#442 From Davos to DeFi: Agne Linge on Blockchain, AI, and the Future of Money

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Mehmet: Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the CTO Show with Mehmet. Today I'm very pleased joining me Agne from Lithuania. She is the head of growth at WeFi. Agne, the way I love to do it is I keep it to my guests to introduce themselves, tell us more [00:01:00] about, you know, your background, your journey and what you're currently up to and then we can start discussion from there.

Mehmet: Just as a teaser for the audience, we're going to discuss a lot of like interesting topics around, you know, everything, you know, you know, DAO, DeFi, and then all this stuff, which is, you know, it's the current technology of, of the, of the finance. So without further ado, I would keep it for you, Agne, to introduce them yourself, and then we'll start the discussion.

Agne: Thank you very much, Mehmet. It's a pleasure to be here. Uh, my name is Agne Linge and I'm indeed, I come from Lithuania, uh, the country that is famous for its fintech, um, evolution and ecosystem, and also for the crypto ecosystem. Uh, currently I reside in Dubai, which has shown a significant, um, appetite for innovation and for the crypto ecosystem.

Agne: So, uh, that's why that's why I'm based in the Middle East. And right now I'm a head of growth of WeFly. We are digital neobank that are utilizing [00:02:00] the technologies that are popular today So we utilizing blockchain technology and also artificial intelligence technology I have been in finance industry since since I started my university days and since I started my career Back in London at Lehman Brothers, and I believe that the blockchain and crypto and all this intersection of the eye is how we're shaping the future off finance.

Agne: So I consider myself a financier. Um, and I would love to talk about the current status quo of crypto of what is happening in America and politics. And overall, actually, I just came back from Davos, Um, where the World Economic Forum took place. So it's very interesting how we started this year, uh, with lots of, um, bold claims and future predictions.

Agne: So looking forward to talk to you, Mehmet.

Mehmet: Absolutely, Agne, and thank you again for being with me here today. So this is a hot topic. This is [00:03:00] something that I believe it's not like talking about, you know, the technology aspect of it or the finance aspect of it, because it touches, you know, Everyone's daily life and you mentioned something which actually was my first question So if you can tell us because you you mentioned about the status quo In the crypto which is like kind of oh, but crypto is by itself kind of a new technology So if you can share a little bit, you know the the vision of WeFi and how you know You differentiate yourself from traditional neobanks and centralized lending protocols

Agne: of course, so, um, first of all at WeFi The objective of business is to provide financial freedom for more people than already it is now, and we believe that with using the current technology and integrating it with fintech and blockchain AI, we can actually do that.

Agne: And. I mentioned to you earlier, I just came from Davos and over there, I listened [00:04:00] to this discussion. Brian Armstrong was talking to Nala Ferguson and to George Osborne. And these three gentlemen, they actually agreed to one thing that crypto is already enabling financial freedom or economic freedom. to those people and in those regions where they never had access to banking system, they were dismissed.

Agne: So, uh, coming back to the question at Wefire, we are constructing all of these technologies together to actually enable banking access or access to financial services. For those people who needed the most, or for those who never had it, or also for the people who had access to financial services. But they are, they prefer more modern type of interaction.

Agne: Uh, they're using a mobile phones, they use a crypto, they use digital assets, and, uh, they also want to be part of this financial evolution.

Mehmet: That's great. Now here's the question that comes, you know. Naturally, I would say after that. So, um, [00:05:00] like no banks are gaining traction, right? So in addition to what you mentioned, so so if I want to differentiate them from traditional banks and the traditional financial institutions, what you'd say, like still You know, it's a major difference than for example, me going dealing with a bank, you know, in one of the Areas in dubai going there and trying to open an account.

Mehmet: So if you like explain to us, you know That and you know, why do you think like this is the future?

