This episode explored how trust is earned, not claimed, in Web3, and why “public good” only matters if it works outside a pitch deck. Our guest, Glenn Tan, Director of Global Affairs at the Blockchain for Good Alliance (BGA), discussed the challenges: transitioning from hype to tangible outcomes, aligning real problems with skilled builders, and navigating a regulatory landscape that can both protect users and deter innovators.

Glenn didn’t start in crypto. He came up through Singapore’s construction sector and found his way into Web3 by building communities during the NFT boom. That path mattered because it shaped how he thought about risk, trust, and opportunity, first as a community manager, then as a founder, and now as someone who helps channel resources toward impact at scale.

What stood out was his honesty about the “low-friction” double edge of crypto. Tools that enable good teams to ship quickly also allow bad actors to set up look-alike projects and disappear with the funds. That reality didn’t make him cynical; it made him more disciplined. He described how one early startup experience, flush with capital, light on delivery, forced him to adopt a stricter lens for diligence. Since then, he’s treated every partnership and pitch with the assumption that proof beats promises, and he’s built processes to test that claim.

From Luxury Watches to Public Goods

Glenn also traced the roots of his own startup work, which began with fractional ownership for luxury watches and evolved into a broader alternative-assets marketplace. The point wasn't to “tokenize everything.” It was about access, transforming niche, high-value assets into something more people could participate in, while learning what it takes to maintain clean governance and align incentives. Those lessons carried over into his current role at BGA, where access and accountability are reflected in program design, not just rhetoric.

How BGA Works to Scale Trust

In the episode, we walked through BGA’s four pillars and how they fit together:

• Hackathons bring in new builders and surface early solutions around real-world themes (transparency, carbon tracking, identity, authenticity). They’re the front door, fast, open, and global.
  
  
• Incubation offers equity-free support funding, go-to-market help, economic design, and expert mentorship for curated cohorts. Glenn noted that BGA keeps ownership with founders and aims to be the “first push” or “last mile” a team needs to get credible traction.
  
  
• Joint Funds pair BGA capital with partners (including a UNDP-aligned accelerator in which - SPOILER - Demia is participating) to match country-level problem statements with teams that can pilot solutions. Think structured matchmaking, not spray-and-pray grants.
  
  
• The BGAwards cap the year with recognition, demos, and investor exposure, this cycle culminating in a two-day event in Copenhagen, featuring a collaboration with the UNDP, which combines invite-only working sessions with a public “Impact Expo.” Which (another spoiler) we will be attending as well. 

That architecture aims to address a simple coordination gap: many good teams, many urgent problems, but not enough connective tissue. Glenn described how UNDP Country Offices submit actual societal challenges and how BGA helps match them with projects through a co-creation sprint, piloting first, measuring impact locally, and then looking for repeatability across borders. The north star isn’t a press release; it’s “Can this work here, and then work again somewhere else?”

Regulation: Signal and Constraint

We also discussed Singapore’s stricter licensing requirements for digital token businesses. Glenn’s view was balanced: strict rules can raise the floor on legitimacy but also push early-stage innovation offshore. He has already seen founders relocate to build, then consider returning once models harden and compliance paths are clear. In other words, regulation became both a signal to users (“projects that remain are serious”) and a constraint on what gets started locally. An effect that we have seen in other regions. 

What Builders Can Steal from This Conversation

Three habits kept resurfacing:

1. Start with proof, not pitch. Treat verification as part of the product: clear metrics, transparent milestones, and data trails a third party can audit. That mindset helped Glenn filter partners and prioritize what to ship.
   
   
2. Match one problem before you scale ten. BGA’s accelerator work begins with a specific country office and a specific need. Solve that first; then carry the pattern forward. It sounds slower. It’s actually faster and more fundable.
   
   
3. Design for trust where it breaks. Community, custody, price discovery, identity, these are failure points. Build controls where fraud is easy, not where it’s convenient for your roadmap. Glenn learned that the hard way and now treats diligence as a feature, not a tax.

“I’d rather be known well than well known.”  The episode kept coming back to that line, trust earned through behavior and shipped software, not just reach.

This episode was a working plan for credibility at scale: open programs that attract talent, funding that rewards verifiable work, governance that occurs in public, and a willingness to adapt where the rules and responsibilities are clear. If you’re building for impact, the bar isn’t higher than it used to be; it’s finally visible.