Written by: The Paper reporter Wu Tianyi

"The poorer countries that develop from the bottom up need an upward channel. If you want to do some traditional business, young people have no chance at all. Some of them are doing investment transactions, and some are learning Web3. 0 Technology changes lives."

"What is the significance of Web3.0 and blockchain in my eyes? In the future, human beings will definitely live in the virtual world for more than 90% of the time. In such a big environment, there must be some rule-oriented design. Web3. 0 and blockchain are definitely the most important economic systems.”

"WAGMI" is a "black word" in the Web3.0 community, which is the abbreviation of "We All Gonna Make It". It originally represented community members' recognition of the project, and now it has become the mantra of Web3.0 practitioners. This sentence is also what Wu Xiao, the founder of "Pure White Matrix", firmly believes.

When Wu Xiao joined the Web3.0 field, it was the time when the industry was not optimistic, but he firmly believed in the power of decentralization, and spent several years visiting many countries and regions to connect with the local developer ecology. Compared with European and American countries with stable economies and continuous technological development, some small countries in Asia and Africa impressed him even more. Web3.0 has become a bank for deposits and withdrawals, a company that provides jobs, and even a stock market, and cryptocurrencies have become daily necessities. Recently, Xiao Wu shared with Thepaper.cn (www.thepaper.cn) his story of exploring the application of Web3.0 in Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt and other countries.

Wu Xiao, the founder of "Pure White Matrix", participated in the Web3.0 offline event in Turkey.

"Blockchain should not be a tool controlled by big corporations"

The Paper: Why did you join the Web3.0 field and travel around the world?

Wu Xiao: I entered the Web3.0 industry at the end of 2017. At that time, I came into contact with the Ethereum game "Crypto Kitties" (Crypto Kitties) and discovered for the first time that distributed ledgers can be used to write programs. For example, Ethereum can write Turing-complete programs. At that time, there were various Dapps (decentralized applications) on Ethereum, including encrypted celebrities, encrypted countries, or other encrypted-related weird games, and I played these games. When we played these encrypted games in the early days, most Chinese could not understand smart contracts. They would only follow a rule similar to "the price you buy first will be lower than the price you buy later" to play, resulting in Chinese people who play these encrypted games will lose money when they come up.

Later, some people who know technology and are willing to play have appeared, which has led to a phenomenon-some people stare at the address of the smart contract, and some people stare at the addresses of the front and back ends, and then a bunch of Chinese people buy it together. For the first time against foreigners, they called it "beating foreigners", which is a bit like an expeditionary army.

After that I started to write the code by myself. After entering this industry, I found it very new and interesting. New technologies are developed every day, which is an advantage for those of us who understand technology. We made some blockchain games such as "Cell Evolution" and "The Last Journey" in the early stage. Because blockchain games were not so popular at that time, we naturally transitioned to the development of Web3.0.

I think that one of the reasons why I entered the Web3.0 industry is the market and opportunities, and the second is that I have received positive feedback here. Although Web3.0 was not popular in the last cycle, I finally found something I can do. At that time, the blockchain game we designed could win various awards such as Google and Facebook, and won about four to five million bonuses. This is the driving force behind positive feedback.

In fact, as early as 2019, when the entire industry was in a bear market, we were already moving outward and interacting with overseas. We have gone to GDC (Game Developers Conference) in San Francisco to communicate with developers on the international stage, went to the United States to participate in InfoComm (International Audiovisual Exhibition), went to top conferences in the computer field to communicate with some scientists, and connected overseas projects. At that time, we were actually very confused, and we just wanted to see what it was like abroad. After going out, I found that the situation in foreign countries was also very pessimistic at that time, but we would still insist on foreign exchanges. There are still a group of people abroad who believe in the original power of the blockchain and feel that writing various programs on the blockchain That's right, it should not withdraw its Token separately, change its incentive layer, and eventually become a tool controlled by foreign governments or large companies.

As time goes by, Web3.0 has reached this cycle step by step. Not only has the market returned, but also many commercial scenarios abroad have also been applied, whether it is NFT (Non-Fungible Token), DeFi (Decentralized Finance) ) or Compound (Blockchain World Bank), there are more and more applications on Ethereum, and the entire market is booming again. The small partners who had no hope like us before are getting stronger and stronger. In this cycle, we are more willing to go out, because we hope to be able to link to more developers, so as to understand what developers in different countries are doing and what they are paying attention to.

