Neo APAC Hackathon Hong Kong Finale at Cyberport
The Neo APAC Hackathon culminated its four-month journey of events across the region with a grand finale in Hong Kong. The two-day event ran from October 27th to 28th and was hosted at Cyberport, a pivotal hub in Hong Kong’s Web3 evolution. More than 50 guest speakers from the Hong Kong government, local universities, and leading Web3 companies gathered at the hackathon finale to foster innovation. All 22 teams shortlisted from the previous five City GAS Stations and online submissions converged to present their projects, competing for the ultimate prize. The event attracted more than 500 attendees eager to be part of the excitement.
Key highlights from the event follow.
Johnny Ng Kit-chong, Member of CPPCC and Hong Kong Legislative Council, kicked off the “HK Web3 Evolution” event emphasizing the significance of the Web3 community’s role in creating tangible applications that enhance people’s lives. He expressed his excitement about hearing the new ideas and innovations presented at this year’s event.
Ben El-Baz, Head of Ecosystems at HashKey Group, delved into the intricacies of how Web3 has the potential to enable “the tradability of everything.”
John Wang, Head of Neo Eco-Growth, and Caspar Wong Chun-long, CEO of Web3Labs, officially signed to launch the “Web3.0 Global Acceleration Program,” witnessed by Neo Founder Da Hongfei and Jack Kong, Founder of Nano Labs.
As the highlight of the event, Da Hongfei took the stage to deliver his keynote speech. Here he revisited Neo’s journey to date and unveiled a new chapter — a groundbreaking EVM-compatible sidechain with an MEV-resistant feature.
Released details about the Neo sidechain, named Neo X in collaboration with the community, can be found here.
The event continued with four panel discussions covering topics such as Hong Kong’s Web3 future and its regulatory landscape, diverse approaches to Web3 development across Asian countries, and the significance of incubation programs in advancing the cause.
(The morning session of the first day’s event was live streamed on YouTube and is available on demand here.)
On the morning of October 28th, King Leung, Head of Financial Services and Fintech at InvestHK, emphasized three key advantages for individuals pursuing a career in Web3 in Hong Kong: favorable visa policies, access to top-tier university talents, and a thriving open economy.
Following this were the keynote speech by Adrian Lai, Founder and Managing Partner at Newman Capital, and panel discussions on security and privacy in the Web3 sphere, the development of virtual assets in Hong Kong, and the potential of Real World Assets (RWA).
In the afternoon session of the second day, all 22 shortlisted teams presented their projects. Five of them won the final big prize for the five tracks, and one team won the Neo Star prize for college participants. To learn more about the winning teams, click here.
In the closing remarks, Duncan Chiu Tat-kun, Member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, extended a warm welcome to Web3 projects. He emphasized that in Hong Kong, the financial center of Asia, there’s much more to explore. Da Hongfei echoed these sentiments, expressing gratitude to all who joined the event and highlighting that this marks the beginning of Neo’s Hong Kong journey.
Second Neo Community Assembly to Map the Future
Following the Neo APAC Hackathon Finale and the 7th anniversary of the Neo MainNet Launch, Neo brought together core developers, leaders of developer communities, and some community representatives for the second Neo Community Assembly (NCA) in Hong Kong at the end of October. Here, they held intensive discussions and planning regarding the newly announced sidechain and the future of Neo.
Web3 Halloween Night at Lan Kwai Fong
Neo wrapped up the series of events in Hong Kong with a chance for all participants to unwind at a Halloween-themed after-party at the California Building, Nan Kwai Fong. Neo co-hosted the party in collaboration with Cyberport, OKX Web3, Animoca Ventures, and more. In another real-world use case for NFTs, OKX Web3 partnered with Neo to issue NFT tickets for the event.
