Ahmed Al-Balaghi
Co-Host of Encrypted
Ahmed is a Co-host of Encrypted and has been involved in the blockchain and crypto space since early 2016 spending. Working in the Far East and helping to bridge east and West, Ahmed has worked on a number of projects in this field and has invested and advised new projects. Business fluent in Mandarin, Ahmed co-founded the Fudan Blockchain Association in China and assisted multiple blockchain projects to tap into Emerging Markets. Previously, Ahmed held roles in Citibank and Dow Jones.
Ahmed Al-Balaghi has hosted 77 Episodes.
-
#Ep. 64: How Orchid is revolutionizing the VPN space through blockchain and crypto!
March 3rd, 2020 | 31 mins 39 secs
open source, utility tokens, vpn, web 3
We were in Denver, Colorado for the amazing EthDenver event, and we were fortunate to catch up with Dr. Steven Waterhouse from Orchid. In this discussion, Ahmed and Seven (yes, he also goes by that name too) discuss what AI looked like in the 1990s, how he built Pantera Capital, how him being swim swapped led him to build Orchid and how Orchid is literally revolutionizing the VPN space!
-
#Ep. 62: How the UAE is saving AED 11 Billion through blockchain implementation? - World Economic Forum Special
January 27th, 2020 | 25 mins 29 secs
blockchain, c4ir, davos, dubai future foundation, enterprise, government, wef
The Dubai Future Foundation and World Economic Forum published a new paper showcasing how the UAE is saving AED 11 billion through deploying blockchain technology. Live from Davos, we speak to Mariam AlMuhairi, who is the head for the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the UAE to discuss key insights, takeaways and learnings from the paper! She also gives us a low down on the latest developments happening in Davos.
-
#Ep. 60: How an ICO can get you fired and open doors unimagined
December 17th, 2019 | 33 mins 8 secs
fundraising, ico, investment, startup, utility
Remember when ICO’s were a thing and everyone tried to do it? Well we have a guest who followed the advice of his team, particularly his CTO, to raise money through an ICO before things turned sour! Hear the story of how Anthony Gilman from AQUA managed to squash the ICO plans, save his company from failure and what his key takeaways were from all the drama that unfolded.
-
#Ep. 59: Regulating Crypto in the GCC - The Lowdown
December 8th, 2019 | 40 mins 4 secs
adgm, bahrain, difc, esca, gcc, mena, regulation, uae
We all now that Cryptocurrency regulations has been a headache for regulators and companies around the world. The UAE and the region has been pretty busy lately with attempts to implementing practical regulatory frameworks. In this episode, we speak to Fintech and crypto specialist lawyers Kokila Alagh and Akshata Namjoshi from Karm Legal in the UAE, to discuss how this region is going about regulating this growing and nascent space and what should you do as a crypto company wishing to enter the region?
-
#Ep. 58: WEEKLY ROUND UP: China, New York, FINCEN, TON
November 26th, 2019 | 43 mins 1 sec
china, fidelity, fincen, regulation, stablecoins, ton
In this episode, we bring friends of the show to discuss relevant news items from the week. We look at what U.S. regulators had to say about Stablecoins, how Fidelity is the latest company to obtain a custodian license in New York, and dissecting the latest china crypto crackdown. We also discuss Teelgram’s latest updates as some of our guests are secretly TON shillers.
-
#Ep. 57: How an early YouTube employee is competing against Uber and Airbnb!
November 18th, 2019 | 37 mins 42 secs
incentivisation, marketplaces, sharing economy, uber, use cases
Will marketplaces like Uber and Airbnb decline with the advent of decentralised infrastructure? Ahmed is in San Francisco and chats with Matthew Liu, CEO and Co-founder of Origin Protocol, which is a protocol for creating sharing economy marketplaces on Ethereum. The two discuss Matt’s career as a Product Manager during Youtube’s early days, Matt’s entrepreneurship journey, and what exactly are decentralised marketplaces and how Origin is implementing them.
-
#Ep. 56: Cre8ting a future of music artists
November 5th, 2019 | 42 mins 28 secs
artists, blockchain, music, musicians, rights, tunetoken
The intersection of music and tech promises a lot, and in this episode we explore how the blockchain will affect the music industry. 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.
-
#Ep. 55: THE (DIS)TRUST GENERATION: Genuine, Fake and Fraudulent
October 21st, 2019 | 39 mins 44 secs
author, data, distrust, fraud, privacy, trust
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. Ahmed and Nic are joined by Damu Winston, author of “I Don't Trust You, But Blockchain Will Help”.
