akaSwap: The NFT Marketplace Empowering Creators and Communities in Asia

akaSwap, an NFT marketplace based on Tezos, hosted the NFT Art Prized Moments II competition, where the winning works will be physically exhibited at AMJ 2022. Founders Aluan Wang and Jinyao Lin talk about the platform, their strong focus on Asian communities, and akaSwap’s unique features.

akaSwap is an intuitive, user-friendly, green NFT trading platform that enables users to easily create, collect, and trade NFTs. Founded by Aluan Wang and Jinyao Lin, akaSwap puts an interesting spin on NFTs, allowing collectors to enjoy the experience, and empowering all creators with market liquidity.

akaSwap is so much more than just another marketplace. With many unique features such as akaDao, Artist Clubs, gacha, bundles, and even a metaverse (akaVerse), the platform empowers the arts community to explore and connect with artists.

NFT Art Prized Moments

akaSwap is also the platform of choice for NFT Art Prized II Moments Competition, the first ever competition for NFT creators/artists in Southeast Asia. Here, artists were invited to submit works according to the theme of ‘Conti Nunace’. Over 180 artists entered this competition, which was held in collaboration with Art Moments Meta, the team behind Art Moments Jakarta 2022.

Over 180 talented artists across Indonesia competed in Art Prized Moments II where they created art on #Tezos in the build up to @ArtMomentsJKT.

They had their eyes on the goal: to have their works showcased at the physical exhibition from 4 to 6 Nov.

Here are the Top 10 👇

— TZ APAC (@TzApac) October 27, 2022

The winners of the NFT Art Prized II Moments Competition will have their work featured at a physical AMJ 2022 exhibition in Jakarta, on 4-6 November. There will also be a special exhibition by 6 transformative artists in the Tezos ecosystem across Southeast Asia – “NFTs: Inner Worlds, Immortalized”.

The rest of the entries can be viewed at akaswap.com.

The people and vision behind akaSwap

Aluan, who holds a master’s degree in New Media Arts, has been involved in new media and interactive design for the past ten years. As an artist, his work is inspired by his native land and culture, often incorporating fantasy and cyberpunk culture, as well as his trademark geometrical shapes/forms, and breakbeat music. With Aluan’s intense viewpoints and esthetics, his work often results in impactful visual banquets. Aluan is also an educator who has taught open-source software and related tools such as processing or Pure Data in art museums and galleries.

“During my years of working with generative art, I never once thought that I would enter the commercial market. So when I saw Art Blocks, it was a great inspiration for me. In February 2021, I first started to create NFTs. Initially, I minted on Foundation but soon, all of my work was released on Hic et Nunc.”

Jinyao is a man who has explored many frontiers of art, as well as earned the right to be called Dr Lin. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music and New Media from Taipei National University of the Arts, as well as a PhD in Computer Science. A cross-discipline artist, Jinyao has achieved a lot in theater, digital art, and music. These accomplishments include winning the Hong Kong Dance Award in 2012 and the Grand Prize of the Taipei Sky Creative Competition.

“Aluan was my first friend who jumped into Web3. Initially, I was publishing my work at fxhash, a generative art platform on Tezos. But both Aluan and I felt that it was important to create a platform for everyone in Taiwan and the local area, which led to us creating akaSwap.

We believe that a local market is important in order to empower the local community. With so many possibilities in the Web3 world, smart contracts are very important. So, we need to have our platform in order to enable new and interesting ways of creating art.”

Aluan adds on that the spirit of inclusivity was also a strong motivation behind creating akaSwap:

“While NFTs are a global market where senior creators can be discovered quickly, newer creators are likely to be drowned out. Therefore, by creating an Asia-based platform, we can cultivate the local arts scene, discover young artists, and also connect with local art museums and galleries so that more critical artifacts can enter Web3 in the right way.”

But of course, starting a new venture on this scale is no easy task – especially given that NFTs are a new medium.

“Being known and loved by the world is the hardest thing to do.” – Aluan

Tapping on Aluan’s experience as a teacher, the duo held numerous workshops in Taiwan in order to educate people on the Web3 space, in the right way. Today, akaSwap has fostered a culture of very active dialogue in Taiwan. Some team members take the lead on smart contract education, while others teach newer artists and collectors on blockchain basics, such as using encrypted wallets correctly. To them, creating a decentralized environment where everyone can have fun is the right thing for them to do.

