The Philippine Web3 Debate, dubbed as Bull or Bear, which was held in Cebu City last July 15, 2023, showcased the world's leading social media blockchain, Hive, represented by Nathan Senn as one of the keynote speakers and debaters in the said event.

The Bull or Bear event was attended by well-known personalities from the national government and various sectors of the Technology industry in the Philippines. GCash, Blockceler, Tekkon, CoinW, and BitGet were prominent brands gracing the occasion.

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Bitskwela Team with the Web3 Philippines' Debaters

Aside from the brands, there were also prominent names in the Web3 industry who graced the event, like the President of the Philippine Blockchain Council and COO of DITO Telecom, Dr. Donald Lim; veteran crypto coder Nathan Senn from the Hive Blockchain and the Philippine-based microblogging platform DBuzz; Crypto Trading Coach Miranda Miner from Global Miranda Miner Group; online gaming enthusiast, Tyrone Bretaña from Tier One Alliance; content creator and brand ambassador Giu Comia from Tekkon; and creative entrepreneur Ashtley Sandoval.

Preparations for the Bull or Bear Cebu Event:

The highly anticipated Web3 event in Cebu City featuring the best and brightest in the Web3 industry was made possible due to some preparations made by the organizers. The @bitskwela team, a leading online education group in the Philippines, spearheaded the Bull or Bear Debate in different parts of the country.

Bitskwela CEO Jiro Reyes, in internal communication with DBuzz and the Hive Team in Davao City, shared some of the links from their massive PR being shared to Tier One and Tier Two websites in the Philippines.

Tier One sites included significant news publications in the Philippines like the country's oldest newspaper, The Manila Bulletin, the nationwide paper PhilStar from The Star Group of Companies, and local counterparts like The Freeman in Cebu Province and the Manila Standard. These sites have their online version, and at the same time, they have their print version of their articles.

Aside from the online and print publication of the major news organizations in the country, the Bull or Bear event was also featured in a video interview with the country's leading news provider, ABS-CBN TV Network, through the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC). Bitskwela, the creator of the Bull or Bear event, mentioned Nathan Senn from Hive during the interview at the 7:34 minute mark.

As one of the major sponsors in the Bull or Bear Event, Hive was also featured inside the GCash Application, considered one of the leading e-wallets in the Philippines, with more than 16 million users nationwide.

Before the prominent Bull or Bear event in Cebu, the organizers prepared two separate events, one with a Twitter space attended by more than 2,000 users and the next was an in-person event in Imahica Gallery in Mandaluyong City attended by more than a hundred individuals.

Web3 Debate at the Main Event (Cebu):

The Philippine Web3 Debate in Cebu, dubbed the New Internet, started at around 5:00 PM, featuring some of the most prominent speakers in the Web3 industry and supported by the government agency, Department of Information Technology (DICT) and local politicians in Cebu City.

The Bull or Bear event started with a Web3 introduction from Bitskwela contributor Aaron Lay followed by an inspiring message and storytelling from Miss Raine LaLuna from Sphera Solutions, sharing the current trends and state of the Web3 industry in Cebu City and nearby provinces.

The introduction to Web3 and the presentation regarding the current status of Web3 in the Philippines were followed by some keynote speeches from some of the most prominent speakers and representatives of major Web3 companies.

Keynote Speeches:

The first to share his keynote speech was Nathan Senn from Hive and DBuzz, and he was introduced as one of the leaders who expanded Web3 adoption in the Philippines.

Nathan Senn graced the stage confidently with a fantastic introduction by presenting the common problems on Web2 social media, asking the audience if they have been suspended or banned online, and showed prominent personalities who have been banned despite their popularity and influence.

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DBuzz Co-Founder Nathan Senn During His Keynote Speech

The veteran crypto coder then presented a solution by introducing the world's fastest-growing social media blockchain, the Hive blockchain. Nathan Senn emphasized in his keynote speech the importance of decentralization and Web3. He also reiterated that hundreds of Decentralized Applications (DApps) are built on Hive.

The Hive representative, Nathan Senn, will publish a separate in-depth article regarding his experience in the Bull or Bear Cebu and how he prepared for the highly anticipated Web3 event as a keynote speaker and debater.

Following Nathan Senn's keynote speech was Jeffrey Saenz from BitGet, discussing the transparency of centralized exchanges. According to Jeffrey, the company he worked with for more than a year BitGet, was launched in 2018.

BitGet aims to provide a comprehensive and secure trading platform with an estimated global user base of over 8 million users and over 50,000 professional traders worldwide.

