Encrypted

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

Ahmed sits down with Fredrik Haga, co-founder of Dune Analytics to discuss crypto and blockchain adoption rates and exploring why these adoption rates are still so low today! Fredrik is focusing on making data on the blockchain more accessible to project founders, investors, and individuals by analysing and aggregating public blockchain data. The two talk about the right types of metrics needed to measure the right levels of adoptions and how to measure the success of a product and its market fit. Extraordinary data they showcased in Berlin shows that there is 1 Ethereum address for every 110 people. Only 1 in every 110 people! But is this the right metric to measure for success? Fredrik argues that they’re creating a platform not just to state what the right metrics are but to allow their users to have a say in what success looks like and what are the right metrics to measure. Of course, retention rates are top in priority and Fredrik explains a certain case they’ve been seeing within the context of the Ma

Ahmed is in Berlin for Berlin Blockchain Week, and as part of this short Berlin Blockchain Week series, we are super excited to have Dr. Gavin Wood, who is the President and Founder of Web 3 Foundation and notably known for being one of the co-founders and Ex CTO of Ethereum. Ahmed dives into Gavin’s value system and tries to understand why he is pursuing the path he is currently on. Driven by curiosity, we learn that he helped to code the ideas that Vitalik drew up for Ethereum and is increasingly curious about what else he can create next! Ahmed, curious about Gavin’s experiences, wants to find out the challenges he faced in the past 6 years as a prolific tech leader in the field and most importantly how he discerned the cynical from the authentic. We also get some interesting opinions on a few topics: * Bitcoin vs Ethereum? Gavin gives us his views on which one he’d pick if bitcoin and ethereum were hanging off a cliff! * If blockchain was deployed in a country, which country would you deploy it in? Ga

Richard Muirhead is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Fabric Ventures. Our host Ahmed recorded this episode in sunny London at the Fabric Ventures office. With an established career in engineering, entrepreneurship and investing, Ahmed was intrigued to find out Richard’s core and to see what influenced him to become the person he is today. Richard shares parts of his childhood experiences when growing up and how his post-university experiences, particularly in building companies, has built much of who he is today. This led him to believe that developers and computer engineers are the primary driving forces behind successful businesses. Moving onto Web 3 and its construct, Richard talks about why Web 3 is his focus touching on the intersections of easily architecting software that is easily interwoven in our lives, how the world currently works and how start-ups succeed. As Google came up with the motto “Don’t be evil’, Fabric Ventures thought about this differently. Their motto is ‘Cant’ be evil’ and Rich

Richard Ma is the CEO of Quantstamp, one of the leading smart contract auditing firms in blockchain space In this episode, Ahmed and Nic speak to Richard to understand what on earth Quantstamp do and why their smart contract auditing solution is so crucial to the development of this space. Richard starts off with his background and how the idea of Quantstamp evolved. Using industrial techniques he picked up as an also trader, he and his co-founder wanted to apply those techniques to provide smart contract auditing services to the up and coming projects which are all based on smart contracts. Nic dives straight intp addressing key concerns associated with smart contracts such as coding a simple mistake and how would a reissue be implemented. Would it be done through contract modularisation or would a fork have to be implemented? Richard goes into his experiences back in 2016 where the general consensus is code is law but that narrative changed with the introduction and uptake of blockchains such as Hyperledger

Ahmed and Dr. Marwan Alzarouni from the Dubai Blockchain Center went to Singapore to attend and speak at the World Blockchain Forum. In this episode, Ahmed and the special co-host for this episode, Dr. Marwan, catch up with Samson Mow who is the CSO at Blockstream, a bitcoin infrastructure company. Having spent two years in China working for BTCC, Samson reminisces over his time in Shanghai and goes over what it's like working in a Chinese exchange in a relatively early period in the industry. We then move on to talk about Blockstream, and how they are building out bitcoin infrastructure. Blockstream is known for its product Blockstream Satellite (what the hell does this have to do with bitcoin?!). No, it's not a bitcoin node that they launched into space, but rather a satellite that is in space to allow more access to bitcoin where the network broadcasts the bitcoin blockchain around the world 24/7 for free. This means less dependency on internet access to broadcast transactions and according to Samson, ad

Jamie Burke is a co-founder and CEO of Outlier Ventures, one of the leading European crypto VC incubators. Ahmed catches up with Jamie in London to learn more about Outlier Ventures, how they’re structured, their investment thesis and what makes them different as a VC investing in this space. Unlike other VCs, Outlier is funded by the capital of the co-founders, their team is mostly comprised of technical analysts and researchers in order to do a lot of applied learning as well as supporting the projects they invest in and contributing to the wider ecosystem building out open source networks. Jamie likes to describe Outlier as more of an incubator or a Venture as a Platform business where they reinvest all returns into the platform, where they recently committed to reinvesting $30 million of their own capital in the next 3 years to support investments. Jamie then goes onto to discuss the concept of Convergence and what the Convergence stack is, how autonomous agents work, and how they’re trying to create the

