The week which began with the buzz of TOKEN2049 in Singapore is now gearing up for the Formula 1 weekend. Just a stone’s throw from the heart of the action, we sat down with Sam Seo, the Chairman of the Kaia Foundation, in his downtown Singapore office.
Despite the high-octane atmosphere outside, the conversation was firmly focused on the issues faced in the blockchain and Web3 space today, from the technical challenges of decentralized platforms to the human hurdles—namely, how to make Web3 accessible to everyday users who might still be intimidated by the technology.
We also discussed which trends he believes are promising and which are overhyped. As Web3 pioneers look to onboard the next billion users, we learned how Kaia is breaking down barriers to mass adoption.
Sam’s entry into Web3 and its evolution
How did you end up in Web3?
“I was originally a computer scientist, I did a PhD in computer science, basically doing pure research until 2017.
I worked as a research engineer at a company but, in 2017, people went crazy about ICOs and blockchain. At the time, we didn’t really use the term Web3. The defining moment was when one of my friends asked me about cryptocurrencies, which led me to read up and sparked my interest in it.”
A friend’s inquiry about digital tokens led Sam to read Bitcoin’s white paper. What started as a favor for a friend quickly turned into a fascination. The Bitcoin paper introduced him to the philosophy of decentralization, ownership, and the technical brilliance behind blockchain systems.
That was the beginning which opened the door to a broader exploration. Sam mentioned that he began participating in hackathons and other events that brought him closer to blockchain core development.
“It was 2018 and one of the IT companies in South Korea, Kakao, started their blockchain platform called Klaytn, and they were looking for engineers and other talents from different areas. And I applied, and then I joined the Klaytn team. Yes. That was the 2018.”
He steadily rose through the ranks, from protocol engineer to CTO, eventually becoming the Director. Fast forward to today, Sam is the Chairman of Kaia Foundation, a position he took on after Klaytn merged with another blockchain platform, Finschia.
What are the most unexpected ways that you’ve seen your technology being used?
“In the age of people rapidly issuing tokens and NFTs, most of everything is related to speculative assets, but in terms of adoption, and I mean real adoption, it still isn’t really part of everyday life.”
“People using crypto assets for purchase and payments, but the blockchain is capable of much more than that and should rise above the assets itself,” he added.
Of course, the assets are the core part of blockchain technology, Sam asserted and stressed on the point that we need real-life use cases in our lives.
“With Kaia, what we are trying to solve is the adoption problem of Web3 technology, through integration with existing channels like Kakao or LINE Messenger.”
In Sam’s words, the key to unlocking true Web3 mass adoption lies in creating a seamless end-user experience. Despite the continued growth of digital tokens and decentralized applications (dApps), the technical barriers are still too high for average users. There is complexity surrounding private keys and seed phrases, and the ever-present risk of scams deters many from fully engaging with blockchain ecosystems.
“So Kaia does like to lower the barrier and hurdles for normal users, but how can you do that?” Sam asked rhetorically, “Our approach is, as mentioned earlier, to leverage the existing, very familiar and comfortable environment of messengers. By connecting these messengers to Web 3, we are going to bring Web 2 users to Web 3 – and this is just the beginning.”
What a smart way to allow users to get familiar with Web3.
Bringing Web3 to the masses and asset tokenization
After a brief discussion about Web3 adoption, we asked Sam about some trends he considered most promising and those he thought were overhyped.
Sam pointed out that the economic opportunities created by tokens, whether through ICOs, NFTs, or meme coins, have been a consistent driver of innovation. However, at the heart of these trends is the community’s incentive system.
“Trends are basically types of implementation.”
According to him, Web3 is fundamentally about communities, and how they are built, motivated, and rewarded. In his view, the incentive structures that underpin these communities are the core innovation of Web3.
In a work where everything is tokenized, we asked Sam what kind of token Kaia would need to launch for its users.
He identified two primary categories: pure digital tokens and real-world asset tokens. While digital tokens, including cryptocurrencies and NFTs which represent a large portion of current blockchain applications are much more prevalent, Sam also saw immense value in tokenizing real-world assets.
“I see the value of the real world asset tokens because they have intrinsic value behind the tokens”.
By representing assets like real estate, gold, or even ships on the blockchain, Kaia can provide users with greater liquidity and accessibility to traditionally illiquid assets.
In Sam’s view, the future of blockchain will be driven by a combination of these two types of tokens. Digital tokens offer innovation and experimentation, while real-world asset tokens provide stability and intrinsic value. Kaia aims to create a balanced and strong ecosystem that appeals to a wide range of users and investors.
Are we ready with low-code solutions?
We got a full view of tokenization and digital assets categorization so far. Now was the time to see how Kaia looks at low code and no code solutions playing a role in the metaverse or in onboarding the next 1 billion users as a whole.
“In terms of adoption of technology, the low code environment is really critical for reducing the technical barriers for developers, allowing faster development and better integration with platforms like metaverse environments.”
This kicked our mind to ask what Kaia would love to build if gas fees weren’t a thing in Web3.
Sam had a very interesting answer to this, he said “One feature that I want to build on Kaia is gas abstraction.” On top of this, he mentioned, “Kaia already provides gas delegation features.”
Gas delegation means Web3 service providers on Kaia can pay the gas fee on behalf of the user, allowing users to enjoy their services without having to pay gas fees.”
But there is another approach to it that Kaia is thinking about. Sam added, “What if we can also allow the users to pay gas fees with other tokens? That was the main question that we had, and then, we designed the mechanism that will enable this feature and will be working to implement it.”
“Gas abstraction will be built and launched in the near future further to streamline the Kaia user experience for mainstream adoption.”
Why Kaia?
But how does Kaia tackle the challenges?
“The biggest challenge that Web3 is facing now is user onboarding.”
The technology is advancing rapidly, with innovations in Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions, zk-rollups, and more, but the UX of Web3 platforms still leaves much to be desired.
In his words,” The UX problem is the most challenging one for normal users because people are sometimes scared about the cryptos and the interface. We have to improve the UX if we ever hope to onboard the rest of the world.
By creating user-friendly interfaces and addressing security concerns, the industry can attract more users and drive the widespread adoption of the ecosystem.
Can’t agree more with Sam on this. After this topic we mentioned how Telegram is growing its existence in the industry using the TON network. We asked if there is a chance that Kaia has a similar relationship with Kakao and KakaoTalk or any other ambitions of the same way.
“We are also inspired by what Telegram and TON are doing.”
“We saw how they utilize Telegram to onboard more users and to give a convenient or simplified UX for users. Coincidentally,, we are also planning to launch a very similar feature called Mini Dapps.” He added Mini Dapps online will be launched soon, hopefully within this year.
“With LINE messenger we can also do the same thing with KakaoTalk. We’ll be working on this Mini Dapp environment inside LINE messenger, with the first Mini Dapps launching hopefully in November this year.”
Clash of Super apps?
Just like how Elon Musk is trying to build his super app, do you see the nearest future as the clash of super apps? We curiously asked Sam.
He replied, “Super apps tend to gain widespread adoption in many countries, so it only makes sense to leverage them to drive Web 3 adoption.”
“For me, super apps would be the most promising environment for Web 3 and its adoption. Platforms like LINE, Kakao, or other messengers would be attracting more users and then would be providing a convenient environment.”
Written by Yaroslav Belkin and Ashish Kumar
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/web3-adoption-super-apps-kaia-sam-seo/