Agne: I would quickly answer it as follows. The main difference is Perhaps agility from from both partners from customer point of view and from business point of view the incumbent Financial institutions, there is nothing wrong with them They've been serving us for very well for quite some time in the Middle East in America and in Europe However, we have passed these times We are living in modern times the technology is evolving so fast and also [00:06:00] the habits of people that have already completely evolved Like right now, those who are already going to school at university, they probably, they only use Instagram, they only use YouTube Shorts, they only use mobile phones, and many, many services that we used to go, um, and access them in a physical way, they're already doing it in a digital way.

Agne: So, going back to your question, um, Now, banks and fintechs and these modern financial institutions are faster to react and more brief to adopt the new technologies and to offer new financial services or any other services that could be better for the user. The incumbent financial institutions, they have their traditional systems, they have their softwares and they also have people that are working there and perhaps not, not always eager.

Agne: Uh, to change, let's put it this way. So I would say that using, uh, no banks, um, uh, such as Revolut, uh, such as [00:07:00] N26, which are quite famous in Europe. Now they provide different access for the users. Uh, they provide access through the mobile phones. They provide a different type of, uh, plethora of services.

Agne: And from the business point of view, they're faster to change and to implement, uh, some novelties.

Mehmet: Absolutely. Now, as you know, Agne, like there would be the people who are kind of still, I'll call them the, you know, the late adopters, right? So the people who are like always having these doubts, you know, they, they have, you know, their concerns, uh, especially with.

Mehmet: maybe sometimes all what we hear and see maybe on television regarding what happens in the crypto world, you know, maybe also like from, from security perspective. So how, you know, you can debunk these myths, I would say first. And, you know, if you can tell me also like At how you're addressing these challenges.

Agne: [00:08:00] Um, everything, uh, is scary when you don't have information about this, uh, in any part, uh, of life or world. If something is unknown, uh, you are afraid of that. Um, so obviously you have to test what you have to educate yourself. So the answer to your question is education, uh, at Wi-Fi. We have very interesting plans.

Agne: I won't reveal them right now too much, but we are focusing very much on educating our users and the future users and educating the ecosystem. We believe that this is crucial right now, uh, to educate people about the new technologies and to, um, uh, take away their fears about, about using them and to, uh, make them comfortable about this.

Agne: However, I would say that, um. People are afraid of technologies. In the current situation where we had a lot of instabilities, geopolitical instabilities in Europe, in the Middle East and potentially other countries, people are also concerned about [00:09:00] traditional banking institutions. They don't know if the war comes or something happens, whether their savings will be saved.

Agne: So actually, the safest thing for people right now is cash, just to put cash under your pillow or what happens in case of fire or any other thing. So um, Everything can be a scare. You can be afraid of everything. Um, to understand why blockchain technology and crypto and artificial intelligence and putting these famous terms all three together because we all have to learn about them.

Agne: We cannot be scared. We have to embrace them. So this is an evolution of technology. This is an evolution of financial technology. And you have to start with educating yourself, understanding the history of money, Okay. Money were not always banknotes money used to be like a barter You could exchange goods So you could if you have let's say an apple you could change it to peers in all the days So you have to understand how the money evolved and also have to understand the money today Although we do use cash, it's [00:10:00] less and less cash.

Agne: Money right now, when you spend with your cards, it's a change in the ledger in the banks. Somebody spent, uh, so there is accredited and somebody's like indebited. So we already dealing with digital money. There is no, uh, cash, uh, being exchanged like it used to be in, in, in the older days. Actually, interestingly, uh, yesterday Trump said that he wants to discontinue the pennies.

Agne: Uh, because people are not using the pennies anymore. So, uh, using blockchain technology to process financial transactions, to process remittances, to send money, to receive money, et cetera, all of this is just an evolution of, uh, of, of our life. So we have to start educating ourselves and learn about these new technologies to see how they can contribute to better our lives.

Mehmet: You know, I'm very happy you mentioned about, you know, uh, some of these terms because I don't think they are just [00:11:00] buzzwords. So they are more than buzzwords in my opinion, Agne. And you know, and it's good you mentioned about, you know, yesterday. So just for the transparency and this, I do it always with my audience.

