**Introduction**
With the release of the 2025 “Blockchain 30 Influencers” list, this year, **WEB3+** has also unveiled the first-ever “Top 10 Influencers in Blockchain Asia-Pacific” list. The creation of this list combines nominations from previous selections of the Blockchain 30 Influencers and third-party reviewers, alongside observations from the editorial team of **WEB3+**, presenting readers with industry innovators whose influence extends across the Asia-Pacific and even globally. The selected influencers and projects not only hold a leading position in technology or innovation but are also key figures in driving the expansion of the entire blockchain ecosystem.
– **Animoca Brands**: Loyal advocate of digital ownership
– **Coin98**: Most popular DeFi ecosystem platform in Southeast Asia
– **CoinGecko**: A must-follow data tracking website for newcomers
– **Etherscan**: A helpful tool for on-chain tracking
– **Hashed**: The driving force behind renowned Web3 projects
– **Holdstation**: Efficient and secure decentralized finance trading experience
– **Jupiter**: Leading DeFi aggregator protocol on the Solana blockchain
– **Kaia**: The next super application king in Asia
– **Matr1x**: Web3 mobile game with over a million downloads
– **Progmat**: Stablecoin issuance management platform compliant with Japanese regulations
**Loyal Advocate of Digital Ownership**
**Yat Siu**, Co-founder of Animoca Brands
Yat Siu is the soul of Animoca Brands, which started as a traditional game development company in 2014. After the mobile gaming boom declined, Siu was influenced by the “digital ownership” derived from blockchain technology and recognized that Web3 would be the future for everyone. Animoca Brands transformed in 2018 and acquired the sandbox game **The Sandbox**, turning it into a blockchain-based metaverse platform. To date, Animoca has invested in over 540 blockchain projects, including well-known companies like **Yuga Labs**, the parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club, **Axie Infinity**, and the NFT trading platform **OpenSea**. Currently, Animoca Brands also owns several subsidiaries and projects related to digital ownership, brand IP, and the metaverse, including **GAMEE**, **nWay**, **Mocaverse**, and **Motorverse**. Mocaverse aims to create a cross-project resource-sharing network by integrating the company’s portfolio and subsidiaries. Furthermore, Animoca Brands is considering an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong or the Middle East, with Siu stating that the timing for the listing will depend on market conditions in the coming years.
**Most Popular DeFi Ecosystem Platform in Southeast Asia – Coin98**
**Thanh Le**, Founder of Coin98
The last time Vietnam hosted an international-scale event for the blockchain industry was in 2018, organized by Huobi and gathering nearly 1,000 attendees, mostly traders and very few builders.
Five years later, GMVietnam can be seen as the largest international event… pic.twitter.com/U2pwxYBUgE— Thanh Le – thanh.c98 (@imlethanh98) July 4, 2023
Coin98 is a blockchain software company from Vietnam with a large user base in Southeast Asia. Besides its decentralized finance platform, Coin98 also includes **Coin98 Labs**, responsible for development, **Coin98 Ventures**, focusing on investment and accelerating startups, and **Coin98 Network**, which conducts research and analysis to promote ecosystem growth and development. Thanh, who comes from an engineering background, founded Coin98’s YouTube channel in October 2017 and officially established Coin98 in 2018. In May 2021, Coin98 completed a $11.25 million strategic financing round, led jointly by Hashed and Spartan Group. Services on the Coin98 platform include wallets, decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, on-chain governance, cross-chain interactions, and gaming, supporting over 22 networks including ETH and Solana. Among these, the Coin98 cross-chain compatible wallet is a key product that connects blockchain, dApps, and all users.
**A Must-Follow Data Tracking Website – CoinGecko**
**Bobby Ong**, Co-founder and COO of CoinGecko
Today we are hosting our first physical GeckoCon at IconSiam, Bangkok. If you are in town for Devcon, come by and say hi to us! pic.twitter.com/Js6XZ2nHgt— Bobby Ong (@bobbyong) November 11, 2024
The cryptocurrency data tracking website **CoinGecko** was founded in 2014 by young entrepreneurs TM Lee and Bobby Ong. CoinGecko has now become one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency data aggregation platforms, tracking over 14,000 different crypto assets across more than 1,000 global exchanges. The CoinGecko platform provides real-time price tracking information for major institutions and exchanges, as well as regularly releasing quarterly cryptocurrency industry reports, newsletters, and various other products and services. Due to its user-friendly interface and features, it serves as the best research assistant for both novice and experienced cryptocurrency users.
