05/08/2026
"Basically change the way that people think and do." That is how Nicole Nguyen described what drew her to Web3 back in 2014, when the space was still, in her words, rather taboo.
More than a decade on, she runs APAC DAO from Ho Chi Minh City: 3,500+ members, 800+ projects, 25+ countries, and no gatekeeping or membership fees. We sat down with her to talk about where Web3 actually sits now, and why Southeast Asia is worth paying attention to.
A few things that stuck with us:
🔹 Web3 is not the product. Nicole sees it as one underlying tech stack alongside AI, an agnostic data infrastructure you plug things into, not something users buy.
🔹 Southeast Asia's advantage is structural. Roughly 700 million people, young and tech savvy, in Vietnam 60% are under 35, and no centuries of legacy financial thinking to unlearn.
🔹 Regulation flipped from threat to feature. New rules on digital assets are moving Web3 from "greenfield, wild west" to something banks can work with. Harmonizing across so many jurisdictions is the headache, and also the opportunity.
🔹 On UX, the real question is data. Zero Knowledge Proof lets a bank plug in a third party product without exposing a client's raw data, so users never leave the app.
Read the full conversation: https://ergomania.eu/nicole-nguyen-apac-dao-web3-southeast-asia/
