Embrace Web 3, The New Internet and Support Hive: Attended BULL OR BEAR PHILIPPINE WEB 3 GRAND DEBATE AT AYALA CENTER MALL, CEBU

“If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.”-Lyndon B. Johnson, Former President of the United States of America

When sr @ybanezkim26 sent us the link of an invitation to the BULL OR BEAR event, without any doubt I accepted the invitation and commit myself to attend the said event. I also convinced @ciadanmea and the rest of my co-hive friends here in our school about this matter. Luckily, I received positive feedback from @jobeliever and @ciadanmea, and with her help, I was able to register and got a ticket. On the other hand, @callmesmile was also interested in the event and she has a ticket already. When she heard that the event will start at 5 pm, she decided not to attend because she has a baby who needs her care and attention at night. I don’t have any idea about how the event would go about. The words debate and hive are the two keywords that gave me a clue about the said event. It was held at Ayala Malls, Central Bloc, Cebu City last July 15, 2023. The venue is quite far from our hometown since we were from the Northern part of Cebu. Our eagerness and curiosity made us decide to attend the event.

Were very excited to attend the event and what was it all bout. So even if it cost much of our travel and we were tired of our graduation ceremony before the day of the event, we pursue attending to learn something about Web 3. The event was organized by Bitskwela, Co-presented by GCash and Blockceler8 in partnership with DBuzz, Bitget, Tekkon, and CoinW Philippines. This was sponsored by Philippines Airlines, Ayala Malls Central Bloc, and Sphera Solutions.

We arrived at the mall at exactly 4:00 pm but since it was not yet 5:00, we strolled first the mall and look for something to snack on. We also wait for @jobeliever to come inside the mall. We went to the venue by exactly 5:15 pm. Together with @selflessgem and @ciadanmea, we presented our screenshots ticket to the Bitskwela personnel as the event organizer upon entering the venue. We had an opportunity to take photos with them as souvenirs. They were all kind and accommodating. Then we got inside, and look for @indayclara, sr @ybanezkim26, @intoy.bugoy, and @glecerioberto.Then we found them finally, and they were all seated already on their respective chairs. I was surprised because there were many participants. Many videographers and photographers. Cameras here and there! We saw a group of men wearing hive t-shirts too. As we approached them we learned that they were from @dbuzz together with the co-founder of the community, @nathansenn, one of the debator together with Kenny Owano or @kenny.rogers, Paul Jones or @pj.entrepreneur and the other members of their team.

We had an opportunity to have a photo with them as our co-Hivers. We enjoyed talking with each other while waiting for @indayclara and sr @ybanezkim26 and @intoy.bugoy to come back to our seats, since they took a snack for a while, we approached the table of @dbuzz and had a chance to meet and greet with them. I received a T-shirt and stickers from them too. Sr @nathansenn discussed and introduced their microblogging community and Splinterland games. When we came back to our respective seats, we found out that it was already occupied. Therefore, we don’t have any choice but to sit in front, not knowing that the one in front of us was the president of the Blockchain Council Philippines, Sr Donald Lim.

In a few minutes, the event started. It was moderated by the brilliant and expert host Miss Kish Morales. It started with the singing of the Philippine National Anthem followed by the welcome message from DICT Director IV, Industry Development Bureau, Mam Emmy Lou Delfin, and other special messages from Congressman EDU Rama representative, DICT Cebu, Engr. Roydean Rusiana. Mam Emmy emphasized the adoption of Web 3 in the Philippines. To acquire adequate knowledge of Web 3 here in our country she encouraged every participant to have an open mind and participate in the discussion.

According to her we already graduated from Web 1 and Web 2 like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and others. Now it’s time for us to embrace the digital transformation of the new Internet which is Web 3 in our society. The DICT team will have an advocacy to educate our fellowmen on the potential benefit of Web 3. However, we must be vigilant and cautious in adapting Web 3 to maintain its usability and beneficial effect on our society.

