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.
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#Ep. 46: Why this start-up is crucial for the Dubai Blockchain Strategy!
July 21st, 2019 | 42 mins 50 secs
audit, dubai, enterprise, smart contracts, standards
This week, we have the super talented Richard Ma, CEO of Quantstamp. We talk about smart contract auditing, how Quantstamp is contributing to the Dubai Blockchain strategy, how they are automating the audits of millions of lines of codes and which countries are already living in the future! You don’t want to miss this one!
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#Ep. 45: Bitcoin Satellites, Lightning Network & Bitcoin as a Store of Value!
July 14th, 2019 | 28 mins 26 secs
bitcoin, gaming, libra, lightning network, store of value
Samson Mow, CSO at Blockstream joins us on this week's episode of Encrypted! This time, we record from Singapore at the World Blockchain Forum with Dr. Marwan Alzarouni as a co-host. We discuss the early days of bitcoin in China, what bitcoin satellites are and why it's a good idea, what bitcoin’s role should be in the context of the lightning network and its relevant applications for streaming services and in third world countries.
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#Ep. 44: Venture as a stack: Why Web 3.0 needs a different kind of investor
July 8th, 2019 | 44 mins 35 secs
convergence, investments, tokens, vc, web 3.0
Jamie is a co-founder and CEO of Outlier ventures, one of the leading European crypto VCs and incubators. We talk about the Outlier Ventures’ Convergence thesis, the layout of the new internet, theorizing how it can play out and what’s needed to achieve that vision. Additionally, Jamie touches on what they have done to date, what makes them different as a VC investing in this space and also shares their recent partnership with the Dubai Government.
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#Ep. 43: Why design is crucial for blockchain and cryptocurrencies!
July 1st, 2019 | 37 mins 18 secs
design, design thinking, user experience
Asim Janjua, Director of Innovation and Design at Consensys, joins us on this show to look at how design intersects with blockchain and cryptocurrencies. We explore design led thinking principles, how it is applied to this nascent technlogy, how his experience at Google paved his design led methodology and ultimately, why design will lead us to mainstream adoption.
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#Ep. 42: Facebook's Libra: The good, the bad & the ugly
June 24th, 2019 | 38 mins 34 secs
bitt, central bank, facebook, libra, private money
Gabriel Abed, Founder of Bitt, joins Encrypted to explain and discuss Facebook’s recent announcement of launching a stable cryptocurrency called Libra. Ahmed and Gabriel go through what Libra is, how it works, how different it is to other cryptocurrencies we currently have, the approach Facebook are taking and ultimately what this means for the crypto industry, for people globally and monetary authorities and central banks alike.
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#Ep. 41: Education 3.0: Why the education industry is ripe for blockchain?
June 17th, 2019 | 33 mins 47 secs
attestation, credentials, education, enterprise, university
Nic and Ahmed take a deep dive with Educhain CEO Mark Balovnev into the world of education and how blockchain is helping solve high levels of inefficiencies and connecting more than just students with credentials.
We discuss how Educhain help enable students and graduates to 'passport' and transfer their credentials for use with jobs, further education, and government. This could mean the troublesome attestation process could be over very soon ✊🏽😌
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#Ep. 40: Du: Leading UAE telco operator leveraging blockchain technology
June 9th, 2019 | 29 mins 5 secs
du, enterprise, platform
In this episode, we hear from Fatma Elsafty, a Blockchain Technology Manager at Du, to tell us what Du are cooking up in the blockchain department and how they envisage being one of the pioneers in the region.
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#Ep. 39: Tezos: Past, Present and Future. With Hubertus Thonhauser
May 27th, 2019 | 49 mins 42 secs
board, enterprise, investments, tezos, use case, vc
Hubertus Thonhauser, Founding Partner of Enabling Future and a Board Member of the Tezos Foundation takes us through the trials and tribulations of the Tezos Foundation, their renewed focus on blockchain implementation use cases and the hot sectors they are pursuing with their technology.