-
#Ep. 54: Encrypted @ Gitex - The Future of Programmable Money
October 14th, 2019 | 49 mins 40 secs
bitcoin, central banks, demand, maths, monetary policy, programmable money, supply
Bitcoin. The US dollar. Litecoin. The Euro, oh and wait how can we forget gold. Money - the thing that drives this world, for the good or better, is going through an unprecedented shift like never before. It’s becoming digital and programmable. In this live episode we did at Gitex with the Future Blockchain summit, I sit down with Gabriel Abed and Aruba Khalid to discuss the Future of Programmable Money and we look at it through three lenses, Money for the authorities, money for the corporations and money for the people.
-
#Ep. 53: How a young Chinese entrepreneur is building a crypto empire
October 7th, 2019 | 15 mins 44 secs
adgm, china, ethereum classic, exchange, investments, mena, shanghai
We have a super episode in the Far East and our special guest is James Wo, Founder and CEO of Digital Finance Group. We talk about how James is building a crypto empire at age 27, how he is building a China - Middle East bridge and the current developments in the Chinese blockchain ecosystem.
-
#Ep. 52: The TikTok vs Baidu Court Case, Switzerland as a Blockchain Hub and why Homeschooling rocks!
September 30th, 2019 | 32 mins 27 secs
china, court case, decentralisation, enterprise, factom, homeschooling, legal, switzerland
Ahmed is back in China again and this time in Shanghai for the blockchain week where he is joined by a crypto OG, David Johnston. In this awesome episode, the pair discuss how blockchain solved a legal court case between two Chinese tech giants TikTok and Baidu, why Switzerland is the global blockchain hub and why homeschooling rocks. They pretty much covered several topics in this episode!
-
#Ep. 51: Assessing token models: Why tokens are a unit of trust?
September 22nd, 2019 | 30 mins 52 secs
crypto, economics, fund, investment, tokens, trust
There are over 2000 different cryptocurrencies and tokens on the market. How can you assess them, and how can you differentiate the good token models from the bad? Ahmed sits down with Pranav Sharma, Founding Partner of Woodstock Fund, where they discuss investment vehicles in crypto projects, how to assess token models and why tokens are a unit of trust.
-
#Ep. 50: Special 50th episode - Everyone's an 'Economist'
September 11th, 2019 | 1 hr 11 mins
central bank digital currency, economy, gold, interest rates, mmt, money, recession
You know those keyboard warriors on What’s app groups who just love to debate? Would it not be better for them to debate over chai and maybe record it as a podcast? Well, to celebrate our 50th episode, we brought in the guys from a Fintech group that we run who love debating the economy and how it affects central banks, crypto and the future of finance. So much interesting knowledge on the economy and the intersection between traditional economics, monetary policy, and cryptoassets.
-
#Ep. 49: 1 Ethereum address for every 110 people: Why adoption rates are super low in Crypto today!
September 2nd, 2019 | 18 mins 27 secs
analytics, blockchain, enterprise, ethereum, metrics
There is 1 Ethereum address for every 110 people! Is this the right metric to look at? What about retention rates of crypto-related products? Ahmed sits down with Fredrik Haga from Dune Analytics in Berlin Blockchain Week to discuss why the adoption rates of crypto products and even permisisoned blockchain applications are still super low today and what success for crypto products would look like!
-
#Ep. 48: Berlin Blockchain Week: Why is the Ex-CTO and Cofounder of Ethereum preaching Less Trust, More Truth?
August 26th, 2019 | 11 mins 32 secs
berlin, bitcoin, blockchain, ethereum, polkadot, web3
Dr. Gavin Wood, one of the early co-founders and Ex CTO of Ethereum, joins the show in what is a fascinating discussion about removing trust, the bitcoin vs ethereum debate, and his journey from coding Ethereum to where he is now!
This is episode is part of the Berlin Blockchain Week series we have for you! -
#Ep. 47: "Can't be evil" - Why we should care about Web 3!
July 29th, 2019 | 39 mins 18 secs
blockchain, crypto, data, decentralisation, privacy, software, web 3
If you could architect a new internet where privacy is in the users’ control, how would you go about doing that? Richard Muirhead, Founder and General parter of Fabric Ventures articulates why and how a new privacy-centric construct of the internet, commonly known as Web 3, would take place. We discuss why Web 3, the ‘Can't be evil’ motto, how to convey Web 3 to traditional investors, and the intersection of Web 3, enterprise and regulation.