Jinyao asserts that for them, community is the most important thing to focus on. He highlights the importance of working with more artists, providing them with easy onboarding to NFT creation, and creating an inclusive experience for all participants in the Web3 environment.

Building and Strengthening the Tezos community in Taiwan

akaSwap has commanded a position at the heart of a tight-knit community of Taiwanese artists and collectors through its dedication to the local arts scene. Aluan tells us more:

“More and more artists and collectors are joining our Tezos community. There is a solid Tezos group in Taiwan, which includes akaSwap; VolDAO (an organizer of NFT collectors), a Telegram group with over 1400 people, and a Discord server with over 3700 members. We also have a strong connection with the Real World art scenes – we collaborated with Art Taipei to build a ‘Crypto Art Zone’. Our community isn’t only virtual, but it’s centripetal as well.”

The Taiwanese Tezos community has been extremely proactive, organizing their own exhibitions and talks, collaborating with government agencies to organize various workshops, and even running a Taiwanese Tezos ecosystem NFT media platform!

It is heartening to see local communities come together and work to uphold Tezos being inclusive and accessible to all.

On akaSwap’s features

Aluan talks about akaDao, akaSwap’s native token (which users are rewarded with through making transactions).

“We were inspired by Hic et Nunc, which allowed early backers to earn tokens through buying artwork.

We thought it would be interesting for users to participate in community governance through akaDAO, so we opened a feature called ‘Artist Club’ that allows fans to support artists by staking akaDAO. Staking is built on trust, and fans can be rewarded when the artist’s work sells. akaDao ties together the relationship between artists and fans.

Many artists choose to open artist clubs to give back to fans in the most direct way – the sales of artworks are distributed to club members, in a revenue share model.

Here’s something interesting – you can see the co-created works between artists and fans. There was once when fans planned a ‘Spy Operation’, and created many works to pay tribute to the artist. It’s clear that the Artist Clubs not only help artists to maintain fans, but better connect with them.

In addition, many features of the akaSwap require akaDAO to use (such as Gacha, Bundles, etc). In the future, akaDAO will be needed to vote on the development of new features of akaSwap. akaDAO is just like a ticket that helps us understand the most important needs of users.”

It is clear that the community enjoys the features that akaDao powers.

“Some artists use Gacha to sell their own club pass, and collectors can also effectively use these two functions to promote the market liquidity of their collections. We have also observed that some collectors are utilizing Gacha and Bundles for curation purposes.

The Gacha is inspired by the Japanese theme of ‘Ichiban Rewards’. Each pack of Gacha has a ‘last prize’, which is given to the purchase of the last buyer. The value of the last prize is usually the most precious. It’s an interesting process, how to design a great pack of Gacha.

As for Bundles, we refer to them as ‘Lucky Bags’ – a Bundle can have multiple artworks, and some artists will use it to sell their own series.”

On akaVerse, Aluan tells us that it is their latest feature, rolled out in September 2022.

“Artists and collectors can use akaVerse to exhibit their art works and collections. Of course, in addition to displaying their art, they can also use the akaVerse Showroom for curations. We will also provide a Showroom for Art Taipei 2022. Here, akaVerse can help galleries to better understand the Web3 ecosystem and community.”

Lastly, Aluan tells us why we should use akaSwap:

“akaSwap is more than just a NFT marketplace. Many of the features we’ve talked about are unique.

For the general public, akaSwap is an easy-to-use and friendly trading platform. For artists, we provide many unique services to help artists manage themselves and communicate with fans.

Also, we place great importance on the community’s suggestions, and look forward to working with them to create a better Tezos ecosystem.

We look forward to more collectors, artists and galleries joining in the future. We will grow together and guide each other along the way, making the NFT ecosystem more active and mature.”

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akaSwap: Ang NFT Marketplace na nagpapalakas sa mga creators at communities sa Asya

Ang akaSwap, isang NFT marketplace na nakabase sa Tezos, ang nag-host sa NFT Art Prized Moments II competition, kung saan ang mga nanalong gawa ay pisikal na ipapalabas sa AMJ 2022. Nagsalita ang mga founders na sina Aluang Wang, at Jinyao Lin tungkol sa platform, at ang pinagtuunan nila ng pansin ay ang mga Asian community at ang unique features ng akaSwap.

