How close to the Balkans is building the next Web 3.0 hub
While web 3.0, or blockchain-incorporated internet is largely seen as a concept that will develop in the future, startups, blockchain experts and organizations across the Western Balkans are already using its potential and working on exciting projects in the domain.
CLOSE to the Balkans is one of them – it is the first major blockchain hub in the region, launched by one of the largest blockchain technology ecosystems and now focused on strengthening its presence in the region and specifically in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Slovenia.
While most of these technologies are still in their infancy, according to blockchain architect and NEAR Balkans advisor Edi Sinovcic, the region has already proven that it has the potential and talent to further develop projects that can also benefit the economy of these countries.
And for NEAR Balkan, the mission right now is how to use this potential and develop the ecosystem through education, hackathons, certifications, project development support and funding.
“We want to support people from starting in the space – getting to know what is blockchain, what is NEAR, and so on. After that, we want them to build on NEAR, incubate, offer small grants, and then accelerate and connect them to investors so they can raise proper rounds and create sustainable products. So it’s kind of a full cycle for us, says Sinovcic to The Recursive during the Infobip shift Conference in Zadar, Croatia, which featured an area dedicated exclusively to web 3.0.
When it comes to the early development of this technology, the region already has success stories such as Tempus Finance, Tendery and Shard Labs.
“Serbia is most developed in web 3.0 – we have a couple of companies that will potentially soon become very important in Serbia, such as Tempus and Tenderly. Croatia is not that developed yet, but with projects like Shard Labs, the ecosystem is maturing, and in the next couple of years it should reach the point where Serbia is right now, Sinovcic told The Recursive.
Experts also point out that the Western Balkans is in a perfect position to take advantage of new technologies such as blockchain and web 3.0, as most countries have a relatively young population, high levels of internet penetration and are already doing well when it comes to developing digital infrastructure.
“Web 3.0 and blockchain development is one of the few industries where the former Yugoslavia region has a strong reputation and leading players in the industry. For example, Tenderly is the industry standard. A big problem, however, is that not many people know finance and complex financial instruments well. Therefore, we are somewhat underrepresented in the DeFi segment, but from a technological and creative side we have many quality people in the web 3.0 world, says ecosystem builder Armin Konjalic to The Recursive.
The benefits that web 3.0 technology provides
According to Sinovcic from NEAR Balkan, the potential of web 3.0 technology is enormous. It can do for the world what the Internet did for it in the 1990s – to transform lives, economies and societies.
One example is how banks and derivatives markets currently work, and how web 3.0 could change them all by democratizing access and participation in decision-making.
“When you look at banks or derivatives markets, only a small number of countries and users have access to these markets, so they are not democratised. For example, to access the American stock exchange from Europe, you can use brokers and so on, or you need either €10,000 to invest.
But with web 3.0 you can do this in any part of the world and nobody would care, you can even invest just 50 cents if you want. And you can participate in this market. And what is more important for the development of this concept is that you will be invested in the community. You will have a token that represents your share of the stock, and you can use that token to either participate in the governance, decide where this protocol will go and so on, so it’s direct democracy,” Sinovcic explains.
Zagreb-based Shard Labs, an independent blockchain development agency, is one of the companies working in the web 3.0 space. According to CTO Ivan Pavicic, while the biggest use cases for web 3.0 are currently in the financial industry, there is a great perspective in other industries as well, such as logistics or privacy.
“There are companies that want to use blockchain and implement it in some use cases such as shipping, tracking goods to be shipped, and so on. Here I would also add the new technology with zero knowledge. For example, if I am an insurance company , and I’ll take a look at clients and their medical history, maybe it wouldn’t be ethical or it would be something the clients don’t want to share with the insurance company, but with zero proof of knowledge, it’s possible for some providers to provide only a portion of that data , without giving away any other details. The proof is mathematical, encrypted, it’s not something you can tamper with, and it’s a very powerful idea,” Pavicic told The Recursive.
While such projects and similar ideas are still in development, the first signs of how web 3.0 can effectively change societies and economies can be seen in the next couple of years, points out Sinovcic, who is also the CEO of Shard Labs.
“Basically, what’s going to happen over the next year or two is we’re going to incubate some initial products, and we’re going to have some really good success stories from the start. And then most people, even those who are skeptics, see that this technology is actually the future. And in four to five years, all this will become normal, Sinovcic concludes.
