Philippine Blockchain Week 2023 will address myths around blockchain, Donald Lim tells CoinGeek Backstage

Just ahead of the second Philippine Blockchain Week (PBW), CoinGeek Backstage reporter Claire Celdran had a chance to catch up with PBW’s Lead Convenor, Donald Lim, during the Philippine Blockchain Week 2023 Press Conference held at The Hub of Marriott Hotel in Manila.

After the conference’s success in 2022, Lim shared that the Web3 space had garnered a lot of negativity since then and realized that blockchain doesn’t sound good to the public, especially for potential investors—all thanks to the implosion of infamous digital currency exchange FTX and the de-pegging of Terraform Labs‘ algorithmic stablecoin.

For Lim, this was their point of realization that the masses need to fully understand blockchain technology and how agnostic it is. So, for the upcoming conference, the Blockchain Council of the Philippines, also headed by Lim, built new partnerships with local government agencies such as the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“Creating the PBW 2 is all about getting all the stakeholders to be involved in driving [blockchain technology] forward,” Lim said. “There’s no way to progress except on [blockchain]. There’s Web1, Web2, and Web3. That’s a natural progression of the technology. So, we believe the faster we are as a society adopts it, the more competitive we will be as a country.”

Blockchain Council of the Philippines and their next steps

Speaking about their next initiatives, Lim noted that despite the council being fairly new, their goal is to gather Filipinos and everyone who’s into blockchain to drive innovation and adoption.

“It’s really, again, telling that the Blockchain Council is at your back. We’re here to make the [blockchain space] a safer place,” Lim said.

As for their plans for the second Philippine Blockchain Week, the lead convenor remarked that it would be different and more inclusive than the previous one. Lim shared the addition of various tracks that would tackle more popular topics like AI and fintech, and even fashion in the metaverse.

“We partnered with the Fintech Alliance and the National Analytics Association, so we have an AI track, which is very popular. We have fintech. So those in the industry could gain new insights [about] regulations and what are the new rules that have been set not only here but abroad,” Lim shared.

As we all know, blockchain is a technology that would affect everyone, said Lim, and for their latest PBW strand, they would address the myths about the technology and provide far better insights into how it works.

Watch: Is Philippines Asia’s new blockchain capital? DITO’s Donald Lim shares his thoughts