Mehmet: So we're recording on 11th of Feb. Probably again, you are seeing this at the end or listening at the end of February. So you just came Agne from, from Davos. And. You, you mentioned about, you know, what were people talking there on the eye point before I move to more the economy and the trade wars and all this.

Mehmet: So before shifting is Staying within the technology, um, everyone seems excited about AI, especially, you know, with the DeFi and, you know, with the crypto and all this, but because you are, you know, on the ground, you know, you know, you, you're with, with the company, you know, having the growth. So. Probably you are seeing different use cases is that I can play in changing not just, you know, the way we interact with technology, but [00:12:00] also the use cases as well.

Mehmet: So what are like some of the maybe kind of not a crystal ball, but you know, some of the really early signals that you are spotting with we fight that I will play a major role shifting how also we deal with DeFi and crypto

Agne: for sure, especially for WeFi. We are already utilizing artificial intelligence and we utilizing it for KYC.

Agne: So as you know, like each financial institution, they are obliged to do the KYC. And maybe in the past, a person would look through your documents to see if you're suitable. Later on, we had some software detection together with humans to Right now everything is shifting more towards AI. So at WeFi, we are utilizing AI QAC.

Agne: Also at WeFi, and I can see this already being used in other financial institutions, AI can help with the fraud detection with some irregularities regarding financial transactions. And as [00:13:00] you know, issue is diction. They require actually you obliged to report if you notice some sort of irregularities or some sort of a, um, fraud taking place or even potential fraud.

Agne: So I can definitely help with that. Uh, human eye, of course, is the best, but we're dealing with a huge flow of operations, AI is very useful. Also, um, it's been quite sad for the asset managers. So fund managers, it's been already proven that AI can manage your portfolio according to your risk, according to your even behavior online.

Agne: Uh, I will be able to recommend you how to best manage your portfolio, where to invest. There are agents that act as fund managers. So all these three cases, KYC, financial transaction monitoring and also portfolio managers and and helping with wealth management with wealth decisions are perfect use cases that are already happening now.

Agne: So who knows what the future will bring? [00:14:00]

Mehmet: Absolutely. And, um, you know, what up, because also you mentioned something and every single guest I spoke with within the domain myself. And, you know, of course, everyone else, we're excited to hear about, you know, being able to bring, um, you know, the, the, the financial instruments to everyone, like even for the people who never had like bank accounts now with the AI and the power of AI, I think just it's my opinion.

Mehmet: It's like my two cents on this agony and maybe you would agree with me. So this is gonna take us to the next level because if also back to your point about education and educating people. So if you educate them about money, educate them about, you know, the part of AI. So we're gonna have You know, kind of this movement that might shift how we think about the economy.

Mehmet: And this brings me to ask you about, you know, DAO, so Decentralized Autonomous Organization. So, and this [00:15:00] is the key part which is shaping, you know, the governance. of money. It's shaping the way how we look at, you know, the autonomy actually that that governs, you know, the transactions. So how are you seeing, you know, this going on a global economy level?

Mehmet: Where are you seeing, you know, some still work to be done where, you know, like there are like some good. Good stuff that happened already. So just if you can, if we can cover this on a high level with you, Agni, and then maybe we can dig more into specific aspects.

Agne: Sure. So maybe for your audience, we can define more what is DAO, what is Decentralized Autonomous Organization.

Agne: So I think we could think of different definitions, how to describe it easier. With the use of technology, with the use of blockchain technology, we're distributing the power of decisions to more people than one, right? So let's say we have an ecosystem of 20 people. All of [00:16:00] those 20 people, uh, they have a token, right?

Agne: And then when there is a decision to be made, each of them, they vote. And then accordingly we reach this decision and why it gained popularity because. uh, in centralized organizations, one person or like two people or whatever, they would make decisions. And a lot of, uh, people who actually involved in their organizations, they could not have a seat.

Agne: So with the blockchain technology, especially in the crypto ecosystem, a term became popular, a doubt. So when you have a lot of users, you have, uh, let's say blockchain.

