Those Bottom-Fishing in Web3: Observations from the 2026 Hong Kong Fintech Week

The truly savvy bottom-fishers are not just buying cheap assets, but also acquiring talent, resources, users, and markets that have yet to form in the next cycle.

Written by: Joe Zhou, Foresight News

Some institutions are quietly bottom-fishing in Web3.

According to my on-site investigation and statistics, at the 2026 Hong Kong Fintech Week, over 100 companies had booths, but only 7 were Web3 companies, accounting for less than one-tenth. They are HashKey, DCS, RedotPay, Obita, AllScale, Interlace, and Native Group.

From the perspective of their main business, apart from HashKey, which is a licensed virtual asset trading platform, the other 6 companies are all related to stablecoin payments, wallets, or related financial infrastructure.

After communicating with these 7 companies one by one, my biggest impression is that it’s not easy for any of them. In a bear market environment, no business is easy to operate, and no one can make money effortlessly.

The stablecoin issuance business is becoming increasingly competitive; stablecoin payments have limited profit margins and must bear significant compliance and operational costs; virtual asset exchanges always face security risks... As the speculative frenzy subsides and a new growth cycle has yet to arrive, every Web3 practitioner still at the table is experiencing their own difficult moments.

Interestingly, on the other side of the industry, I have seen many institutions and individuals actively “bottom-fishing” in Web3.

During the Hong Kong Fintech Week, I interacted with practitioners from institutions like Mirae Asset, Elephant Bank, Huaxia Fund, Futu, Waffo, and Deloitte. They are actively exploring Web3 business and investing significant effort into launching new products.

I also observed some noteworthy phenomena: some are preparing for the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Responsible Officer (RO) qualification, some are actively promoting cooperation with traditional financial institutions, and others are trying to integrate new technologies like stablecoins and RWA with traditional financial businesses to find new commercial opportunities.

On one side, native Web3 players are struggling to survive in a bear market, while on the other side, traditional financial institutions and newcomers are searching for opportunities.

Interestingly, people from different backgrounds are viewing the current Web3 landscape through different lenses.

Some native Web3 practitioners still believe in the four-year cycle, thinking that we might be at the bottom of a new cycle; while some traditional financial institutions are more business-driven. They see that the U.S. crypto ecosystem is continuously innovating and developing, and they believe this trend will eventually spread to Hong Kong and more regions, bringing new market opportunities.

Bottom-Fishing in Web3

If we only look at the booths, the 2026 Hong Kong Fintech Week seems to have little space for Web3.

But upon deeper observation, another side emerges: although there are only 7 pure Web3 companies, the number of institutions laying out Web3 is far beyond imagination.

They may not define themselves as Web3 companies, nor do they necessarily invest directly in cryptocurrencies, but they have begun to gradually incorporate virtual asset businesses into their core business systems.

On-site, I interacted with practitioners from Mirae Asset, Elephant Bank, Huaxia Fund, Futu, Waffo, Deloitte, Standard Chartered Bank, and others. Their approaches vary, but they are all looking for the next stage of business opportunities in Web3.

Some institutions start from assets.

A representative from the South Korean financial giant Mirae Asset Securities revealed to me that they are about to launch a new RWA product. Not long ago, Mirae Asset Securities issued tokenized financing notes on Solana.

Some institutions start from payment scenarios.

A representative from the cross-border payment company Waffo told me that in addition to the familiar foreign trade, gaming, and live streaming scenarios, a new demand for stablecoin acquisition has emerged in the past year with the rise of the AI short drama industry. The new digital content industry is creating new cross-border payment demands.

Some institutions directly incorporate Crypto into traditional financial services.

The licensed digital bank Elephant Bank in Hong Kong has already supported the buying and selling of BTC and ETH, integrating virtual asset trading into its banking service system. For banks, this means that crypto assets are beginning to become a type of investment asset that traditional financial services can cover.

Some institutions have begun exploring more complex financial products.

A respondent from New Fire Group told me that their RWA arbitrage product has been running in real markets for over two months, with an annualized return of 14.5% and a maximum drawdown of 0.29% as disclosed. This indicates that some digital asset financial institutions are no longer satisfied with simple cryptocurrency trading but are beginning to try to combine traditional financial assets with on-chain trading mechanisms to explore new investment strategies.

Additionally, there is another type of participant that is easily overlooked: compliance technology companies.

