Written by Babywhale, Foresight News
Translated & Edited by Kean & Poerain, Foresight News
Taking stock of the mysterious power of the “sleeping dragon” from the East in the Web3 world.
Recently, Hong Kong’s government and regulatory agencies have been extending more olive branches to the Web3 and crypto world, providing support for their development and implementation through policies, resources, and funding.
In fact, we have seen many milestone changes since the end of 2022. In early December 2022, Alibaba Cloud added support for Avalanche verification nodes and infrastructure, and later co-hosted the Web3 Global Entrepreneurship Competition with PlatON and HashKey.
Tencent Cloud began exploring Web3 in September 2022 and signed a memorandum of understanding with Singapore Web3 company Strange Universe Technology. Tencent Cloud has also partnered with Korean game developer Nexon, Sui development company Mysten Labs, scalable blockchain MultiversX, and recently, infrastructure provider Ankr and Ethereum scaling network Scroll based on ZK Rollup.
On the other hand, keen institutions have also started to lay out their businesses in Hong Kong, including HashKey Group, which has obtained virtual asset trading platform licenses and virtual asset over-the-counter trading qualifications from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
All these changes have increased the West’s attention to the mysterious Eastern force of Web3. Foresight News editorial team has compiled a list of Web3 projects, companies, institutions, etc. led by Chinese. Readers are welcome to supplement and correct it.
Layer 1 & Layer 2
Layer 1
–Conflux
Conflux, founded in July 2018 with the distinction of being the only Chinese Turing Award winner Yao Qizhi as its chief scientist, completed a $35 million financing round in December of that year, with participants including Sequoia China, F2Pool, Huobi, Metastable, and IMO Ventures. Not long ago, Conflux announced a partnership with China Telecom to launch blockchain-enabled SIM cards in Hong Kong (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/17692). According to DefiLlama data, Conflux has a TVL of about $18.48 million, mainly concentrated on the DEX Swappi.
–Nervos
Nervos is a Layer 1 public blockchain with a layered architecture that uses PoW consensus mechanism to ensure security and performance is guaranteed by its application layer. Nervos completed a $28 million funding round in July 2018, led by Sequoia China and Wanxiang Blockchain, with participation from Matrix Partners China, Polychain Capital and Multicoin Ventures.
–VeChain
Vechain was founded in 2015 and completed a seed round of financing in RMB of several million in 2016. It then held an ICO in 2017. Vechain focuses more on Web3 solutions for traditional industries and has partnered with companies in industries such as luxury goods, automobiles, agriculture, and auditing. In 2018, PwC acquired a portion of Vechain’s equity.
–IoteX
IoteX was founded in 2017 and is a blockchain focused on the IoT (Internet of Things) industry. Its core developer, MachineFi Lab, announced in June 2022 that it had completed a $10 million seed round led by Samsung Next, Draper Dragon Fund, and Jump Capital (source: https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/5417). Later, it announced a $50 million Series A funding round (source: https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/6005), with participation from HashKey and IOSG.
–Injective
Injective is an intelligent contract platform in the Cosmos ecosystem, announced in August 2022 that it had completed a $40 million financing round led by Jump Crypto (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/8466). In January of this year, it announced the launch of a $150 million ecosystem plan (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/16488), supported by Pantera Capital, Kraken Ventures, and Jump Crypto.
–Oasis Network
Oasis Network is a Layer 1 public chain that includes privacy protection features and is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). According to DefiLlama data, the total value locked (TVL) on Oasis is approximately $22.49 million, with a significant concentration in the ValleySwap DEX.
–Harmony
Harmony was founded in 2018 and is a Layer 1 blockchain that uses sharding technology. In 2019, it was launched on Binance Launchpad. According to DefiLlama data, Harmony’s TVL reached $1.4 billion in January 2022, but it is currently only about $7.53 million. The reason for this is that the DeFi Kingdoms project, a star project on Harmony, migrated to Klaytn (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/9053).
–Neo
Neo, formerly known as Antshares, was founded by Da Hongfei in 2014 and was officially renamed Neo in June 2017. In 2021, Neo was updated to the N3 version, which is positioned as a “full-featured blockchain development platform.” According to DefiLlama data, Neo’s TVL is approximately $57.33 million, with the majority of it concentrated on its DEX Flamingo Finance.
