Coin Market Watch × ABGA Kevin: When AI Becomes Web3's "Digital Twin," Mass Adoption Truly Begins

Over the past year, the primary market has cooled, GameFi has fizzled out, and fundraising has become more difficult. Many once-popular narratives have quickly fallen silent. However, at this very moment, ABGA, which was previously focused on Web3 Gaming, recently completed a brand upgrade: changing from the Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance to the AI Blockchain Global Alliance. Behind this change lies Kevin Shao's reassessment of the industry's next direction.

In this episode of "Crypto Market Watch," we spoke with Kevin Shao, founder of ABGA & ICC, about: When AI begins to enter Web3, what changes will occur in the next wave of truly large-scale applications? Why does he believe Web3 VCs haven't truly died? And, in today's rapidly changing world, how should an entrepreneur view cycles, opportunities, and long-termism.

Guest: Kevin Shao, Founder of ABGA & ICC

Host: yuanyuan, BitMart Marketing VP

(Link to this episode: https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episode/6a057f061b7bd50295231bee )

From "Asia Game" to "AI Global": The Industry Has Changed, and Organizations Must Change Too

In 2013, Kevin was inspired by Chang Jia's book "Bitcoin: A Real and Unreal Financial World." He got his first taste of the blockchain industry through mining, and later quit his traditional finance job to go all-in. As the Web3 ecosystem expanded, he gradually shifted from pure investment to work more focused on ecosystems and industry organizations – this was the starting point for founding ABGA.

When ABGA was first established, it coincided with the boom of GameFi and public chain ecosystems. At that time, Asia had a mature gaming industry foundation, so they used the "Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance" as an entry point, helping early-stage teams connect with capital and continuously hosting large-scale developer events during global blockchain conferences.

With ABGA's recent rebranding to the AI Blockchain Global Alliance, the most intuitive external reaction is that the track has changed, but Kevin sees it more as a logical completion. He believes that tech competition today is already global, and AI is massively unleashing productivity. Simply put: AI generates new intelligent agents, while blockchain solves the issues of trust, payment, and rights verification between these agents.

These two are not about one replacing the other; they are foundational technologies inherently meant to work together. The deep resources accumulated over the past few years will continue to help ABGA establish itself in Asia, connect globally, and reorganize resources within the new technological cycle.

Why AI Could Be the Next Driver for Web3

In Kevin's view, the "mass adoption" that Web3 has touted for years might not be driven by "humans" at all.

He stated directly in the conversation: "Agents belong to the blockchain, just as if they were born with the necessary skills." Wallet operations and on-chain interactions, which have a high barrier for average users, are merely code instructions meant to be executed automatically for an Agent.

Therefore, he believes that future Mass Adoption may not be directly driven by people. Humans face long cognitive hurdles in learning this technology, but when a person delegates most of their operations to their AI avatars, the blockchain becomes a natural underlying entry point. The real explosion of Web3 might not happen because average users learn to use wallets, but because the AI Agents behind us seamlessly handle all on-chain interactions for us.

At the same time, he is very focused on the combination of AI with finance and RWA. In fact, Kevin has been paying attention to STOs (tokenized securities) since 2019, but the industry environment wasn't mature then. Now, with stablecoins, RWAs, and traditional financial institutions re-entering the market, many things that didn't materialize back then are being validated again. For him, whether it's AI or RWA, both are long-term trends, not short-term hype.

Demystifying Investment: The Primary Market Was Never a Myth of Easy Profit

On the topic of "Web3 VCs are dead," Kevin, as an investor who has backed hundreds of projects, offers a different perspective.

He first argues that VCs shouldn't be categorized by "Web3." Although the primary market has indeed been very difficult in the past few years, with "not being able to invest nor exit" being the norm, he doesn't think the role of the VC has disappeared. On the contrary, he believes the industry is undergoing a "demystification" process. In the past, many people thought the primary market was easy, but after doing real long-term investing, one realizes that primary investing is an industry with a very high failure rate – 70% project failure is common. VC is essentially hard work that demands deep industry understanding and high resilience from its teams.

Kevin says he prefers to look at things that can survive cycles. For example, the evolution from STOs in 2019 to RWAs now shows that truly valuable technological directions don't disappear. The key is whether you can stick with it during the downturns.

Future Web3 Ecosystem: An Infrastructure Hidden in the Background

In Kevin's view, the future Web3 ecosystem will be very different from today. The current industry core is still "humans" conducting financial transactions on-chain, but in the future, AI Agents will become new participating entities. When Agents start handling complex transactions, executing tasks, and making automatic payments for people, the blockchain will gradually recede into the background, becoming a hidden infrastructure where AI handles all the complexity.

At the same time, DeFi will continue to evolve. Despite experiencing many bubbles, Kevin believes blockchain's value in the financial sector is real and irreversible. Whether it's stablecoins or on-chain finance, they will continue to grow, and the addition of AI will only accelerate the iteration speed of these systems.

Driven by Interest Matters More Than "Market Timing"

Throughout the conversation, Kevin repeatedly mentioned one word: Interest.

He is reluctant to label himself a "successful investor." For him, what matters more is whether he still has passion for this field. Wealth often involves an element of luck, but interest and passion determine whether a person can stay during the industry's quietest times.

When asked if he would advise young people today to go all-in on Web3 or AI, his answer was direct: "If you truly believe in it, go for it." Many opportunities emerge precisely when the industry is least active.

Just like the case he shared in the podcast: A friend who struggled with English and was overwhelmed by his three children's school emails used AI to solve a specific, nagging problem. It might not be a world-changing event, but it genuinely improved someone's life. This is precisely where the value of AI lies—it doesn't have to solve the grandest problems first; it enters each person's specific life first.

Conclusion

By the end of the conversation, you find that Kevin is not someone swayed by industry sentiment. He won't become overly optimistic because a certain track is hot, nor will he become pessimistic just because a bear market arrives.

In his view, both AI and Web3 are still in very early stages. Many things that seem unfeasible today might become commonplace in a few years due to a breakthrough in some technology node. What truly matters is not short-term price fluctuations, but your willingness to stay at the table, keep learning, and adapt to change.

Perhaps this is why, while many are discussing the "death of Web3 VCs," he chooses to continue deepening his work with ABGA. Because truly long-term opportunities are often born when the industry is at its quietest. The rest is up to time.

This episode was recorded on: April 28, 2026

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The opinions or views expressed in this column represent the personal stance of the guest speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of BitMart or its affiliates, nor should they be considered professional financial investment advice.

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