Hong Kong’s finance chief has stated the town ought to look past on-line leisure in embracing the following technology of the web, referred to as Web3, as a part of efforts to spur progress within the economic system.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday known as on the town to not waste any time in seizing the alternatives supplied by cutting-edge expertise within the space.

“The next wave of breakthroughs is very likely to be driven by Web3 and blockchain technology,” he wrote in his weekly weblog put up.

Hong Kong’s Paul Chan defends economic potential of land-reclamation projects

Chan stated the applying and evolution of Web3 had helped speed up the event of the net leisure business in recent times by providing high-quality and immersive experiences to customers.

He cited an abroad research that acknowledged the worldwide on-line leisure market may develop to about US$653 billion in 2027, up from about US$184 billion in 2021.

“The likes of NFTs, GameFi, Play to Earn and immersive entertainment are directions many global entertainment enterprises are putting in resources to explore,” he wrote, citing the Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum held at Cyberport over the weekend.

The first technology of the web emerged within the Nineteen Nineties, known as Web1. It was primarily made up of static net pages with content material used to show data.

Web2 describes the present state of the web, which is believed to have begun across the flip of the brand new century and is characterised by the rise of social media platforms and e-commerce.

Web3 is the hypothetical next-generation model of the World Wide Web that’s decentralised and distributed by the usage of blockchain and related applied sciences.

Chan burdened that Web3 expertise wouldn’t solely be confined to on-line leisure or digital belongings.

“Through technological innovation and application innovation, it can be applied to solve many difficulties and pain points encountered in finance, business operation, trade, supply chain management and even day-to-day life.”

He stated the federal government was on the lookout for methods to use Web3 applied sciences, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had issued the world’s first government-backed tokenised inexperienced bond in February.

Hong Kong to host night bazaars, organise conferences to spur economy: Paul Chan

“This brought together bonds and other financial instruments, participants and related activities on one single digital platform. This resulted in the enhancement of efficiency, cutting the processing time of bond issuance from the usual five business days to one,” Chan stated.

Officials have pledged to take a position extra within the Web3 digital economic system to make the town a world hub.

The monetary secretary introduced within the 2023-24 finances the institution of a activity power to supply suggestions on the sustainable and accountable improvement of Web3 in Hong Kong.

Recovery of Hong Kong’s aviation industry ‘in sight’; city pursues air service deals

Chaired by Chan, the duty power was formally arrange in June and options 15 business consultants as non-official members. Chan stated the group had already convened.

The finance chief allotted HK$50 million within the 2023-24 finances in February to hurry up the event of the Web3 ecosystem, together with organising worldwide seminars, selling cross-sector enterprise cooperation and arranging workshops for younger folks.

He famous that greater than 180 Web3-related corporations had arrange places of work in Cyberport, of which greater than a fifth had been from mainland China or abroad.

Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, urged the federal government to hurry up the event of a complete regulatory framework for Web3 and enhance public training.