–Ontology
Ontology (ONT) was founded in 2017, and its mainnet was launched in 2018. In mid-2021, Ontology achieved compatibility with EVM. According to DefiLlama data, the total value locked (TVL) on Ontology and its EVM network is approximately $25 million, with the majority concentrated on the lending platform Wing Finance.
–Tron
Tron, founded by Justin Sun in September 2017, initially received angel investments of several million RMB. Tron has now become one of the more mainstream Layer 1 blockchains. According to Defillama, TVL on Tron has reached 5.37 billion US dollars, second only to Ethereum, and is mainly concentrated in lending protocol JustLend, stablecoin protocol JustStables, and DEX SUN.
–IOST
IOST was founded in 2018 and claimed to have received investment from ZhenFund. In March 2022, IOST announced the launch of Project Entroverse, which supports EVM compatibility and interoperability (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/2285). In April, IOST announced the launch of a $100 million EVM developer incentive fund with investment firms such as Big Candle Capital and other partners. (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/2743).
–REI Network
REI Network, formerly known as GXChain, was founded in 2017. After rebranding at the end of 2021, the project announced the launch of a $150 million ecosystem fund to support the development of DeFi, GameFi, and other projects.
–PlatON
PlatON is a privacy-focused blockchain network initiated by the LatticeX Foundation. It provides infrastructure services for users with computing demands through the establishment of a computing system consisting of cryptographic algorithms such as verifiable computation, secure multiparty computation, zero-knowledge proofs, and homomorphic encryption.
Since its inception, PlatON has raised more than $50 million in funding from investors such as HashKey Capital and Hash Global Capital.
In addition to the projects mentioned above, other Layer 1 blockchain networks include Qtum, QuarkChain, Fusion, and MXC.
–Cortex Labs
Cortex is a blockchain network focused on artificial intelligence and supports the execution of AI models on-chain. Cortex has launched ZkMatrix, a Layer 2 solution based on ZK Rollup on Cortex.
In addition to the Layer 1 blockchains mentioned above, related projects also include BNB Chain, Heco, OKX Chain, KuCoin Community Chain (KCC), GateChain, and others.
Layer 2
–Loopring
Loopring, an Ethereum scaling network based on ZK Rollup, completed a $45 million fundraising through token sales in 2017. According to L2BEAT data, Loopring’s TVL reached $133 million, but about 60% of it is in the form of its native token LRC.
–Taiko
Taiko is an Ethereum scaling network based on ZK Rollup. Its first testnet was closed on February 15th, and a new testnet is planned to be launched within a month (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/17392).
–Scroll
Scroll is an Ethereum scaling solution based on ZK Rollup. In April 2022, Scroll announced the completion of a $30 million Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/3194). Scroll has launched its Pre-Alpha testnet, which allows developers to build projects on the test network and users to test cross-chain transactions and other product features.
–Zecrey
Zecrey is a Layer 2 privacy network based on ZK Rollup. It has completed two funding rounds, with Spartan Group and Shima Capital leading a $4 million investment in March 2022 (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/1349), followed by a $6 million investment from Binance Labs in May 2022 (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/4431).
Infrastructure
Storage
–Crust Network
Crust Network is a decentralized storage network in the Polkadot ecosystem, which won the 30th Polkadot parachain slot auction in October 2022. In September 2020, Crust Network announced its completion of a Series A financing round, with participation from NGC Ventures, DFG, IOSG, and others.
In addition to Crust Network, related projects include MEMO, Stratos, and the Cumulus Encrypted Storage System (CESS).
Payment
–Alchemy Pay
Alchemy Pay is a cryptocurrency payment gateway that supports direct purchase of cryptocurrencies using fiat currencies through various methods including Apple Pay (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/16167), Google Pay (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/17966), and credit cards.
Others
–RSS3
RSS3 is a decentralized content and social protocol designed to replace the centralized distribution model of Web2 applications. In December 2021, RSS3 announced the completion of a funding round led by CoinShares Ventures.
DID
–.bit
.bit, formerly known as DAS, is a Web3 identity protocol that announced a $13 million Series A funding led by CMB International in August 2022. Other related projects include SelfKey etc.
Cross-Chain
–Celer Network
Celer Network is a cross-chain communication protocol and its cross-chain bridge cBridge supports nearly 40 blockchains including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Optimism. In late October 2022, Celer announced the launch of its full-chain liquidity protocol Peti (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/12192).
