Category: General

As the summer holiday season draws to a close, and people are turning their attention to children returning to school, re-immersing themselves into work I reflect on what has been a busy few weeks.

The Crypto ‘winter’ continues, along with poor news in all other markets and metrics, and with speculation rife on how long it will last and the severity of it it paints a poor forecast (if you listen to the ‘experts’. My work as an advisor has continued throughout, and whilst I have been able to enjoy the beautiful weather in Guernsey, I must confess I’ll be pleased to see the end of summer from a business perspective.

This year has been particularly notable in terms of how the holiday season disrupts the decision making processes in business. I’m sure there is a reality to the situation, but it’s been more obvious this year that it’s very easy to use it as an excuse when one or other partner is absent to delay or defer a decision. For example, a typical business with three or four founders means that if each take a two week break, it can be 6 or 8 weeks of bottleneck and broken chain of command, which renders the business to a halt during this period on anything strategic or progressive. Of course established businesses continue to serve their customers but the aspect I work with businesses on means that anything that requires a real decision is put on hold.

I’ve noticed in the last week or so that the return to work, an understanding that despite the economic climate decisions do have to be made, and that now is the time for building and making brave decisons.

History tells us that the ‘next big thing’ tends to emerge from the period of stasis that economic uncertainty brings, and so I’m buoyed by this fact and grateful to be operating in the areas that I do.

My expectations for the next few months – I’m bullish.

I say this that despite the pain that it will cause other sectors, FinTech is building rapidly and the projects I’m specifically working on now, such as IAMX, SIKA and Factiiv it seems are all on the brink of making some giant leaps forward in the coming weeks.

Obviously I’ll update significant news on these as it becomes public, but I really feel my efforts across the summer months will start to pay off as we head towards autumn!

I’ve introduced IAMX previously, however, the developments of the last few weeks merit some specific focus and attention.

Having confirmed and ratified the IAMX:DID with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) IAMX have now moved forward in bringing a lead investor, a seasoned entrepreneur, Tim Ringel. Tim also will take a position on the advisory board of IAMX, and we’re very pleased for him to join the team. Tim’s previous early stage investments include SpaceX, Spotify and AirBNB amongst others.

The IAMX token has also now been put through it’s paces and used in real life tests and pilots which will serve as evidence the legal opinion that the token has real utility.

Onboarding of e-commerce partners, online retailers and specific industry use cases is now at the forefront of my activities.

IAMX’s entry to the Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIP) means the development cycle becomes rather faster and easier with more resource on hand and priority, coupled with membership of the SSI and DeFi alliances mean a rapid roll out can now be expected.

SSI and DID are going to be vital to the mass adoption of web3, the sticking point was always around who would move first. Monetizing this process was always key, something IAMX have solved gracefully and effectively, so our anticipation of wider end-user and corporate adoption grows.

Please reach out if you’d like to discuss any aspect of IAMX with me.

Yes, the temperatures are soaring, I write this on the morning after what was arguably the hottest day of the year (so far) but my title really alludes to the volume of work and the huge opportunities the current ‘crypto winter’ is delivering.

Specifically at IAMX the pace is really gathering, with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ratification a real life use case delivered, adoption into the Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIP) program and membership of the Cardano DeFi and SSI Alliances, we are really seeing the topic of Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) being discussed widely.

My activities are, as usual, connecting, discussing, introducing the project to a wide range of interested parties – from future partners, service providers, institutions and the like. I’m always happy to speak on this topic though as it’s honestly one of the key enablers to a safer, more secure internet, metaverse and digital life.

SIKA is also moving ahead fast, with three separate patents for the IP now logged at the US patent office, the development progressing smoothly and the outreach for partners well underway there will be a heavy workload in the coming months delivering this innovative and exciting platform.

Factiiv is nearing MVP which means the pressure to tie up some of the administrative and organisational sides has increased. I’m now involved with selection of the blockchain, jurisdiction choices and of course strategic partnerships!

Following some travel in Europe in May and June, spending July in Guernsey is delightful. The weather, beaches, evening walks and the general pace of life, away from my desk, is ideal!

2022 is literally flying by! The longest day of the year has passed, and we draw towards the end of June, I’m just taking a minute to reflect on how the year has been so far, and, importantly, what’s in store for the next half.