Agne: Let's say arbitrary optimism all over this, I'm not sure if your audience are familiar with that ecosystem who have a lot of token holders and when there is a decision to be made, those token holders come together and they vote accordingly. What do you think, Mehmet, about this description?

Mehmet: I think it's easy to, it's easy to grasp.

Agne: Okay. All right. So, so this concept has become very popular, especially [00:17:00] in crypto ecosystem, that now we can give power back to people with this decentralized autonomous organization. And this is how it will be in practicality. And I've been in crypto industry now for what, uh, over seven years. And I saw in the last two or three years, the DAO concept has become popular in practicality.

Agne: It happened that still that those people who have the most tokens, they would still be able to skew the vote. Um, right. So this is already a major fault for that. And, um, those organizations who are very distributed, they could not reach a consensus because there were too many people trying to make decisions.

Agne: So, uh, some solutions were found as dividing the DAO into guilds, that's sort of like departments. And then you would give, um, delegation for some person to make a decision. So the tokens would become a delegate. But still you can see that in this way we're [00:18:00] leaning back towards a little bit more centralized organization, right?

Agne: Uh, so I would say there are pluses and minuses. The idea is great that, you know, you give power to people, perhaps in some ecosystems, it will work very well. Uh, so more more people can decide what will what will happen. But in reality, people need a leader. People want a decision maker. So I think the delegation is still taking place.

Agne: Um, one other thing what I would like to point out, maybe it's interesting for for your listeners, the Daos actually were born as a consequence. of no regulation, let's say. So the projects were, uh, wary of which jurisdiction they should register, or maybe it was unclear at some point, few years ago, it was still unclear what is happening.

Agne: And even today, DeFi is not defined in a regulation. I don't think in any of the jurisdiction. So the solution was to do a decentralized autonomous [00:19:00] organization where the power is distributed to the people. So. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think legally you can avoid the problems. We still, uh, we still need to, um, to run business.

Agne: Even if it's a blockchain based business, you're still touching legal paperwork. You're still touching companies that are operating on the mainland. So you need a person, not everything can, uh, can exist in anything. Now I would like to go further. So when we have AI agents. making decisions or running businesses.

Agne: This is where they will probably be able to act in some decentralized autonomous organizations. So this technology that is not run by people, it's run by itself with smart contracts. This is where it will be a must, right? Because how will this AI agents interact with each other? Who knows what decisions they will be making.

Agne: So I think doubts are not dead. Um, I just expressed my [00:20:00] concerns with that in in our real everyday life. But it is a very interesting concept that demands attention for sure.

Mehmet: Absolutely. And, uh, just So I agree with you. You know, to me, you know, the concept off money in general, whatever this form off money is, is about to be disrupted big time.

Mehmet: And I'm based my assumptions and, you know, predictions based on what I'm seeing coming out from the leaders off AI. So yeah, I agree with you. If I am reading, I think, well, like Sam Altman, if I'm reading, well, you know, other leaders in this domain and what they are trying to tell us. So probably because just again yesterday, and this is what stands of fab.

Mehmet: So he shared his thoughts, right? And he mentioned something really interesting about how, you know, everything will become more affordable to people. But some of the stuff will become [00:21:00] the luxury, the British you. Sorry, luxurious stuff will become like more expensive. And this is giving me, you know, also like how we value things and how we define actually luxury.

Mehmet: But again, to your point, so, you know, it all comes back to, to, you know, how, how we control the flow of the money, how we control, you know, all this. And this is where blockchain gonna become like. The mainstream and here where I want to jump with you to the to the politics of the U. S. Because, you know, again, like we have a lot of flames and I know that they don't like each other's.

Mehmet: So, um, Elon Musk, you know, he's not fan of some. I know this. But at the same time, Elon. is now pushing for putting the whole U. S. Treasury and all the spendings on blockchain. Uh, so, so let's start from there. So how? How do you analyze this? Like, uh, since Trump came, we start to see, you know, this again, uh, I would say [00:22:00] excitement among people for, for crypto and, uh, you know, blockchain.