"Even people who sell fish know Web3.0"

The Paper: Why do you say that in some countries Web3.0 has become a tool for people to survive?

Wu Xiao: Before I entered the industry and became a developer, I actually traveled to many places. I have been to the Middle East and North Africa to conduct Web3.0 field surveys and construction governance surveys. Unlike the advanced Europe and the United States, these areas are relatively backward.

Saying this sentence comes from the fact that when we were doing blockchain education-related content a few years ago, we first visited the African countries with Web3.0 ecology online. One thing that impressed me was that during a lecture one day, a Nigerian developer told me that Nigeria’s central bank announced that buying cryptocurrencies was illegal, but at the same time, he also told me that their government’s currency depreciation rate was as high as 40% .

Wu Xiao witnessed the Turkish driver always paying attention to the cryptocurrency "K line".

He also said that they believed in Binance (a cryptocurrency exchange), because many American exchanges were unwilling to provide services to Africans. At that time, Binance was expanding the Binance Chain, and they valued Africa. Therefore, there are Many Nigerians bought cryptocurrencies when the national currency was devalued by 40%, and many people's lives have been turned upside down since then. In Africa, cryptocurrencies may be their bread of tomorrow. If someone is willing to teach them how to write code and enable them to start a business, they can make some applications by themselves and sell them to international buyers after they have the technology.

I also became curious about this, and then we connected some local developers in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Vietnam, and found that the situation in each country is different, and developers are doing different things. In Pakistan, the locals actually have no concept of Web3.0. When we first went there, we taught NFT, but we found that everyone likes to hear new knowledge. In wealthy places such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai, they will ask us to arrange courses for the locals and hold forums. Rich countries in the Middle East are rich in oil production. They hope to replace the advantages of these natural resources with technological advantages. , because the oil will eventually light up.

At Istanbul Airport, the driver who picked us up was looking at the relevant cryptocurrency K-line, which shocked me. I feel that the atmosphere of Web3.0 in Istanbul is very strong. There are many NFT trading markets in the streets and alleys, and the amount of local people buying coins is also very large.

Unemployment is very high among young people in Turkey, they are like apprentices, they are willing to work for free for 8-12 months as long as someone pays for transportation or bread, because without work experience you can't find a job, this is a very strange paradox Argument. Many young people have no way out.

I know some local college student Web3.0 groups. They rent a house together, but they have not yet graduated. I asked them why they don’t go to school. They said that the knowledge taught in the school is too old and can’t keep up with the development. They created a developer studio and divided it into two rooms for Web 3.0, just like in the American TV series "Silicon Valley", where a group of people work around in one room, and the other room is the living area.

The college students there introduced me to a small village in the south of the local area. It is very small, but the atmosphere of Web3.0 is very strong. Even the fish sellers know about Web3.0. I asked the fish seller what Web3.0 is, and he said that Web3.0 has a physical building in their place, where activities are held every day. There sometimes gives me the same feeling as "Web3.0 Xanadu". In Dubai, the UAE, etc., one event a week is good enough, but there are events every day.

The locals exaggerate so much that even the bride price for marriage is directly sent to the account in Bitcoin. Over there, many people lost hope, couldn't find jobs, and had no opportunities. Some people chose to grow together with Web3.0. But in general, with Web3.0 is a mixed state, with opportunities and risks, and this group of people is constantly moving forward in this mixed state.

Jordanians do not have a particularly high level of popularity and awareness of blockchain, but they have a better understanding of blockchain games. Jordan has made almost all mobile games in the Middle East. Except for games exported from China, the largest mobile games in the Middle East are made by Jordanian locals. They will combine blockchain with games. Some local universities, such as Jordan University of Science and Technology, will It is actually rare to set up a game design major in other countries.

I also met some Filipino and Korean tourists during the trip, and they also bought coins, which proves the large-scale and large-scale application of Web3.0-it has penetrated into various countries, groups, and people of all countries.

The Egyptians are also doing some Web3.0-related content. Apart from China, Egypt is the only country that is also doing alliance chains. They have some alliance chains related to education and logistics. In addition, because Egyptian laws explicitly prohibit the use and creation of blockchain exchanges, Egypt has a very large black market.

The black market is disguised as a mall, but in reality when you go into a small dark room and hand over your local currency to a guy, he will transfer bitcoin or ethereum to your bank account within 24 hours. It is reported that this kind of black market has been in operation for more than 3 years, and it will even attract a group of local companies to go to the small black house to buy Bitcoin when investing abroad, which I did not expect.