Ang akaSwap ay isang intuitive, user-friendly, at green NFT trading platform na nagpapahintulot sa mga user na makabuo, makapangolekta, at makapagtrade ng NFT nang madalian. Ang akaSwap, na itinatag nina Aluan Wang at Jinyao Lin, ay nagdala ng natatanging bagay sa NFT, pinapayagan nito ang mga collector na ma-enjoy ang karanasan, at mapalakas ang lahat ng creators gamit ang market liquidity.

Ang akaSwap ay natatangi kumpara sa ibang mga marketplace. Gamit ang mga kakaibang feature nito tulad ng akaDAO, Artist Clubs, gacha, bundies at maging ang metaverse (akaVerse), pinapalakas ng platform ang art community upang matuklasan at makipag-ugnayan sa mas marami pang mga artists. 

NFT Art Prized Moments

Ang akaSwap ay isa ring platform of choice para sa NFT Art Prized II Moments Competition, ang kauna-unahang competition para sa mga NFT creator/artist sa Southeast Asia. Dito, ang mga artist ay inimbitahan na ipasa ang kanilang mga gawa ayon sa tema ng “Conti Nunace’. Higit sa 180 mga artist ang lumahok sa patimpalak na ito na isinagawa kasama ang Art Moments Meta, ang grupo sa likod ng Arts Moments Jakarta 2022.

Ang mga gawa ng mga nanalo sa NFT Art Prized II Moments Competition ay itatampok sa pisikal na AMJ 2022 exhibition sa Jakarta, simula ika-4 hanggang ika-6 ng Nobyembre. Magkakaroon din ng special exhibition na pasisimulan ng 6 na mga tranformative artist sa Tezos ecosystem na isasagawa sa iba’t ibang panig ng Southeast Asia – “ NFTs: Inner Worlds, Immortalized.”

Ang mga natitirang entry naman ay maaaring makita sa akaswap.com

Ang mga tao at hangarin sa likod ng akaSwap

Si Aluan, na may master’s degree sa New Media Arts, ay matagal nang may kaugnayan sa new media at interactive design, sa loob ng nakaraang sampung taon. Bilang isang artist, ang kaniyang mga gawa ay kumuha ng inspirasyon sa kaniyang tinubuang lupa at kultura, na kadalasan ay sinasamahan ng fantasy at cyberpunk culture, pati na rin ng kaniyang trademark na geometrical shapes o forms at breakbeat music. Dala ng matinding pananaw at estetika, ang kaniyang mga gawa ay kadalasang naglalaman ng makaantig-pusong mga visual. Si Aluan ay isa ring guro na nagturo tungkol sa open-source software at mga tool na may kinalaman dito tulad ng processing o Pure Data sa mga art museum at gallery. 

“During my years of working with generative art, I never once thought that I would enter the commercial market. So when I saw Art Blocks, it was a great inspiration for me. In February 2021, I first started to create NFTs. Initially, I minted on Foundation but soon, all of my work was released on Hic et Nunc.” (Noong mga panahong gumagawa pa ako ng generative art, hindi ko naisip na papasukin ko ang commercial market. Kaya noong nakita ko ang Art Blocks, ito ay nagsilbing malaking inspirasyon para sa akin. Noong February 2021, una ako nagsimula sa paglikha ng mga NFT, Sa simula, nag-mint ako sa Foundation, pero ‘di kalaunan, lahat ng aking mga likha ay inilabas ko na sa Hic et Nunc.)

Si Jinyao ay isang indibidwal na nakapaggalugad na sa maraming frontiers ng art, gayundin, nakapagkamit na rin siya ng karapatang matawag na Dr. Lin. Siya ay may bachelor’s at master’s degree sa music at New Media mula sa Taipei National University of the Arts, at PhD naman sa computer science. Si Jinyao, na isang cross-discipline artist, ay nakapagkamit na ng sandamakmak na pagkilala sa teatro, digital art, at musika. Kabilang sa mga tagumpay na ito ang pagkapanalo niya sa Hong Kong Dance Award noong 2012 at ang Grand Prize ng Taipei Sky Creative Competition.