–Multichain
Multichain, formerly known as Anyswap, is a cross-chain interoperability protocol that currently supports cross-chain transfers between nearly 80 blockchains. In December 2021, Multichain completed a $60 million financing round led by Binance Labs, with participation from Sequoia Capital China and other investors. Prior to this, Multichain announced the launch of its cross-chain infrastructure zkRouter, which has gone live on the testnet (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/18163).
–Ren
Ren, formerly known as Republic Protocol, is a foundational cross-chain protocol that includes products such as renBTC. In November 2022, Ren announced that the funding provided to the development team would only last until the fourth quarter due to Alameda’s bankruptcy. Afterward, Ren shut down its 1.0 version and launched 2.0 version, as well as established a foundation and minted new REN tokens to support project development.
Other related projects include BoringDAO, a DAO-driven cross-chain protocol, and Wing Finance, developed by the Ontology team, which supports Ontology, Ethereum, OKX Chain, and BNB Chain.
Oracle
–Lithium Finance
Lithium Finance is a decentralized oracle that provides pricing for illiquid assets. In 2021, it raised $5 million in funding led by Pantera Capital and Hashed, followed by $2.6 million in strategic investment.
DeFi
Comprehensive Protocol
–WOO Network
WOO Network, formerly known as WOOtrade, is an ecosystem network incubated by Kronos Research, focusing on cryptocurrency liquidity. WOO raised a $30 million funding round in November 2021, with participation from Three Arrows Capital and Crypto.com Capital, among others. In January 2022, WOO raised another $12 million in a funding round led by Binance Labs. According to DefiLlama data, the total value locked (TVL) on WOO Network is currently approximately $17.02 million.
–Parallel Finance
Parallel Finance is the DeFi hub of the Polkadot ecosystem, offering products such as trading, lending, and liquidity provision. In 2021, Parallel Finance announced that it had completed a strategic funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. According to the official website, Parallel Finance currently has a TVL (total value locked) of over $290 million.
-dForce
dForce is a cross-chain DeFi platform that includes lending, trading, and other functionalities. According to DefiLlama, its TVL is currently around $43.6 million, supporting Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and other blockchains.
Related projects include izumi Finance, Flamingo Finance, Chainge Finance, and Wepiggy.
DEX
–DODO
DODO is a DEX protocol based on an active market maker algorithm. It announced a $5 million funding round led by Pantera Capital, Three Arrows Capital, and Binance Labs in 2020. According to DefiLlama, the current TVL on DODO is approximately $44 million.
–Wombat Exchange
Wombat Exchange is a stablecoin-focused DEX that announced the completion of a $5.25 million Series A funding round led by Animoca Brands and Hailstone Ventures in March 2022. In April of the same year, it received strategic funding led by Shima Capital.
–MDEX
MDEX is a DEX protocol based on Heco and its TVL has once drew near to $5.3 billion at May 2021. Currently, MDEX newly supports BNB Chain. According to DefiLlama, its TVL is now about $72 million.
–Zenlink
Zenlink is a DEX protocol in the Polkadot ecosystem that announced its Series A funding led by Alameda Research in September 2021.
Derivatives
–Sheild
Shield is a decentralized derivatives protocol that announced a $2 million funding round led by A&T Capital and HashKey Capital in May 2021.
-ApeX Protocol
ApeX Protocol is a derivative protocol incubated by Davion Labs, a subsidiary of Bybit. In March 2022, it announced the completion of a seed round of funding led by Dragonfly Capital.
–Others
In addition to the comprehensive DeFi products, DEXs, and derivative protocols mentioned above, other relevant DeFi protocols include the liquidity protocol Multiple Protocol, insurance protocols Degis and InsurAce, the Polkadot-based currency market Konomi Network, the security tokenization protocol Liquefy, and others.
NFT
–X2Y2
X2Y2 is also an NFT trading platform that raised 1,500 Ethereum through an ILO in February 2022 (later used to add liquidity on Uniswap). Currently, X2Y2 has the third-highest trading volume on Ethereum, behind only Blur and OpenSea.
–Element
Element is an NFT trading platform that announced a $11.5 million funding round led by SIG and Dragonfly Capital in May 2021. Element supports NFTs on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, and Avalanche.
–IRIS Network
IRIS Network is a cross-chain NFT interoperability protocol within the Cosmos ecosystem.
–The Weirdo Ghost Gang
The Weirdo Ghost Gang is an NFT series launched in early 2022 by ManesLAB, which announced in September 2022 the acquisition of the trendy culture studio CutUp (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/10864), and in the same month completed a $1.8 million seed funding round led by YZB Investment (https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/17354).
