In less than a year, the University of Auckland Web3 Club (WEB3UOA) has grown to more than 150 members, connecting students across disciplines who want to learn, build, and debate what Web3 might mean for New Zealand.
Founded in 2025 and led by engineering student Chris Kwon, the club has rapidly become a popular meeting point between technology and community. It is part social network, part classroom, and part innovation lab.
From spark to structure
WEB3UOA follows in the footsteps laid by the UoA Blockchain Club, an initiative started by Yaser Shakib, former Investment Manager at UniServices. After several successful intro events, Chris helped register and rebrand it into a broader student-led Web3 group called WEBUOA.
“The rebrand let us focus on emerging technologies and distributed systems,” Chris said. “It made the idea bigger and more sustainable, something that could grow with students’ interests.”
That shift, he said, opened the door for students from multiple faculties to join and to view Web3 not just as crypto, but as a living part of modern technology.
Alongside his studies, Chris has built and contributed to several Web3 projects, including PayNote, an Ethereum transaction referencing protocol, and research on Minimal Anti-Collusion Infrastructure (MACI), a blockchain-based voting system.
Building a space that’s open to everyone
For Chris and the leadership team, culture has been as important as code.
“Web3 can seem intimidating or overly technical,” he said. “We want the club to be a space where anyone can join. You don’t need to be a developer. Curiosity is enough to start.”
That ethos has shaped how WEB3UOA connects with other student groups. Collaborations with societies like the Eastern Students Association (ESA) and Web Development and Consulting Club (WDCC) have helped make events more accessible and more social.
The result is a club that feels less like a specialist enclave and more like an open workshop. At the club, Business students, designers, and engineers all sit at the same table.
Learning by doing
Chris tells us that at WEB3UOA events, theory meets practice. There is already a deep variety of events at the club. One week, students are deploying their first smart contracts; the next, they’re hearing about AI governance or learning why decentralisation matters in the first place.
“Our goal is for every event to feel like a discovery moment,” said Chris. “People remember what they build, and once they’ve interacted with Web3 tech, it stops feeling abstract.”
This hands-on approach has kept learning tangible and has made the club approachable and popular with students who have touched blockchain and crypto concepts before.
Turning curiosity into opportunity
Beyond education, the club aims to create real pathways into the industry.
Chris sees WEB3UOA as a starting point for students to find internships, collaborate on hackathons, and launch their own projects. “We’re building those bridges,” he said. “If we can help raise New Zealand’s baseline knowledge of Web3 and give students a way to apply it, we’re doing our job.”
The team also draws inspiration from abroad. The University of Canterbury’s CryptoSoc helped model a values-driven community, while groups like Stanford’s Blockchain Club and ETHGlobal showed what’s possible when student-led projects connect with global networks.
Challenges and perceptions
Running a fast-growing club isn’t without hurdles. Managing expectations across skill levels — from enthusiastic uninitiated newcomers to experienced coders — has been one of the biggest balancing acts. Chris tells us that newcomers to Web3 have made up the club’s meetings. He says that they want to ensure that they “don’t feel overwhelmed while still providing meaningful content for those with technical experience.”
There’s also the occasional scepticism about crypto on campus. But Chris sees that as an opportunity, not a setback.“The challenge isn’t hostility,” he said. “It’s awareness. Once people see blockchain used in something like voting systems or public infrastructure, their perception shifts.”
That shift was on display when Chris and a fellow student presented a blockchain-based voting prototype at UoA’s Engineering Display Day, a project that surprised many and opened eyes to the technology’s civic potential.
Looking ahead
The club’s long-term vision reaches beyond Auckland. The team hopes to connect with other universities, form inter-campus partnerships, and eventually create a national student Web3 network.
“Long term, we want WEB3UOA to be a hub for innovation and education in New Zealand,” Chris said. “If we can help shape future talent and foster collaboration between students and industry, we’ll have done something meaningful.”
In a space often defined by hype and speculation, WEB3UOA is keeping its focus clear: community, curiosity, and credible learning. One block at a time.
Learn more about WEB3UOA
Want to follow what the University of Auckland’s Web3 community is building next? You can:
- Visit WEB3UOA - University of Auckland Web3 Club
- Follow @web3uoa on Instagram for event updates and student highlights