Asim Janjua, is the Director of Innovation and Design at Consensys in the Middle East. In this episode we look at blockchain from a design perspective and to answer the most crucial question: how does design intersect with blockchain? Asim walks us through deisgn thinking techniques and how we can use that for emerging technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrencies. He looks at it from two lenses: * Design as a problem solving tool to create new experiences and use cases * Design from a UX perspective as most blockchain enabled apps/dapps are currently catered for those within the industry Asim explains how his design led experience at Google led him to use those same principles when building out Consensys in Dubai. We also touch on whether design is one of the best ways to achieve mass adoption and how thinking of it from a human perspective is crucial for mainstream adoption. Examples such as Gemini and Grid Plus from the crypto space was highlighted by Asim as two comapnies which have implemented sound

Gabriel Abed Is the Founder of Bitt, a company known for inventing central bank digital currencies. In this special episode, Ahmed and Gabriel take a deep dive into Libra, Facebook’s recently announced cryptocurrency that they will be launching in 2020. Everything you need to know about Libra such as what it is, the economics behind it, how it will work and also the Libra Foundation are all discussed and explained. More importantly they discuss what Libra means for: • Common users • Central banks and banks • The payments industry and companies such as Paypal, Mastercard and Visa • The crypto industry and bitcoin in particular • Governance and data privacy Among the takeaways from this episode and the Libra project itself are: • No banks are involved at the foundation level • Private forms of money that are not government issued rarely exist, and if they do, they operate at such a small scale i.e. loyalty points, community points. Facebook’s willingness to create a cryptocurrency means they are creating a

Almost everyone in the world has or will eventually be bestowed with a grade, certificate or honour that will at some future point need verification. Today's episode has both Nic and Ahmed interacting with Educhain CEO Mark Balovnev on how to build scalable academic passporting systems. Focusing on interfaces to access documents and wallets for sharing with other gateways and portals. Mark talks about how sentiment has changed over the last 3 years, why industry is adopting the technology and increasing mobility of these documents. Key learnings: -The starting process and how the industry can get involved -What values can blockchain provide in education and the industries impacted by it -Finding your blockchain hobbyist and enabling them -How UAE University put transcripts, certificates, and other metadata on chain for over 70,000 students -Plus a quick overview as to how the amazing Blockchain report recently launched with Smart Dubai came together. All this and more on this week's episode of Encrypted. Also

Faisal, finally back on the show, joins Ahmed to welcome a new guest, Fatma Elsafty, who is the Blockchain Technology Manager at Du, which is one of the leading telecom operators in the UAE. Fatma, in charge of driving Du’s blockchain programs, walks us through why Du are focusing their time and efforts on using blockchain technology and what they are actually building for their diverse customer base. One of their main products is the Blockchain Platform as a Service (BPaas) which helps enterprises and SME’s alike easily deploy blockchain network and applications in a simple and secure environment. Fatma shares why the BPaaS is a game changer for the region and how they are aiming to lead the enterprise space for blockchain adoption. With all the focus on their end customer, we also learn about Du’s other ventures in this nascent space such as the Smart Contract Repository and the Dapp marketplace they are building. All of the above and more will be on this week’s episode of Encrypted! If you liked what y

In this episode, Ahmed and Nic speak to Hubertus Thonhauser, Founding Partner of Enabling Future and a Board Member of the Tezos Foundation. Hubertus, who was part of the Tezos Foundation board transformation and is currently very active on Tezos operations, speaks to us about how he became involved in the project and gives a rundown on the early days of Tezos, its present status and also the future outlook. He shares why Tezos was initially created, how they completed a mega crowdsale and the key features that distinguish Tezos from the rest. We also touch on the issues that the Tezos Foundation faced following the fundraise and how the team acted accordingly. We also talk about the verticals in enterprise that Tezos will initially tackle which are: Digital Assets, Mobility and Gaming. And yes, Tezos are creating their own token security standard under the Digital Assets vertical, so do make sure to watch this space! Hubertus being an investor himself at Enabling Future, shares his investment experience in b

In this episode, Ahmed and Nic speak with Gary Sheynkman, an Investment Partner at Ginco Investments and the Corporate Lead for Techstars Dubai. We find out what Ginco Investments is, their role in the entrepreneurship ecosystem and their enterprise-focused investment thesis. Being the first Emirati family to operate a pure play early-stage VC, they have also ventured into the blockchain space. We dig deep into the different investments they have made, in particular, their blockchain investments, which revolve heavily around the verticals of financial services, developer toolsets, and broad enterprise use cases. We also talk about what crypto related services will pave the way in the short term to medium term future, such as crypto asset management and custody solutions that hedge funds and professional investors inherently need. Gary also shares his views and insights on how start-ups should approach this region and how they should set their expectations when starting in this new market. Finally, we also t

