tomoya from Bitbank, and NISHI from X-Bank—made predictions about Bitcoin prices. They all believe that Bitcoin will continue to rise before the end of 2025, with the highest prediction reaching $200,000. The logic for the rise includes expectations of declining U.S. interest rates, pro-crypto policies from the Trump administration, and institutional capital inflows driven by Bitcoin ETFs and corporate treasury strategies. However, regarding the trend at the beginning of 2026, some analysts are cautious due to tax pressures and inflation concerns.

The Evolution of AI, DeFi, and Infrastructure

Haseeb Qureshi (Managing Partner at Dragonfly Capital) shared his views on the future of venture capital and the cryptocurrency industry. He emphasized that successful venture capital is not only about finding excellent teams but also about entering the market at the right time. He believes that for a project to succeed, the "raw materials" needed by the market, such as user base and infrastructure, must already be in place. When discussing the integration of AI and cryptocurrency technology, he stated that current crypto projects attempting to have users sell personal data to AI companies are unrealistic, as AI companies require high-quality, verifiable, or synthetic data, not just simple user data. He further pointed out that the real demand for decentralized AI will only emerge when centralized AI becomes extremely powerful and deeply influences society, even prompting attempts at complete government control. In terms of blockchain competition, he believes that the competition between L1 and L2 is a positive phenomenon, as the existence of projects like Solana forces Ethereum to continuously improve and progress, thereby driving the development of the entire ecosystem.

Hayden Adams, Founder of Uniswap, firmly believes that decentralization will eventually become mainstream, with large centralized exchanges, including Coinbase, actively integrating decentralized services to adapt to this trend. He emphasized that the essence of decentralized technology will not disappear due to policy changes; although privacy protection faces complex challenges, the collective consensus on privacy among the public is crucial. He believes that as regulatory pressure eases and technology iterates, DEXs will become stronger and more user-friendly, ultimately eliminating the high intermediary costs in traditional finance.

Andrea Baglioni, Capital Director of the Solana Foundation, shared the foundation's strategies in the DeFi sector, team funding standards, and views on enterprises building their own blockchains. He stated that the Solana Foundation receives about 300 to 400 funding applications each month, covering areas such as DeFi, NFTs, and infrastructure. The foundation focuses on supporting teams that have a real need for speed and low costs and choose Solana as their core technology, especially innovative projects that view Solana as a key technology. The foundation adopts a milestone-based funding model and provides resource integration, marketing, and recruitment support in the early stages to help teams achieve long-term development. Regarding news of traditional companies like Robinhood and Sony building their own blockchains, Andrea believes it is theoretically feasible but faces challenges in technical maintenance and community operation in practice, often resulting in lower efficiency. He pointed out that enterprises building their own blockchains may ultimately migrate to other chains due to immature technology; for example, Helium attempted to develop its own blockchain but eventually chose to migrate to the Solana chain to reduce technical burdens and focus on core business. Additionally, he mentioned that the foundation has never participated in any activities related to meme coins and does not engage in meme coin speculation. A brief trading surge due to meme coins (such as Trump coin) occurred in early 2025 but gradually subsided afterward. Andrea emphasized that although meme coins may lead to excessive speculation in the market, their large trading volumes actually provided valuable stress testing opportunities for the Solana network. These tests helped verify Solana's ability to maintain stable operation in the face of Nasdaq-level institutional trading speeds. He revealed that Jump Crypto is developing a verification client called Fire Dancer, aimed at optimizing network operation, while another network optimization technology called Alpenglow is also in progress. These upgrades are expected to significantly enhance the overall performance of the Solana blockchain.

Alex Svanevik (CEO of Nansen) pointed out that market narratives have evolved from DeFi and NFTs to memecoins, the latter being particularly suitable for pure on-chain analysis due to their lack of fundamentals. He predicts that future investment analysis will be AI-native, with investors no longer relying on traditional dashboards but instead obtaining real-time analysis and data visualization through natural language conversations with AI. He believes that the tokenization of RWA (Real World Assets) will be the next huge opportunity to bring a hundredfold growth to the market. When real-world assets like real estate, stocks, and bonds are tokenized, the cryptocurrency market may see a hundredfold or even thousandfold growth potential. This trend could fundamentally change the landscape of the investment field.