Mehmet: So let's, let's say, take first your opinion on this before going to the other stuff that Trump brought with him for his second term.

Agne: Overall, I think seeing the spending on the blockchain, that would be very good idea for all the governments. In fact, it would be so great. And nobody would, uh, you know, worry like about where the government is spending your taxes, where the spending going.

Agne: So, An efficient government. So you pay your taxes, you know where it's going. And actually we could utilize some of these DAO decisions. So maybe the people could be able to vote whether we want to spend on roads, whether we want to give more for pensions or whether we need some more hospitals or perhaps schools.

Agne: So that would be really great. Actually, I would love that because right now we don't have any visibility what is happening with, uh, the funds that are being paid as a tax. So I think that Alan's idea is good.

Mehmet: Cool. Now let's [00:23:00] jump to why, you know, the news that are coming about the tariffs, right? So again, I'm not sure.

Mehmet: This is really funny. It's Donald Trump, so we can predict sometimes. So he decided to put, you know, 25 percent and then he retracted that on Mexico and Canada. He kept it on China. So in between the news, you know, Bitcoin. Crossed 100, 000 and then it came back. So if we think about all what's happening with these decision policies and the relation with, you know, the price of, of crypto, right?

Mehmet: So, and the volatility, like, is this like another sort of Economic war like what's really happening there. If you can shed some lights for us

Agne: It's been interesting couple of days. Actually, I was also watching Uh and the bloomberg news and some discussions [00:24:00] um My point of view is of course, uh, trump is a businessman.

Agne: He's a negotiator. There is Uh, definitely a reason why he's doing that. Um At the beginning, I also thought maybe he's, uh, showing his strength, showing his power, and then he retracted with the terrace. But now we see a new tariff are coming for steel and for aluminums. By the time the listeners, uh, will listen to this podcast, we'll know already the decision.

Agne: Um, I think that this a mixture of power play, um, between other countries, showing his power and seeing and also protecting America's economy. Um, clearly everybody, all the economists are saying that in case of the tariffs, the inflation in the U. S. Will only increase. And the cost increase will be passed to the consumers.

Agne: Everybody's waiting for the rate cuts. But if the tariffs happened and the rate cuts will be delayed, maybe not even in the in the horizon for the 2025. [00:25:00] So it's very interesting how all of this will pan out. But he's very being very strict about this. Um, what are your thoughts, Mehmet? I'm also curious what are your observations?

Mehmet: Uh, it's like You know, as I said, like it's, uh, you meant you just nailed it. He's a businessman, right? So he sees the most benefit. Where is it coming from? And then he would go to that direction. Because if you remember, you know, I'm not sure how many years back, but he wasn't that big fan of cryptos and blockchain, and he must have seen, you know, like, okay, this is the future.

Mehmet: So now I need to change my stance. So on that point now he's, of course, like you, you, you. You've seen this also. He mentioned that he wants to make the U. S. as the capital of blockchain. So, again, like, he's, he's, he's playing whatever it, uh, it takes to, to the benefit. And, you [00:26:00] know, one thing which I respect about the guy, you know I know like people they don't like him.

Mehmet: Some people likes him for me. I'm not a u. s citizen So I say my neutral point of view so the good thing which I see about ram that he he does what he he says and He doesn't have I would say Second agendas. So whatever he says, he tries to implement it. But one thing, which, you know, which very interesting.

Mehmet: So within all these trade wars, tariffs, inflation, all, you know, the doom and gloom, let's call it. Um, is it good or bad for for, you know, the defy? But how do you think it's going to affect it positively, negatively? Um, is it going to accelerate, you know, the adoption? It's going to slow it down. How do you see that?

Agne: I think it's good. I think definitely we need more clarity and clarity comes from the United [00:27:00] States. Like you, I'm not a citizen of the United States. People have different opinions, but it is a powerful country. People do follow the decisions of United States, no matter of what is their stance. So, uh, and also America is, uh, a big financial center.

