Japan PM Vouches to Usher in Web3 Era with Faith in Upcoming Internet Transformation

PM Kishida took the opportunity at the WebX conference to express his faith that Web3 would bring in solutions of several social issues along with itself.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Richa Sharma | Updated: 26 July 2023 16:11 IST

Japan PM Vouches to Usher in Web3 Era with Faith in Upcoming Internet Transformation

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ Roméo A

Japan has the third largest video gaming market in the world

Highlights

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Japan is pitching itself as the next big hotspot to incubate Web3 projects, revolving around cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, blockchain gaming, and the metaverse. Despite regulatory uncertainty and the element of volatility linked to the sector, Japan is ready to host players working in the Web3 industry. Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, has expressed his excitement about the upcoming transformation of Internet as we know and use today. Web3 is the next iteration of the Internet, which will largely rely on blockchain networks rather than traditional data servers.

“Web3 is part of the new form of capitalism,” Kishida reportedly said in his keynote address for the WebX conference in Tokyo, Japan.

The country is looking to generate employment numbers to help its citizens, as well as its economy, via Web3 projects.

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Kishida took the opportunity at the WebX conference to express his faith in Web3 to bring in solutions of several social issues along with itself.

Here live at @WebX_Asia and @JPN_PMO Fumio Kishida just stated that Web3 is "the new form of capitalism".

While the West continues to antagonize blockchain companies, Asia is welcoming us in with their arms wide open.

In Asia, the future is bright for crypto! pic.twitter.com/eZ9puYdzoR
— Yves La Rose (@BigBeardSamurai) July 25, 2023

The crypto market has been showing an accelerating movement in terms of adoption for the last three years.

As of the end of 2022, the number of active crypto asset accounts in Japan was estimated to have reached around 3.72 million, up from 3.21 million recorded in 2021.

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In terms of NFT and metaverse-friendly sector and video gaming, Japan holds a significant share.

Japan is the third biggest market in the video gaming industry behind the US and China. Japan's video game market accounts for 16 percent of the global market size, as per Statista.

Infact, over 55 percent of the global gaming community resides in Asia. The continent contributes over $72 billion (roughly Rs. 5,88,230 crore) in annual gaming revenue.

A recent Chainalysis report also highlighted that in the second quarter of 2022, 58 percent of web traffic from Asian nations to crypto services was NFT-related. Another 21 percent traffic was related to play-to-earn blockchain games.

Hence, it does not seem like an unnatural decision for Japan to provide support for the up-and-coming Web3 industry.

Earlier in April, Bitget, a Seychelles-based crypto exchange, decided to provide $100 million (roughly Rs. 819 crore) in the Asian Web3 market.

Last year in May, Kishida had said that Japan would develop and foster a promotional environment for Web3, blockchain, NFTs, and the metaverse.

As per the Japanese authorities, crypto technology in itself is not to be blamed for risking the financial stability of crypto investors. Rather, it's the lack of rules governing the sector that has not been able to make the sector safe to engage with.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Japan, Web3, Metaverse, Crypto, NFT

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More