“Aluan was my first friend who jumped into Web3. Initially, I was publishing my work at fxhash, a generative art platform on Tezos. But both Aluan and I felt that it was important to create a platform for everyone in Taiwan and the local area, which led to us creating akaSwap.

We believe that a local market is important in order to empower the local community. With so many possibilities in the Web3 world, smart contracts are very important. So, we need to have our platform in order to enable new and interesting ways of creating art.” 

(Si Aluan ang una kong kaibigan na pumasok sa Web3. Sa simula, pinapublish ko ang aking mga gawa sa fxhash, isang generative art platform sa Tezos. Pero pareho naming naramdaman ni Aluan na mahalagang bumuo ng isang platform para sa lahat sa Taiwan at sa mga local area, na siyang nagdala sa amin sa pagkagawa ng akaSwap.

Naniniwala kami na ang isang local market ay mahalaga upang mapalakas ang local community. Dahil marami ang pwedeng gawin sa Web3 world, ang smart contracts ay napakahalaga. Kaya naman, kailangan natin magkaroon ng platform upang mapahintulutan ang mga bago at kapana-panabik na paraan ng paggawa ng sining)

Dagdag pa ni Aluan, ang spirit of inclusivity ay malaki ring motibasyon sa likod ng pagkakabuo ng akaSwap.

“While NFTs are a global market where senior creators can be discovered quickly, newer creators are likely to be drowned out. Therefore, by creating an Asia-based platform, we can cultivate the local arts scene, discover young artists, and also connect with local art museums and galleries so that more critical artifacts can enter Web3 in the right way.” 

(Samantalang ang NFT ay isang global market kung saan maaaring madaling madiskubre ang mga senior creator, ang mga mas bagong creator naman ay tila napag-iiwanan. Kaya naman, sa pamamagitan ng pagbuo sa isang Asia-based platform na tulad nito, magagawa nating mapayabong ang local arts scene, makadiskubre ng mas batang mga artist, at magawang makipag-uganayan sa mga local art museum at gallery nang sa gayon ay mas marami pang critical artifacts ang makapasok sa Web3 sa tamang paraan.)

Pero siyempre, ang pagsimula sa isang bagong venture sa ganitong kalaking bagay ay hindi madali – lalo na’t ang NFT ay isang bagong medium.

“Being known and loved by the world is the hardest thing to do.” – Aluan (Ang pagiging tanyag at ginigiliw ng mundo ay ang mga bagay na pinakamahirap gawin)

Dala ng karanasan sa pagtuturo ni Aluan bilang isang guro, ang dalawa ay nakapagsagawa na ng maraming workshop sa Taiwan na naglalayong turuan ang mga tao tungkol sa Web3 space, sa tamang paraan. Ngayon, ang akaSwap ay nakapagpasibol na ng kultura ng isang aktibong diyalogo sa Taiwan. Nanguna ang ilan sa mga team members sa smart contract education, samantalang ang iba ay nagturo naman sa mga mas bagong artist ng mga simpleng bagay tungkol sa blockchain, tulad ng tamang paggamit ng encrypted wallets. Para sa kanila, ang pagbuo ng isang desentralisadong kapaligiran kung saan ang lahat ay maaaring sumaya ay ang tamang bagay na dapat gawin.  

Pinanindigan ni Jinyao na para sa kanila, ang community ang pinakaimportanteng bagay na dapat pagtuunan ng pansin. Pinagtuunan niya ang kahalagahan ng pagtatrabaho kasama ang mas marami pang artist, kung saan bibigyan sila ng mas mas madaling paraan para makapagsimula sa NFT creation, at bubuo ng isang inklusibong karanasan para sa lahat ng kalahok sa Web3 environment.

Pagbuo at pagpapatibay sa Tezos community sa Taiwan

Ang akaSwap ay nakakuha ng magandang posisyon sa gitna ng nagkakaisang komunidad ng mga Taiwanese artist at collector sa pamamagitan ng kanilang dedikasyon sa local art scene. Narito ang idinagdag pa ng Aluan:

“More and more artists and collectors are joining our Tezos community. There is a solid Tezos group in Taiwan, which includes akaSwap; VolDAO (an organizer of NFT collectors), a Telegram group with over 1400 people, and a Discord server with over 3700 members. We also have a strong connection with the Real World art scenes – we collaborated with Art Taipei to build a ‘Crypto Art Zone.’ Our community isn’t only virtual, but it’s centripetal as well.” 

