Exclusive interview with Takahito Kagami and Makoto Aoki, the key figures at CoinPost and WebX: talk about the current state of the industry

The beliefs of Japan's largest media company and the highlights of Asia's largest conference, now being held for the second time

What prompted you to enter the Web 3.0 field?

Takahito Kagami (hereinafter, Kagami): I used to work in the financial industry, and I learned about Bitcoin around 2016. After that, I entered this field because I was interested in mining and the fact that Japan was the most active in Bitcoin trading at the time.

Another big factor was that I felt the existing methods were troublesome when conducting financial transactions in the global market.

For example, when I was studying abroad, there were many times when I felt stressed about international remittances. At the time and even now, cryptocurrencies have a high volatility, and it cannot be said that they are suitable for settlement in the financial field. Still, it is true that it is easier to trade in terms of value transfer than before, and I think I was able to experience the convenient aspects because I was overseas.

Makoto Aoki (hereinafter, Aoki): It all started when the company I joined as an intern in 2018 just happened to launch a new crypto business. At that time, Binance's VC division, Binance Labs, was making an initial investment, and the project of the company I joined just happened to be selected.

The company itself was a startup, but it was a fairly large company. Since it was expanding its business in the Web 3.0 field globally, I felt that it was interesting to experience a borderless worldview that had never been seen in previous businesses, and that's what made me decide to focus on this field. From there, I was connected and joined CoinPost.

After joining CoinPost, I was given a position where I could utilize my strengths in business development and sales. There had been many overseas crypto projects interested in the Japanese market, but they never came to Japan due to the environment and language barriers. I still continue to participate in conferences and catch up on projects with a focus on how to overcome this situation.

CoinPost's strength is in its organization, which is made up of human resources.

CoinPost is now known as the largest Web 3.0 media in Japan. What is its greatest strength?

Kagami: I think that both the media and the organizational structure have strengths.

First of all, in terms of media, I feel that our strength is that we function as a "filter" for users to obtain information. There is an infinite amount of information in this field, so it is difficult for users to choose what to use and what to discard.

I also think that people involved in crypto feel uncertainty and stress, such as what information they need and how it is related. I think that the strength of the media, CoinPost, is that we have the potential to solve such issues.

In terms of organizational structure, we are building a team centered on global human resources, so we can handle multiple languages, and in a good way, we believe that our internal culture, which is not typical of Japanese companies, is a positive factor. We travel abroad with agility, and we have a strong group of highly motivated members who pursue crypto information.

Aoki: I personally think that CoinPost has strengths from the user's perspective, such as reliability, comprehensiveness of information, and its role as a filter.

From a business perspective, I'm proud to say that we visit conferences held in various countries compared to domestic and foreign Web 3.0 media. These daily efforts have led to connections with overseas and building reliability.

So I think that CoinPost's greatest strength is its human resources. This is in terms of each member's intellectual curiosity, and I think that we are able to utilize information that cannot be obtained in Japan as media and company business.

Web 3.0 is an important "turning point" in both the market and business.

What phase do you two think the current Web 3.0 field is in?

Kagami: I think we are at a critical turning point in both the market and business, and I believe that we are at a crossroads right now.

For example, Web 3.0 technology is now being applied to so-called general industries, such as industry and the spot ETF for crypto assets that has been approved in the United States and is attracting attention.

In this context, governments of various countries, including Japan, are actively approaching this area. Whether it will become a national policy will depend on the policy of each government, but in any case, I think that we are at a critical juncture in terms of business in terms of whether to position Web 3.0 as an industry. In fact, it appears that Hong Kong and Singapore are putting a lot of effort into it.

In terms of developing the industry, government support is very important. The key going forward will be to provide industrial support by providing some kind of preferential treatment to companies.

I myself am currently participating in the METI Web 3.0 advisory board, and I felt that the key points in receiving a budget from the government will be the use cases and how much results can be achieved. In that sense, I believe that the efforts over the next two years will be important for this area.