Corporate Strategies and Project Updates

Many companies showcased their strategic layouts and innovative products at the conference.

• Michael Novogratz (CEO of Galaxy Digital) revealed that Galaxy plans to launch stock tokenization and believes that the process of stock market tokenization will accelerate. He also predicts a surge in cryptocurrency IPOs in 2025, driven by an improved regulatory environment and an expanded investor base. Additionally, he mentioned that the price of Ethereum could reach $5,000 in the short term due to buying pressure from digital asset custody companies, and he believes that Circle's IPO and the passage of related legislation "GENIUS" will further enhance the demand for stablecoins.
• Remixpoint shared its journey of transforming from a cryptocurrency exchange to a "Bitcoin financial company." Faced with Japan's high cryptocurrency capital gains tax of up to 55%, investing in stocks of listed companies that hold Bitcoin has become a tax-saving option. The company uses its own funds to purchase Bitcoin as reserves and plans to create a "daytime energy storage, nighttime mining" perpetual infrastructure in conjunction with its energy business. As of August 2025, Remixpoint has invested approximately 18.9 billion yen in purchasing Bitcoin while holding mainstream digital assets such as Ethereum, XRP, and Solana.
• Bakkt CEO Akshay Naheta introduced the company's three main businesses: regulated cryptocurrency asset trading technology, the global cross-border payment platform "Bank Agent," and the international Bitcoin treasury strategy. The company plans to transform into a Bitcoin treasury enterprise, choosing Japan as its first stop, with the goal of holding 1.5%-2.5% of the global Bitcoin supply.
• Japanese fintech company JPYC announced that it has obtained Japan's first fund transfer operator license, officially ushering in the era of yen stablecoins. JPYC will be widely used for daily payments, interest rate trading, and corporate financing, setting a goal to reach a circulation volume of 85 trillion yen within five years. JPYC believes that stablecoins are essential programmable payment tools for the AI economy. JPYC plans to act as both an issuer and an intermediary, launching JPYC backed by Japanese government bonds and bank deposits to cater to DeFi users and self-custody wallets; on the other hand, it will collaborate with Progmat to launch the trust-based stablecoin JPYC Plus, supporting foreign stablecoins like USDC. In the future, payment companies and convenience stores are expected to adopt JPYC, simplifying processes in tax accounting.
• Bitcoin.com has shifted its focus from primarily supporting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to being Bitcoin-centric after a brand upgrade, while still maintaining multi-chain support and lowering the entry barrier for new users through a rewards system within the wallet. In the Asian cryptocurrency market, South Korea is currently the most active market, with Taiwan and Hong Kong showing strong performance in financial services, while Vietnam demonstrates high activity in Web3 gaming and Play-to-Earn sectors.
• Animoca Brands announced a partnership with Antler's corporate innovation department Ibex Japan to launch a Web3 entertainment investment fund, aiming to bring Japan's anime and manga intellectual property (IP) into the blockchain space. Preliminary goals are expected to be announced in the coming months.

Security and Regulation

Elliptic Chief Crypto Threat Researcher Arda Arcatuna pointed out that scams are the most significant cryptocurrency-related crime in the Asia-Pacific region, far exceeding the scale of dark web markets, and are often conducted using stablecoins. Additionally, North Korean hacker groups like the Lazarus Group remain very active, targeting not only large protocols but also frequently attacking smaller projects. Despite criminals using cryptocurrencies for illegal activities, the transparency of blockchain makes it possible to trace the flow of funds and combat crime.