Having decided to unshackle myself from a full time post and take on a variety of projects this year I have been amazed by the diversity of project styles and approaches to market. Spending time abroad visiting, meeting and interacting has been a big part of the first half of 2022, and this schedule is likely to continue.

One project that I went to meet with the founder of, and that I’m particularly pleased to be able to talk about finally is SIKA – this has been a work in progress for some time, I first mentioned the project in my post in early May and I’m pleased, now that the patents are filed, we can start to talk about it and begin this journey.

SIKA (https://sika.fund) brings a new way to invest in stocks, shares, commodities, bonds – in fact pretty much anything. Using some very clever IP protected technology it serves new markets, provides new combinations and new possibilities! I’ll write more on this over the coming months! I’ve now added the project to my LinkedIn profile of current appointments which I’m pleased to have finally done.

Looking ahead, the second half of the year looks to continue to be busy as I say. I’m being introduced to people all the time, founders, investors, tech people etc. Building my network and developing my professional relationships continually.

Whilst the crypto markets are depressed, and there is a lot of pain being felt right now, the opportunity for investment into start-ups has never been better, and I’m seeing a lot of renewed interest in the projects that have taken a pragmatic approach to their valuation given the ‘correction’ in the market.

I suspect the coming summer months specifically will be spent in delivering on this platform and as things begin to turn around I expect a strong finish to 2022, so no time to waste!

After driving approximately 4,500 miles on my visits to Gibraltar, Portugal, Spain, France and Monaco it’s a real pleasure to be back behind my desk and getting into the real day to day of my work.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being on the road, the journey was well worth every mile, visiting Damex, and IAMX, a meeting to develop a new project that isn’t ready to be unveiled yet, attending Metaverse conference and meeting lots of like-minded people at various other locations and events is generally a pleasing part of my work, but having conducted business over zoom/teams/meet for so long now, it somehow feels like getting things done in person is slightly more difficult?

Video calls offer the speed of literally leaping from continent to continent at will. Face to face meetings seem to take longer to plan, run on a lot longer and when you come away you still have to follow everything up in email or message!

What I really like though is the free ranging nature of face to face conversations. They offer the opportunity to really get to understand and connect with the client/supplier/colleague in a way that is lost on zoom.

IAMX is my lead project now taking perhaps as much as 50% of my average day, the deck looks great, the explanation of the project is clear and easy to follow, and there is a real drive to get the first use cases live and in use. Factiiv then takes a lot of my day now, as this is really gathering pace.

I keep my eyes open for other work of course as . One such ad hoc task whilst on the road was closing a funding round for equity in a Peruvian Neo-Bank. Introducing a ‘smart money’ partner to this company was a pleasure and a further round now opens which I am hopeful to fill also.

The crypto investors have taken a beating in the last few weeks, and understandably are ‘hodling’ to a large extent. My attention therefore is turned towards more traditional and institutional connections who are not affected in the same way right now.

I hope to be able to bring news of the ‘secret’ project next post!

Rolling my sleeves up and getting on with things is the format for this month now the bank holiday/jubilee weekend is past us. I think my zoom subscription and calendly link will be utilised a lot this month!

As I mentioned in my last post, I am travelling in Europe most of this month, and on my travels I took the opportunity to drop in at Damex.

The company is based in Gibraltar, and the timing of the visit was such that I could meet with the newly appointed CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) Samuel Rondot, who I first met whilst he was head of OTC at currency.com, and by good fortune Sam Buxton (CEO), Phillip Vasquez (CLO) where available also, along with other members of the team.

The days of Covid have meant we’ve all gotten used to endless quantities of zoom, facetime and teams meetings, but to have the chance to meet everyone in real life is irreplaceable and entirely valuable.

The highlight of my visit was the opportunity to have a live demo of the forthcoming app, actually working and in action. The slick and stylish interface is backed up with speed and clarity. In a nutshell it works as well as it looks good!

Sam demonstrated depositing some fiat currency (GBP) from his Revolut account, it arriving instantly in the Damex app and then just as quickly converting it into USDT. Options then are to stake, or convert into other currencies, or send to external wallets either as payment or cold storage etc.

