What happens when some of the most forward-thinking Web3 minds converge in Davao City? A room full of curious students, passionate builders, and ideas ready to scale.

On April 4, 2025, Davao City hosted one of its most energized blockchain gatherings to date: the Sonic Blockchain Meetup. The event brought together developers, educators, and blockchain advocates in a night filled with insight, technical demos, and calls to action that went far beyond hype. 

Organized by Sonic Labs in collaboration with Bitskwela and supported by Davao DeFi Community, with the participation of a growing list of Web3 partners, including The Block and Beyond, the event marked a powerful moment for the local ecosystem. The meetup featured a mix of in-person and virtual speakers, including:

• Jiro Reyes, CEO and co-founder of Bitskwela
• Eman Ignacio, Business Development Lead at Coins.ph
• Luis Fausto, Marketing Lead at Sonic Labs (appearing virtually)
• John Forfar, Developer Relations at Sovrun and Openmesh. 

Each brought a distinct lens to the future of Web3 in the Philippines: education, regulation, infrastructure, and open-source game development.

Though the article centers on Day 1 of the meetup, it's worth noting that Day 2 was led by Koleen Paunon, Bitskwela’s Lead Developer and tech instructor for the Sonic Code Camp. His expertise in full-stack and blockchain engineering, especially around real-world assets and DeFi infrastructure, played a crucial role in shaping the developer-focused workshop.

The Sonic Blockchain Meetup didn’t just share information. It sparked ambition and real conversations about what it takes to shift from crypto users to active Web3 builders.

Jiro Reyes: Why Education Is Still the Missing Link in Philippine Crypto

Jiro Reyes opened the night with the familiar energy of a founder who's used to fielding beginner questions but is never tired of them. As the co-founder and CEO of Bitskwela, Jiro has made it his mission to close the gap between crypto adoption and crypto literacy in the Philippines.

He noted that the Philippines ranks high in terms of crypto adoption globally.

"But many people still can't answer basic questions about how it works."

His talk mixed humor with straight-up fundamentals. In one moment, he broke down the difference between fiat, digital money, and cryptocurrencies. Next, he explained cryptography with a simple "A, B, C = 1, 2, 3" analogy.

The room stayed engaged as he compared blockchain to ledgers and walked attendees through concepts like decentralization, consensus, transaction fees, and transactions per second using real-world analogies.

Eman Ignacio: Why Regulation Matters (and How Coins.ph Plans to Stay Ahead)

If Jiro had framed the night with grassroots education, Eman Ignacio would have brought in the institutional lens. As the Business Development lead at Coins.ph, one of the Philippines' oldest and most regulated exchanges, Eman delivered a practical view on the infrastructure supporting mass adoption.

He outlined how Coins.ph is licensed both as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) and Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) (a unique feat not many can achieve), allowing it to handle fiat and crypto seamlessly on one platform.

"The average user doesn’t want to jump through three platforms just to make a trade... They want an experience that’s as intuitive as GCash, but with the power of blockchain underneath."

Eman also explained why regulation isn’t a buzzkill—it’s a signal of maturity. He cited the Philippines’ active regulatory enforcement against unlicensed platforms like Binance and Bybit as a turning point.

"It’s not about gatekeeping... It’s about making sure that the people coming in are safe."

He closed with two use cases that could define the next decade of crypto in the Philippines: cross-border payments and stablecoins as a hedge against inflation.

"High remittance costs and long settlement times are real issues. Blockchain can solve both. That’s not a vision. That’s already happening."

Luis Fausto: On Sonic’s Speed, Vision, and Builder-First Future

Though not physically present, Luis Fausto’s energy was loud and clear. As the Marketing Lead at Sonic Labs (formerly Fantom), Luis walked the audience through what makes Sonic one of the fastest Layer 1 blockchains in the world with 400,000 transactions per second, sub-second finality, and near-zero fees.

But the technical flex wasn’t the main message. It was what Sonic meant for builders.

"We’re not just fast. We’re sustainable... And if you’re building on Sonic, we let you earn 90% of your app’s fees. That’s real builder alignment."

Luis introduced Sonic’s fee monetization model, which rewards developers for on-chain activity much like YouTube monetizes content creators. He also pointed to their grants program and the upcoming airdrop to incentivize early adopters.

"Builders don’t need another chain. They need an ecosystem that supports them before they’re famous."

From wallet integrations to bridge tutorials and point systems, Luis gave attendees a crash course on how to enter the Sonic ecosystem and why they should start now.

John Forfar: The Case for Open-Source Games and On-Chain Worlds

John Forfar, a devrel for Sovrun and Openmesh, came prepared not just with slides, but with a working demo. A longtime Web3 advocate and former head of Solana Australia, John showcased Sovrun’s open-source battle game, Chain Tactics, built entirely on smart contracts.

"It’s chess meets PvP RPG... and every move you make is recorded on-chain."

John talked about the importance of autonomous worlds where games don’t rely on centralized servers and can't be shut down when a studio folds. For Filipino developers, he argued, this was more than innovation. It was an opportunity.

"There are maybe hundreds to a few thousand blockchain devs in the Philippines... Meanwhile, India and Vietnam are activating entire economies through Web3. We’re just scratching the surface."

He encouraged local devs to start forking code from Sovrun’s GitHub, contributing to DAOs, and participating in hackathons.

"Don’t wait to get hired. Start building. Most of Web3 is open-source, and that means no gatekeepers."

Final Thoughts: From Curiosity to Contribution

The Sonic Blockchain Meetup wasn’t another lecture series. It was a gathering of belief that the Philippines can do more than consume Web3. It can build it.

Speakers like Jiro and Eman showed how awareness and access are growing. Builders like Luis and John revealed the tooling and models that now exist to support Filipino developers at scale.

The future of Web3 in the Philippines won’t be defined by hype cycles. It will be built by those who stayed, studied, built, and pushed. And if the energy in that Davao room is any indication, they’re just getting started.