She added that our digital talent and experts are our valuable assets in this new transformation. Their skills and knowledge in ICT innovation were valuable in the proper education and dissemination of this new internet to society. Without their dedication, we may not evolve in this new Era of Technology. Web 1 and Web 2 were not properly and efficiently disseminated. There were issues and concerns about data privacy, ownership, and others. In this new digital society, proper education is vital. The power of Web 3 and its inclusion like financial inclusion, enhance communication, and development must be explained properly to the public.

After the welcome message was the discussion or the introduction of Web 3 by Aron Lay, the Core Contributor of Bitskwela, an independent Fund Manager, with 7 years of Trading experience, and graduated in Ateneo the Manila University. Bitskwela is a local crypto education company or the Bitskwela Academy, where they teach cryptocurrency to Filipinos so that they can empower and own a piece of the internet. He discussed that Web 3 is a decentralized internet, an ownership economy, and an internet that uses crypto in other words web 3 is the true digital internet and uses blockchain technology. He also explained what is cryptocurrency. According to him, crypto was derived from two words cryptography which means techniques of securing communication in the presence of destructive adversaries and actors, or hiding information and currency which means a medium of exchange or money and this is possible with blockchain technology. Blockchain is a digital ledger that stores and tries transactions about cryptocurrency. Blockchain is also viable for all miners.

The next person who talked was the CO-founder of Sphera Solutions, the founder of the Web 3 community in Cebu, and one of the founders of NFT, Raine Laluna. She talked about the WEB 3 scene and community in Cebu. She hopes that there will be another event like this about technology to inform the public about the transformation of the new Internet, Web 3. She wanted to expand the community who were already users of Web 3. As we talked together, she said, she wanted to track us to be a member of the community.

After the talk of Raine Laluna, the Co-founder of CoinW, Jearon Wong, discussed their company, followed by Bitget in the person of Jeffrey Saenz. CoinW and Bitget are competitors of Binance. These companies are the world’s leading crypto exchange companies and Digital Asset. The next presenter was from TekKon. Crypto Pareh talks about how Tekkon contributes to the adoption of Crypto in the Philippines. Tekkon is a Web 3 or an Earn to Fix. Next to Tekkon, the co-founder of the Dbuzz, Nathan Senn. He discussed Hive Ecosystem as the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency in Web 3. He emphasized Hive Ecosystem as the social media blogging platform. He said there were many apps in the Hive Ecosystem. This includes PeakD, Dbuzz,3speak, Splinterlands, and a lot more. He also explained the benefits of Hive.

After the discussion and presentation of different companies and platforms was the giving of giveaways, the bring me game. Those who can bring something asked will be given a free T-shirt from Bitskwela. Luckily, @jobeliever received the t-shirt, since she was very quick in giving the chair to the host. We had so much fun at that moment. After the giving of the giveaway was the DEBATE proper. The debaters were the following; Giu Comia, Content Creator, Ashley Sandoval, the creativepreneur, Donald Lim, Blockchain Council of the Philippines, Coach Miranda Miner, of Miner Group and Founder of Miranda University, the Crypto University, Tyrone Bretana, Tier One Alliance and Nathan Senn of Hive and Co-Founder of DBUZZ.

There were six questions given and they will explain their stands about the question if they were on the BULLIST side and the BEAREST side. But it was the audience who judge who win the debate by simply voting. The debate was just simply presenting ideas about the question for us to learn about. They were all experts in crypto and blockchain and we learned a lot from them. I never regret attending this event. Even if we traveled very far and spent a lot but the learnings we gained cant be paid for.

After the debate was a photo opportunity for each group. We had an opportunity with Sr Nathan Senn,
@pj.entrepreneur and his team and the rest of the hive ecosystem. We left the venue full of knowledge. Thanks to Sr @yabnezkim26 and @indayclara for sharing this opportunity with us. To my co-hivers@ @intoy.bugoy, @hapyoung @selflessgem, @ciadanmea,@jobeliver, and @glycerioberto, thanks for the time to bond for a short moment. Looking forward to another event and meet-up for more learnings and adventure. It was such an amazing moment for us since we had a short break of listening and watching our cell phones as to what reports we need to submit and felt worried about work matters.

That’s all for this event. I hope you learn something from this. Thank you and God bless us all.

Most of the photos were mine and some were taken from my co-participants.