Today I'm sitting down with Joseph delago who is co-founder and CEO of rain the first licensed cryptocurrency exchange here in the Middle East I'm Greg Fairley welcome to 50 Amino leaders we are here with Joseph delago who is the co-founder and CEO of rain I'mJoseph great to see you great to see you as well thank you for having me tell us if you would first of all about the rain story I think we have a really fun story uh we have four co-founders that all met online from different parts of the worldAnd just were really United by a common love and passion for Bitcoin and crypto and we started working together and came together and started a company we we were all enthusiasts of of Bitcoin dating back to 2013 and we're active Community participants we were all doing different things inThe world but we're still actively researching the space and just really excited about it and enthusiasts about about crypto and then in 2016 uh AJ and myself we had run uh prior Tech companies uh in in the valley in the Silicon Valley and we met uh yeahUh on on online and he was the very first person to start a Bitcoin Meetup in the Mina region uh way back in in 2014 in Cairo Egypt and then we also met Abdullah al-moikal from Riyadh Saudi Arabia and he uh was also an advocate of of Bitcoin and had created a followingFor himself across the gulf in the cryptocurrency space so the four of us all came together and started researching different opportunities we grew really excited about starting an exchange based in the Gulf and uh and started uh conversations with regulators and we ended up making inroads with theCentral Bank of Bahrain in uh in early 2017 uh got admitted into their their new Sandbox and worked with them for two and a half years uh to help create a regulatory framework around crypto which we're really proud of uh called the crypto asset module uh the CBB releasedThat in early 2019 we were approved for the license in mid-2019 and and we've been operating ever since we did um uh over two billion of volume last year and we're really excited for the future we we support uh the gulf as well as as well as turkey and uh and there weHave a lot more in store for this year that's a fascinating story of how you uh how you began thanks for sharing that with us um you you touched on regulation then um how important is regulation for a new financial asset and particularly cryptocurrencies I mean and isRegulation where it should be right now absolutely so as a company we we really value regulation I think that uh in uh when you're a financial company and you're a startup regulation really in increases the quality the overall quality of the company and ensure ensures that you are DOT in your eyesAnd crossing your teeth so to speak uh so in the early days regulation really improved the quality and raise the bar for our company so we we really do value uh the role of Regulation um and as in and as I mentioned you know we we worked with the Central Bank ofBahrain to advise them on on the industry that resulted in them releasing the crypto asset module in in early 2019. so um so and we're very proud of that work and where we are today uh with regulation and it is I think that we're still uh I think Regulators are stillVery much learning about this technology so we uh we think that there are cases where you know regulation can stifle Innovation um so it's it's very important that in those cases that we continue to have an open dialogue with regulators and in work to uh um work to improve thoseAspects but we we just really value the the role of Regulation as we grow the company there is a lot of information and misinformation about cryptocurrencies um would you say that's valid definitely I think that this is such a fast moving industry it's in my opinion probably theFastest moving industry in the world right now there are so many different projects out there there are thousands of proliferating uh coin projects uh that have that have popped up so um you know now more than ever before we really need good editorial of these uh differentProjects and we really need to be able to compare each of them for their merits understand the subtle differences for them and ultimately inform customers of of what they're buying is the biggest thing that's that's really important at rain so at rain we really see ourselvesAs an educator and as a guide for people in their journey into crypto so we uh we really find it important to to educate people as I mentioned about what the what they're buying so uh to answer a question you know there there is a lot of Ms information but IBelieve at rain we're doing our part to to really clear all of that up and and reduce the amount of confusion in the industry now crypto is obviously a new investment sector um do you think it's fully understood and also how do you help at reign definitely so I think we're still doingA lot of work and explaining uh crypto to people it's it's a really Innovative New Concept you know the idea of a global digital money is is a is a really big idea but it's also hard to understand you know I often feel like uhYou know we're in the early 90s with the internet where I imagine that it was very difficult to explain to people that uh at one point there would be a worldwide computer network where you could send information and news and messages to to people so in in a similar kind you knowExplaining a global digital money uh to people and you know what that looks like um is also very challenging but at rain we're we're really doing our part to uh just further education in the space what are the investment opportunities that you provide at Ryan encrypted yeah so I think the opportunity aroundCrypto is is broadly you can think about crypto as an investment so if you're thinking about crypto as an investment rain offers a really simple and easy to use brokerage where you can sign up you go through a certain onboarding process and once you're approved you can veryEasily buy and sell from a selection of of uh over 70 coins and um and we really streamlined that whole process for you and then once once you own crypto then you have access to this whole uh kind of financial system where you can uh pay for things you can take out loansUh crypto-backed loans um and you can also send a payments uh globally so you have access to all of these interesting capabilities as part of the wider system of cryptocurrency and I'd say all of those capabilities are continuing to be explored and innovated upon and it's uh it's a reallyExciting ecosystem there's a lot that's the there's a huge potential there it's an amazing sector and it's moving so fast where would you say the centers of crypto currently are and and where does the UAE in this region feature absolutely so you know maybe five yearsAgo I would have narrowed down the the major crypto hubs to uh to only a few cities but I'd say every major city in the world now has an active crypto Community uh and we're we're at a really exciting uh time especially in 2021 we saw a massive Global adoption ofCryptocurrency and where UAE fits in uh fits into that Global picture is I think that UAE is really well positioned to become a a major Global cryptocurrency Hub we have uh if you look at the wider Gulf you know this this trend started with the CBB back in 2019 releasing the crypto assetModule uh the first piece of regulation of its kind in the region then you also have the Abu Dhabi Global markets releasing their regulatory framework a few years ago and and more recently you have the Dubai World Trade Center that released their new piece of Regulation that thatEnables a lot of new business models in the space so there's there's a lot of and I know surrounding