Ciara Sun on Building Web3 Beyond the Hype

Ciara Sun believes that Asia will grow to be the worldwide hub for blockchain innovation, with Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia main in expertise, regulatory readability, and adoption. On this interview, the Founder and Managing Associate of C² Ventures discusses key Web3 traits, the significance of interoperability, how she balances threat with development in early-stage investments, and why execution issues greater than hype when constructing profitable tasks.

Are you able to introduce your self and inform us about your journey into Web3?

Previous to founding C² Ventures, I used to be Head of Itemizing, Investments, World Markets, and Institutional Enterprise at Huobi, a world alternate. I joined crypto full-time in late 2017 and have actually loved my journey in Web3 since then.

What traits in Web3 growth excite you essentially the most proper now?

I believe the large image is that Web3 and blockchain have gotten invisible to customers whereas turning into native to capital markets. A number of areas stand out. For instance, firms in public markets that concentrate on digital asset sharing are gaining enormous reputation and a spotlight. Listed entities at the moment are accumulating crypto on their steadiness sheets.

Now we have portfolio firms like BNC, which is constructing a BNB sharing program as a NASDAQ issuer, in addition to a number of Bitcoin-sharing firms. In Hong Kong, there’s 1732, and in Korea, Sora Ventures is selling a Bitcoin-heavy sharing mannequin throughout Asia. All of this brings crypto into fairness capital markets.

As well as, areas like RWAs and information primitives—comparable to tokenized funds and dependable information feeds—have gotten essential. For instance, our portfolio firm World Liberty Monetary is innovating on this area.

In additional crypto-native areas, we see sturdy traits in interoperability, liquidity, and messaging. The long run goes to be multi-chain and cross-chain, with cross-chain intents, bridges, and safe messaging and settlement protocols—like what LayerZero and Axelar are constructing—persevering with to play a crucial function.

We additionally see the rise of agent marketplaces, user-owned information networks, and high-risk engines comparable to choices and rate of interest infrastructure. Collectively, these make Web3 extra AI-assisted, chain-invisible, and accessible to public markets.

How do you steadiness early-stage funding threat with the necessity for sustainable development?

That’s an excellent query. We steadiness early-stage threat with sustainable development utilizing particular instruments and measurements in relation to releasing capital. We regularly launch capital in milestones tied to outcomes comparable to testnets or energetic person development.

We underwrite each go-to-market methods and technical growth, and we additionally assist ecosystem grants, creator funnels, alternate and accomplice entry. We instrument unit economics early, taking a look at retention, price to serve, share of income high quality, and liquidity metrics.

We choose to go “token final,” utilizing progressive decentralization gated by actual utilization, and we require 24 to 30 months of runway plus sturdy threat controls, comparable to multi-venue liquidity audits and incident playbooks from day one.

How essential is interoperability in your funding thesis, and the way do you see it evolving?

It’s extraordinarily essential. Capital and customers are inherently multi-chain. DeFi TVL, which at the moment sits round $147 billion, and stablecoins—about $277 billion on-chain—must movement seamlessly throughout apps and chains.

That’s why safe bridges, intents, and cross-chain messaging will stay dominant. We’ve backed cross-chain infrastructure like LayerZero, Axelar, and Orderly.

On the app stage, we additionally see interoperability turning into crucial. Options like sensible logins, session keys, and routing actions to the most effective venue—whereas guaranteeing compliance—are going to matter rather a lot. Stablecoins are additionally forming crucial settlement rails. For instance, our portfolio challenge USD1 has expanded past EVM to Tron and different chains to assist cross-border settlements aligned with rising requirements.

In your expertise, what differentiates a profitable Web3 challenge from one which fails to achieve traction?

Traction comes from product reality and disciplined execution, not simply token hype. Many tasks launch with pleasure however fail to achieve actual product traction.

Groups that ship quick and persistently, with sturdy token design that rewards contributors and sustains circulation, are more likely to succeed. For instance, a few of our portfolio firms are decreasing flows and including ongoing spending mechanisms to bolster worth.