On the regulatory front, Bitwise's Katherine Dowling noted that spot ETFs provide a direct channel for funds managed by financial advisors to enter the Bitcoin market, addressing the previous lack of suitable investment vehicles. At the same time, institutional investors are conducting thorough due diligence to ensure compliance with fiduciary responsibilities. Dowling suggested that Japan could learn from the successful cases of the U.S. and other countries when developing ETF products to accelerate the process. She mentioned that future innovations in ETF products may focus on spot settlement and staking functions, which are expected to become core features of the next generation of ETFs. Currently, Europe has implemented related functions, and the U.S. is gradually advancing, but tax complexity remains a major challenge for staking functions. She revealed that the U.S. Treasury is formulating relevant guidelines to address this issue.

Monex Group Chairman Matsumoto and Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz both predict that as the regulatory environment improves, cryptocurrency applications will shift from speculation to practicality within four to five years, becoming core technologies in the financial sector. Matsumoto criticized the slow response of Japanese authorities and called for the establishment of a regulatory environment that aligns with global standards.

In summary, the WebX 2025 conference conveyed a clear message: the cryptocurrency industry is moving from the margins to the mainstream, with its influence permeating all aspects of macroeconomics, national strategy, technological innovation, and traditional industries. An AI-driven, decentralized digital economy era that deeply integrates with the real world is accelerating its arrival.

Bitcoin Asia Conference Highlights

Following the Tokyo WebX summit, the cryptocurrency world turned its attention to the Bitcoin Asia 2025 conference held in Hong Kong. This conference focused more on Bitcoin itself and its ecosystem, delving into its potential as a global reserve asset, the wave of institutional adoption, the evolution of technical protocols, and core issues such as wealth inheritance.

Macro Perspective: Bitcoin's Victory and Global Reserve Status

Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, candidly stated that the Trump family has been "de-banked" by U.S. financial institutions due to political factors, which has become a significant reason for their entry into the Bitcoin space. He firmly believes that the price of Bitcoin will "undoubtedly" reach $1 million or even higher and advises investors to buy and hold for five years. He also spontaneously suggested the idea of potentially using Bitcoin to pay tariffs in the future. He believes the market is still in its early stages, and volatility presents buying opportunities, as global institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and wealthy families continue to buy, while supply remains limited. He particularly thanked Nakamoto (Kindly) CEO David Bailey, as David was the first to invite his father (then a presidential candidate) to speak at a Bitcoin conference. He expressed that the Bitcoin community has embraced his father in an unprecedented way, and this support has deeply moved him; currently, he spends 90% of his time engaged in this community. Furthermore, he highly praised the policy adjustments made by his father's administration, stating that it immediately made a "180-degree" turn in U.S. digital asset policy, positioning the U.S. at the forefront of the global "digital revolution." He pointed out that in the past seven months, the progress made in the digital asset field in the U.S. has surpassed the total of the past ten years. He believes Bitcoin has created unprecedented financial fairness, providing a fair competitive environment for people around the world. He also disclosed his involvement in several Bitcoin projects, including Japan's Metaplanet and the upcoming American Bitcoin company that will be listed on Nasdaq.

Balaji Srinivasan, founder of Network School, stated that Bitcoin will end the Federal Reserve's control, replacing traditional interest rate adjustments that rely on "feelings" with predictable algorithmic monetary policy. Additionally, he predicted that when the price of Bitcoin reaches between $100,000 and $1 million, half of the billionaires in the world will come from the cryptocurrency sector, fundamentally overturning the traditional fiat billionaire landscape. However, he also warned that after Bitcoin's victory, it will face new challenges, including security issues for code developers, threats from quantum computing to cryptography, potential 51% attacks on the network, and risks from operating system backdoors.

