Finance Magnates spoke with Jack Vinijtrongjit, CEO of AAG for his perspective on Web3’s adoption, regulation, and a wide range of other burning topics.
What is the MetaOne wallet & what differentiates it from other wallets?
MetaOne wallet is a collection of our products that are bundled together to provide the safety and usability that are not typically found with other wallets. We are in 2022 and users expect a lot more than just basic blockchain security. The key reason Web3 is still a niche is because people don’t feel comfortable or don’t see a need, yet. With MetaOne, we want to make sure we take care of that.
Our approach is to look at the problem holistically. With our 7-layers of security, we are making it much harder for our users to get scammed, hacked, make mistakes and lose money, etc. Our goal is to make it so simple and safe that even a 6-year-old kid can use it. In the case for kids, we also aim to provide a certain level of control and visibility to their parents as well.
The built-in MetaOne dApp Store will also help users discover new use cases beyond DeFi and GameFi, which by itself also serves as additional security to protect users from accidentally visiting a fake dApp. Once you have tried MetaOne, you will see some major differences especially as we roll out all the features that none of existing wallets support in Q1 2023.
What are the biggest challenges to newcomers entering web3?
Onboarding is definitely the number one thing coming to mind and that’s why we have been focusing on MetaOne. The second part is the lack of useful things that can be done at the consumer level. Not everyone wants to trade crypto or NFT.
In an ideal scenario, newcomers should not even have to care or know that Web3 enabled what they are doing. I always believe that there is a way to do a more seamless transition. In the end Web3 is just a technology once you remove the speculative elements from it.
How can crypto help the Asian market?
From the crypto side, I think many people in Asia were able to take advantage of the bull runs. Many now are running their own fund and extending their success. At the same time, they are giving many projects in Asia an opportunity to enter the global stage by funding them.
From the technology perspective, with Web3 being a new technology that is not very well understood, Asia now has the same level playing field as the rest of the world. Instead of following the trend from the west, people in Asia have an opportunity to lead as well. That’s what's exciting about the advent of new technology.
In your view, will mainstream metaverse adoption come first as place to work or venue for play?
I would say venue for play. The benefit of doing business in the metaverse is not very well defined or thought out. There are currently very few use cases that make sense. At this point, the metaverse will first become an extended experience that you can’t do in the real world for reasons such as safety or physical limitations.
What is the biggest thing holding people back from using the metaverse today?
There is simply nothing worthwhile to do in most metaverses out there. Out of the 20,000+ metaverses, the ones that get clear adoptions are either the gaming type or those in Japan where they host massive events or are used in education. The Japanese ones are also very interesting in their approach.
Take an example of Virtual Roppongi. I remember they were having junior high school and high school kids help decorating the digital clone. What that does is provide a sense of ownership. Of course, they would tell their friends and family to show up and see their work.
This is a much better approach than those of Web3-based metaverse where it’s all about digital land grabs where companies spend a significant amount of money, yet still have no idea how it can help their business.
In general, with new technology, it should at least provide a new way of doing things or make an existing way more efficient. Majority of metaverses are just trying to replace Zoom and aren’t doing a much better job. Going into the metaverse and watching a video with your friends is also silly. Might as well use the SharePlay feature on iOS.
What lessons can be learned from FTX?
There isn’t such a thing as too big to fail in crypto. Even the 2rd largest CEX failed. Everyone should learn how to manage their own assets outside of exchanges as much as possible. I know a VC partner who lost 80% of his stablecoin there because he doesn’t trust himself managing a wallet like MetaMask or hardware wallet like Ledger since they both have serious flaws from a usability perspective.
That’s actually why we decided to create MetaOne so that everyone can feel safe managing their own assets.
What role do you see regulation playing in web3?
Mostly on the investment side with crypto and NFT. If you use Web3 as technology, I do not see a need for one besides the question around data privacy since most blockchains are public. So it really depends on which part of Web3 we are talking about.
In the future, I see regulations helping shape the way we do business in Web3. Things will be much clearer and easier. Because of the lack of regulations, we have been forced to speculate on what might happen and there is always a risk of certain business models being barred as regulation is put in place.
