Ninth-grade Filipino prodigy Rien Lewis Pecson honored at Philippine Blockchain Week with “Blockchain Leader of the Future” award

Held on December 2 at Resorts World Manila, Philippine Blockchain Awards was the fitting culmination to Philippine Blockchain Week, recognizing leaders from around the local ecosystem for their achievements in blockchain, cryptocurrency, or web3.

Among the esteemed awardees, most of whom were seasoned business leaders, one arguably stood out: Rien Lewis Pecson. The teenager and ninth-grader was honored with the “Blockchain Leader of the Future” award.

As its name implies, the award recognizes the field’s most promising leader, based on their achievements today. Framed from this general criteria, Pecson already has significant accomplishments and certifications in blockchain.

Pecson has been recently accredited by the Blockchain Council, a globally recognized certification company in technology, as a Certified Blockchain Architect, Certified Blockchain Security Professional, Certified Blockchain Developer and Certified Blockchain Developer.

He is also one of the core developers of both BLOX and Cloudchain - two blockchains registered in Wyoming, United States as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). For its part, BLOX has found traction all over the world, including North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, the Philippines included.

In the Philippines, BLOX has been embraced by a wide variety of organizations, including cryptocurrency marketplace, Coexstar; investment technology advisory, JCash; and influencer marketing platform BrandNation with its sister company, play-and-earn platform PEG, both of which are led by actress Yassi Pressman and a fellow delegate at the Philippine Blockchain Week.

Pecson stated that he’s grateful for the “Blockchain Leader of the Future” award, as it can bring more attention to the blockchain he helped build.

“This may be an individual award, but it really belongs to our entire team at BLOX. It’s through our work that we’ve succeeded in getting businesses across the Philippines to embrace the blockchain. I hope that more entrepreneurs will build their products using BLOX as their technology backbone,” said Pecson.

What’s particularly impressive about Pecson’s achievement is his training. While many tech prodigies like Pecson started programming at a very young age, Pecson only picked up the discipline within the last three years. At the height of the pandemic, Pecson began to home school, during which he taught himself programming, including blockchain development.

Despite the relatively short tenure in the field, Pecson has helped imbue both BLOX and Cloudchain with leading-edge technologies. Both blockchains are equipped with native wallets, explorers, and the ability to create smart contracts, non-fungible tokens, and other digital assets. The biggest distinction is that these products are not just theoretical - they’re already in implementation with leading and emerging brands.

One such example comes from none other than Yassi Pressman, who is proud to be using BLOX for her startup group.

“It’s been a great privilege working with a technologist of Pecson’s talent. He’s an extremely skilled developer, and his youth gives him a great perspective. Both BrandNation and PEG have benefited directly from BLOX, powering them with the efficiency, security, and transparency needed to appeal to young users and brands,” said Pressman.

Despite winning the award and receiving praise from such luminaries as Pressman, Pecson remains grounded, focusing entirely on growing BLOX (in addition to ninth grade, which he is still doing via homeschool).

To accelerate the growth of BLOX, Pecson invites more leaders and organizations to participate in the blockchain. They can mine BLX, the native token of BLOX; stake the blockchain via BTC; become a RewardNode; or even build applications atop the blockchain, like what Pressman has done with BrandNation and PEG.

While Pecson is eager to work with all business leaders, he is particularly interested in working with other Filipino youth.

“I’m thankful for receiving the Blockchain Leader of the Future, and I hope that Philippine Blockchain Week becomes the springboard for the nation becoming the blockchain hub of Asia, if not the world. For this milestone to happen, we need more Filipino youth learning about the technology and building the next generation of innovations with it,” said Pecson.