ARC

Take one ingredient out of a dish. If nobody notices, it didn't really matter anyway. The same test works for crypto × AI. @jerome_, Cofounder & General Partner at @mf__xyz, puts it like this: "Would this product be worse without crypto, and would it be worse without AI?" The ARC × Preferences AI 2026 APAC Crypto Infrastructure Map report scores nine sectors on two things. Excitement is how much a sector is expected to grow. Evidence is how much working, revenue-earning activity it has to show today. AI scores 84 on excitement and 31 on evidence, the widest gap of the nine. Put simply, AI is expected to grow a lot, but very little of it is bringing in revenue yet. The scores are modelled from Preferences AI's synthetic builder panel: 6,000 profiles across six Asian hubs. So if the honest reason AI is in your product is "it helps the pitch", there’s your answer.

"If a crypto exchange can be hacked, banks are in a worse position." That's @cz_binance's view after the $6.3B Binance hack, live on CoinDesk last night at 7.30pm (UTC+8), hosted by our @arcthecommunity Stellar, @mikelaujr. What else he said: 1. Binance takes the full loss, and no users are hit. 2. He expected withdrawals of 10 to 30%. About 2% went out, and hourly flows have since turned to net deposits. 3. Tether and Circle froze a large amount of the stolen funds within minutes. 4. He says "the industry needs to use AI to prevent AI hacks." Is he right about banks?

2026 APAC Crypto Infrastructure Map: Builder Sentiment & Market Readiness Across the Region ARC × @PreferencesAI Six markets. Nine sectors. A practical map for founders, allocators, institutions and practitioners of where crypto businesses can: → operate → access capital → bank → hire → find customers → deploy Full report is live. Get it here: arc.xyz/cognitive-logs/2026-…

APAC led global growth in on-chain transaction volume. Over that same period, however, its most established hubs steadily raised their barriers to entry. So, which APAC market is "winning crypto"? Vietnam ranks highest for builder conviction in our six-market analysis. Yet it ranks last overall on the Builder Sentiment Index (BSI), which gives greater weight to the conditions businesses need to operate. How does the most optimistic market end up at the bottom? That's one of the questions behind the 2026 APAC Crypto Infrastructure Map report, co-authored by ARC and @PreferencesAI, with insights from our network layer at @arcthecommunity. Pairing qualitative field research with large-scale synthetic modelling, the report examines six markets: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. It covers nine sectors: Stablecoins, RWA/DePIN, DeFi/prediction markets, AI, centralised exchanges, funders/VC, macro, robotics and launchpads. The analysis looks at what it takes to build a crypto business, from licensing and banking access to capital, institutional infrastructure and talent. It also examines builders' expectations and whether conditions are improving. Hong Kong and Singapore lead the BSI rankings, supported by their strengths in institutional infrastructure and capital depth. Vietnam ranks last despite leading on conviction, reflecting gaps in the infrastructure businesses need to operate once licensed. The report also explores where each hub's strengths lie. Depending on your priorities, its findings point towards: - Hong Kong for institutional issuance - Singapore for raising and holding capital - South Korea for reaching users at speed - Vietnam for testing consumer product-market fit - Malaysia for a faster, realistic path to licensing - Thailand for tax-efficient retail distribution The full ARC × PreferencesAI report drops on Wednesday, 14 October.

First-time founders and businesses looking to expand to APAC often ask us: "Where can a crypto business actually operate and grow?" In APAC, a market might have users but limited access to capital. Another might have capital, but banking restrictions make it difficult to operate. Others have plenty of builders, yet institutional investors remain hesitant to deploy capital. Honestly, there’s no straightforward answer. If you were starting a crypto company in APAC today, where would you base it? - Singapore - Hong Kong - South Korea - Thailand - Malaysia - Vietnam - Somewhere else

See you soon at ARC Week 2026 during TOKEN2049. If you're a founder looking to back fellow founders, or if you're in the business of helping new projects capture growth, get in touch. We'd love to explore how we can work together.

Looking for businesses to back or founders to build with? Meet ARC during TOKEN2049 week in Singapore. ARC is a venture scaling network proudly based in Singapore. We work alongside founders to shape their products, build their brands, and reach new markets. We connect them with investors and partners who can get their products into customers’ hands, and operators with experience scaling businesses. What makes ARC unique is that we’re backed by a collective of 888 curated builders and investors across Web2 and Web3, @arcthecommunity. Their experience, relationships, and support help the businesses in our ecosystem grow. During TOKEN2049 week, we’ll be bringing together our members, the teams we’re incubating, fellow investors, and venture builders. So, if you represent a family office exploring new businesses in Asia, are a founder looking to back other founders, or can help a company reach new customers, we’d like to meet you. Send us a DM with what you’re looking to build or back, and our team will get back to you.