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#Ep. 38: How a Dubai family office partnered with Techstars and ventured into blockchain? With Gary Sheynkman
May 17th, 2019 | 40 mins 35 secs
enterprise, investments, startups, vc
In this episode, Ahmed and Nic speak with Gary Sheynkman, an Investment Partner at Ginco Investments and the Corporate Lead for Techstars Dubai. We talk about how an Emirati family ventured into blockchain, their partnership with Techstars and what they see as the future of crypto related services. All this and more on this episode of Encrypted.
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#Ep. 37: How are lawyers creating, building and using smart contracts?
May 12th, 2019 | 1 hr 3 mins
law, legal, smart contracts, tech
In this episode, we have two amazing lawyers Mark Beer and lawyer turned tech entrepreneur Alessandro Palombo, who are adapting to the future of legal tech and smart contracts.
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! You don't want to miss this one! -
#Ep. 36: What the Stake? All you need to know about Staking and PoS networks!
May 2nd, 2019 | 27 mins 5 secs
generalised mining, proof of stake, staking, tezos
Tim Ogilvie is the CEO of Staked, a company that operates and runs block production nodes for decentralised Proof Of Stake networks on behalf of institutional investors. We talk about the what staking is, why it exists, what opportunities it presents, the state of the staking industry, the roles of staking providers and also related regulatory concerns!
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#Ep. 35: Building enterprise blockchain adoption in the Middle East with Jibrel Network
April 23rd, 2019 | 52 mins 58 secs
digitization, enterprise, middle east, sukuk
Ever wanted to get an idea about the Middle East Enterprise space for blockchain?
Today's podcast is the right place to start. With Talal Tabbaa of Jibrel Network and Nic Watson of Naseba, we cover examples of winning, implementing and managing digitization of sukuks and fiat. We also take some time to answer the question...What does Enterprise really mean?We hope you enjoy!
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#Ep. 34: What is a blockchain phone? A conversation with Phil Chen, HTC's Decentralised Chief Officer
April 16th, 2019 | 15 mins 44 secs
blockchain, htc, private keys, smartphone, wallet
In this episode, we have an interesting discussion with Phil Chen, the Decentralised Chief Officer (DCO) at HTC. We discuss what a DCO actually does, the idea of leaderless leadership, Phil’s extensive entrepreneurial background and everything you need to know about the Exodus phone!
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#Ep. 33: Revisiting the 2019 Global Blockchain Challenge in Dubai
April 10th, 2019 | 55 mins 5 secs
blockchain challenge, dfa, pitch, smart dubai, start-up
20 finalists out of 700+ applications for the 2019 Global Blockchain Challenge. We sit down the the project lead of the Dubai Futures Accelerators, Karin Gabriel who explains what the Global Blockchain challenge is all about and we also catch up with the finalists before their pitch to see what ideas are being born and already applied. You can't miss this one!
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#Ep. 32: Encrypted presents Decrypt Hour!
April 2nd, 2019 | 1 hr 36 mins
adoption, decrypt hour, gcc, private, public
Our. First. Live. Podcast. Meetup!! Yipeeee, in episode 32, we took it offline to have a live podcast recording with the blockchain community in Dubai. Special thanks to Dr. Marwan and Talal Tabbaa for being the panelists and as well as the awesome audience who contributed their thoughts and insights in this very engaging and special episode. You can't miss this one!
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#Ep. 31: How Matic Network is solving the biggest problems in Blockchain today?
March 30th, 2019 | 37 mins 40 secs
layer 2, open source, proof of stake, scalability, ux
We learn about an exciting project in this space called Matic Network. Ahmed and Aniket talk with Sandeep Nailwal who is the COO of Matic. In this episode, we learn all about the scalability problem and how Matic attempts to solve this problem and also other pressing problems in the blockchain space! You don’t want to miss this one!