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“Web3 can be dubbed the new land of opportunity,” writes BFF contributor Janey Park.
As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, it’s important to recognize the exceptional builders who are capitalizing on this opportunity to influence the digital landscape in beneficial ways. Earlier in the month, we hosted a Twitter Space in which Park and Goldfinch head of community, Po On Yeung, spoke of their experiences championing AAPI voices in Web3.
“Web 3 is a landscape where it's really about community,” said Park, who is Korean-American and has lived in Hong Kong, China, Macau and South Korea collectively for over 10 years. She noted that Web3’s collective-first philosophy aligns with her experience of most Asian cultures, particularly when contrasted with what she described as more individualistic cultural values of Westernized countries.
“A general perspective is that Western culture is a lot more individualistic, whereas Asian culture is a lot more collective,” she said. “There's an Asian proverb that says that all nails should be the same height. If one is taller than the other, then it will be nailed down.”
However, Park has learned the art of self-promotion while still balancing her belief in the value of collectivism. “I really do believe that everyone has a voice,” she said. “They have something valuable that we can all learn from.”
As she rises in Web3, Park believes in lifting others: “If I have a come up, I'm taking everyone with me who I know are good people … and we’re going along for the ride together.”
This month, we celebrate AAPI builders, artists and professionals creating lasting value in Web3. Ahead, click the link to read Park's non-exhaustive list of AAPI powerhouses you definitely need to know.
Read More On BFF Discover: 10 AAPI Art And Fashion Powerhouses To Know In Web3
Boss Beauties boss up with Barbie. Our friends at Boss Beauties announced an exciting partnership with the iconic fashion doll brand. Designed to celebrate the 250 careers represented in the Barbie line, the You Can Be Anything collection officially launched on May 18. Check out these beautiful NFTs!
Meta goes open source—with a catch. The internet giant publicly released its underlying AI technology to academics and researchers who shared their email addresses with the company.
Could Ledger leak? The hardware wallet maker came under fire after publishing an update enabling users to back up their private keys for recovery if lost.
WTF is up with Worldcoin? The controversial crypto identity company (backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman) is thiiiiis close to raising $100 million for an eyeball scanner that’s meant to prove you’re not a robot — but it sounds a little Black Mirror.
From wallet maker to crypto detective. The first Ethereum wallet maker, Taylor Monahan, dove into the mysterious $10 million hack that’s been slowly draining ETH from crypto OGs since December.
Don’t do PEPE like that. Coinbase prompted backlash from memecoin fans after acknowledging Pepe the Frog’s history as a hate symbol co-opted by alt-right groups and citing the Anti-Defamation League’s view on the meme — a conversation that goes back to 2015.
Chamber of Commerce to the rescue. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and defended Coinbase, arguing the SEC’s lack of regulatory clarity is causing economic harm.
This NFT artist stays grounded in crypto's wild west. BFF contributor Liya Dashinka spotlighted Joy Chiang’s journey from physical to digital artmaking.
Google to watermark AI-generated images. In what some criticize as an inadequate effort to combat plagiarism and misinformation, the company announced during the May 10 developer conference it will embed a discreet identifier in images that are 100% AI-generated.
Skyteller, a crypto off-ramp solution born from a group of crypto-loving friends, including Founding BFF Gauri Sharma, is offering BFF community members early access to its allowlist. Read about Skyteller and get on the list.
Media entrepreneur Shira Lazar spoke to journalist Rachel Wolfson about mental health in a recent episode of Web3 Deep Dive.
TYB founder Tyler Haney spoke to Cointrust about her new partnership with the non-alcoholic aperitivo brand Figlia.
Inspired Capital founder and managing partner Alexa von Tobel wrote an important article for Fast Company on why profitability should drive leadership in today’s economic climate.
Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz spoke to Entrepreneur about embracing your roots.
BeautyCounter founder and CEO Gregg Renfrew spoke to BeautyInc about her role in the clean beauty revolution.
Our Place co-founder Shiza Shahid was featured on The Cut’s In Her Shoes podcast, where she spoke about the importance of representation in the culinary industry.
Thanks for reading! We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to let us know what you think of this newsletter and what you’d like to see from it in the future by emailing hello@mybff.com.
🚨 This newsletter and all the information in it does not constitute financial advice. If you don’t want to invest money or time in Web3, you don’t have to. As always: Do your own research.
Megan DeMatteo is BFF's Editorial Partner.