Agne: There is Wall Street over there and there's lots of financials, uh, which are, uh, the leaders of the world, right? So of course, China is playing a big role by owning treasuries and the, you know, there is London, there is Frankfurt, et cetera. So we cannot isolate that America. Also, they have to be wary of the very powerful, um, world players.

Agne: However, everybody is waiting for what America will say with regards to crypto. Um, the clarity needs to come. So I'm very happy as a professional in this industry to know that there are Working group is being set up. There are some push for stable coin regulation and Although not everything is covered in the media I know from talking to industry people that especially stable coins they [00:28:00] have a huge huge Interest from the likes like goldman and blackrock, etc This is this is Not only financial real, but it's also a very profitable activity.

Agne: You know, you can see how much USDT, um, I'm not sure if they already reported or they were, they went to report the billions of profits, uh, in, in their, in the balance sheet. So Overall for the crypto industry is positive. We need more clarity. Um, uh, the infrastructure has been built by the degens who never feared anything.

Agne: They were going forward no matter what they were inventing the layer to send ZQ rollups and optimistic rollups, all of those. So it's been a great innovation, but now for the consumer adoption. We need, uh, we need for regulators to say that it's okay to do that. Let's say banks, they probably have interest in processing Bitcoin transactions or digital assets.

Agne: It's also profitable business, although risky for them, but they have [00:29:00] to wait for the regulators to say it's okay to do that. So they in limbo right now of waiting what to do. Uh, so overall I would say it's positive. Um. But a little bit. It was fun to have this this industry in the way it was, I would say, when it's becoming more serious, more institutional players are coming.

Agne: I'm concerned that the industry would not be too regulated, and we could still have this innovation that is happening in the crypto ecosystem. We have extremely talented and very smart people working on this protocol. So I'm sure you met some of them, and it's incredible people like this. They were used to go to work as a lawyer's investment bankers or doctors.

Agne: And right now, when you meet people who building the protocols, the genius is extremely smart people and not they don't want to go to work to Google. They want to find their own ZK project or something like that. So I just [00:30:00] really want this innovation to be preserved and, and for the youngsters to feel comfortable of developing their ideas.

Mehmet: Absolutely. And, uh, just, you know, one more point. I think politics is the art of being pragmatic. And I think what happened, you know, with Trump specifically, he's a pragmatic guy. Um, and there are like a lot of factors, just my opinion. And to your point, actually. So I was one of the people like when blockchain came out.

Mehmet: get fascinated coming from a technical background, right? So I, you know, back in university, I studied databases and, you know, how a database works and, you know, how data can get corrupted. And anyway, I will not go into the technical details. So the idea of a ledger and, you know, having multiple You know, peers to trust to give the trust that this operation happened.

Mehmet: Yes, and you know, like it's distributed, you [00:31:00] know, this is I was convinced I was sold out. The thing that little bit iterated me at the beginning are these projects in unregulated projects that used to come up some of the scams that happened. But now what's happening, and I think this is, you know, you would agree with me.

Mehmet: So blockchain get the adoption, especially of the younger generation to your point. And people start to, Hey, look, I really don't need, you know, this intermediary in the in the middle. I don't need someone to be controlling my money, my, you know, the, the, the things that I get tired to get, right? So, so people start to take it as a, um, I would say as a movement.

Mehmet: Now, what I'm seeing, and this is because of the AI, back to the AI point, what AI have done, and maybe not a lot of people are talking about, so people talk about generative AI, they talk about, you know, all this stuff. What I'm seeing AI is allowing us to do [00:32:00] Is it's basically you are turning every single human on the planet as a superpower, because think about it.

Mehmet: If you know how to ask, which is the prompt to the I and, you know, with the agents with you know what we are seeing in coding and all this so anyone can become a business, right? And this is the freedom. So everyone is becoming free from all these. I would say fictional, you know, values that we had in our mind that we cannot do it.