Market Analysis: Bullish Consensus and Challenges from Altcoins

Renowned podcaster Stephan Livera believes that Bitcoin's price will continue to rise for the remainder of 2025 and predicts that this cycle will extend. He emphasized Bitcoin's unique fundamentals, including a limited supply of 21 million coins, a decentralized node network, and 24/7 global operation. He also advised investors to store 80%-90% of their Bitcoin in cold wallets, using the remaining 10%-20% for high-risk investments, such as Bitcoin-related stocks. Additionally, he mentioned that an increasing number of sovereign nations are adopting Bitcoin or engaging in sovereign mining, noting that documents from the Swiss central bank indicate its holdings in BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF (IBIT). Livera cited the Bitcoin power law model, predicting that by 2045, the price of Bitcoin will reach $10 million per coin, with a total market cap potentially reaching $200 trillion. Furthermore, he criticized the "utility token theory," arguing that value will not increase merely because a token is used as gas fees. He believes that most altcoins are merely technical platforms or speculative tools, with fundamentally flawed value propositions.

Frank Corva, a senior business reporter at Bitcoin Magazine, expressed a bullish outlook for the Bitcoin market over the next three months, believing that if history repeats itself, an exciting market will emerge. He pointed out that an increasing number of institutions and governments are entering the Bitcoin market, forming a trend of "state-level hoarding." He also agreed with the "dollar milkshake theory," predicting that weak fiat currencies will be drained of liquidity by the dollar over the next 5 to 10 years, potentially leading to a phase of "super Bitcoinization."

Mike Jarmolish, CEO of Lightning Ventures, bluntly stated that "there is no reason to be bearish," believing that the past scenario of significant pullbacks is no longer possible due to the large number of over-the-counter buyers. He also pointed out that the altcoin season has not yet ended, with Solana's price surpassing $200, and predicted that some altcoin projects will mimic the strategies of Bitcoin treasury companies. Additionally, he praised companies like MetaPlanet for their clever strategy of using cash-backed put options and discussed "smart leverage" operations through Bitcoin ETFs, such as borrowing up to 50% of funds at an annual interest rate of about 6%.

CZ's Thoughts on Stablecoins, RWA, DEX, and AI

Zhao Changpeng (CZ) systematically elaborated on his deep thoughts regarding several key tracks during his speech in Hong Kong:

• Stablecoins: He believes that stablecoins are a natural application of blockchain technology, and in the future, every country should have at least a few stablecoin products.
• RWA: He pointed out three major challenges facing RWA: liquidity dilemmas, regulatory complexities, and product mechanism flaws. He believes that, aside from stablecoins, most RWA products (such as stock tokenization) have not yet been fully developed, but this is a strategic direction that must be explored, or else they will be eliminated.
• Exchanges: Future exchanges may unify the trading of various global assets, including real estate, celebrity IP revenue rights, and even personal net worth, thereby enhancing liquidity and price discovery efficiency. For Hong Kong, the path to developing a world-class exchange must break through traditional regulatory thinking and respond to the characteristics of the digital currency industry in a more open manner, such as reducing excessive requirements for localized operations and optimizing global technological layouts.
• DEX: The scale of DEX will inevitably surpass that of centralized exchanges in the future. Although Binance is currently the largest centralized exchange, its position may be difficult to maintain in the long term. While DEX still needs improvement in user experience and fees, its advantages, such as no KYC requirements and high transparency, will make it very large within 5 to 10 years. However, the overly transparent nature may also lead to complete public disclosure of order information, posing certain risks. Although DEX fees are currently high, they are expected to gradually decrease with technological advancements. Many decentralized exchanges currently attract users through token incentive mechanisms, but this approach is difficult to sustain in the long term and may gradually disappear in the future.
• Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs): The goal of DAT is to package digital currencies in a manner similar to stocks, making it easier for traditional investors to participate in the cryptocurrency field. DAT companies primarily have four operational models, including passive holding of single assets, active trading, multi-asset portfolio management, and ecological investment construction. Among these, the passive holding model of single assets is favored due to its low management costs and simple strategy. In contrast, the ecological investment construction model is more complex and requires managers to possess high decision-making capabilities and ecological construction awareness. Currently, supported DAT companies tend to focus on single assets, especially BNB, as this model is easier to judge and has lower management requirements. In a bull market, listed companies typically benefit, but in a bear market, especially in the U.S. market, companies may face greater litigation risks, making clear and simple strategies particularly important.
• Integration of AI and Web3: The currency of AI will inevitably be cryptocurrency. In the future, AI agents will generate massive micro-payments, leading to a thousandfold increase in cryptocurrency transaction volumes. Currently, most so-called AI agents in the market remain at the low-value application stage, lacking actual economic benefits. Top large model companies are exploring the development of more practical AI tools, but this process requires substantial financial support. In the future, AI as a public product may be more suitable for adopting open-source and decentralized models, allowing token holders to share profits and thus achieve universal development.

