))
Interested in what is going on in the world of blockchain and crypto assets? Want to understand how the most pioneering entrepreneurs, enterprises and governments are creating the digital economies of the future? Involving a range of superb guests of likeminded innovators, enablers, investors, government officials, executives and more, Encrypted takes you on a journey to make sense of what is going on in the Wild West of cryptocurrencies, understand valid use cases of blockchain technology a ...
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 73: Blending Securities and Defi - Bringing reg tech into CEFI & DEFI
47:48
47:48
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
47:48
Todays episode is a great mix of enterprise scaling of tokenised securities and the blending with DeFi. We have the co-founders from Securrency, a leading blockchain and crypto technology platform helping transform the digital securities industry. Having started this journey long before ICOs/IEOs and many of form of security or utilities tokens sta…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 72: Connecting Africa to the World with Danny Oyekan
37:31
37:31
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
37:31
We're super excited to have Danny Oyekan on this episode today. He has been slowly and quietly building his own blockchain empire and ecosystem through a variety of ventures he is spearheading, one of which is CoinsApp, which is one of the sponsors of this show! In this episode, we hear more about CoinsApp and the incredible traction it recieved po…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 71: The Nod of Approval - How Bitt pioneered the world's first concept of a blockchain Central Bank Digital Currency
29:51
29:51
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
29:51
In this episode, we uncover the story of how Barbados set its sights on creating a digital dollar and how this set the course for a legal central bank digital currency across the Caribbean. We speak to 3 amazing guests, Dr. Delisle Worrell (the Former Governor of the Barbados Central Bank), Gabriel Abed (Founder of Bitt.com) and Simon Chantry (CBDO…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 70: AI Generated Content - The Why, What and How
28:06
28:06
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
28:06
We speak to Arif Khan, CEO and Founder of Alethea.AI, which is a blockchain marketplace for synthetic media. We discuss all things under the sun related to synthetic media, specifically AI generated content. With the drop in costs of computing power, according to Moore's Law, this allows people to experiment with new technology and in this context …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 69: A World Divided - Covid19 is the World's Chief Digital Officer
46:45
46:45
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
46:45
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…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 68: Digital Keynote - A Global Economic Crisis is Looming, Now the Time for Blockchain to Leave Self Isolation
37:44
37:44
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
37:44
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 67: Web3 + Egypt + Global Users = Next Gen Privacy Email
24:31
24:31
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
24:31
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 h…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 66: Mike Dudas on how Covid19 is growing attention in the crypto and digital assets space
31:57
31:57
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
31:57
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 65: Covid19 Special - A Pandemic of Fake News
39:49
39:49
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
39:49
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: How strong is a lie? Who can the lie reach? How to sever the link between the two Taxono…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 64: How Orchid is revolutionizing the VPN space through blockchain and crypto!
31:39
31:39
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
31:39
By Ahmed Al-Balaghi
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 63: Scale matters, Localization doesn't
32:47
32:47
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
32:47
By Ahmed Al-Balaghi
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 62: How the UAE is saving AED 11 Billion through blockchain implementation? - World Economic Forum Special
25:29
25:29
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
25:29
By Ahmed Al-Balaghi
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 61: Creating and encouraging Fintech in Saudi Arabia
11:14
11:14
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
11:14
By Ahmed Al-Balaghi
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 60: How an ICO can get you fired and open doors unimagined
33:08
33:08
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
33:08
By Ahmed Al-Balaghi
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 59: Regulating Crypto in the GCC - The Lowdown
40:04
40:04
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
40:04
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 58: WEEKLY ROUND UP: China, New York, FINCEN, TON
43:01
43:01
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
43:01
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 appe…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 57: How an early YouTube employee is competing against Uber and Airbnb!
37:42
37:42
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
37:42
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 produc…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 56: Cre8ting a future of music artists
42:28
42:28
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
42:28
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 Cre8…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 55: THE (DIS)TRUST GENERATION: Genuine, Fake and Fraudulent
39:44
39:44
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
39:44
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 54: Encrypted @ Gitex - The Future of Programmable Money
49:40
49:40
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
49:40
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…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 53: How a young Chinese entrepreneur is building a crypto empire
15:44
15:44
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
15:44
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 to…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 52: The TikTok vs Baidu Court Case, Switzerland as a Blockchain Hub and why Homeschooling rocks!
32:27
32:27
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
32:27
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 Cap…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 51: Assessing token models: Why tokens are a unit of trust?
30:52
30:52
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
30:52
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 50: Special 50th episode - Everyone's an 'Economist'
1:11:28
1:11:28
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
1:11:28
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 49: 1 Ethereum address for every 110 people: Why adoption rates are super low in Crypto today!
18:27
18:27
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
18:27
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 t…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 48: Berlin Blockchain Week: Why is the Ex-CTO and Cofounder of Ethereum preaching Less Trust, More Truth?
11:32
11:32
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
11:32
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 p…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 47: "Can't be evil" - Why we should care about Web 3!
39:18
39:18
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
39:18
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. Richar…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 46: Why this start-up is crucial for the Dubai Blockchain Strategy!
