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 and Corda. In term of permissionless chains, he goes into the concept of upgradeable contracts which can be implemented on Ethereum and draws upon an example and takes us through this use case along with the challenges it represents.

We also go on to the topic of enterprise and how Quantstamp interacts with different levels of enterprise clients. One colossal client of theirs is Kakao’s Ground X project (Kakao is Korea’s largest messaging platform) and shares how he has interacted with them and the processes involved.
Richard shares how they approach different projects according to their security valuations and how different they have become over time, particularly the big shift from 2017 to 2019.

Ahmed shifts the topic to why Quantsamp is in cohort 6 of the Dubai Future Accelerators program, which is a 12-week program dedicated to bringing in start-ups from around the world to bring innovation to certain government departments. They were paired up with the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) in order to help them build a secure system to sync up the different data silos that exist in the various agencies of the RTA to bring the coordination of data from days to seconds. Richard shares his current experiences with the RTA explaining how welcoming and open-minded they are in trialing these projects, in particular how the government departments emphasize the business applications and benefits these solutions would bring rather than focusing on the hype that blockchain.

Richard touches upon their global expansion, such as their new set up in Japan and Noumura’s recent investment in Quantstamp. Nic changes the conversation to trust and data standardization and given Quantstamp’s global footprint and diverse clientele, what this means for them introducing standards in the industry and becoming the trust anchor. Richard dives deep into the 3 verticals of standards they are working on, one of which is the Smart Contract Security Alliance (which Nomura and Fujitsu are current stakeholders).

When Richard started the company there were 300,000 smart contracts on Ethereum and now on there are 12 million contracts deployed on Ethereum! This led them to think that security audits should be automated with future anticipated demand and theoretically a token can be used as a security and utility feature to secure the system and verify the smart contract audits. The QSP token of Quantstamp is the token that powers this protocol and Richard further explains the viability of why the token economics could work in the future.

Nic further questions Richard if they would implement AI and machine learning into their business! Make sure to listen and find out what he had to say!

All this and more was discussed on this week’s episode of Encrypted!

Also, the legal bits for the soundtrack used in the podcast:
Music Credit: LAKEY INSPIRED

Track Name: Warm Nights

Music By: LAKEY INSPIRED @ https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired

Original upload HERE – https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired/warm-nights

License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported “Share Alike” (CC BY-SA 3.0) License.

Full License HERE – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

Special Guest: Richard Ma.

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 initial introductions, Ahmed recalls with Lawrence the crypto panel that took place at the World Government Summit this time last year which comprised mostly of bitcoin maximalists. This is in complete contrast to this year’s crypto panel at the World Government Summit where panel members all comprised of regulators and lawyers. Interesting how much changes in one year!

Lawrence and Martin emphasise the aspect that the crypto market is reforming and it is a time of consolidation and building before another round of excitement will come to the market again.

Why reinvent the wheel?

Most commentators would ascertain that new regulation would need to be implemented before the industry would see mass adoption. Martin, however, disagrees putting forth the viewpoint that we already have an effective regulatory framework in place and instead the market would need new infrastructures such as regulated exchanges, effective KYC procedures and custody solutions to exist before we see real traction.

In an environment of seeing the next wave of infrastructure the two guests believe that regulators and lawyers are already up to speed with recent developments in the space and are preparing for the new wave of innovations coming in the next couple years.

Let’s have a new term for STOs

Ahmed takes a crack at killing the term security tokens and STOs and the guests have slightly mixed views about this. Check out the episode to hear more!

Conquer or Partner?

Ahmed moves the conversation to see whether or not the current incumbents are able to or will bypass the current innovators and use their mass resources to move to a truly digital platform.
The guests believe that the partnership model seems to be an approach that is common in the industry and that start-ups in the future will provide very niche services. Incumbents, they argue, have gone better in researching and collectively working together to find opportunities and actively contribute to the industry.

All the above and more was discussed in this week’s episode of Encrypted. But before the ending, the two guests talk about their biggest takeaways from the World Government Summit. So do make sure to check out this episode to hear their takeaways and what they have to say.

We really hope you enjoy this episode as we worked really hard to get this specific episode recorded and yes sorry about the echoes in this episode.

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: Lawrence Wintermeyer and Martin Bartlam.

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 launching Bitoasis. We were impressed by it and we’re sure you will too!

First, we wanted to clear misconceptions and confusion around the ‘Virtual Currency’ ban in a policy paper that was issued by the UAE Central Bank in early 2017. With Bitoasis already being an established digital assets exchange, Ola explains how they reacted to this piece of news and how they made a clear path forward.

How can you get a crypto exchange license in the UAE?