At the Fintech Week, I encountered more than one such compliance technology company. Some companies originally serving traditional financial institutions are also actively seeking opportunities in the Web3 market. From personal identity verification (KYC) and corporate background checks (KYB) to on-chain transaction monitoring (KYT) and anti-money laundering (AML) solutions, the compliance capabilities originally serving traditional financial institutions are also extending to the Crypto industry.

When looking at these cases together, you will find that Web3 is entering the traditional financial system from different directions: asset management institutions are exploring RWA, payment companies are looking for stablecoin acquisition scenarios, banks are expanding digital asset trading, financial service institutions are developing new investment products, and compliance technology companies are providing infrastructure for the entire industry.

There is a common logic behind this: while many Crypto practitioners are still waiting for the next bull market, some traditional financial institutions have already begun preparing for the next growth cycle.

They do not necessarily believe in the four-year cycle, nor do they necessarily think that now is the absolute bottom for asset prices. They are more concerned about: Can stablecoins generate real payment demand? Can RWA enter the traditional financial market? Can digital assets become part of bank wealth management? What kind of compliance infrastructure will the future Crypto industry need?

This may be another form of “bottom-fishing.”

In the last cycle, people bottom-fished BTC, ETH, and various crypto assets; in this cycle, some institutions are bottom-fishing for business, licenses, infrastructure, and the tickets to the next market.

Bottom-Fishing: Not Just Institutions, Not Just Assets

In the past two days, I met two friends.

The first friend is preparing to become a Responsible Officer (RO) licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. From what I understand, in the first two years when Hong Kong began to strongly support virtual asset trading, relevant talent was very scarce, and a few ROs could even earn an annual income of 4 to 5 million HKD.

What she wants to bottom-fish is a scarce ticket to the core resource circle of the Web3 industry.

The second friend told me: “Now is a good time to bottom-fish Web3, bottom-fish connections, bottom-fish attention, and bottom-fish core users.”

I asked her why.

She said that during this Hong Kong Fintech Week, you will find that most companies and individuals are relatively pessimistic. Many financial institutions, traditional payment institutions, and Crypto VCs that once went all-in on Web3 have begun to give up; many traditional media people have left the industry; and many smart people who once sought speculative opportunities in Crypto have turned to AI or invested in U.S. stocks.

But looking at it from another angle, this precisely means opportunity.

As more and more people leave, attention, talent, business resources, and core users may become easier to obtain.

Today’s Web3 is not just about bottom-fishing assets, but also about bottom-fishing connections, resources, attention, and even core users.

Moreover, I think it’s worth bottom-fishing those innovative tracks that have yet to truly explode.

Looking back at the past few years, the approval of the BTC ETF in the U.S., Trump’s election and clear support for Crypto, have all been important catalysts for pushing the industry into a new stage. Now, the legislative process of the “Clarity Act” and the new congressional landscape after the U.S. midterm elections may also affect the next stage of development in the U.S. crypto industry.

If bottom-fishing talent and resources is about accumulating chips for the next cycle, then seeking out innovative tracks that have yet to explode is about finding the real growth points for the next cycle.

But rather than waiting for the next policy catalyst, I am more concerned about those innovations that are brewing but have not yet truly exploded:

• Tokenized stocks: From Robinhood to Hyperliquid, more and more platforms are beginning to explore stock on-chain and on-chain trading; RWA is far more than just government bonds and money market funds.
• Stablecoin payments: The industry chain has gradually matured, but there is still significant growth potential in merchant adoption, real payment demand, and business models.
• NFTs: When images, communities, and speculation are no longer the main growth drivers of NFTs, can it turn towards more practical uses such as digital identity, membership rights, digital collectibles, and on-chain asset certificates?
• Prediction markets: Can they further enter daily life from politics, sports, and hot events, becoming new tools for information discovery and decision-making?
• Agent economy: Everyone is talking about AI and Agent payments, but truly commercially viable products aimed at external users are still yet to emerge.

These five directions share a common point: the stablecoin industry chain is gradually maturing, while tokenized stocks, NFTs, prediction markets, and the agent economy have yet to form a similarly mature industrial ecosystem.

This means there are still a large number of infrastructures, business models, and application scenarios waiting to be explored.

Many people feel that Crypto has no new stories left. But my feeling is quite the opposite: the stablecoin industry chain is gradually maturing, while other tracks have not even truly started.

Perhaps, the eve of the next Web3 innovation cycle is today.

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