(Parami na nang parami ang mga artist at collector na sumasali na ating Tezos community. Mayroon tayong solid na Tezos community sa Taiwan, na binubuo ng akaSawap; VolDao (isang organizer ng mga NFT collectors, Telegram group na may lagpas 1400 katao, at Discord server na may lagpas 3700 na mga miyembro). Mayroon din tayong malakas na koneksyon sa Real World Art Scene – nakipagtulungan na tayo sa Art Taipei upang makabuo ng isang ‘Crypto Art Zone.’ Ang community natin ay hindi lang virtual pero ito’y centripetal din.)

Ang Taiwanese Tezos community nga ngayon ay napakaaktibo na, kung saan kaliwa’t kanang mga exhibition at talks ang kanilang inoorganisa, habang nakikipagtulungan sa iba’t ibang ahensya ng gobyerno upang makapag-organisa na rin ng iba’t ibang mga workshop, pati na rin ang pagpapatakbo ng isang Taiwanese Tezos ecosystem NFT media platform!

Nakakagalak makita na ang mga local community ngayon ay nagsasama-sama at nagtutulung-tulungan upang ipakilala ang Tezos bilang isang ingklusibo at accesible na platform para sa lahat.

Tungkol sa mga feature ng akaSwap

Binanggit din ni Aluan ang mga bagay tungkol sa akaDAO, ang native token ng akaSwap (kung saan ang mga user ay ginagantimpalaan sa pamamagitan ng paggawa nila ng transaksyon).

“We were inspired by Hic et Nunc, which allowed early backers to earn tokens through buying artwork.

We thought it would be interesting for users to participate in community governance through akaDAO, so we opened a feature called ‘Artist Club’ that allows fans to support artists by staking akaDAO. Staking is built on trust, and fans can be rewarded when the artist’s work sells. akaDao ties together the relationship between artists and fans.

Many artists choose to open artist clubs to give back to fans in the most direct way – the sales of artworks are distributed to club members, in a revenue share model.

Here’s something interesting – you can see the co-created works between artists and fans. There was once when fans planned a ‘Spy Operation’, and created many works to pay tribute to the artist. It’s clear that the Artist Clubs not only help artists to maintain fans, but better connect with them.

In addition, many features of the akaSwap require akaDAO to use (such as Gacha, Bundles, etc). In the future, akaDAO will be needed to vote on the development of new features of akaSwap. akaDAO is just like a ticket that helps us understand the most important needs of users.”

(Kami ay kumuha ng inspirasyon sa Hic et Nunc, kung saan pinahihintulutan ang mga naunang backers na kumita ng tokens sa pamamagitan ng pagbili ng mga artwork.

Naisip namin na magmumukhang interesante para sa mga user na sumali sa community governance sa tulong ng akaDAO, kaya nagbukas kami ng isang bagong feature na tinawag naming ‘Artist Club’ na nagpapahintulot sa mga fans na suportahan ang mga artist sa pamamagitan ng pag-stake ng akaDAO. Ang pag-stake ay ginagamitan ng tiwala, at ang mga fan ay mabibigyan ng reward kung maibebenta ang gawa ng mga artist. Napagtitibay ng akaDAO ang relasyon sa pagtian ng mga artist at fans.

Maraming artists na ang napagdesisyunang magbukas ng artist club upang masuklian ang kanilang fans sa pinakaadirektang paraan – ang benta ng mga artwork ay ipamamahagi sa mga club members sa pamamagitan ng revenue share model.

Narito ang isang bagay na tiyak makapukaw atensyon – maaari mong makita ang co-created works sa pagitan ng mga artist at fans. Mayroon pang pagkakataon dati kung saan pinlano ng mga fans ang isang ‘Spy Operation,’ at lumikha ng maraming gawa upang magbigay parangal sa kanilang artist. Malinaw na ang mga Artist club ay hindi lamang para mapanatili ang bilang ng kanilang fans, pero ito ay paraan din upang mapalalim pa ang koneksyon sa kanila.

