Encrypted

In this episode we have special guests Maja Vujinovic, Ex CIO of Emerging tech globally for GE Digital and Vinny Lingham, Founder and CEO of Civic. With the world living through a pandemic, economic uncertainty and political upheaval through the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S., we discuss how the world is becoming divided and old traditions being highly questioned. We first talk about vaccinication where Vinny walks us through how vaccination will become an underpinning factor for our digital lives and future digital identities. We explore the opportunities, risks and implications of such a system that should be private and free from government control to protect user data. Maya with her background in tech and operations shares her experience and the advice and considerations she proposes to governments, leaders and private corporations, particularly around tech ethis. We also discuss the ideas around biohacking and relevant solutions that Maja has been working on. With the increasing need of digit

Encrypted is excited to partner up with the Future Blockchain Summit who have recently held their first ever Digital Keynote! Digital Keynote, a live webinar series dedicated to tackling and exploring the world of Blockchain. Join us as we discuss with foremost experts from around the globe and break down topics such as Blockchain Development, Use cases, Tokenization , Sustainability, Business Networks and more. In this episode of Encrypted, we are sharing the Digital Keynote as a podcast on our channel, to share with our community and audience! In this episode we have superstar speakers from the United Nations, Ant Financial and Swedish Government, moderated by a world-famous radio host & TEDx Speaker all debating on how Blockchain technology will be leveraged to fight the economic collapse caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Key takeaways from this panel includes: Innovation and adoption has to come from both government/public sector and the private sector Actual serious adopotion after pilot project/demos is

Ahmed sits down with Mohamed Abdou, the founder and CEO of Pravica where they discuss a wide range of topics ranging from privacy centric apps being accessible to millions, the opportunities blockchain represents, how it is perceived in emerging countries like Egypt, where do we expect to see adoption coming from and all the learnings Mohamed has had building a Web 3 start up in MENA. All this and more on this episode of Encrypted! If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and the other platforms. Don’t forget to support us by spreading the word and hitting that subscribe button! Special Guest: Mohamed Abdou.

Mike Dudas is the founder and CEO of The Block, the leading research, media & information brand in the digital asset marketplace. In this episode, Ahmed and Mike discuss the global impacts Covid19 is currently having on the tech industry and the chain of events that is happening in Silicon Valley tech companies so far. They also discuss impacts on crypto, and impacts on both their underlying businesses as Mike shares The Block had its record break revenue generating month in March 2020 and also some of their metrics and numbers from a geographical standpoint. Ahmed drives the discussion to understand what leaders and CEOs should do during these intense times and what attributes a wartime CEO should have to navigate uncertain times. They also talk about how we can make this industry move forward as it's an industry which has still not burst out into the mainstream and still lives within its own confines and communities. If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and the other

In this Covid19 special, we have an interesting discussion on how this pandemic became widespread with the advent of lies and fake news. Our special guest, Arwen Smit, walks us through a few eye opening topics in times like this: * Three questions regarding lies: 1. How strong is a lie? 2. Who can the lie reach? 3. How to sever the link between the two Taxonomy of “fake news”: Mis-information, Mal-information, Dis-information What type of fake news was spread during the outbreak and where does it fit in? Is Corona virus used to push adversarial narratives? What are the Debunked stories regarding Corona? How can we solve these problems moving forward? What role does tech have to play? All this and more on this week's episode of Encrypted! Special Guest: Arwen Smit.

Ahmed was in Denver, Colorado speaking with Dr. Steven Waterhouse from Orchid Protocol. Dr. Steven (or as he’d like to be called Seven), is quite an experienced individual who can do loads of English accents as well as researching and implementing AI before the dotcom boom, built companies and sold them, and was also a VC investing in a variety of tech companies. He is now decentralizing VPN - Woah hold up, what does that even mean? In this really interesting discussion, Ahmed and Seven discuss a variety of topics: * What was working on AI like before it was called AI * How Seven got involved in the crypto space and why he did * How Seven played a part in building Pantera Capital, one of the oldest and respected blockchain and crypto funds * ‘The flavor of the day’ * Being sim swapped and how that led Seven to start Orchid * What decentralizing/distributing VPNs mean? What does it mean for end-users? * Token economics and business model of Orchid and stakeholders * UX of utility tokens Do make sure to check

Nic had the opportunity to speak with Hussein Khanji, partner at Hoxton Ventures during ArabNet Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Hussein walks us through his theory on venture capital, searching for unicorns and avoiding copycats. Plus he discusses why business models should be able to transcend borders and why it plays to their investment strategy. Special Guest: Hussein Kanji.

