The largest in-person cryptocurrency event in the nation, the Philippine Web3 Festival, has invited leaders from around Web3 to speak during the week-long event.
As world leaders in social media, mobile gaming, fintech, cryptocurrencies, and now, Web3, Filipinos have always been at the forefront of technology adoption. Since the play-to-earn phenomenon caught the world’s attention in 2021, the country has been firmly positioned at the epicenter of the Web3 movement as Filipinos demonstrate how the real world can benefit from crypto, NFTs, and the open Metaverse.
From November 14 to 18, the festival was held at the Marquis Events Place in Manila’s Bonifacio Global City. The event’s leading lights include executives from well-known blockchain games like Axie Infinity and Sandbox, venture capital firms like Animoca Brands, and exchanges like Binance. More well-known Web3 speakers have been made public by the conference team.
With numerous crypto opportunities, engaging exhibitors, and insightful talks, the Philippine Web3 Festival got off to a flying start.
A week-long celebration for the biggest web3 event in the Philippines recently reached halfway. This is what has taken place thus far.
First, a few ancillary activities took place as early as the festival’s opening weekend. The hackathon began on November 12 and was preceded the next day by a dinner for nearby Web3 developers sponsored by Nuseir Yassin of Nas.io and the festival’s organizers, YGG and Blockchain Space.
The festival then included numerous parties and networking activities around and around the conference location, which marked the festival’s grand opening.
On the first day of conferences, registration cocktails were available at the island bar for people who wanted to network without waiting in line. A choice of three side events, including Panimula, the Philippine Web3 Festival’s official Kick Off party, were offered to conference attendees that evening.
Assistant Secretary Jeff Dy from the Philippine government’s Department of Information and Communications Technology gave the opening address at the conference festival. Then Colin Goltra, COO of Yielg Guild Games (YGG), gave a brief history lesson on how the Philippine gaming business came to be. But Jeff Zirlin, alias Jihoz, co-founder of Axie Infinity, gave the morning’s keynote address, which was the most eagerly awaited.
Source: PH Web3 Festival
There is little doubt that Axie Infinity has flourished in the Philippines, and Jihoz gave thanks by revealing the game’s upcoming alpha leaks live. After the keynote, there was a brief interview. The Filipino Axie community created a long line to take pictures with the co-founder of the island’s most well-known blockchain game before Jihoz spoke.
Numerous kiosks from game developers and event sponsors were set up outside the conference room, offering festival attendees the chance to win a variety of goods. BreederDAO, Blockchain Space, Mirai Labs, and Tier One hosted the Gathering of the Greats at Xylo bar in BGC to cap off the day with more celebrations.
Gabby Dizon of YGG harped on opportunities events like the Philippine Web3 Festival, can and will bring to Filipinos, who want to make a living in the comforts of their homes.
“We can see a future where your opportunities are not bound to where you live,” the YGG co-founder told the press members. “A lot of our countrymen would leave to move to Manila for a higher paying job, and that leads to congestion of the city.”
But with promising opportunities in Esports, Dizon said, “you can still be at home wherever home is and have access to the same earning opportunities — not just in Metro Manila but in major cities around the world.”
Meanwhile, Nuseir, best known as Nas Daily, said it’s about time we explore the world of cryptocurrency further.
“Crypto stands for two things and two things only,” he said. “It stands with the idea that you can own part of the internet for the first time in the history of the internet.”
“The second is like what [Gabby] said. Finally, somebody in Cebu can become successful without coming to Manila [or] somebody from the Philippines can become successful without having to immigrate to Singapore [through Esports],”
More panel discussions centered on Web3’s art, gaming, and content creation are included on the final day of presentations. What Are PlayToEarn Models Most Effective? Two of the numerous panel talks to attend on November 17 are “Trends To Watch Out For in 2023” with speakers from the cosplay community, Big Time Studios, AO Labs, and MixMarvel, and “Trends To Watch Out For in 2018” with speakers from Delphi Digital, BinaryX, OP Games, and Mirai Labs.
Various side events organized by different Web3 groups also took place. Among these side events are a Web3 Debate by Bitskwela, a Kickoff party hosted by MetaverseGo, HashZ, and Metacare, an investor matchmaking event by Blockchain Space and YGG, and an Axie Infinity tournament with a $120,000 prize pool by Sky Mavis.
The Axie Open Manila 2022
One of the most anticipated things about the Web3 Festival is the Axie Open Manila 2022 which took place in Circuit, Makati. 256 Lunacian brawl it out for the 7 million pesos (120,000USD) prize pool.
The finalists of the event were Spamandrice and Zaratustra who battle it out for lion’s share of the prize money.
In the end, Spamandrice defeated Zaratustra and took home 1.5 million pesos (26,000USD).
To wrap it up
The Philippine Web3 Festival showcased the future of Web3 and put a vast array of games, guilds, NFT projects, and crypto VCs together in front of the largest and most engaged web3 audience in the world.
The event is for the world to see how and why the movement began here in the Philippines while bringing players, builders, and investors together IRL to learn, network, and get real-time, community-based insights into the future direction of Web3.
The Philippine Web3 Festival was a blockchain conference, esports tournament, hackathon, and community-led side event, it brought internationally renowned thought leaders to Manila to share the stage with those who have shaped this burgeoning industry.