All in all, any economy must have exports and imports. In some areas, this entrance may be an electronic pet in a blockchain game. For example, some wealthy wives who like electronic pets will hire Filipinos and Vietnamese to help them play games, and these people make a living on this. Traditional banks simply cannot reach some poor places. In China, everyone thinks that depositing and withdrawing money is a common thing. In some places abroad, it may not even be possible to open an account.

In a documentary, an old Southeast Asian couple relied on "dajin (playing games to obtain cryptocurrency)" to obtain cryptocurrency in exchange for bread and medicine. They don't have visas, green cards, or even bank accounts. There are many countries like this. For example, in Thailand, 40% of young people have bought cryptocurrency, and in Latin America, more than 51% of people have used MasterCard to buy cryptocurrency. This ratio will become larger and larger, so many low-level companies and developers gathered together, and some brand-new applications will bring new business models, new products, new services, and some smart regulators Promoting it will form a synergy. This joint effort requires the support of political power.

"Everyone is equal before Web3.0"

The Paper: What are some of the most impressive scenes during your travels around the world?

Wu Xiao: In Karst, there are many Russian programmers and engineers. When we shared, a bunch of people crowded together in a small room to listen to Web3.0 and blockchain. I was quite shocked. They have light in their eyes, fire in their hearts, born at the bottom, but want to change their destiny, want to learn, and the state they are willing to fight is very magical.

However, at some activities in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, some leaders wore white robes and said that they would accept Web3.0. We suddenly felt that Web3.0 seemed to have undergone earth-shaking changes. These politicians and managers have become very welcoming of Web3.0, which is completely different from the previous situation where everyone shouted.

At the largest science and technology exhibition in the Middle East, I didn't contact Ali people in advance, but we made a Web3.0 developer tool, and Ali's friends invited me to speak on stage the next day. Not only Alibaba, but also Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Huawei, and these big companies are now actively embracing Web3.0. It's completely different, and we have a huge sense of accomplishment.

The Paper: Is there anything worth learning from these countries?

Wu Xiao: There must be. I think domestic partners, especially Hong Kong's policies are relatively open now, and they should look more at opportunities for Web3.0, not only considering investment, but also building Web3.0.

Today, there are many blue oceans in Web3.0, and there are many things to do on it. At this time, it is very suitable to occupy one's own direction and occupy one's own pit. In another three to five years, if the Web3.0 industry matures, it may also age and become rigid. If you don’t venture into it at this time, there will be no chance when the industry really matures.

You can think about the degree of informatization in those countries whose technology development is not very good. There, people who are not from majors dare to break into it, and many friends in our country who are interested in it should actually enter the game. Go one step further. Today's Web3.0 is a world worth building.

The Paper: What is the significance of Web3.0 and blockchain in your eyes? What might the ultimate form of the future possibly develop into?

Wu Xiao: Everyone is equal before Web3.0. Poorer countries that develop from the bottom up need an upward channel. Web3.0 is a tool that can climb up regardless of the rules of the battlefield, which is why these places rely on Web3.0. If you do some traditional business, young people have no chance at all. Some of them are doing investment transactions, and some of them have learned Web3.0 technology to change their lives.

This kind of ascending channel has changed the destiny, and to a certain extent, it can also put aside the economic situation, because it does not require a bank, and can be operated directly with a network cable, even people from the bottom of the family can have the opportunity. In the past, even if some people understood the Internet and wanted to work for Americans, they could not even open a bank account without a visa, and the US dollar could not be transferred to the account. However, on the blockchain, any cryptocurrency can be transferred from any person in a few seconds. place to someone.

What is the significance of Web3.0 and blockchain in my eyes? In the future, human beings will definitely spend more than 90% of their time living in the virtual world. In such a large environment, there must be some rule-oriented design. Web3.0 and blockchain are definitely the most important economic systems. You can't expect that in such a world, only US dollars and euros can be used. Even if you have game currency, it must be a blockchain-based game currency.

Therefore, Web3.0 is the economic infrastructure first, and the second may be the infrastructure of laws and regulations. What kind of person commits what kind of thing in it, what kind of punishment will be received, all these rules must be open, transparent and automatically enforced, which is especially suitable for the blockchain, which has gathered the consensus of users and developers around the world. , to perform notarization, and write some rules with smart contracts. Since everyone develops and uses this chain, it means that everyone will abide by the rules of this chain by default. The chain has no tendency. These rules are suitable for and can only be formed by blockchain.