CEO of Taipei-based XREX talks Web3 on Startup Island Taiwan podcast

台北 鏈科 執行長在 新創之島台灣 播客上談論 Web3

Wayne Huang explains the need for 'financial sovereignty' in the digital age


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Taipei-based fintech company XREX is offering a new approach to banking in the digital age by applying block chain technology to ensure transparency and security for financial transactions.

The CEO of XREX, Wayne Huang, was recently a guest on the Startup Island Taiwan podcast, a weekly show produced by Business Next Media and sponsored by Taiwan’s National Development Council. On the show, Huang gave listeners a basic explainer on the dawn of the Web3 era and block chain technology.

According to Huang, the digital world is rapidly transforming from the Web2 era into the Web3 era. Huang says that this transformation will be marked by more transparency and greater ownership of one’s digital identity and online assets.



Many identify the Web2 era, especially its later stage, as the current era of “Big Tech.” For most internet users, their online identity and assets are more or less owned by the major social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, etc).

With the emerging Web3 model built around decentralized, block chain technologies, entrepreneurs like Huang contend that individuals will be able to operate more freely in the digital realm, owning assets, communicating and transacting online without relying on the “Big Tech” middlemen.

Huang calls the Big Tech companies like Google, Apple, Meta, and others the “landlords of the internet.” As gatekeepers for so much personal data on a global scale, they have become far too powerful, and even dangerous in their ability to manipulate populations on a mass scale, he says.

But that is set to change as the Web3 era takes shape, with decentralized technologies and online spaces becoming easier for individuals to access.

As the core of this new digital era are the related concepts of identity sovereignty, financial sovereignty, and data sovereignty, says Huang. He uses the example of a digital wallet located on a publically owned block chain service, which cannot be tampered with or restricted by big tech corporate middlemen like Paypal or Google.

The logic follows that if digital currencies and wallets can be safeguarded for public use, then the world of Web3 will open a new frontier of possibilities, not only for financial transactions but also for individual and shared content creation among users.

“On Web3 platforms, when you create content you create it as an NFT, which you own… It’s the reverse of Web2. You actually own that content. You can decide who has access to it, or sell it. Whatever you do, it belongs to you. And that’s data sovereignty,” said Huang.

Web3 will likely change the way people interact online forever, said Huang. He emphasized that young people have a great advantage over older generations to seize the opportunities that Web3 will provide in its early stages.

For those looking to begin crafting their own presence on Web3, Huang suggested buying digital currencies; a service which XREX can provide. Even beyond tokens and cryptocurrencies, digital currencies like the USDT, which is tied to the US dollar, can still provide the building blocks for individuals to begin interacting with the emerging Web3 infrastructure, says Huang.

As for XREX, the company recently gained Money Services Business license from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. This, along with licenses from Taiwan, Canada, Lithuania and Estonia, will allow the company to begin offering cross-border financial services to clients. Check out the company’s website for more information on business plans and services.