Mehmet: And blockchain is one of these, I would say means also as well. We don't need a bank, you know, to have our own money or to control our own money. Let me put it this way. So I think, you know, kind of philosophical to me is it's a movement. And this is why I think, you know, Trump read it very, very right. [00:33:00] And maybe Elon Musk also being close to him, he explained, I'm sure like when they sit together, he started to explain a few of the stuff that Elon would know about it.

Mehmet: And don't forget, this is for the audience, that Elon came actually from, from, from that domain. He Started X, which was PayPal before, so he knows it better than anyone else. So to your point, Agne, I agree 100 percent with you. Now let's come again closer to Dubai, where we both are based and talk about regulations and what, you know, what is really happening in in in the scene, I would say, especially in our region and in U.

Mehmet: E. Specifically, we know, like major players are headquartered in the U. E. Right. We know that the government is pushing much for this. What can you tell the audience who are not maybe from this region about the regulations and you know what's happening in the You know, blockchain, Web3, [00:34:00] DeFi space in, in, in the UAE and let's say MENA region in general.

Agne: I think you know what the UAE did with the positive stance and to innovation regulation, they got free influencers around the world. They have KOLs that are promoting UAE, Dubai and the region everywhere. This is me, you included, and everybody who came to Dubai in the last, I think the influx was last two, three years.

Agne: Of course there were people who live in Dubai already for 15 years and more But the crypto ecosystem and all the techie people and now even the finance the hedge funds They're already moving to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. They're there so They're the first mover. They have the first move advantage. They already have regulations set in place So there's you are either separate regulations for Dubai to have a bar license there.

Agne: You can get a license for virtual assets work in Abu Dhabi Right. So they showed the increasingly positive appetite to [00:35:00] innovation, the digitalization to all of these new technologies. So instead of trying to regulate and I would not be afraid to see how Europe is doing the stepping itself on the foot and they will lose time.

Agne: more and more, the more they regulate it. And, uh, of course we need regulation. I'm saying that please regulate it in a way that is positive towards innovation, that you can actually do something without stopping. You don't want to, you know, go one step and then being put two steps back. And in UAE, this is exactly what you can experience.

Agne: If you want to do something, whether it's with the data centers, with AI, with the gaming. As you know, gaming is also a very important part of the economy in the Middle East and in the world, you can do that. So, uh, they really are the winners, um, the visionaries of the Emirates. I congratulate them.

Mehmet: Absolutely. And, um, like every day, you know, I can say at least I receive emails from brilliant founders who [00:36:00] either moved or they just came here to, you know, explore and they get surprised themselves, you know, about, you know, how easy, um, you know, people accept these ideas because still in some countries, I know, like when you tell them blockchain, you know, if I web three, they get like this weird look, right?

Mehmet: So, um, they don't face here. And it's Yeah, it's very accepting one over here. Now, if you want to make some predictions in general, right? So where are we heading? I would say, I mean, like, how are you seeing the future of all? Um, you know, this, this technology leading us to,

Agne: um, actually coming from Davos.

Agne: Everybody were talking about the eye and in a bit of a concerning. Way. Of course, we have a lot of concerns. How I will take the jobs, how I will do this and this and that. Um, I think people lived [00:37:00] throughout various, uh, various situations. People live through worse through famine through whatever we humans we can adopt ourselves.

Agne: So let's not be scared. Let's educate ourselves and let's work together to find our way forward. So I think with this technology, education is the only way That we can, uh, make friends with it and, and, and be the first movers rather than wait for 10 years. And it's like, Oh, I missed out on this. I missed out on that, which actually I know some people who've been told about crypto 10 years ago, and now they're only getting into crypto and they're like, I'm sorry, you told me before.

Agne: Now I really understand that this is the future. It took me 10 years to understand. It's fine. Welcome now. I'm happy that you already know. So I think with the technology. We just have to make friends with this and educate and learn how to, how to live with that. Um, from a personal point of view, I would say maybe I'm wrong.[00:38:00]

Agne: Maybe I'm wrong. But what I heard from Trump, uh, he's a negotiator and what I'm happy of the prediction that it seems to me that 2025 it will not be a year of war. And this is for me the best thing that could have ever happened. I really hope that what he says about negotiations will will take place because nothing is important.