Aoki: The current Web 3.0 field is in a transitional period. It has been called a transitional period in various situations in the past, but the nature of this period is different.

For example, there was a period in the past called "DeFi Summer," which originally reached out to people interested in the financial sector and investment, and awareness of it spread. In other words, it was popular among the core group.

However, from around 2022 to the present, coupled with the NFT boom, it has begun to spread to the general public. Until now, blockchain and crypto assets may have had a negative image, but they are gradually being recognized as necessary in the real world, and what was previously startup-led is now spreading to large companies both domestically and internationally.

Given this situation, I think Web 3.0 is truly entering a transitional period toward spreading to the masses.

In particular, in Japan and Asian markets, the number of enabler companies entering the market for the spread of Web 3.0 is increasing compared to Europe and the United States.

For example, NTT Docomo has announced that it will invest 600 billion yen in the Web 3.0 field, and there have been collaborations between popular IP and Web 3.0 projects, such as the collaboration between Ghost in the Shell and STEPN. Companies that are widely recognized by the general public are entering the field. In this way, I think we are in a transitional period in the sense that Web 3.0 is finally being used by the general public.

There are many people who are shifting their focus from Web 3.0 to AI due to the AI ​​boom these days. How do you see this?

Aoki: Comparing Japan and overseas, I feel that overseas countries tend to focus more on AI. I feel this especially strongly in the flow of money through VCs. Until now, I think people have been investing in the cryptocurrency field in order to make a lot of profit, but I think one of the factors is the growing trend that AI is actually better in terms of ROI (return on investment).

On the other hand, in Japan, there is a movement to promote Web 3.0 as a national policy, and the movement to shift the focus to AI seems to be calmer than overseas. In the past, when the cryptocurrency market was calm, conferences and other events were quiet. However, recently, even if the cryptocurrency market is not moving well, there are many people, and I think this is proof that the market has matured without being affected by volatility.

Last year, Asia's largest Web 3.0 conference, "WebX," was held. What was the background and purpose of planning it initially?

Aoki: There are three main elements to the background and purpose. The first is to "establish a window to the world." In Japan, the government is showing enthusiasm for promoting Web 3.0, which is a positive situation, but there is an issue of a lack of global channels.

In the current Web 3.0 field, such windows and connections are more important than in other industries. Furthermore, considering the situation in which various products are being released from Japan, the key will be to disseminate information overseas. In light of these circumstances and challenges, our first goal was to create a place where information can be disseminated from Japan to overseas.

The second is to "create an opportunity for global companies to enter Japan." I personally feel that a "5-year blank" has come in Japan, triggered by the large-scale fraudulent data leak incident that occurred in 2018.

However, during that time, there were a series of collapses such as the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and on the other hand, the Japanese market had a track record of protecting customer assets due to the establishment of regulations, so I feel that an increasing number of global companies are considering entering Japan again.

In that case, I thought that having a place where people can see and experience it offline would be beneficial for both Japanese and global companies.

Finally, the third point is "spreading Web 3.0 to the mass market." Up until now, industry events have tended to capture short-term trends, but I felt that in order to deliver the technology of Web 3.0, it was necessary to hold events with the intention of reaching the mass market in the long term.

Therefore, we try to prepare sessions and speakers that will not only attract people in the Web 3.0 field, but also a wide range of people outside of that field.

Who first came up with the idea of ​​WebX?

Aoki: It was me. It all started with the industry conference "Token2049" held two years ago. I attended alone at the time, and events at that time were all closed-off, with the same people everywhere and the same people interacting in different places.

Seeing this situation, I thought that if we made it into a business, it would be successful, and I felt that if someone didn't do it, Japan's lost time would continue to drag on, so I immediately wrote a proposal. Then, last year, it took about seven months of preparation to hold the event.

Kagami: At first, we were expecting an event with 1,000 people, but it ended up being a large-scale event. We also had cooperation from government officials, and we felt the demand for Web 3.0.