We welcome Mariam AlMuhairi live from Davos at the World Economic Forum to discuss with us today the newly published whitepaper from the WEF and Dubai Future Foundation: Inclusive Deployment of Blockchain - Case Studies and Learnings from the United Arab Emirates. Mariam who is the Head of the Center for the 4th Industrial Revolution led the report's formation, paritcularly from a policy standpoint. In this episode, we discuss: 1. Mariam's insights from Davos 2. Key takeaways from the report 3. How particular challenges such as regulation and stakeholder engagement will be overcome? 4. A brief look into the 7 Case Studies included in the report 5. C4IR's stance on cryptocurrencies 6. Top down vs bottom up approach to deploying innovative opportunities This was an extremely insightful podcast where we see the Dubai Blockchain Strategy and the Federal Blockchain Strategy achieving higher levels of success! If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and the other platforms. Don

This is part 1 of a series of podcasts recorded during Arabnet Riyadh 2019. We had the pleasure of speaking with Ali Al Omran, Chief Information Officer for Arab Bank. We go in to details on how banks in the region are diversifying their interests, creating collaborative environments for startups to work with banks and where the future of fintech is heading as Saudi Arabia moves quickly to disrupt and create growth in its economy. Special Guest: Ali AlOmran.

In episode 60 (woot woot, 60 episodes and counting), Ahmed and Nic speak to Anthony Gilman, Founder and CEO of Aqua. We dive into some company drama that unfolded during Aqua's fundraise, especially as they opted to do an inital coin offering (ICO). In this episode Anthony's shares: * How not to do an ICO * How he fired his CTO * How he made a good situation out of a bad one * The hotel and hospitality inudstry's current problems * How Aqua is out to solve them We loved this story Anthony shared because it showed outright the true colours of how certain individuals can be manipulative for personal gain, and more broadly exposed the intention behind most ICOs. Special Guest: Anthony Gilman.

In this episode, we sit down with lawyers to pick their brains and know how about regulation surrounding blockchain and crypto in the region. Karm Legal is a home grown legal practice based out of the UAE focusing on Fintech and blockchain. On the show we have Kokila Alagh, Founder of Karm Legal and Akshata Namjoshi, Senior Associate at Karm Legal speaking to us. We discuss: * How progressive the implementation of regulation has been * Comparing regulations/initiatives around ADGM, DIFC, ESCA and Central Bank of Bahrain * The recent public consultation paper issued by ESCA * How to enter the MENA market from a regulatory and strategic standpoint? What licenses should companies look at? How as a company entering the region should we label ourselves? * How long it takes companies to graduate from a sandbox? * International regulatory landscape * Why Karm Legal are bullish on security tokens? Nic also asks his usual bunch of futuristic ‘What if’ questions which results in inspired answers and we also diverge int

After several requests by regular listeners, we get back to summarising interesting news that has happened in the last 7 days. With Matt Hamilton and Gary Sheynkman as our guest news commentators. We discuss some unlikely stories, including you’re not a banana if you say you’re a banana and how this ties into stable coins and FinCEN, how China appears to be 'protecting' (cough cracking down cough) its crypto businesses and a quick catchup on where Telegram Open Network is heading with the SEC. Special Guests: Gary Sheynkman and Matt Hamilton.

Ahmed is in San Francisco for his first ever visit! As well as attending the San Francisco Blockchain Week, Ahmed set some time to explore a bit of SF and also spent time interviewing one of the pioneers of blockchain technology in SF; Matthew Liu from Origin Protocol. In this episode, the pair discuss: * Matt’s experience and key lessons as a product manager at Youtube in its early days * Matt’s ups and downs in entrepreneurship * What it takes to be a real entrepreneur * Why Origin is building a platform for decentralised marketplaces * How incentivisation functions in Origin * Real practical use cases * Differences in the business models between open sourcing your tech (tokens) vs keeping it private (equity) * Culture and personality around delivering impact They also discuss the race to digital supremacy between the U.S. and China! If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and the other platforms. Don’t forget to support us by spreading the word and hitting that subsc

Nic Watson and Ahmed Al Balaghi co-host todays episode with a Millennial angle, with guest star Erik Mendelson, a music executive with Grammy Award Winning artists under his belt. We discuss how the record industry is not paying it forwards to the artists and creative teams involved in music production and how blockchain through Tune Token and Cre8tor app will enable a fair share of earnings. Learn about: - Their journey to securing recognition in technology - Gaining momentum with music industry executives - Onboarding and recognising tomorrows future artists - Using blockchain tech where it matters - Why being completely decentralised is not a reality We also have some fun with music industry stories that involve millennials, rock stars, chickens, tents, blockchain and “wasta”. If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and the other platforms. Don’t forget to support us by spreading the word and hitting that subscribe button! Special Guest: Erik Mendelson.