In this episode, Ahmed and Nic speak with two amazing lawyers who are actively leveraging smart contracts for their current line and future line of work. We have Mark Beer, President of the International Association for Court Administration and a lawyer turned tech entrepreneur Alessandro Palombo, CEO, and Co-founder of Jur joining us in episode 37 of Encrypted. We talk extensively about what smart contracts really are, the roles they play in the future in both codifying principles and contracting machines, and how billions of people can benefit from this! Yes, we also tackle the million dollar question: What will the roles of lawyers and law firms be in a smart contracting future world? We hope you enjoy. And don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and make sure to rate and review the podcast as well! Special Guests: Alessandro Palombo and Mark Beer.

Staking. Generalised Mining. Proof of stake. What are all these??? In this episode, Ahmed speaks to Tim Ogilvie, CEO of Staked which recently raised $4.5 million from investors such as Coinbase and Pantera to build a staking as a service platform for institutional investors. We cover the difference between proof of work and proof of stake, different implementations of proof of stake (POS, DPOS etc), the roles of staking services/node operators, opportunities it presents, and related regulatory concerns. We hope you enjoy!!! 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! Special Guest: Tim Ogilvie.

In this episode, we speak to Talal Tabbaa, Co-founder and COO of Jibrel Network. Ahmed also welcomes a new guest host on the podcast, Nicholas Watson Managing Director of Naseba. We cover examples of winning, implementing and managing digitization of sukuks (Islamic bonds) and fiat. We also take some time to answer the question...What does Enterprise really mean? as well as looking at how to tackle the Middle Eastern enteprise space, especially when it comes to blockchain! We hope you enjoy!!! 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! Special Guests: Nicholas Watson and Talal Tabbaa.

In this episode, Ahmed speaks to Phil Chen, the Decentralised Chief Officer at HTC. Ahmed first questions Phil about what his title actually means and Phil drills down into the idea of leaderless leaders, and how every person becomes their own leader. Before talking about the Exodus phone, Phil delves into his entrepreneurial career, how he helped HTC become a global brand and how he got into the crypto space. The pair go on to discuss the Exodus phone, key management systems, how HTC's Blockchain phone is different to its competitors and the importance of shipping products first! We hope you enjoy!!! 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! Special Guest: Phil Chen.

In this episode, we cover the SDO Global Blockchain Challenge which was showcased in the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai. Out of the 700+ applications, only 20 finalists were flown to Dubai with a chance to pitch their ideas and where only three can be crowned winners do receive cash prizes. We first speak with Karin Gabriel, a Project Lead at the Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA), who explains to us what the DFA is and its role within the Dubai Government, and also what the Global Blockchain Challenege is all about. We then spoke with 6 of the finalists to learn more about what they’re doing and what their projects are! These include: -TE-Food (Supply chain management for food traceability) -Bluechain (Digitizing and optimising the industrial management process and operation) -Quantstamp (Blockchain agnostic protocol which secures smart contracts) -Ole Sports (Making football fairer and tokenising the aspects of the football experience) -PO8 (Marine archelogy start-up that is tokenising underwater assets

So our stats shows that 42% of our listeners are from the UAE. Well we have never met nor interacted with the majority of them, and so we decided to host our first meet-up. This meet-up, however, is with a twist. We did a live podcast to interact and engage with our community and the wider blockchain community in Dubai. We allowed the audience to pitch in their thoughts and questions at any point during the panel to allow for an interactive discussion. The topics were also chosen by the community too! On the registration form, we allowed the attendees to pick three topics out of 5 we picked and the three that were chosen were: Blockchain in the GCC State and future of adoption Blockchain start-up investments This is our longest episode where we, as a community, discussed many different factors of our ecosystem and we hope you will enjoy this. As always, please do not subscribe to our podcast. If you have, do not forget to rate and review the podcast!! Special Guests: Dr. Marwan Alzarouni and Talal Tabbaa

In this episode Ahmed and Aniket speak to Sandeep Nailwal, COO of Matic Network. Matic Network is a Layer 2 scaling solution for decentralised blockchain networks. The hosts explore why Matic exists, how they’re implementing Layer 2 solutions and what the platform is all about. Sandeep in a nutshell explains how important it is to solve the biggest problems in the space; scalability and UX. The Challenges 1. Current blockchain networks have a big problem in scaling due to its decentralised nature and that for mass adoption current blockchain networks will not be able to service millions of users. When it comes to UX and usability of blockchain’s the biggest problems lie in the technical nature of using blockchain. The ultimate goal is that when users interact, they wouldn’t know that they are really interacting with blockchain networks. From a developer standpoint, they are also providing easy tools for developers to develop applications on top of Matic which would allow scalability for Dapps and ultimate