This led the discussion to the subject of obtaining a crypto exchange license here in the UAE when there was no clear guidance or laws on running crypto asset exchanges. Ola explains their approach with licensing in the UAE, their approach with lawyers and regulators and most importantly, how they dealt with compliance. For those budding exchange entrepreneurs looking towards the MENA region, you’ll definitely learn a thing or two from Ola’s experience.

Oh and what about a bank account?

Getting bank accounts as a crypto company is not an easy task here in the UAE. Ola, however, has showcased to the region that it is doable. She explains the journey Bitoasis had with their banking relationships, the challenges they encountered and how they resolved them. Yes, relationships played a key role, but make sure to listen in to hear what else Bitoasis had up their sleeve to secure stable banking relationships for their exchange.

Ola emphasises that after the ADGM issued its exchange guidelines, regional banks have taken a more accommodating approach to banking crypto companies.

Regulatory and competitive landscape

Ola talks about her experiences engaging with regulators across the region and GCC stating that we are at a point where most crypto companies and exchanges have to classify themselves as a financial services companies and thus have to be regulated accordingly. Faisal tries to understand how Ola is trying to scale Bitoasis in the region as well as her thoughts on the regional crypto exchange competitive landscape as more exchanges are actively trying to set up shop in the UAE.

Bitoasis’ Demographics

Ola shares the demographics of Bitoasis’ platform; particularly the persona of their users and their most active regions. She also highlights that the main crypto communities are UAE, Saudi and Kuwait.

She also mentions that users are not only on the exchange to trade and invest but their users use their platform as a means of payment and micropayments through their wallet product.

Being a crypto entrepreneur in the Middle East – wait a female crypto entrepreneur

Here we try to understand Ola a bit more and how she persevered in a niche space during a time when blockchain and crypto was unheard of and typically rejected. Vision, their stakeholders, execution and being in the right city to experiment (want to hazard a guess where they experimented?) were the main factors behind their growth and success. This is an interesting part of the episode, so do make sure to tune in!

Decentralisation and data hacking

We diverted our discussion to data, how dangerous centralised data stores are for society and more specifically the paradigm shift that needs to occur to prevent incidents such as the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica case. Ola asks an interesting question: when a huge data leak happens, what is the role of government and public services?
We clearly see that it’s just a matter of time that these problems will be solved using blockchain. So if you like to hear about the philosophical side of blockchain and why it can solve the above problem, then you wouldn’t want to miss this one!

Building the infrastructure and what should be done in the region?

Ahmed asks Ola where does she see Bitoasis in 5 years time? Will they do an ICO, be an STO exchange etc?

‘Building the infrastructure; particularly the liquidity pool and education that’s needed to build an industry’ – was her answer. Very visionary and powerful!

Faisal follows up to hear Ola’s thoughts on what she thinks should be the government’s role to aid the industry and especially what should be done in the UAE and Dubai? Well, do tune in to find out.

As you can see, we talked about a lot of things and so 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: Ola Doudin.

They discuss:
• How the Department’s current processes are inefficient
• How blockchain will help eliminate inefficiencies and why they need a blockchain
• Their successful pilot test with one free trade zone in Dubai

Mohammed delves into their Department’s blockchain journey and their approach to actually solve problems currently faced by investors and businessmen coming into the UAE.
As well as critically deconstructing the problem, Mohammed shared the grand plans for how their Department’s blockchain solution could not only be a solution used in the UAE but also shares their worldwide ambitions.

The crux of the conversation is all about digital identity and Mohammed discusses their ideas and implementations for how digital IDs can soon become a reality in the UAE utilising digital signatures.

All of the above and more will be on this episode of Encrypted Interviews!

If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on iTunes and the other podcast platforms. And if you found it helpful or know someone who will, spread the knowledge and tell them to tune in!

Special Guest: Mohammed Shael Al Saadi.

They discuss:
• His very interesting flippening moment (jargon for how someone got interested in bitcoin and blockchain)
• Advice on how to the enter the industry
• Different applications utilised by blockchain and the Dubai Blockchain Strategy

They also delve into how the Dubai Blockchain Center is helping Dubai become a global blockchain capital and how blockchain entrepreneurs can get support from the Center. Also, cryptocurrency regulation is a hot topic where they discuss how the UAE is fairing against the world, especially on the back of a new crypto OTC license that has recently been made available in the region allowing for regulated crypto OTC desks.

All of the above and more will be on this episode of Encrypted Interviews!

If you liked what you heard, please do leave us a review on iTunes and the other podcast platforms. And if you found it helpful or know someone who will, spread the knowledge and tell them to tune in!

Additional resources:
Dubai Blockchain Center
Smart Dubai Blockchain Strategy

Special Guest: Dr. Marwan Alzarouni .