Nic Watson and Ahmed Al Balaghi co-host todays episode, with guest Damu Winston, author of “I Don't Trust You, But Blockchain Will Help” Today we focus on distrust and what it means to live in a world of genuine, fake and fraudulent trust. In a world where every day you are surrounded by information that directs your decision making and purchasing habits, how can you be sure what you are basing your decisions on are real. There are so many factors that impact trust and how organisations, individuals and social groups are more than ever relying on fraudulent information to make decisions. Damu covers key technologies including blockchain that will enhance how genuine trust can replace fake trust and its impact on how we interact daily with each other, corporations and governments. Expect to walk away with: * A different opinion of what trust is * How future technologies will impact even greater what is genuine and what is not * Where you can get Damu’s free ebook * Why distrust is more important to understand

We are live! We held a live podcast at Gitex and discussed an awesome topic ‘The future of programmable money’! We had two great guests on the show: Gabriel Abed from Bitt.com and Aruba Khalid from the Dubai Future Foundation. In this episode, we discussed: * Why programmable money is important (04:17) * What is programmable money (06:32) * Money for the authorities: Is there an argument for separating political decisions from economic outcomes (09:47) * How Bitt.com have helped central banks to create central bank digital currency (11:47) * Advantages of central bank digital currencies (16:42) * Are banks needed if central banks create their own central bank digital currencies? (18:00) * Money for the corporations: Libra and how money is based on its usefulness (19:18) * Can we program money that is useful and is private? (22:22) * The roles of regulators when regulating Money for the corporations (25:17) * The advent of corporation based money (29:45) * Now it all depends on who you trust (32:02) * Money

Interested in hearing about how a young 27 year old is building a crypto empire? Ahmed is in one of his favourite places in the world, Shanghai, for the Shanghai Blockchain week. In this episode, he caught up with James Wo, CEO and Founder of Digital Finance Group. The two delve right in to talk about James’ incredible ventures as well as latest topics in the crypto world including: * Digital Finance Group’s $80 million venture fund which was raised from traditional capital in Shanghai (02:10) * Bridging UAE and China: Why are they setting up an exchange in Abu Dhabi and how they got an In Principal Approval from the ADGM (04:50) * How MENA is a big enough market for multiple exchanges to operate (09:00) * Proof of work Vs Proof of Stake (12:30) * Would you choose Bitcoin or Ethereum. Interesting thoughts from James! (15:15) * Blockchain and crypto ecosystem in China (16:54) All of the above and more is discussed on this week’s episode of Encrypted! If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on

Ahmed jetted off to China for the Shanghai Blockchain Week and in this episode, he is joined by an old friend of his, David Johnston. David is literally an OG in this space getting involved as early as 2012 and has contributed in more ways than one since joining. He is currently the Chairman of Factom and the Managing Director of Yeomans Global Capital. Ahmed reminisces the first time he and David first met, remembering a quote he would never forget; ‘Everything that can be decentralized will be decentralized’. This was jokingly described as Johnston’s law when David first introduced this at the Coin Summit in 2014. Great, things will be decentralised but when and to what extent? David does a good job showcasing how and when certain processes and use cases should be decentralised. The two dig deeper to explore what use cases we are seeing today that is both decentralised and has some credible adoption behind it. Other than Bitcoin, of course, David goes onto explain how Factom, a decentralised blockchain th

In this episode, Ahmed sits with Pranav Sharma, Founding Partner of Woodstock Fund. Woodstock Fund is a new and emerging crypto fund based out of India and Pranav delves into how their fund operates, in particular, their 3 core focuses, which include: Public decentralised ledger technology Decentralised finance Web 3.0 Pranav shares his experience of co-creating creative solutions in sales and distribution and how his learnings through creating this led him to create the fund he is running today. Ahmed sets the theme for the episode which focuses on the right investment vehicles behind cryptocurrencies and assessing the optimal token models that make sense. Starting off with public chains, Pranav explains their thesis behind the investments they made in Holochain, Casper Labs and Elrond. From a decentralised finance perspective, Pranav shares why this emerging sector is not just important for the new value it can bring but how it’s solving problems that currently exist in traditional finance. Web 3.0, acco

It’s our 50th episode anniversary!!! In this episode, Nic and Ahmed are back to co-hosting together, and for this special milestone, we have a special topic in store. We are joined by Amin Elkholy, Siddiq Farid and Matt Hamilton to discuss all things economy, crypto, sound money, pending recessions, global reserve currency and much more! The first topic is all about crypto or fiat, examining traditional currencies and what sound money could look like in the future. Amin and Ahmed look from a historical point of view whereas Matt and Siddiq look at this from a technological perspective. Since currencies and money are tied with central banks and monetary policy, the conversation diverges into the role of central banks in the future, how credit, leverage, and distribution of money works, particularly the distribution of money into private banks, and ultimately why the tools that central banks use today could be totally disrupted with transparent distribution of money via the concept of central bank digital curr