Bull or Bear La Union Highlights: Decentralization, fractionalizing arts, and stablecoins regulation

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Bitskwela hosted the third installment of the Bull or Bear: Philippine Web3 Debate, this time in the surfing capital of the Philippines—La Union.

Prominent faces in the local blockchain, web3, and NFT space joined the fiery debate and discussion centered around the current issues that the digital currency industry faces today. Bernadette Misa, the co-founder of Playdex, moderated a panel led by BlockchainSpace Guild Hub General Manager Jen Bilango, Web3 Ambassador Patty Tiu, Senior Partnerships Manager for GCrypto Mark Nunez, Women of Substance NFT founder Chezka Gonzales, BreederDAO CEO and Co-founder Renz Chong, and Yield Guild Games (YGG) Country Manager for the Philippines Luis Buenaventura.

Like the previous Bull or Bear debates, speakers were given flippable stands with green or red sides—red for “bearish” and green for “bullish.”

The Bull or Bear debate in La Union started strong, with Misa asking the debaters if they see decentralization as enough value-add for people to adopt digital currencies. The debaters contradicted each others’ sides, with Bilango and Nunez bullish about decentralization; Chong, Buenaventura, and Gonzales bearish about it; while Tiu remained neutral.

Although bullish with the idea, Bilango argued that not everything should be decentralized, and users should still be able to decide how to handle their assets. Disagreeing with Bilango, Buenaventura says that there should still be some form of centralized onramp to onboard people and for them to trust the space.

“Realistically speaking, the only way you can transition humanity into crypto—assuming that that is a goal that we want—is with centralization because there’s no way you can take their fiat and convert them into crypto without some form of centralized onramp,” he explained.

During the second question concerning how fractionalizing art takes away its purpose, most of the debaters are bearish, with just Chong and Buenaventura on the short end of the stick.

Gonzales and Tiu advocated for better systems for the artists to earn more money, with Gonzales even sharing that she thinks fractionalizing art does not appreciate the value of the masterpiece.

Debaters were once again divided when asked if stablecoins should be more regulated following the collapse of the infamous LUNA/UST. Like in the first question, Tiu was neutral; Bilango, Gonzales, and Nunez agreed; and Chong and Buenaventura disagreed.

In closing, the debaters had a chance to speak their minds if payments is the most important use case for blockchain technology. The majority of the speakers disagreed with this statement, with only Buenaventura and Tiu agreeing with it. Challenging the sentiment, Bilango asked, “Which sector should we prioritize for adoption to happen?”

Buenaventura partly agreed with Bilango, although the YGG Philippines Manager still thinks payments is the primary use case of blockchain.

“Payment, I think, is still the most important, but that doesn’t mean that these other side industries aren’t also important, but just less important. It’s just that they’re helping onboard people. But ultimately, you’re still gonna have to find and eventually learn that crypto is an alternative payment solution,” he stated.

To learn more about the recent Bull or Bear debate in La Union and understand the sides of each debater, read our recap article here.

Bitskwela Bull or Bear Debate highlights