STEPN is building its next office in Hong Kong

Guess what? STEPN's co-founder, Jerry Huang, has revealed that the firm is setting up a regional HQ at Hong Kong business park Cyberport. The move came after ex-Cyberport chairman George Lam convinced them in person to build a Web3 base in the region.

"I was honored that he came to see me," Huang said in a video interview during Cyberport's Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum earlier this month. "We had dinner, and Dr. Lam enthusiastically invited us to go and help Hong Kong create a Web3 start-up environment together. I felt very happy and encouraged."

Huang told SCMP that the firm wouldn't force staff members to relocate, as many of them work remotely worldwide. Arrangements, though, will be available for core team members interested in relocating to the new STEPN office. 

To those who don't know, Cyberport is a government-backed start-up accelerator in the Southern District of Hong Kong. It describes itself as a digital tech community housing over 1,650 digital tech firms like Microsoft, Lenovo, Animoca Brands, and more. 

Despite its flaws, STEPN remains one of the hottest move-to-earn (M2E) projects out there. Launched in December last year, the M2E app quickly gained traction in various countries, including the US, Japan, and China. The team, however, had to ban users from Mainland China to comply with local regulations in June.  

Speaking of regulations, the situation is not that rosy in Hong Kong. Since Beijing has imposed the national security law, the region has suffered a brain drain on multiple fronts. But Huang still prefers Hong Kong for two reasons: 1. It has the best fusion of Western and Eastern cultures and; 2. Hong Kong is still one of the major financial hubs to date. 

It remains to be seen how STEPN's expansion to Hong Kong will pan out. For now, it's business as usual for the M2E app that just turned 1.