Cronos partners with City of Seoul to launch 'Seoul Web 3.0 Festival 2023' and develop local blockchain ecosystem and talent pool

• Cronos Labs, the R&D and ecosystem development arm of the Cronos blockchain, joins the inaugural edition of 'Seoul Web 3.0 Festival 2023 (SWF2023)' as the main blockchain network partner.
• Cronos will provide extensive support to the 3-day SWF2023 hackathon, signaling its commitment to supporting the Seoul-based developer ecosystem.

LONDON, May 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global blockchain technology company and start-up accelerator Cronos Labs announced today that it will participate as the main blockchain network partner of the 'Seoul Web 3.0 Festival 2023' (SWF2023), organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. SWF2023 aims to enhance the competitiveness of Korea's Web3 industry and create opportunities for global talent development in the blockchain sector.

Cronos Labs is a blockchain ecosystem and startup accelerator that focuses on decentralized finance and blockchain games, as well as the development of the Cronos blockchain's ecosystem. Cronos Labs helps builders to create user-friendly applications on the Cronos chain and to drive mainstream adoption of Web3. The participation of Cronos Labs in SWF2023 will further strengthen the position of the Cronos chain in Korea and globally.

SWF2023 will be held over three days from Monday, July 31 to Wednesday, August 2 at the iconic Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) building in Seoul. The festival will consist of various programs including a hackathon, investor demo day for Web3 startups, a networking party, and an NFT exhibition. With the tagline 'Change, Opportunity, Challenge', the festival will uncover groundbreaking ideas at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology. Blockchain developers will be able to secure investor contacts and the general public will discover the latest trends in Web3 innovation.

The hackathon, the main event of the festival, is the first Cronos-enabled hackathon event held in Korea. Cronos is the leading blockchain network that interoperates with both Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems. More than 500 validators, apps and infrastructure partners have adopted Cronos as their home since the chain launched in November 2021. Cronos Labs will participate in the hackathon as a judge and advisor, and contribute to the prize pool.

The hackathon will see a total of 400 participants, including software developers, product managers, designers and others, who will form about 100 teams to develop product concepts and applications within 72 hours.

SWF2023 will feature several global and local partners, notably including global cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com who will participate in the investor demo day and networking party as a main partner, providing mentoring and training for local developers and startups, while making investments to accelerate the growth of early stage Web3 startups.

"South Korea is leading the transition to Web3 and Seoul is on its way to becoming one of the Web3 capitals of the world," said Ken Timsit, Managing Director of Cronos Labs. "Seoul, and Korea by extension, is a critical part of Cronos' wider ecosystem development. We hope that this hackathon will encourage the development of more Cronos-based applications in Korea, positioning Cronos as a strong partner of the local Web3 ecosystem. The hackathon will also enable a top priority area of focus for Cronos this year, which is to support consumer applications at the intersection of AI and blockchain technology."

"As Korea's Web3 industry evolves, more services that create real value are starting to emerge," said SangYong Lee, Chief of Digital Affairs, Seoul Metropolitan Government. "SWF2023 will be an opportunity to discover new ideas and set the path for the development of the industry. Various Web3 companies, including foreign and local companies, will come together to network and create synergies."

Applications for the hackathon will start on Monday, May 22 until Friday, June 30 and will take place on the official SWF2023 website (www.swf2023.com).

About Cronos

Cronos (cronos.org) is the leading EVM-compatible layer 1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK, adopted by 1 million users. A top 10 blockchain network, Cronos is supported by Crypto.com, Crypto.org and more than 500 app developers and partners. The mission of Cronos is to make it easy and safe for the next billion crypto users to adopt self-custody in Web3, with a focus on DeFi and GameFi applications. Cronos Labs is the ecosystem development arm and start-up accelerator of the Cronos blockchain.