Flexibility can be crucial. Founders must pivot rapidly, perceive market match, and foster a powerful staff tradition. Groups that combine information and group suggestions early achieve an actual edge on this market.

Which areas maintain essentially the most untapped potential for blockchain innovation?

We’re very bullish on Asia. Expertise and regulatory readability are shifting eastward. In East Asia, Japan and Korea are main in premium IP and gaming, with regulatory enhancements as nicely. Japan’s “recreation of likelihood” tradition is big, whereas Korea contributes massively to each derivatives and spot buying and selling volumes.

Southeast Asia additionally holds large potential, with sturdy developer communities and mobile-first shoppers driving adoption. A lot of our portfolio firms are seeing vital person inflows from these areas.

How do you incorporate regulatory traits into your funding technique with out stifling innovation?

We construction for optionality. Sometimes, we begin with fairness SAFEs and solely add a token when utility and jurisdictional readability are achieved. We additionally design entity and tech setups with compliance in thoughts from the beginning.

My expertise operating international markets at Huobi taught me the significance of adapting to various jurisdictions. We favor progressive decentralization—shifting governance and operations on-chain as product-market match hardens. We additionally interact with regulators by way of sandboxes and encourage third-party audits to handle dangers earlier than scaling.

What qualities in a founding staff make you assured to speculate past simply the product concept?

Execution beats narrative. Founders should present resilience, adaptability, and robust distribution capabilities from day one. We search for native ecosystem builders with enterprise growth muscle, monetary self-discipline, and good threat administration practices.

Many profitable firms on this market pivoted a number of occasions earlier than discovering the fitting product-market match. Founders who study quick, ship sooner, and earn belief are those we again.

How do you see the present bear and bull cycles affecting early-stage Web3 funding?

Cycles positively have an effect on pricing and tempo, however not our requirements. The worldwide crypto market cap is now near $4 trillion, with $277 billion in stablecoins. Liquidity is selective, rounds transfer rapidly, and valuations stretch.

We reply by tightening choice and linking funding milestones to precise progress. Throughout bear markets, pricing improves and expertise deepens, which advantages disciplined builders. Institutional flows, like US spot BTC ETFs posting multi-billion month-to-month inflows, have gotten the actual swing issue.

Public market adoption can be widening. For instance, BNC disclosed that almost 300k BTC was in custody, serving to catalyze Asia’s Bitcoin adoption. These dynamics are creating persistent new demand channels. Good firms are in-built bear markets, so we plan for each cycles.

What function will AI play in shaping the subsequent era of blockchain-based functions?

AI is already including actual traction. Web3 platforms now serve thousands and thousands of customers. For instance, Masks Community has over 200 million customers, and its decentralized compute infrastructure is onboarding enterprise-grade GPUs.

I’m optimistic about the way forward for AGI, although we’re nonetheless in a consolidation section the place massive fashions are being refined. Within the close to time period, I see AI performing as a UX and coordination layer for Web3, making interactions less complicated and extra seamless.

How do you measure the impression and success of your incubation efforts past monetary returns?

For us, incubation is about compounding compatibility, not simply valuation. We measure transport high quality—like launch timelines, bug charges, and safety governance. We additionally have a look at open-source contributions, ecosystem partnerships, and founder growth, comparable to time-to-hire for key roles.

Lengthy-term investor high quality and strategic alignment matter as a lot as monetary outcomes.

The place do you see C² Ventures in 5 years, and what’s your imaginative and prescient for shaping Web3?

We wish to stay builder-first and be a trusted accomplice from concept to scale. Our purpose is to ship platformized assist by way of repeatable playbooks that assist founders navigate token design, safety, development, and compliance.

We additionally wish to function the bridge from APAC to the worldwide stage, connecting East and West, and turning Asia’s developer and IP base into international distribution energy. One other purpose is to drive stablecoin adoption and interoperability, making Web3 invisible but highly effective for customers.

The submit Ciara Sun on Building Web3 Beyond the Hype appeared first on Metaverse Post.