A Japanese company that focuses on the spread and development of Web 3.0 technology, Palette Token (PLT), the first domestic IEO project, attracted a lot of attention.
They provide solutions and services that utilize blockchain in BtoB and BtoC. One of their strengths is their collaboration with major financial institutions, and they aim to provide high-quality services.
Please tell us the background to the founding of HashPort.
Yoshida Seihaku (hereinafter, Yoshida): Before starting my own company, I worked at the Boston Consulting Group from 2016 to 2017.
During that time, I became fascinated with blockchain technology and began thinking about starting a business that could use this technology to transform Japanese society.
In 2018, the Coincheck incident occurred and blockchain-related activities temporarily subsided, but I believed that this field would become popular again.
Around that time, I was talking to Idei Nobuyuki of Quantum Leap Inc., and when I told him about my desire to improve society through blockchain, he advised me to take on the challenge while I was still young.
Following this advice, I started my own company in July 2018. I had no projects for the first six months and struggled with doing consulting work on my own, but in January 2019, I was asked by BITPoint Inc. to start work on new cryptocurrencies and began researching cryptocurrencies to be listed on Japanese exchanges.
Thankfully, this incident led to HashPort handling most of the research on currencies scheduled to be listed in Japan at that time.
On the other hand, I also felt that I was straying from my original goal of starting my company, which was to use blockchain to transform social systems.
This is why I founded HashPalette in 2020 to provide a more user-friendly and secure blockchain network in Japan.
Currently, HashPort provides consulting and solutions, while HashPalette issues PLT tokens, provides content designed in-house, and develops games linked to its own chain through its own studio.
You have been selected as a sponsor of the "EXPO 2025 Digital Wallet," which will allow users to store and manage their own electronic money and points, at the Osaka World Expo to be held in 2025, and you are also working with JR West to organize an NFT stamp rally from around the end of 2023, among other unique promotions. What are your thoughts on the significance of wallets in the Web 3.0 field?
Yoshida: I think wallets are necessary for users to have a Web 3.0 experience. At the same time, they can become a bottleneck. It is important to clear this bottleneck.
If more users start using wallets, the amount of Web 3.0 content will also increase. To activate the content, many wallet users are needed.
The payment app for the Osaka World Expo 2025, the EXPO2025 Digital Wallet, is based on HashPort, and it is expected that about 10 million accounts will be created during the Expo.
Considering that MetaMask has 30 million accounts, I think it has the potential to become one of the world's top wallets.
In partnership with Osaka Prefecture and JR West, we plan to provide various services in the future, and we plan to develop a variety of services such as the SBT Digital Passport, which will enable access to various services by integrating digital identities and tokens.
We hope that the further spread of wallets will allow Web 3.0 experiences to take root in everyday life.
Mr. Yoshida, you are also a director of the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry today? And how are you addressing these challenges?
Yoshida: I think that the development of regulations to match the diversity of businesses is one of the key issues. Currently, Web 3.0 businesses in Japan are mainly focused on cryptocurrency exchanges, but in reality, there should be a wider variety of services.
However, in Japan, when dealing with tokens, a cryptocurrency exchange license is often required, and if a service includes tokens, a debate arises as to whether it is an exchange business or a token transaction.
If there is no environment in which Web 3.0 startups can safely develop their businesses, they cannot expect to receive funding from venture capital.
Therefore, it is necessary to establish a more diversified and simplified licensing system that is limited to specific services that are different from traditional exchange businesses.
I think it is necessary to establish licenses that are tailored to the content of the services and that are easy for startups to obtain.
HashPort was founded in 2018 and has been operating in the Web 3.0 field for a long time now. What are HashPort’s unique strengths and competitive advantages?
Yoshida: I think our greatest competitive edge lies in our operational foundation, which allows us to provide services that enable collaboration with existing financial institutions and infrastructure providers.
For example, the wallet service we provide at the World Expo 2025 is also in collaboration with existing financial institutions, with points provided by Resona Holdings and operated by SBI Holdings.
In terms of payment management, we check 1,500 security items per company, including new categories specific to Web 3.0.
We believe that how we integrate with existing systems and implement Web 3.0 in society is an important point for us, so checking safety is a necessary process for integrating Web 3.0 into existing systems and permeating society.
In addition, in January 2021, we acquired Fresets, one of the wallet vendors with the longest history in Japan.
Our deep expertise in security and the presence of engineers skilled in financial development are major strengths that allow us to build a bridge from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.
The IEO for ELF Token, which will be issued by wholly owned subsidiary HashPalette, was held on "bitFlyer IEO." I imagine there were many hardships leading up to the IEO, but could you tell us about the process and anecdotes leading up to this IEO?
Yoshida: As a premise, I think that the provision of high-quality services is essential for the spread of Web 3.0 services. This requires not only focusing on tokens and NFTs, but also providing excellent services that are not limited to Web 3.0 but are also seen from outside the field.
It is also necessary to acquire more users. Looking at the world, even the top-class projects in the blockchain gaming field have around 100,000 users, and this number is usually only the minimum standard for a game service to be established.
We are aiming to build a service that will have hundreds of thousands of users stably.
Furthermore, the service needs to be deployed globally. To achieve these goals, we should not rely on external parties, but should work in-house with our own experts and raise funds in-house.
Since liquidity is very important when using tokens, it was important to partner with a large cryptocurrency exchange to ensure liquidity.
In addition, in the global market, reliability is important for people who are using Web 3.0 services for the first time and people who are coming into contact with tokens for the first time, so we thought that collaboration with Japan's largest exchange was essential, which led to our collaboration with bitFlyer.
Your company mission is to "Bring undiscovered value into everyday life." What is your definition of "undiscovered value" and what role does HashPort want to play?
Yoshida: "Undiscovered value" refers to value that we have not yet discovered. Based on that, our vision is to create a world where everyone can access the value created by Web 3.0.
We are focusing on Web 3.0, but we are also considering working on a broader range of technologies in the future, not limited to fintech.
There are people in the world who are good at creating technology from scratch, and there are people who are good at turning 1 into 100.
We position ourselves as the latter, and we think that we are a company that is good at incorporating technologies that are created from scratch and that cannot be incorporated into people's lives.
From now on, we would like to focus on thinking about how we can integrate technologies that are still conceptual or have not yet spread to the public into the current social system, and how we can make valuable technologies accessible to more people.
Seihaku Yoshida
CEO of HashPort Inc. In 2016, he joined Boston Consulting Group. He worked at BCG Digital Ventures, the company's digital business development division, as the youngest Venture Architect (investment/business development officer) in the Tokyo office, working on projects in Japan and China. In 2018, he founded HashPort Inc.
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