WebX's main theme is "Discussion toward the social implementation of Web 3.0"

WebX will be held again this year. What has been improved since last year and what are the points of interest?

Aoki: The main theme of WebX is "Discussion toward the social implementation of Web 3.0," so we are basically focusing on how to improve the quality of the conference and increase its scale compared to last year.

In terms of scale, the number of sponsors has increased compared to last year, and this year it is expected to be around 180 companies. Also, the number of speakers will increase in terms of sessions, and I think it will be more powerful in terms of the depth of content than last year.

Kagami: Not just in WebX, but we have a desire to bring reliability to the highly uncertain field of Web 3.0. Therefore, as a company, we place importance on efforts to create order in this field.

For example, even on the media side, the Web 3.0 area is currently lacking in information coverage, even in the financial area. It can be difficult to obtain even one piece of information on a cryptocurrency stock.

It will be difficult for investors to make investment decisions when information is difficult to obtain, and I think that the hurdle of reporting will be high if a cryptocurrency ETF is created in the future. We would like to improve this current situation, and I think that collecting information widely will also lead to visualizing reliable projects.

On the other hand, the same can be said on the conference side, and even if only those involved in the Web 3.0 area gather, the reliability and credibility will be a black box from the outside and will not be visible. We would like to invite global government officials from Japan, the United States, China, etc., to create a place for dialogue and support those who want to enter the Web 3.0 area as an industry.

I felt the weight of the word “trust” in your talk. What do you think is important in measuring trust?

Kagami: From the perspective of an individual user, I think the key to determining trust is whether the project has an external due diligence organization. There are investors and exchange-related people who cannot act without trust, so it is better to pay attention to who is involved in the project.

Of course, it is not that the project is untrustworthy just because there is no external due diligence organization, but it is an element that makes it easier to have a positive view of the project.

What do you consider to be the most important thing about this year's WebX and if there are any goals you have set?

Aoki: First of all, this year I would like to deliver more interesting sessions than last year. At other conferences, there are some that have become formulaic because “this person will talk about this,” so instead, I am conscious of unexpected content and combinations of dialogue.

Also, we are attracting projects that have attracted attention overseas and have not come to Japan before, so I hope that you will pay attention to that as well.

Kagami: As for the sessions, we will increase the number of combinations that may seem unexpected at first glance compared to last year. We also want to increase the number of national clients, so we will keep that in mind when organizing the sessions.

As was the case last year, about 50% of the participants were general industry business operators, so we would like to focus on expanding that base. Therefore, we will not be sticking to Web 3.0 only sessions, but will organize them around the latest tech and new forms of asset formation, such as AI, stocks, and asset formation, and will create content that will make a wide range of people want to attend.

Finally, please tell us about your enthusiasm for holding WebX.

Aoki: We've put a lot of effort into bringing together the conference, including the sessions and inviting overseas projects, so I would love for anyone with even the slightest interest to participate.

Also, during WebX, there will be side events hosted by a variety of projects, so I would be happy if you could come and enjoy those as well.

Kagami: Personally, I want to support this industry to make it more down to earth, and I believe that as the industry grows, our business will grow as well, so it's important to get people interested in and aware of the potential of the technology.

To that end, I would like to make this an interesting conference by focusing on topics that can't be heard anywhere else and creating a space that only we can create.

Profile

◉ Takahito Kagami

CEO of CoinPost Inc.

CEO of SUDACHI Tech Inc.

After graduating from high school, he studied abroad in the United States and Canada for four years. In July 2017, he launched CoinPost, a media outlet specializing in virtual currency and blockchain, and became its editor-in-chief. After assuming the position of CEO of CoinPost in 2018, he expanded the company's business into blockchain x welfare, film, conferences, and global media.

◉ Makoto Aoki

Director and CSO of CoinPost Inc.

Representative Director of WebX

He has been involved in cryptocurrency-related businesses since 2017 and officially joined CoinPost in 2022. He currently serves as CoinPost's Director and CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) while leading the conference business as the founder of WebX.