42:50
42:50
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
42:50
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 45: Bitcoin Satellites, Lightning Network & Bitcoin as a Store of Value!
28:26
28:26
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
28:26
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, …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 44: Venture as a stack: Why Web 3.0 needs a different kind of investor
44:35
44:35
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
44:35
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 th…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 43: Why design is crucial for blockchain and cryptocurrencies!
37:18
37:18
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
37:18
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 42: Facebook's Libra: The good, the bad & the ugly
38:34
38:34
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
38:34
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…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 41: Education 3.0: Why the education industry is ripe for blockchain?
33:47
33:47
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
33:47
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 sha…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 40: Du: Leading UAE telco operator leveraging blockchain technology
29:05
29:05
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
29:05
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 39: Tezos: Past, Present and Future. With Hubertus Thonhauser
49:42
49:42
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
49:42
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 d…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 38: How a Dubai family office partnered with Techstars and ventured into blockchain? With Gary Sheynkman
40:35
40:35
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
40:35
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, the…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 37: How are lawyers creating, building and using smart contracts?
1:03:41
1:03:41
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
1:03:41
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…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 36: What the Stake? All you need to know about Staking and PoS networks!
27:05
27:05
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
27:05
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, differen…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 35: Building enterprise blockchain adoption in the Middle East with Jibrel Network
52:58
52:58
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
52:58
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 Enterpri…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 34: What is a blockchain phone? A conversation with Phil Chen, HTC's Decentralised Chief Officer
15:44
15:44
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
15:44
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 …
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 33: Revisiting the 2019 Global Blockchain Challenge in Dubai
55:05
55:05
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
55:05
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 th…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 32: Encrypted presents Decrypt Hour!
1:36:40
1:36:40
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
1:36:40
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 p…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 31: How Matic Network is solving the biggest problems in Blockchain today?
37:40
37:40
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
37:40
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…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 30: Back to where it all started: Reflecting on 30 episodes
29:28
29:28
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
29:28
This episode was a real heart to heart. Ahmed and Faisal reflect over their experience of running the Encrypted podcast covering what they learned when creating a podcast, their favourite episodes, the challenges they faced, revisiting why they are doing a podcast and sharing future plans of Encrypted. Not your typical episode this time, but a good…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 29: Assessing blockchain for insurance with Takaful Emarat and Addenda
39:35
39:35
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
39:35
Episode 29 is here! Ahmed sits down with Walid Daniel Dib from Addenda and Vivek Bhalla from Takaful Emarat. What is insurance and what challenges does the industry face? Ahmed starts off by questioning the two guests about what we mean by insurance and the challenges that the industry faces. Vivek touches on the concept of how sharing should be cl…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 28: Behavioural Science, Transparency, and the role of Governments: A conversation with Maja Vujinovic, the Former CIO of Emerging Tech at GE
43:19
43:19
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
43:19
In our next instalment of Encrypted, episode 28 brings you an inspiring discussion with Maja Vujinovic, the CEO of OGroup and the former CIO of Emerging Technology at GE. Maja first talks about the spark that caused her to go full time in blockchain after GE. The topics around deciphering data, what incentivizes behaviours, token economies, to name…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 27: Future of Crypto: World Government Summit Special
35:50
35:50
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
35:50
Ahmed is at the World Government Summit recording from a beautiful room that overlooks the beautiful Jumeirah Beach and the Madinah Jumeirah in all its glory. And what an amazing line-up he have for this episode with two amazing guests, Lawrence Wintermeyer from Global Digital Finance and Martin Bartlam from DLA Piper. Adult supervision After initi…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 26: How blockchain is revolutionizing the real estate experience in Dubai
46:02
46:02
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
46:02
Ahmed and Faisal host Khalifa Alsuwaidi, CEO of Emirates Real Estate Solutions (ERES). The episode starts with Khalifa introducing himself and his experiecne in the real estate sector and how ERES was founded and how it relates to the Dubai Land Department (DLD). He touches upon the strategic objectives of ERES and the engagement model with DLD. Hi…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 25: The balance between ROI and Social Impact: A conversation with the Blockchain Founders Fund
36:52
36:52
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
36:52
Ahmed and Faisal are joined by Aly Madhavji, a Managing Partner at the Blockchain Founders Fund. The episode starts off with Ahmed describing his experience at the Binance Fair in Singapore where he gives a few highlights and takeaways as well as a general landscape of the region. Use cases and investments The show then dives deep into Aly’s backgr…
E
Encrypted
1
#Ep. 24: Crypto Tales: The Success Story of Dubai's Bitoasis
51:28
51:28
+
Play later
Play later
+
Lists
Like
Liked
51:28
In the 24th episode of Encrypted, Ahmed and Faisal were joined by a very special guest from the Middle Eastern bitcoin and blockchain community, Ola Doudin, CEO of Bitoasis. Being the only exchange in the MENA region with on-ramp and off-ramp (i.e. exchange fiat for crypto and vice versa), Ola shares her background and past experiences before launc…
