Animoca’s Yat Siu Sees Education as Web3’s Next DeFi Growth Driver

Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu said on stage at Consensus Toronto that “the next big wave in Web3 is education,” pointing to student loans and onchain education as a possible path for decentralized finance growth.

The idea matters because it places education financing inside a broader Web3 discussion that often centers on trading, tokens and infrastructure. If student lending becomes a meaningful onchain use case, it could give DeFi a more practical consumer-facing role beyond crypto-native markets.

Siu’s remarks suggest that education may be viewed not only as a social or institutional sector, but also as a financial market where blockchain-based systems could be tested. Student loans are already a familiar form of credit, which makes them a recognizable entry point for readers trying to understand how DeFi might expand into real-world financial services.

The comments also reflect a recurring theme in crypto: the search for use cases that connect digital ownership, identity and capital formation with everyday needs. In this framing, education could become part of the next phase of Web3 adoption if onchain tools are able to support lending and related services.

For now, the claim remains a forward-looking thesis rather than evidence of a mature market shift. Siu’s statement adds education to the list of sectors Web3 advocates believe could benefit from decentralized finance, but the source does not provide details on specific products, timelines or adoption metrics.