We speak with Kay, CEO of HSK Eco Labs. Kay shares her journey from traditional finance to the crypto industry and provides an in-depth look at how HashKey Group, a leading end-to-end digital asset financial services group in Asia, integrates various businesses like exchanges, public chains, and asset management through the HSK token to create synergy. She discusses the economic model of HSK and the anti-sybil attack mechanisms designed to ensure fair distribution and high-quality user participation. Additionally, she shares HashKey's strategic plans for the Asia-Pacific market and their upcoming public chain project. Finally, Kay emphasizes the multifunctionality of HSK, supporting trading and on-chain staking while also attracting and incentivizing users through innovative reward mechanisms.

This article is sponsored by HSK.

Kay's Self-Introduction

Colin: Today, we are doing a podcast with Kay, who is in charge of the HSK token at HashKey. First, let's have Kay introduce herself.

Kay: Thank you, WuBlockchain, for the invitation. Hello everyone, I'm Kay, and I'm currently in charge of HSK at HashKey. To give you a brief overview of my no-background: I studied in Hong Kong over a decade ago because of my interest in the financial industry. After graduation, I worked in Hong Kong for a while and then returned to Shenzhen to engage in corporate management and investment management. I found that my experience in corporate management and traditional finance could be effectively combined, so I later founded a private equity fund, primarily investing in biomedicine and innovative drugs in the primary and secondary markets.

I entered the crypto space during the Spring Festival in 2019. The A-shares market was closed, and I started looking at the markets, particularly the US market, and discovered Ethereum. I learned that it was founded by some very smart cryptography experts in the US. I read about Vitalik's personal experiences, and as a World of Warcraft player myself, I resonated with him a lot. I bought Ethereum as a novel asset at 920 RMB. Since then, I've developed a great interest in this industry, learning, observing, growing, and accumulating knowledge, evolving from an investor to an active participant, and conducting in-depth research in this field.

Later, I realized that as an external investor, I could never truly understand the meaning of this industry and community. So, at the end of 2021, I had the opportunity to join an exchange, working in research and coin listing. At that time, the price of Ethereum was over $100, 920 RMB. This was my first official job in the crypto industry, and I worked there for two and a half years. In March of this year, I joined HashKey to take charge of the HSK project.

Challenges and Adaptation in the Crypto Industry

Colin: Did you face any challenges when you first entered this industry, or did you quickly adapt to the dynamic and intense crypto work environment?

Kay: There are two dimensions to this. From a work perspective, it was relatively smooth for me to do research, something I was good at. I had some experience in project evaluation from my primary market investments, so I could gradually learn and adapt to the job. Regarding project evaluation, I originally had considerable experience in primary market investments. In my work, I could gradually learn and adapt. Initially, I focused on examining market sectors and writing investment research reports. Later, I started evaluating cryptocurrency projects. It was truly a process of learning by doing. At first, I could only review a few projects each week, but as I accumulated more experience, I could quickly assess the majority of projects in the market at a glance. In 2023, I was responsible for evaluating all the projects throughout the year, and through our collective efforts, the platform's influence experienced a qualitative leap. During this process, I accumulated extremely valuable insights and experience, especially by intentionally analyzing and reflecting on the reasons for success and failure of each type of project.

However, building a knowledge framework was very challenging. Now that we are all in the industry, looking back, everything seems logical, but when I first entered, many things had to be learned from scratch. I believe many people had various doubts initially, like how to use wallets, how to transfer coins from exchanges to the chain, and how on-chain interactions work. For instance, understanding gas fees was a learning curve. My first lesson in the crypto world was a phishing scam where I lost a beloved NFT.

The second difficulty was building a knowledge system for this industry. The information density in blockchain far exceeds other industries, with no sequential or systematic learning path like in school. We had to face different tracks and levels of impact while rapidly acquiring knowledge. I went through a period of great confusion, hearing a lot of information daily, whether gossip or news, feeling disconnected from it all. It's a process of quantitative to qualitative change. I built a rough knowledge framework, like filling in the blanks. For instance, I knew there were Bitcoin and Ethereum, public chains, DeFi, GameFi, and NFTs. I arranged them in chronological order and then delved deeper into each track.

In DeFi, I thought of the DeFi trinity: lending, swap, and various DeFi Lego plays, creating a clear framework. In GameFi, I considered game assets, value systems, and various gameplay, including chain-modified games. Similarly, for public chains, we have Layer 1 and Layer 2, identifying top projects. Through extensive learning, reading, and accumulation, I connected these dots. I spent about a year reading three to five articles daily, including industry news and in-depth reports, summarizing and recording them.