Corporate Strategy and Project Updates

• BitPlanet Co-CEO Paul Lee announced the official launch of the first institutional-grade global Bitcoin treasury company, BitPlanet, in South Korea. Its investment consortium has acquired 62% of the shares in the listed company SGA in Korea and has invested over $40 million in cash on the first day to execute its Bitcoin strategy, with no debt involved in the transaction. The company's short-term goal is to accumulate 100,000 Bitcoins and rank among the top ten corporate holders globally. It is reported that SGA has been operating for 28 years, listed for 24 years, has 120 employees, and maintains an annual revenue of $20 million to $30 million. BitPlanet aims to become a "Bitcoin-first, only Bitcoin" company, promoting performance measurement based on Bitcoin.
• Pakistan's Cryptocurrency Minister Bilal bin Saqib revealed that the country has a population of 250 million, with 70% under the age of 30, and approximately 40 to 50 million cryptocurrency users. Pakistan has announced the establishment of a Bitcoin strategic reserve and plans to utilize 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity for Bitcoin mining to promote the development of the cryptocurrency sector.
• Thailand's hedge fund Kliff Capital Chief Strategist Kip Tiaviwat stated that Thailand's capital market is primarily retail-driven, with stock trading adopting a "T+2 settlement" model (buy first, pay later). Compared to directly purchasing Bitcoin, which requires prepayment, trading Bitcoin treasury company stocks (DATs) is more convenient and popular. Additionally, DATs provide a shortcut for government-related entities (such as pension funds) to participate in Bitcoin, allowing these institutions to indirectly hold Bitcoin by purchasing DAT stocks without modifying internal regulations, thus bypassing cumbersome political and approval processes.
• According to Bitfinex's Federico Tenga, Tether (USDT) will be natively issued on the RGB protocol, marking the official return of USDT to the Bitcoin network after many years.
• DDC Enterprise's Chief of Staff revealed that the company has purchased over 1,000 Bitcoins since May and plans to increase its holdings to 10,000 by the end of the year. As a publicly listed Bitcoin treasury company in the U.S., DDC Enterprise views Bitcoin as an important reserve asset to hedge against fiat currency depreciation and noted that the money supply has increased by 30% since 2020. Additionally, approximately 175 publicly listed companies globally have announced the adoption of Bitcoin treasury strategies, accounting for 0.3% of the total, indicating that this field is still in its early stages.
• Moon Inc. CEO John Riggins stated that in Hong Kong, having a solid physical business is crucial when listed companies implement Bitcoin strategies. Moon Inc. has acquired a prepaid card company with a 30-year history and plans to launch innovative products such as prepaid Bitcoin cards based on this.
• The Bitcoin Web3 wallet Xverse announced the integration of the L2 network Spark for instant payments.
• Taproot Wizards founder Eric Wall pointed out that Bitcoin currently lacks scalability and privacy, proposing to improve these issues by upgrading through the op_cat protocol to introduce Stark/ZK verification. He predicts that Bitcoin is undergoing "corporate acquisitions" and believes that a year from now, the community's influence on protocol upgrades will significantly diminish.

In summary, the Bitcoin Asia 2025 conference depicted a future grounded in Bitcoin as a value foundation, with waves of institutionalization, globalization, and technological advancement progressing together. Whether in grand geopolitical games or intricate protocol code upgrades, all are jointly driving Bitcoin's evolution from "digital gold" to the underlying operating system of the global financial system.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。