In addition to the above-mentioned projects, there are also NFT series such as Cheers UP, Phanta Bear, Zombie, Soulda, Dr.Ji, DuDu, Peking Monsters, Producer C, Theirsverse Official, and ZombieClub Token. Moreover, there are NFT platforms such as APENFT on Tron, Mynft based on Flow, decentralized NFT community BCA Labs, NFT copyright platform Euterpe, and EtherPOAP, an NFT launched by HashKey to commemorate the completion of Ethereum’s merger.
As for NFTFi, it includes lending protocol Taker Protocol and ParaSwap launched by Parallel Finance, among others.
Game
–Cocos-BCX
Cocos-BCX was launched in 2017 with the aim of creating a multi-platform game operating environment to provide convenience for blockchain game developers and help the development of games through incubation, investment, and IGO.
–StarSharks
StarSharks is a blockchain game with a main element of sharks. It announced at the end of 2021 that it had completed a $4.8 million private funding round with participation from Binance Labs and others.
Social
–Mask Network
Mask Network positions itself as a gateway for the transition from Web2 to Web3, and has gradually transformed into an investor and builder of Web3 infrastructure. In early 2021, it completed a $3 million financing led by DCG. In July 2022, Mask Network’s venture capital department Bonfire Union raised $42 million, with participation from Digital Currency Group, Alameda Research, Binance, Animoca Brands, Protocol Labs, Arweave, etc.
–TwitterScan
TwitterScan, a DID social platform, announced in September 2022 the closing of a $4.56 million financing led by Redpoint Ventures.
Other related projects include Beam + Lab, CrossSpace, SO-COL, and more.
Metaverse
-The Sandbox
The Sandbox is a metaverse game based on Ethereum; its parent company is Animoca Brands and its token is SAND. Users can use Voxel and Game Maker tools to build scenes and earn money on 166,464 pieces of land. The iOS version was released in 2012, and in January 2022 The Sandbox closed a financing of $359 million, valued at more than 5 billion US dollars.
–Highstreet
Highstreet is a business-centric metaverse with the dual token mechanism of HIGH and STREET, launched on Binance Launchpool in November 2021. In October 2021, Highstreet completed a seed funding round led by Binance and Animoca Brands. Highstreet CEO announced a partnership with Asian Superstar Jay Chou in a Twitter Space.
–Digination
Digination, a metaverse infrastructure platform, announced in November 2021 that it had completed a $2.4 million financing with participation from Longhash Ventures, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, and Huobi Ventures.
Institution
In recent years, flocks of Web3 investment institutions established or led by Chinese or overseas Chinese have emerged around the world, and part of traditional investment institutions have begun to pay attention to and invest in Web3 companies or projects. The “smart money” from the East has gradually become the driving force for the development of the Web3 world.
According to the previous “Informal Crypto VC Industry Panorama Report”(https://foresightnews.pro/article/detail/13095), the total number of institutions in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore (majorly established by the Chinese) was 374. European, American, Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian institutions registered in Singapore excluded, there remain over 300 investment, asset management, and custody institutions controlled or led by the Chinese.
Among them, investment institutions incorporate HashKey, LD Capital, SevenX Ventures, Foresight Ventures, IOSG, Fenbushi Capital, Dragonfly, etc., while asset management or custody institutions include Cobo, Matrixport, etc.
Content Platform
There exist numerous high-quality centralized and decentralized content platforms in the Web3 Chinese space, including Foresight News, BlockBeat, Odaily, PANews, Wushuo Blockchain, DeepChain Finance, Babbitt, Jinse Finance, ChainCatcher, MarsBit and so on.
In addition to the above-mentioned content platforms, there is also ReadON, a $2 million decentralized information delivery platform led by SevenX Ventures, which was announced in August 2022.
Mining
In cryptocurrency mining field, in addition to the well-known mining machine manufacturers Bitmain, Canaan Technology, and Yibang International, there have recently emerged mining service providers BitFuFu and Bitdeer founded by Wu Jihan after he left Bitmain.
Tool
Wallet
–BitKeep
BitKeep is a Web3 multi-chain wallet. It announced in May 2022 that it had completed a $15 million Series A financing led by Dragonfly at a valuation of $100 million.
-TokenPocket
TokenPocket is a self-custody multi-chain wallet that supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Tron, Polygon, Solana, Heco, Klaytn, Avalanche, OKC, Fantom, Polka and more.