nations are also having conversations about regulating crypto as well so you have just a lot of activity uh going on in the region around regulating the space so I thinkWe're really well positioned in the region to uh to be a major Hub and and in some cases you know really lead the world in terms of of uh regulating these companies rain started back in the early days in 2016 we're now in 2022 we've been through the global pandemic the world'sA very different place um but what's your current Vision has it changed from from 2016. yeah it really hasn't changed all that much um there were certain things that through the pandemic uh there are certain things that absolutely got accelerated you know we were already seeing uh digitization of payments weWere already seeing contactless payments becoming more and more trendy and more adopted across the world um and those those things only were accelerated throughout throughout the pandemic but our mission has largely always stayed the same you know we've set out to provide a really trusted reputable and easy to useUh way to access cryptocurrency access and buy and store uh cryptocurrency across the Middle East and North Africa and and I think that we've made some significant uh contributions to to achieving that mission and and we have uh we have a ways to go but we're we're really committed to uh working withRegulators across the Middle East and North Africa to um to really legitimize the space and and be able to operate uh within within their borders Joseph as an expert in the sector then how do you see the evolution of digital assets yeah so I think that we're still very much in theThe early phases of this this technology uh people are still getting on board and onto the technology they're still learning about what it is uh and we I think that there's uh there's already a solid amount of of adoption um but things are going to get reallyInteresting when you have a huge amount of the world um using using cryptocurrency and then it's hard to even imagine kind of what uh what will come of that right now we're still very much at an infrastructural phase of of this entire uh this entire technology so we're stillVery much educating customers about what cryptocurrency is and where we're focused on just providing access and allowing people to obtain and hold crypto I think the next stage of evolution happens when most people in the world are holding some amount of crypto and then they start spending itThey start paying for things they start using the greater ecosystem for all of its new capabilities like like lending like payment um and all of these uh these really exciting new capabilities and doing so in a way that's that's Global um and this really speaks to cryptos uhUnique benefits uh to the world you know it's it's uh much lower barrier to entry uh system so uh everyone in the world you know who has a smartphone has the ability to uh to onboard um onto the financial system of cryptocurrency it's uh it's natively Global so you canInteract with with anyone you know on the planet which is uh which is really opens up completely new uh new doors and new capabilities uh for for people um it's 24 7 uh seven days a week so you you have a system that literally neverStops um you know you can at 3am you can do Ascend and it'll it'll settle within uh seconds or or minutes um and it's and the fact that it's backed by the global economy um I have to imagine that that it'll be stable and more resilient to uhFinancial crises uh over the long run um so all of these things make this this new system really unique so broadly I think people are really obtaining it today and they're getting access to cryptocurrency but then in the future they have access to all of these unique benefits and uh andThe the interesting use cases that are going to come up I mean crypto is unique but compared to other Financial assets is there also a lot of risk associated with cryptocurrencies I I'd say so I think that like any new technology uh there there is a certainLevel of risk associated with adopting a new technology I'd say though that certain cryptocurrencies you know especially Bitcoin and ethereum have been largely de-risked at this point you know there's just such a massive Global Community using them um every day uh receiving a lot of utility from from using those protocolsThere's a really active and and motivated developer Community behind both ensuring the the ongoing success of both protocols so I'd say that those two in particular are are um are very stable and and resilient and then the wider ecosystem I think uh incurs a lot moreRisk or has a lot more risk associated with it um but uh but those into in particular strike me as as a very low risk at this point and I think I think everyone should be holding at least five percent of their their portfolio in crypto atThis point in particular the two I mentioned because uh because there is just such an important new and interesting asset class that you're you're doing yourself a disservice if you're not you know some of the largest uh wealth managers in the world are starting to buy crypto so thenI would I would ask the question you know what um what's stopping each you know each individual from doing what some of the largest wealth managers in the world are doing now Joseph do you get um you know friends relatives business associates saying to you you know I wishI'd bought crypto in the early days real early days something like the Bitcoin Etc do you get that a lot yeah absolutely I I feel like I get that all the time um the the funny thing about that though is the thing that the crypto CommunityLikes to say is you know the best time to buy crypto was you know seven years ago or eight years ago or whatever but the the second best time is now you know because this is just an ever-growing uh new asset class and I do believe that uhThe the most important protocols you know the a set of really unique high value protocols will continue to continue to grow in value over time so I I would recommend as I mentioned earlier to have definitely have a certain amount of exposure uh to this new asset classYou believed in crypto from the from day one basically as far as I can see um so much so that maybe you've also gifted some some crypto to friends and relatives I did yeah I did in in 2013 in particular but one note here is I I actually didn't believe in crypto uhFrom right from the start someone told me about it um I was you know busy at the time and I've heard the story a lot where it kind of takes two or three times for someone to to hear about crypto before they really dive deep into it but a friendTold me about it in early 2013 and then a second friend told me about it um about a few months later and then then I went uh did a deep dive um so it was uh you know putting myself back in my shoes in early 2013 it can beSuch just an abstract ideal sometimes that I think people uh graze over it but if I had any kind of uh if I have any advice you know real don't don't allow yourself to to graze over crypto for too long and really take the time and effort uh to research it because it'llUndoubtedly be worth it and um and I I did a gift to crypto uh to a number of people in in 2013. um it was about two or three hundred dollars at the time and and I would go to parties or other social Gatherings and and uh send people small amounts ofOf Bitcoin and uh like five ten dollars here and I've I've been told that from certain friends that that that that amount of money is you know thousands of dollars uh now at its current value fantastic well really great speaking to you today appreciate your time hi JosephThanks a lot awesome thank you for having me thank you