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 that anchors into bitcoin and ethereum, has secured hundreds of millions of business records and cites a couple of uses by real companies using Factom as a way to record business documents. This is where the amazing TikTok Baidu case was revealed by David. You definitely don’t want to miss this interesting court case story, oh and the supreme court of China was involved too.
David goes into what Factom is and why it exists claiming that it solves as many problems as bitcoin does as its core focus is on record keeping which allows for strong transparency and accountability.

Ahmed shifts the conversation to see David’s opinion on which jurisdiction is the best for blockchain and crypto. In his words - ‘Switzerland. Hands down’. Ahmed, a bit shell shocked dove in to understand why David thinks Switzerland is the hotspot for blockchain and David urges blockchain projects should consider moving to Zug, which is dubbed as Crypto Valley.

David further shocks Ahmed when Ahmed asks him Bitcoin or Ethereum. David chooses Ethereum for a number of reasons - Do make sure to listen to hear why!

Before the end of the show, the pair go off on a completely random topic - Homeschooling. As David mentioned he was homeschooled, Ahmed was intrigued to find out what is homeschooling about, hows it different from public schooling and why parents make the decision to homeschool their children.

All of the above and more will be on this week’s episode of Encrypted!

If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on iTunes and the other platforms. Don’t forget to support us by spreading the word!

Special Guest: David Johnston.

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 Richard discusses the story behind why they came up with this motto and concepts such as privacy by design.

As Fabric Ventures are currently fundraising, Ahmed was intrigued to find out how Richard and the team are trying to convince the wider investor community and traditional LP’s to invest in this new wave. The ideas surrounding Web 3 are great, but how can you rally traditional investors to back you? Richard articulately lays down the the things that get the investors excited and things that they should avoid.

Ahmed shifts the conversation to the types of entrepreneurs that Fabric will typically back. If you’re a Web 3 entrepreneur reading this or listening to the podcast, make sure you listen to what Richard had to say!

Enterprise and tech titans - how are they looking at this and will they be adapting? Ahmed and Richard discussed whether or not the current incumbents will be able to change their business models to the new world of Web 3 and the new value chain that will emerge as a result. Richard draws interesting comparisons from history citing the move from IP to cloud (around 10 years ago) created lots of software applications and resulted in huge value creation. He argues we may see something similar when we move from IP to an architecture whereby people and companies all hold their own data and share it at their will in an interwoven system.

Finally, the two touch on regulation to see how GDPR and Open Banking will be able to aid this nascent industry in moving forward!

All this and more is discussed in the week’s episode of Encrypted!

Special Guest: Richard Muirhead.

The Binance decentralised demo is covered too along with how decentralised exchanges function and how they are actually governed. This is also contrasted with the other side of the spectrum with the Intercontinental Exchange recently reporting that they will be launching a new Digital Asset Exchange called Bakkt in November of this year!

Finally, the hosts discuss Tezos’s research grant announcement as well as recent news on the Emerging Markets which also concerns exchanges!

All of the above and more will be on this week’s episode of Encrypted!

If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on iTunes and the other platforms. Don’t forget to support us by spreading the word!

Articles links:

SEC Postpones Decision on Bitcoin ETF Listing to September
Binance Unveils Demo of New Decentralized Cryptocurrency Exchange
Tezos Foundation to Issue Grants for Blockchain and Smart Contract Research

In this episode, a couple of interesting topics are discussed:

• Cryptocurrency becoming mainstream
• The concept of decentralization
• ICO failures and the next step
• UAE SCA recognizing crypto as securities

Ahmed starts off with the first topic of cryptocurrencies being mainstream within 10 years according to research. The evolution of money and the 3 characteristics are explored along with where cryptocurrencies stand. The timeline of 10 years is also challenged in terms of how technology and humans will work together. Some existing platforms are explored and the hosts discuss what roles they play in helping cryptocurrencies become more mainstream.

Faisal explains the concept of decentralization and its importance is discussed. They also explore the required balance and the effect of decentralization on efficiency.

The next topic discussed is the failure rate of ICOs being almost 50% last year! Amin explains what he believes should be done with ICOs and how it compares to other domains. The role of regulation and its impact on the entire journey is also explored.

Lastly, the news of the UAE SCA officially recognizing digital assets as securities is evaluated from the point of view of the guest and hosts.

All of the above and more will be on this week’s episode of Encrypted!

If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on iTunes and the other platforms. Don’t forget to support us by spreading the word and do not forget to subscribe!

Sources:
Cryptocurrencies Will Become Mainstream in 10 Years, Says eToro and Imperial College Research

The Long Game in Crypto: Why Decentralization Matters

46% of Last Year’s ICOs Have Failed Already

Emirates SCA is looking to label cryptocurrencies as security (in Arabic only)

Special Guest: Amin El-Kholy.