In addition to the above, wallets also include imToken, which closed a $30 million financing in 2021, MATH Wallet, and mainstream hardware wallets OneKey, Keystone, Ballet, etc.
Data Analysis
–DeBank
DeBank is a data platform that integrates functions such as wallet asset monitoring, DeFi and NFT data statistics, which announced the completion of a $25 million financing led by Sequoia China at the end of 2021.
-Footprint
Footprint is a blockchain data analysis platform, received a $1.5 million seed round funding led by IOSG Ventures and a $2.65 million Seed + round led by Matrix Partners respectively in January and May 2022.
In addition to the above tools, there are NFT data platforms NFTGo and NFTScan, which are often used by NFT investors, as well as on-chain analysis tools Lookonchain and 0xScope Protocol.
Others
-EthSign
EthSign is a decentralized electronic protocol signing platform, which announced in March 2022 the completion of a $12 million financing led by Sequoia Capital India and Mirana Ventures.
There are also ratings, data analysis and content platform Token Insight, and Web3 online education infrastructure DeSchool.
DAO
DAO was once considered to be one of the next magnets in the Web3 space, but management issues such as how to manage DAOs and motivate DAO members are yet to be settled. The Chinese at home and abroad have actively explored DAO, relevant projects and organizations including SeeDAO, Plancker DAO, GreenPill CN, DAOSquare, Dora Factory, Builder DAO, WhoKnows DAO, Research DAO, Type V DAO, 7 UP DAO, Brand3DAO, bfrenzDAO, LegalDAO, Redline DAO, THUBA DAO, 321DAO, 0x0cryptoDAO, Real Player DAO, BitDAO, WaMo Summer, moleDAO.
Community
Compared with the more “decentralized” DAO, community is a relatively centralized concept, which, yet of a traditional model, boasts such advantages as efficiency and convenient management. Domestic Web3 communities include PrimitivesLane, SECBIT Labs, Rebase, DApp Learning, 3ww3, BTC Study, HKUST Web3 Labs, First.vip, DoraHacks, Moonshot Commons, TinTinLand, etc.
Security
With immature technology, security remains the top priority of all Web3 projects. Companies that escort the Web3 voyage through the digital ocean include PeckShield, SlowMist, Beosin, Beijing Chainsguard, Bitrace, etc.
Web3 Non-Native
In addition to the above mentioned Web3 projects, companies, institutions, communities, etc., there are a large number of Web3 non-natives also seeking entrance into Web3, and the areas explored include consortium blockchains, metaverses, and so on.
–XMOV
Founded in 2018, XMOV is a Metaverse technology company with Computer Graphics and AI technology as the core. On April 6, 2022, it completed the C round financing of $130 million.
–NEXT GENERATION
Founded in 2016, NEXT GENERATION created the first live-action + animation interactive drama “DRAMAHOLIC” in China in 2018, and officially entered the metaverse space. NEXT GENERATION has created an industry benchmark case of star and personal virtual IP linkage. In February 2023, it completed the A ++ round of financing, with a total network traffic exceeding 2 billion, and nearly 20 brand and platform partners.
–PICO
Pico brand was established in March 2015, aims its main market at C-end users, committed to VR research and development, virtual reality content and application construction, and virtual reality software and hardware product release. In September 2021, PICO was officially merged into ByteDance, and established ByteDance XR Line of Business on the basis of the original business. In June 2022, PICO established copyright content cooperation with six major Hollywood film companies.
–VeeR
Founded in 2016, VeeR is committed to creating a global, high-quality immersive entertainment platform.
Its core line of business includes VeeR global VR content platform, zero space VR cinema and VR film studio VeeR Studio.
Relevant domestic companies include Hyperchain, Deepoon, Insta360, Ftsino Digital Technology, Sui Guang Technology, Lingdi Style3D, LNCIN, XVERSE, BUD, ZEGO, cocafe, Baidu, China Telecom, Tencent, Huawei, Alibaba, ByteDance, NetEase, China Mobile, Ant Group, Digital Kingdom, HKUST iFLYTEK, Bilibili, Goerstock, Xiaomi, BOE, iQIYI, BlueFocus, Weimei Hologram, Tianxiaxiu, China Unicom, SenseTime TechnologyShanghai Raypai Photonic Crystal, Tiandi Online, Inspur Group, LANYUN, CITIC Group, Yinguniverse, Leke VR, KUANDU Network, RED, MetaCJ, Culture&Tech, Huya, etc.