Dagdag pa rito, marami feature ng akaSwap ang nangangailangan ng akaDAO upang magamit (tulad ng Gacha, Bundles, atbp.) Sa hinaharap, kakailanganin ng akaDAO na bumoto para sa development ng mga bagong features sa akaSwap. Ang akaSwapay parang isang ticket na tutulong sa atin ipaunawa ang pinakaimportanteng pangangailangan ng mga user.)

Malinaw na nae-enjoy ng community ang mga feature na pinatatakbo ng akaDao.

“Some artists use Gacha to sell their own club pass, and collectors can also effectively use these two functions to promote the market liquidity of their collections. We have also observed that some collectors are utilizing Gacha and Bundles for curation purposes.

The Gacha is inspired by the Japanese theme of ‘Ichiban Rewards’. Each pack of Gacha has a ‘last prize’, which is given to the purchase of the last buyer. The value of the last prize is usually the most precious. It’s an interesting process, how to design a great pack of Gacha.

As for Bundles, we refer to them as ‘Lucky Bags’ – a Bundle can have multiple artworks, and some artists will use it to sell their own series.”

(Ang ilang mga artist ay gumagamit ng Gacha upang ibenta ang kanilang sariling club pass, at epektibo ring magagamit ng mga collector ang dalawang functions na ito upang i-promote ang market liquidity ng kanilang koleksyon. Napansin din namimn na ang ilang mga collector ay gumagamit ng Gacha at Bundles para sa curation.

Ang Gacha ay kumuha ng inspirasyon mula sa Japanse theme na “Ichiban Rewards.” Ang bawat pack ng Gacha ay may ‘last price,’ na siyang binibigay sa huling buyer. Ang halaga ng last prize at kadalasang pinakanatatangi. Ito ay interesanteng proseso, paano magdisenyo ng isang great pack ng Gacha.

Para naman sa Bundles, tinatawag namin silang ‘Lucky Bags’ – ang isang Bundle ay maaaring maglaman ng iba’t ibang artwork, at ang ibang mga artist ay gagamitin ito upang ibenta ang sarili nilang series.)

Tungkol naman sa akaVerse, sinabi ni Aluan na ito ang pinakalatest na feature na niroll-out nitong Setyembre 2022.

“Artists and collectors can use akaVerse to exhibit their artworks and collections. Of course, in addition to displaying their art, they can also use the akaVerse Showroom for curations. We will also provide a Showroom for Art Taipei 2022. Here, akaVerse can help galleries to better understand the Web3 ecosystem and community.”

(Maaaring gamitin ng mga artist at collector ang akaVerse upang ipamalas ang kanilang art works at collection. Siyempre, dagdag pa sa pagpapamalas ng kanilang sining, maaari rin nilang gamitin ang akaVerse Showroom para sa curation. Kami ay magbibigay rin ng isang Showroom para sa Art Taipei 2022, Dito, matutulungan ng akaVerse ang mga gallery na mas maintindihan ang Web3 ecosystem at community.)

Sa huli, sinabi sa amin ni Aluan na dapat nating gamitin ang akaSwap:

“akaSwap is more than just a NFT marketplace. Many of the features we’ve talked about are unique.

For the general public, akaSwap is an easy-to-use and friendly trading platform. For artists, we provide many unique services to help artists manage themselves and communicate with fans.

Also, we place great importance on the community’s suggestions, and look forward to working with them to create a better Tezos ecosystem.

We look forward to more collectors, artists, and galleries joining in the future. We will grow together and guide each other along the way, making the NFT ecosystem more active and mature.”

(ang akaSwap ay higit pa sa pagiging NFT marketplace nito. Marami sa feature na napag-usapan natin ay kakaiba.

Para sa publiko, ang akaSwap ay madaling gamitin na trading platform, Para sa mga artist, kami ay magbibigay ng mga kakaibang serbisyo upang matulungan ang mga artist na maisaayos ang kanilang sarili at makipag-ugnayan sa kanilang fans.

Bukod pa rito, higit naming pinahahalagahan ang mga suhestyon mula sa community, at inaasahang makatrabaho sila upang lalo pang mapabuti ang Tezos ecosystem.

Inaasahan namin na marami pang mga collector, artist at galleries ang makasali sa hinaharap. Tayo ay lalagong magkakasama at gagabayan natin ang isa’t isa sa paglalakbay na ito, upang lalo pang maging aktibo at mature ang NFT ecosystem.)

This article is published in collaboration with TZ APAC: http