**A Helpful Tool for On-Chain Tracking – Etherscan**
**Matthew Tan**, Founder and CEO of Etherscan
Our founder Matt joining a panel about scaling without borders at @ensdomainsfr ENSday pic.twitter.com/VcMA7TC4h5— Etherscan (@etherscan) November 11, 2024
Etherscan was created in 2015 by Matthew Tan and is one of the earliest independent projects on Ethereum. Due to the transparent and public nature of blockchain, users can query various data on the Ethereum blockchain, such as transaction records, wallet balances, and contract addresses through a blockchain explorer. Etherscan operates as a neutral platform that is not managed or sponsored by the Ethereum Foundation. Many investors use Etherscan to track large holders and whale addresses, and numerous on-chain detectives utilize Etherscan to trace money laundering or suspicious cash flow transfers.
**The Driving Force Behind Renowned Web3 Projects – Hashed**
**Simon Seojoon Kim**, CEO and Managing Partner of Hashed
What a day. @LandoNorris has finally won the F1 Grand Prix. The teary-eyed embrace with his teammates shows why F1 is a team sport. When I met him at the Japanese Grand Prix a few months ago, I told him he’d win a race soon. I’ll get some good energy from him as well..lol pic.twitter.com/wme5keTzPr— Simon Kim (@simonkim_nft) May 6, 2024
Simon Seojoon Kim is a leading figure and promoter in the blockchain field in South Korea, collaborating with tech companies like Kakao, LINE, Watcha, and Spoqa to advance their blockchain projects. Simon is also a member of the South Korean National Assembly’s Fourth Industrial Revolution Committee, a board member of the Korea Blockchain Association, and a member of the Busan Blockchain Free Zone Committee. Hashed, founded in 2017, under his leadership, has invested in many internationally renowned blockchain projects, including the public chain **Aptos**, the gaming chain **Ronin**, the native IP infrastructure **Story Protocol**, and **Worldcoin**. The founding team of Hashed believes in the potential of blockchain to reshape the global financial system and fundamentally change the internet infrastructure. Therefore, Hashed’s mission is to leverage its resources to help the next wave of entrepreneurs and innovators accelerate the adoption of blockchain. In addition to selecting investment projects, Hashed also participates in the core technology construction of infrastructure while integrating industry resources to accelerate the release of blockchain technology’s potential.
**Efficient and Secure Decentralized Finance Trading Experience – Holdstation**
**Hoai Nam**, Founder and CEO of Holdstation
Hoai Nam is an early active participant in Vietnam’s crypto community, believing in the development potential of DeFi. In April 2022, he established the decentralized finance platform **Holdstation**. Holdstation offers a diverse range of crypto products, including a non-custodial crypto wallet built on the zkSync ecosystem, integrating Account Abstraction technology to provide privacy protection and a seamless user experience, compatible with both iOS and Android systems. Additionally, Holdstation has launched the decentralized perpetual futures exchange **DeFutures**, supporting various derivative trading protocols and providing data analysis services to assist users in trading through **Holdstation Research**. According to DeFutures data from Holdstation, its trading volume has reached $33.469 billion, with a total of 1.1909 million users utilizing its wallet and conducting transactions.
Account Abstraction: A technology on the blockchain designed to provide user accounts (such as wallets) with more customizable features. In addition to improving user experience, it also enhances security and allows users to pay fees flexibly.
**Leading DeFi Aggregator Protocol on Solana – Jupiter**
**Meow**, Co-founder of Jupiter
pic.twitter.com/BVmV2EZTmr— meow (@weremeow) September 24, 2024
Jupiter is the leading DeFi aggregator protocol on the Solana blockchain, with trading volume exceeding half of the entire Solana chain, and is among the top 10 decentralized exchanges (DEX) in 2023. At the beginning of 2024, Jupiter announced a token distribution, attracting significant community attention and marking the largest airdrop in Solana’s history. In simple terms, Jupiter integrates various DeFi functions into one application, allowing users to complete investments and various trades on the Solana chain. Established in October 2021, Jupiter faced significant challenges shortly after its inception, including the decoupling of the LUNA stablecoin, the bankruptcy of Three Arrows Capital, and FTX, each of which dealt substantial blows to the cryptocurrency market. Notably affected by the bankruptcy of the FTX exchange, the price of SOL tokens plummeted, nearly leading to the collapse of the Solana ecosystem. Most projects did not survive this bleak bear market, either dissolving or migrating to other chains, while Jupiter managed to endure and has since risen to its current leading position.