After the BitGet representative's keynote speech, Crypto Pareh from Tekkon took the stage by introducing their project through an interesting question about a particular utility that we could not live without.

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Crypto Pareh Representing Tekkon

Tekkon's representative, Crypto Pareh, talked about how Tekkon can contribute towards Crypto adoption in the Philippines and how they can contribute to solving everyday problems like electricity.

Jaeron Wong then took the stage for his keynote, talking about CoinW in the Philippines. The CoinW representative admitted that it was his company's first time in the Philippine market as an exchange, but it was not a new company. It was born in 2017, and as a crypto enthusiast, he had six years of experience in a centralized exchange, and his company CoinW successfully registered more than 9 million users worldwide.

Web3 Debate Proper:

Six debate prompts were discussed in the successful Bull or Bear Web3 event in Cebu City. The debaters composed of Nathan Senn from Hive, Miranda Miner from Miranda Miner Group, Donald Lim from the Philippine Blockchain Council, Tyrone Bretana from Tier One, Giu Comia from Tekkon, and Ashtley Sandoval shared their sentiments on whether they were Bullish or Bearish about each topic.

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(L-R) Donald Lim, Ashtley Sandoval, Nathan Senn, Kesh Morales, Miranda Miner, Giu Comia & Tyrone Bretana

The friendly debate about Web3 adoption in the Philippines started around 7:30 PM Philippine Standard Time.

The prompts included the following statements:

Web3 makes committing malicious activities such as theft, fraud, and hacking easier.
Web3 play-to-earn gaming is a fad.
Cryptocurrencies should be used as modes of payment for goods.
Web3 advocates for transparency, but in doing so, it can violate privacy.
The government should fully regulate Web3 products and projects.
Web3 does not need to be fully decentralized.

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Philippine Web3 Debaters

Hive Users Sharing Their Bull or Bear Cebu Experiences:

Hive users from different parts of Cebu, which was organized by the @hiveph Team, attended the event not only to support Hive as one of the speakers and sponsors of the events but also helping in promoting the visibility of Hive by wearing Hive shirts around the mall before the said event.

HivePH members and Hive users from Cebu, namely @selflessgem, @dehai, and @jobeliever, documented their travels and attendance during the successful Bull or Bear event and also helped attendees by sharing their experiences of the HIVE blockchain.

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HivePH Cebu Users with the Hive Team from DBuzz

The HivePH Cebu users who attended the event were invited by @ybanezkim26 together with @indayclara, @intoy.bugoy, @glecerioberto, @ciadanmea, and @hapyoung. All these Hive users shared their respective blog posts about the event.

These Hive users from Cebu were able to meet the co-founder of D.Buzz (@dbuzz), Nathan Senn (@nathansenn), Kenny Owano (@kenny.rogers), PJ Entrepreneur (@pjentrepreneur), Kraster Lou (@valkangel), and Ron David (@rondavid) from the DBuzz and Hive Team based in Davao City, Philippines.

Some of the country's prominent social media community builders graced the successful Bull or Bear event in Cebu City, including NomadFury's Jeff Caceres, a freelance community builder and organizer of Web3 Lounge, Web3 Bacolod Community Founder and Web3 Cebu Co-Founder; Raine Laluna, founder of FilipinasNFT and Web3 Cebu community; and Miranda Miner from the Miranda Miner Global Group, a cryptocurrency mentoring and growth community.

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Nomad Fury's Jeff Caceres & Nathan Senn from DBuzz

Summary and Significance to the Hive Community:

The Bull or Bear Web3 Debate in Cebu City was a massive success for the community of Web3 enthusiasts in the Philippines. With the support of the government agencies and local communities, it is interesting to note that the Web3 space is now gaining momentum to be adopted by the mainstream internet users in the Philippines.

The D.Buzz Team represented the world's leading social media blockchain, Hive.io, and the event generated over 20 million online impressions, according to the data published by the organizers, and made a significant impact in the Philippine Web3 communities.

Hive's visibility in Cebu City, with the support of the local community of Hive users, only proved that Cebu is a breeding ground for Hive users in the Philippines. With the enthusiasm and support they provided to the Team from Davao, Hive could become a household name in the Philippines.

The DBuzz Team, headed by Nathan Senn, inspired and impacted the Web3 community here in the Philippines. People were surprised to learn that there is a microblogging social media DApp in the country that could compete against the world's tech giants.

Having a Philippine-based decentralized application empowers Filipinos to be proud of the efforts made by the Hive Team from Davao City. This is a vast opportunity for mainstream Filipino social media users to adopt the Hive ecosystem.