The app works seamlessly, and proves that the meticulous time spent developing it over the last 12 months has been well worthwhile. Now with over 100,000 clients on the waiting list for the app, its launch, along with the DAMX token is eagerly awaited.

Damex really is a glowing example of a company accelerating through the gears (and not being held back) and I’m super happy to be connected as an advisor to this remarkable company!

A quick update written whilst on a working holiday which entails driving down through France, into and across Spain, where I write this now, before heading to Portugal, Gibraltar and then Monaco, but more on this later in the month!

I’ve recently accepted two new positions that are a delight to announce. I’ll formally add more details on both in the coming days, but especially I wanted to record my excitement to be involved in these early stage projects.

Factiiv, (factiiv.io) is a whole new way to establish credit for your business. We focus on the connections and interactions you make each day so you can run your business as usual while improving your chances of getting credit With Factiiv, you can establish and report the credit-worthiness of your business through everyday business activity and the power of blockchain technology.

I’ve also accepted a position in SIKA, a new spin on making blockchain work. I can’t tell you too much more about it now, but this is an incredible new use case for blockchain and I’m thrilled to be part of the team from the outset.

The array of project advisory roles is so pleasing. My work at IAMX and Damex continues but adding Factiiv and Sika to these brings synergies, and a real sense of purpose to my work.

There is also an update with Novem pending to announce, and I’ll be very excited to unveil how we are developing our Guernsey relationships to bring something wholly new to the market soon!

Much of January was taken up with planning for and delivering the MELD TGE. I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t without hiccups, doing something truly innovative, new and indeed ground-breaking is always going to throw up the unexpected. My role of supporting the process meant that January literally flew past with an avalanche of questions, queries and observations to attend to.

MELD aside though, several opportunities have presented during this time, and February is a month of locking in, developing and nurturing these so that my 2022 is mapped out clearly and my time is apportioned correctly. Whilst delivering MELD is my focus and indeed my passion I do have capacity to lift my head up and observe the wider landscape!

So, I have some very interesting and exciting news to share once things fall into place, and having now been in the crypto world for 18 months (I was told yesterday that a year in crypto is like 7 years in traditional business) I feel my experience now, coupled with my natural abilities for problem solving, relationship building and management and strategy, give me a unique perspective and set of attributes to be able to drive forward into 2022.

I’m going to resist naming specific projects I’ve been talking with in this post, but the diversity is huge, from real estate to trade finance, from OTC to mining, from micro lending to asset management and yield farming there is much to do in the coming months to bring these truly great projects to the fore.

Immediately on the horizon is a trip into Europe. I’ve not travelled too much this year yet, aside from a couple of meetings in London, but as I noted in my previous update, Europe and further afield beckon in the coming weeks and months.

Crypto pricing has been under pressure from a variety of angles since the end of last year, however I feel optimism and desire in the space remans very high, and with so much activity attracting attention and with so many new actors joining the space, 2022 looks like it will be a huge leap forward that is just waiting to happen.

Welcome to 2022, a year which promises some return to normal life in terms of travel, work and pleasure, although I think 2021 was supposed to offer this also, but that didn’t quite work out as planned!

For me 2021 was a hectic year, MELD took over my life completely, the speed and scale of the company development was breathtaking, raising $35m in the private and equity sales and supporting the ISPO process meant that aside from the travelling and meeting people I was on endless zoom meetings!

Since the last update I visited France, Italy (three times), Switzerland (twice) Czech Republic, Gibraltar and of course the UK. Additionally, for personal reasons I also visited Guernsey 3 times, which is where I have now relocated to permanently.

Malta presented a new way of life for me, and will always have a special place in my heart, but the financial landscape, political complications and way of doing business are all not to my liking now, and coupled with the excessive heat which really doesn’t help productivity the decision was made to move.

Guernsey so far has been very welcoming and brings a normality (to me) with it. Very British, but with a sense of ‘exotic’ – rather like myself.

So what does 2022 hold in store? More MELD of course. Whilst the bulk of my initial role in bringing the financial security to the organisation is done, there are some key partnerships still to announce this year.

I’m looking forward to more travel this year, despite the complications of forms and regulations changing every five minutes, and already planned are trips to Tuscany, America, Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal.

I arrived into 2022 in high spirits, filled with optimism and the year already has proved to be an eventful one!

Happy New Year!