**The Next Super Application King in Asia – Kaia**
**Sangmin Seo**, Chairman of Kaia DLT Foundation
It’s always exciting to introduce @KaiaChain, LINE NEXT, and Kaia Wave to those hearing about it for the first time. Great vibes in #Devcon2024 so far! We’ll be holding our main event ‘Ride the Kaia Wave: BKK Edition’ tomorrow, come meet the team in-person 🙂 pic.twitter.com/rDL2UK98yo— Sangmin Seo (Sam) {&} (@seo_sangmin) November 11, 2024
In 2024, Klaytn merged with the blockchain Finschia under Japan’s LINE, forming **Kaia**, with Sangmin Seo serving as the chairman of the Kaia DLT Foundation. The Kaia DLT mainnet integrates the technological advantages of both Klaytn and Finschia, aiming to become the fastest and most efficient blockchain. The Kaia Foundation and LINE NEXT launched the **Kaia Wave** initiative, allowing developers to use the NEXT WEB SDK tools to directly develop and launch mini DApps (decentralized applications) within LINE chat pages, enabling the vast LINE user base in Asia, particularly in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, to seamlessly access Web3. Through the Kaia Wave initiative, the Kaia DLT Foundation hopes to connect Web3 partners in Asia and globally, promote the adoption of Web3, and position Kaia as a leading blockchain platform in Asia.
**Web3 Mobile Game with Over a Million Downloads – Matr1x**
**Saku**, Co-founder and CEO of Matr1x
pic.twitter.com/VZPRITMWAO— Saku (@saku_web3) September 21, 2024
Saku (0xsaku.eth) has over ten years of experience in mobile game development and founded Matr1x in 2021. Matr1x is an entertainment platform that combines gaming, AI, esports, and blockchain infrastructure, aiming to bring innovation to the global gaming and digital content industry through blockchain and AI technologies. Matr1x has launched two popular games: the first-person shooter (FPS) game **MATR1X FIRE** and the battle royale game **MATR1X BATTLE**, integrating concepts from esports, AI technology, and open-world metaverse, providing players with rich entertainment experiences. The most popular game, **MATR1X FIRE**, achieved over a million registered users and downloads during its global testing phase in 2024, with over a million on-chain transactions related to the game and NFT trading volumes reaching $130 million.
**Stablecoin Issuance Management Platform Compliant with Japanese Regulations – Progmat**
**Tatsuya Saito**, Founder and CEO of Progmat
こんにちは、Progmat代表の齊藤です。
本日、新会社がスタートしました。
まずは「そもそも」を解説しました。
これからガシガシ発信していくので、よろしくお願いします！
What is Progmat (プログマって、なに)？｜齊藤 達哉｜Progmat(プログマ) #note https://t.co/N8H4ulzArK pic.twitter.com/GMaVEuRTz2— 齊藤達哉｜Progmat(プログマ) (@tatsu_s1203) October 2, 2023
Progmat is a blockchain infrastructure for digital securities, completing settlements using stablecoins. Notably, Progmat is supported by Japan’s three major banks (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank), Japan’s largest online financial group **SBI Holdings**, and the Japan Exchange Group. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has long had plans to issue the stablecoin **Progmat Coin**, and has continued testing cross-chain settlements for stablecoins. In September of this year, Progmat announced that it successfully conducted cross-chain tests and completed transactions for digital securities settlement using stablecoins, with plans for commercialization in 2025. Currently, Japan’s three major banks are jointly conducting a pilot test called **Project Pax**, using the SWIFT bank API framework to guide Progmat in settling on the blockchain network. This not only reduces the cumbersome processes of fiat currency transfers for financial institutions and minimizes investment costs but also helps address anti-money laundering and other compliance challenges.