Agne: No technology. If we have Europe, if we have Middle East and then we had the potential of Asian China and Taiwan fighting this vision for me. It was very dire. So I'm I really hope that the leaders of the world will put their heads together and, uh, and live in a peaceful way because we have many more challenges to address.

Agne: Um, so we have technology, we have an economy, we have inflation, we have rising costs, and we have people who cannot catch up, you know, with what's happening in the world. They want to understand what to teach their children, what should they study, because with all these technologies, with AI and stuff, maybe he cannot be a lawyer [00:39:00] anymore.

Agne: Will we have doctors? Maybe the machines will be operating. Do we need portfolio managers, investment bankers? So let's put ourselves together as humans and figure out a positive way to move forward. I think that would be my most amazing prediction that I would love to happen.

Mehmet: Yeah, and I would, you know, join my voice to yours.

Mehmet: Also, agony in this and I'm usually, uh, you know, optimistic by nature and everything we're seeing and we're witnessing currently by the day. Um, it, uh, it resonates with what I predicted years ago that, you know, all these advancements in technology Gonna let us have less troubles, gonna have, uh, you know, us understand that we have enough for everyone actually, right?

Mehmet: So, and this is why I was, you know, pointing to a few minutes [00:40:00] ago about the AI and the abundance of knowledge that everyone have access to now. So we don't need to be greedy and worried because this is what causes wars usually, right? Troubles and economical wars also as well. So this is why I'm optimistic because AI is showing us that, yeah, you can get it all right.

Mehmet: So you don't need really to move a lot and do a lot of troubles to get that. So, which is, yeah, I have the same wishes as you as we are closing to an end acne final. You know words of wisdom That's what I like to ask my guests at the end And also of course where people can get in touch with you and learn also more about WeFi,

Agne: of course.

Agne: Um, So you can get in touch with me on linkedin. My name is Agne Linge I'm also on twitter, which is Agne Crypto and also I have an instagram I actually started doing it not such a long time ago because I was late I thought that social media is not [00:41:00] for me, but social media is for everybody we have to So I'm also Agonycrypto on Instagram.

Agne: Um, and final words of wisdom would be probably repeating myself what I already said. Um, education is very important. Be aware what is happening in the world. Walk with open eyes and be kind to each other. We are humans. We still interact with each other. So increase the interaction and It's very hard for us to reduce the phone, the screen time, of course, but by talking to each other more, um, by expressing our feelings and our ideas, we can build a better future.

Agne: So,

Mehmet: absolutely. And, um, you know, at the end, I want to thank you very, very much Agne for this, you know, fantastic. Discussion with you today and you know, especially the points that you highlighted the knowledge you shared with us and also the latest and the greatest from Davos and what you heard from from from the leaders and you know, the experts who were talking over there.

Mehmet: So thank [00:42:00] you very, very much for being here with me on the show. It's been an honor and this is for the audience. So usually this is how I end my episodes. Uh, if you just discovered this podcast by luck, I'm wondering why you're so late like Me, I discovered blockchain late and I rediscovered instagram late.

Mehmet: Just joking So if you just discovered us just uh, bye luck. Thank you for passing by. I hope you enjoyed and you like Subscribe and to share with your friends and colleagues. And if you are one of the people who keeps coming, listening, watching, sending me their, you know, suggestions, sending me their comments.

Mehmet: Thank you for doing so. And thank you very, very much for making, you know, the CTO show top 200 all the weeks now. So this is the first time since I started two years ago, every week we are in a different country in the top 200 chart and for making the CTO show as The top 40 podcast in business [00:43:00] in Dubai ranking at 14 currently.

Mehmet: So thank you very much for, for the support. It couldn't happen without you. And as I say, as usual, we will meet again very soon. Thank you very much. Bye bye. Congratulations,

Agne: Mehmet. Thank you for