Alibaba Cloud, HashKey Group, and PlatON to Co-Develop Infrastructure and Technology Platform for Web3.0 Developers

Partnership will provide tools for Web3.0 developers and create an inclusive ecosystem
Cloud leader introduces Cloud Talent Program and new products at Alibaba Cloud Summit Hong Kong to facilitate innovation

Hong Kong, November 29, 2022 – Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today announced to co-create an infrastructure and technology platform for Web3.0 developers in partnership with HashKey Group, a Hong Kong-based end-to-end digital asset financial services group and Web3.0 infrastructure provider, and PlatON, a next-generation internet infrastructure protocol based on the fundamental properties of blockchain and supported by the privacy-preserving computation network. Alibaba Cloud also launched a Cloud Talent Program and introduced new products in Hong Kong to help local businesses constantly innovate with enhanced efficiency and security.

The platform will support Web3.0 developers with comprehensive back-end technology infrastructure, from cloud platform, multi-chain infrastructure to services such as decentralized identifier (DID). These out-of-the-box tools will free developers from back-end maintenance tasks, allowing them to focus on building their Web3.0 applications in areas such as the metaverse, gaming, and social media.

Representatives from Alibaba Cloud, HashKey Group, and PlatON, signed an MOU at the Alibaba Cloud Summit Hong Kong 2022, held today at the Grand Hyatt hotel.

“The applications centered around Web3.0 have been booming, resulting in innovation across sectors. To support developers and businesses to better capture these emerging opportunities, we have launched this new platform featuring the cutting-edge technology and service capabilities of our partners HashKey Group and PlatON, as well as the robust and resilient cloud computing architecture of Alibaba Cloud,” said Leo Liu, General Manager of Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

“Leveraging our global security and compliance capability and our strong infrastructure across APAC and around the world, we are now in a strong position to create an open and enabling ecosystem as we drive the inclusive use of Web3.0 technology,” added Liu.

Michel Lee, Executive President of HashKey Group, said, “As an end-to-end digital asset company, we are a firm believer that, for Web3.0 to blossom and gain widespread adoption, it's imperative for market players to work together to create a thriving and highly performant ecosystem for its users. HashKey is delighted to collaborate with Alibaba Cloud and PlatON, two leading digital service providers, to explore and bring to life a world-class infrastructure platform for Web 3.0 developers, as we continue to lead the charge in empowering companies' digital transformation initiatives and adding value to the wider digital asset ecosystem.”

Alex Tao, PlatON Head of ECO said, "PlatON, as a decentralized privacy-preserving computation network, will work with Alibaba Cloud and HashKey to create a global ecosystem and community of Web3.0 developers centered in Hong Kong. Based on the professional cloud service architecture of Alibaba Cloud, we will provide global hotspot services in the fields of middleware and developer components, and jointly build a platform to facilitate continuous innovation in Web3.0 development worldwide. Full of expectations for the trilateral cooperation, we’re confident that we will make the Web3.0 community, innovation platform and regional inclusive benefit bigger under the premise of legal compliance."

The partnership plans to create a Web3.0 ecosystem through a series of activities. For example, a regional Web3.0 Hackathon will debut in Hong Kong and spread to other Asia cities. The partners will also host offline meetups and offer online open courses on Web3.0 covering various aspects of the technology.

Facilitating constant market innovation through commitment to talent development and strengthened technology offerings

At the summit, Alibaba Cloud launched a Cloud Talent Program in Hong Kong to provide over 2000 students with access to more than 300 free training courses covering cloud computing, data analytics, AI and machine learning, and to help students obtain relevant Alibaba Cloud certifications. Students can also leverage free computing resources for their research and project development. The Cloud Talent Program is the company’s latest effort to advocate the use of technology and cloud computing to facilitate digital transformation and constant innovation. Nine universities and educational institutions will participate in the program, including the University of Hong Kong, HKU SPACE, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong College of Technology, SEED Foundation, Kornerstone, among Others.

Alibaba Cloud also introduced a range of products for the Hong Kong market to help customers accelerate development with cloud innovation, including

• Serverless database products: An expanded offering of serverless database products allows customers to enjoy automatic scaling with extreme elasticity based on actual workloads and a pay-as-you-go billing model to reduce costs. The on-demand automatic elastic scaling time can be as little as one second. Alibaba Cloud will provide serverless database products including PolarDB, data warehouse AnalyticDB (ADB), and the ApsaraDB for Relational Database Service (RDS) in Hong Kong in 2023 and is increasing the number of serverless categories it offers to Hong Kong businesses.

• CloudBox: CloudBox integrates Alibaba Cloud’s public cloud infrastructure technologies such as compute, storage and network to provide enterprises with fully managed cloud services for deployment close to customers’ business premises. CloudBox delivers a consistent experience as Alibaba Cloud’s public cloud, while meeting enterprises’ demand for on-premise data processing and low latency compute, benefiting businesses from industry sectors including manufacturing and transportation, as well as those with branches in multiple locations. CloudBox will available for Hong Kong customers in January 2023.

• Anti-DDoS EIP: In response to the increasing demand on security and compliance support, Alibaba Cloud upgraded its EIP (Elastic IP Address), enabling easier integration with Anti-DDoS and WAF capabilities to help customers mitigate DDoS attacks. It ensures operational security and business stability for Hong Kong companies from the finance, retail and internet industries, while reducing maintenance tasks to help them enhance cost efficiency.

About Alibaba Cloud

Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com) is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. It offers a complete suite of cloud services to customers worldwide, including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization services, large-scale computing, security, management and application services, big data analytics, a machine learning platform and IoT services. Alibaba maintained its position as the third leading public cloud IaaS service provider globally since 2018, according to IDC. Alibaba is the world’s third leading and Asia Pacific’s leading IaaS provider by revenue in U.S. dollars since 2018, according to Gartner.