When I reviewed my Notion notes from that period, I found that over a year, I had meticulously read over 1,000 articles and in-depth reports. While these pieces of information were scattered at the time, accumulating them to a certain extent helped me connect the dots into lines and weave a network. At some point, I realized I could keep up with any new developments in the industry and even had some insights and opinions. At this point, I felt my basic understanding of the industry was built. Based on this, I started following new trends, exploring new plays, including researching many MEMEs and public chains.

With my knowledge system in place, I wanted to turn this understanding into practical experience. That's why I moved from the research system to independently taking on a project. I wanted to know how to grow a project from scratch and develop it according to our goals and directions. I am very grateful for the opportunity to try these things.

The Opportunity and Considerations of Joining HashKey

Colin: How did you decide to join HashKey, and what thoughts did you have about the work and responsibilities you were about to undertake?

Kay: It was indeed a combination of the right time, place, and people. When this opportunity presented itself, I thought about many issues. We all know the recognition of HashKey is very high. Secondly, I considered whether my abilities matched well with the project and business. At that time, my career had reached a stage where I wanted to take on some business proactively, hoping to independently manage a project to help the industry grow and change some things.

When I was considering whether to enter the investment field or the project field, I learned from discussions with friends that HashKey was going to issue its own platform token. HashKey has many powerful resources, but it was not clear how to integrate and create new synergies. I knew the project had been in preparation for some time, had done some external communication, and released a white paper, which I had read. I felt that what I wanted to do was very consistent with the goals of this project. With HashKey's very strong resources and like-minded partners, I made this choice.

Now it proves that this relatively bold choice was very correct. On one hand, I see it as an important breakthrough in my career; on the other hand, from the perspective of doing things and team fit, everything matches very well. The current results have also reached our phase objectives.

HSK's Economic Model and Ecosystem

Colin: HashKey's recent layout over the past year, including various businesses centered around HSK such as public chains and global exchanges, indeed plans a very large ecosystem. Can you briefly introduce HSK and its economic model and related ecosystem to our listeners?

Kay: We all know that HashKey Group is a leading end-to-end digital asset financial services group in Asia and even globally. As long as you are a crypto user wanting to participate in the crypto ecosystem, HashKey can provide comprehensive services from fiat on/off ramps, primary and secondary market investment trading, Web3, staking, asset management to ETFs. We will also launch a public chain in the fourth quarter, forming a full-stack crypto ecosystem platform.

HashKey has far more powerful resources than I expected, including highly reputable investment capitals in the industry, top project partners, and resources from traditional financial institutions, universities, and research institutions. We have obtained multiple licenses worldwide and have luxurious strategic partners, such as TON, one of the biggest dark horses this year, which is our strategic partner.

On the B2B side of business, HashKey has accumulated very luxurious resources, while on the cusumer side of  business, the first business facing the C-side is starting from the exchange, targeting the community and users. HSK, as the platform token of HashKey, hopes to transmit these full-stack layouts and top resources to the community, allowing more users, including ourselves, to enjoy the growth dividends of the platform and partners. After the public chain goes live in the fourth quarter, the cooperation model will further expand, maximizing synergy. HSK can be understood as a comprehensive golden shovel, connecting all top communities and project parties inside and outside the ecosystem.

In July, we announced a community airdrop for HSK, conducting a large-scale community airdrop worth millions. Through our dedicated Web3 platform “DejenDog”, users can claim the airdrop and participate in mini-games. According to the latest data, 2 million have joined the game and claimed the airdrop. This is a narrative of true large-scale adoption. We hope that through this opportunity and the subsequent integration of the public chain and various business lines, everyone can grow together and share the growth dividends of the ecosystem.

How to Prevent Sybil Attacks in

 Airdrops?

Colin: Do you have any measures to prevent Sybil attacks to avoid studios from getting large airdrops?

Kay: Our airdrop aims to involve more users, so we chose the Telegram ecosystem as the starting point for the airdrop. The growth of the Telegram ecosystem this year is evident, with daily real traffic and a user community of 900 million to 1 billion. Many users are not deeply familiar with crypto, and this airdrop provides an opportunity to introduce these new users to crypto and bring them into the industry.

