In the past year, the primary market has cooled down, GameFi has cooled off, and financing has become difficult. Many once vibrant narratives have quickly fallen silent. But at such a time, ABGA, which was previously focused on Web3 Games, recently completed a brand upgrade: from Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance to AI Blockchain Global Alliance. Behind this change is actually Kevin Shao's reassessment of the next round of industry direction.

In this issue of "Crypto Market Observation Bureau," we chatted with Kevin Shao, founder of ABGA & ICC: When AI begins to enter Web3, what changes will occur in the next round of truly large-scale applications? Why does he believe that Web3 VC has not really died? Also, in today’s fast-changing era, how should an entrepreneur view cycles, opportunities, and long-termism?

Guest:Kevin Shao, founder of ABGA & ICC

Host:yuanyuan, BitMart Marketing VP

(Listening link for this issue: https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episode/6a057f061b7bd50295231bee)

From "Asia Game" to "AI Global": The industry has changed, and the organization must change as well

In 2013, Kevin was inspired by Chang Jia’s "Bitcoin: A Real and Illusory Financial World" and started his initial experience in the blockchain industry with mining, later quitting his traditional finance job to go all-in. With the expansion of the Web3 ecosystem, he gradually shifted from pure investment to work that leans more toward ecosystem and industry organization, which also became the starting point for founding ABGA.

At the beginning of ABGA's establishment, it coincided with the explosion period of GameFi and public chain ecosystems. At that time, Asia had a mature gaming industry foundation, so they used the "Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance" as a starting point to connect startup teams with capital and continuously held large developer events during global blockchain conferences.

Now that ABGA has changed its name to AI Blockchain Global Alliance, the most intuitive reaction from the outside is that the track has changed, but Kevin feels that this is more like a logical completion. He believes that the current technological competition is already global, and AI is greatly releasing productivity. Simply put: AI generates new intelligent agents, while blockchain solves the trust, payment, and rights confirmation among these agents.

These two are not about one replacing the other, but rather are foundational technologies that should naturally work together. The deep resources accumulated over the past few years will continue to help ABGA establish a foothold in Asia and connect globally, completing the recombination of resources in the new technological cycle.

Why AI may become the next driving force for Web3

In Kevin's view, the "mass application" that Web3 has been calling for all these years may not even be "human."

He bluntly stated in the conversation: "Agents belong to blockchain, just like they inherently possess skills." Those wallet operations and on-chain interactions that have extremely high barriers for ordinary users are, in the eyes of Agents, simply code instructions that should be executed automatically.

Therefore, he believes that the future Mass Adoption may not be directly driven by humans. Humans have a long cognitive barrier to learn this technology, but when a person delegates most operations to their AI avatars to execute, blockchain becomes a naturally occurring foundational entry point. The true explosion of Web3 may not be because ordinary users have learned to use wallets, but because the AI Agents behind us have seamlessly completed all on-chain interactions for us.

At the same time, he is also very concerned about the combination of AI with finance and RWA. In fact, Kevin started focusing on STO (Asset Tokenization) back in 2019, but at that time the industry environment was not mature. Now, with stablecoins, RWA, and traditional financial institutions re-entering the market, many things that were not implemented back then are being validated again. For him, both AI and RWA are long-term trends, not short-term hotspots.

The "demystification" of investment: The primary market has never been a myth of exorbitant profits

Regarding the topic of “Web3 VC is dead,” Kevin, as an investor who has invested in hundreds of projects, provided a different perspective.

He first believes that VCs should not be categorized based on "Web3." Although the primary market has indeed been very difficult in recent years, "unable to invest out, and unable to exit" has been the norm, he does not think the role of VC has disappeared. On the contrary, he feels that we are currently in a process of "demystification" in the industry. Many people in the past have thought too easily about the primary market, but those who have actually done long-term investments will find that primary investing itself is a high-failure-rate industry, where a 70% project failure rate is normal. VC is essentially hard work, requiring a very high understanding of the industry and risk resistance from the team.

Kevin stated that he prefers to look at things that can transcend cycles. For example, from STO in 2019 to RWA now, this shows that genuinely valuable technological directions will not disappear. The key lies in whether you can persist at the table during a downturn.

The future Web3 ecosystem: An infrastructure hidden behind

In Kevin's view, the future Web3 ecosystem will be very different from today. The current core of the industry still revolves around "people" engaging in financial transactions on the chain, but in the future, AI Agents will become the new participating entities. As Agents start to assist people in completing complex transactions, executing tasks, and making automatic payments, blockchain will gradually move to the background, becoming a hidden infrastructure that handles all complexities by AI.

At the same time, DeFi will continue to evolve. Although it has gone through many bubbles, Kevin believes that the value of blockchain in the financial sector is real and irreversible. Whether it is stablecoins or on-chain finance, they will continue to grow, and the addition of AI will only accelerate the iteration speed of these systems.

Interest-driven is more important than "timing"

Throughout the conversation, Kevin repeatedly mentioned one word: interest.

He is not very willing to label himself as a "successful investor." For him, what matters more is whether he still has passion for this matter. Wealth often contains an element of luck, but interest and passion determine whether a person can remain in the industry even in the most desolate times.

When asked if he would recommend young people today to go all-in if they want to enter the Web3 or AI industries, his answer was very straightforward: "If you really believe in it, then go for it." Many opportunities appear exactly when the industry is not bustling.

Just like the case he shared in the podcast: that friend, who was poor at English and overwhelmed by emails from his children's school, solved a specific problem through AI. This may not be a world-changing thing, but it genuinely changed a person's life situation. This is precisely where AI is most valuable — it doesn't have to solve the grandest problems first; it will first enter each person's specific life.

Conclusion

In the end, you will find that Kevin is not someone who is swayed by industry emotions. He will not become extremely optimistic because a certain track is hot, nor will he become completely pessimistic when a bear market arrives.

In his view, both AI and Web3 are still in very early stages. Many things that seem untenable today may suddenly become obvious years later due to breakthroughs at certain technological nodes. What truly matters is not short-term market fluctuations, but whether you are willing to stay at the table, keep learning, and adapt to changes.

Perhaps this is also why, when many people discuss “Web3 VC is dead,” he still chooses to focus on ABGA. Because truly long-term opportunities often emerge in the least bustling times in the industry. The rest is left to time.

Recording date for this issue: April 28, 2026
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The opinions or views expressed in this program solely represent the personal stance of the guest and do not represent the views of BitMart or its affiliates, nor should they be considered as professional financial investment advice.
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