This is the core reason we chose the Telegram ecosystem to distribute the airdrop and design it to reach more peripheral users, making more people aware of crypto. Secondly, we have implemented multi-layer verification measures in the mechanism setup, including social media and community verification, and wallet binding. After the listing plan, there will also be some guiding measures to ensure the listing exchange plan proceeds smoothly. Through these steps, our goal is to have more genuine users who want to participate hold our tokens.

HSK's Competitive Advantage and Understanding of the Platform Token Track

Colin: How do you view HSK's position and development in the platform token track? What interesting opportunities and challenges are there? Did you reference other platform tokens like BNB in your design?

Kay: Thank you, this question is also something we've been thinking about. First, HSK is not an exchange-specific platform token but one that embodies the value of HashKey's entire Web3 ecosystem.If we compare competitors, everyone's development paths are somewhat different. For instance, HashKey developed many business lines to maturity and achieved the expected results before. For example, our licensed exchange business, investment capital business, and other business lines have been running very organically. On this basis, we felt it was a suitable time to release the value of these business layouts through the token and match it with our public chain.

Our core demand is to achieve synergy through the token and chain, inviting more friends to participate. This was our core idea when we initiated this project. Of course, we also referred to many successful cases, standing on the shoulders of giants. When designing the token, we stated in the white paper that we would ensure no major impact on market expectations through specific profit buybacks and burns, which is our solid point.

Next, we aim for larger-scale adoption, allowing more users to hold HSK, participate in the ecosystem construction through holding, share the growth dividends of the ecosystem, and move forward with us. Our public chain will also go live as expected, bringing new use cases and gameplay. The public chain design also has some unique aspects that we can share later. We invite everyone to join the community early, hold HSK, stay tuned, and wait and see.

HSK Token's User Base

Colin: The HSK token holders should primarily be users from Hong Kong and overseas, right?

Kay:  I think blockchain itself is a technology, and the tokens issued should not be distinguished by region. The key is whether you want to participate in this ecosystem and adopt it. This is the nature of the token and chain. The issue mentioned by Wu is actually a situation faced by the entire industry.

From the industry's perspective, embracing compliance and regulation is a major trend, in my understanding. Compliance means allowing everyone to participate in a fair environment without worrying about malicious behavior due to human nature. This is my understanding of compliance.

From our perspective, our project is a long-term initiative, hoping everyone can participate in the ecosystem with an open and flexible attitude. The specific user range issue is a reality for the entire industry. We do not have unique views but acknowledge the current situation and strive to do the project well, inviting more users to participate, which is our core demand.

Key Factors for HSK Project Success

Colin: Lastly, what do you think are the key factors for a platform token to succeed, or specifically for HSK to succeed? What is the key enabling actions?

Kay: I think no matter what the project is, ultimately, it comes down to two things: your ecosystem and your users. In terms of the ecosystem, we will integrate the very strong brand resources and ecosystem resources we currently have to form strong synergies. At the same time, we will extensively invite new partners. For instance, during this airdrop period, we have been intensively communicating with many excellent projects, hoping to clarify the business model earlier, allowing everyone to participate in the public chain construction and subsequent ecosystem construction.

We will also launch our grant plan during the public chain launch period to incubate and support more new projects, new ideas, and new developers, allowing them to start quickly. The incubation of new projects and cooperation with mature projects are important parts of our ecosystem construction. Of course, we have a clear goal for the positioning of the public chain, setting up the ecosystem components accordingly, and inviting the most suitable projects and developers to participate based on the goals.

With the development and deployment of the underlying ecosystem, we will invite users to participate, including but not limited to the current large-scale airdrop, which is like a mass invitation. After holding tokens, users can quickly engage in ecosystem construction and enjoy the growth dividends of the ecosystem. HSK holders can enjoy community empowerment from all cooperation projects and internal ecosystem projects. After the public chain goes live, we will offer a series of plays, including financial cooperation with institutions and cooperation with top projects, giving users more choices under the public chain ecosystem.

HashKey provides an end-to-end crypto ecosystem experience while we also expand externally, cooperating with other suitable public chains, building, and supporting the ecosystem. Through various ways, we develop user and asset groups. HSK, as our platform token, will also have significant empowerment within the exchange.

In the crypto world, there is a saying, "At the beginning of a bull market, hold platform tokens." HSK is now not only a platform token but also an ecosystem platform token under a grand narrative. In times of uncertainty, platform tokens, as core stable assets, are a simple and effective strategy to participate in the industry's growth through holding them.

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