In this interview, I’ll be speaking with Waseem Mamlouk, the Vice President of Capital Markets at DeFi growing ecosystem
His educational background spans from IT to Finance and even Commercial Law.
Today, he’ll give his interesting perspective on the global economy, which includes the ramifications of fiat currencies, the state of the crypto markets, and alternative technologies that would solve the economic problems of today.
Hey Waseem, thanks for sitting down with me and doing this interview.
Being in the world of digital finance, it would be interesting to know your thoughts on fiat currencies. How have they affected the economy?
The dollarization of the global economy has made goods and services, whether in the form of commodities or otherwise, far too expensive for consumers and even businesses. Therefore, global bankers, a.k.a. central bankers, cannot continue printing their way out of trouble every time a crisis occurs. This has led us down the path where we need a more fluid and harder currency that is deflationary as opposed to the inflationary ones we have today.
This realization has returned to us many times over the years. Most recently, we had this mass printing in the early 2020s to keep the global economy from falling into a state of depression due to the pandemic, lockdowns, and supply chain shortages.
As someone who builds fintech infrastructure like yourself, can you describe the advantages blockchain systems have over traditional finance ones?
Moving goods and even currency through the traditional system takes far too long for value exchange to occur, and that is why crypto is now the best solution available.
With the various blockchain technologies supporting it, we can track transactions and ensure they’ve been processed correctly. These are all the demands that caused cryptocurrency to come to the forefront nearly 15 years ago, even before bitcoin. Because we already had some other versions of online payments at such time.
After this achievement, it was necessary to devise a way to deploy digital assets efficiently, so DeFi became the solution of choice. By the summer of 2021, there was over 70 billion $ already deployed in DeFi as total value locked, and by some accounts, the number reached over 100 billion, bringing us to where we are now. In a situation where the value of fiat currency is no longer supportive of global growth and expansion, and therefore, needs to be replicated and duplicated to meet demand.
What are the long-term effects of pricing everything in dollars?
The market has woken up to the idea that pricing everything in dollars may be harmful. We even see the dollar price declining correctly against various benchmark currencies, such as the Japanese yen, indicating that alternatives are being sought.
As the cost of living continues to rise, the buying power of consumers is declining at an alarming rate. This is notably true for basic necessities, such as housing and durable goods. Economists attribute this phenomenon to the failure of currencies to keep up with inflation, which results in a decrease in the value of money.
As the prices of goods and services increase, consumers must spend more money to acquire the same amount of items. This has caused an increase in debt levels, making it difficult for many to have a comfortable lifestyle. In addition, this situation has also led to a widening wealth gap, where those with higher incomes remain relatively unaffected. In comparison, those with lower incomes struggle to make ends meet, which is why US existing home sales are decreasing:
US Existing Home Sales Decrease
Today’s market is fraught with uncertainty for several reasons. Still, especially with crypto, we see many market participants simply unable to make decisions and gripped by the fear of making a mistake or falling victim to a deceitful or insolvent lending scheme.
What type of blockchain-based solutions are you introducing, and how will it benefit society today?
We bring the best existing financial solutions and implement it via blockchain which makes it more accessible and efficient through smart contracts. Even users with a small amount are welcome. Our solutions are built for all users, from everyday people to those experienced in blockchain.
At Nimbus, we provide an easy and quick access point to DeFi’s best products. Our platform hosts 15 unique revenue streams, including yield-generating NFTs, the very first of its kind. Nimbus also prioritizes safety as it’s the first globally regulated DeFi institution under a central bank’s jurisdiction.We’ve been active in the market since 2020 and have maintained a positive track record throughout.
Now we’re researching and planning to move forward with the development of synthetic assets. They can hold the same value as any asset in digital format. They’re also placed within the hands of the holders, which is the best available solution known to man. It has been a long time coming, and we did our research. The journey via NFTs and other instruments served as vehicles for exchanging value for some time. But now, with synthetic instruments, we can create an expanded customer base and add clients to the products, while allowing the issuer to enjoy a diversified field of market participants that benefit from their investment opportunity.
Synthetic products allow companies to reach more users, especially those who previously didn’t have the ability to invest in synthetic derivatives of real-life companies. They can now do so with ease. Lastly, our commitment to supporting the unbanked, over a billion people worldwide, remains evident throughout everything we do.
The Bitcoin price dropped by nearly 65% in 2022, and the general crypto consensus isn’t quite positive. What would it take for cryptocurrency to be soaring again?
The Federal Reserve has recently pivoted back from a Hawk to a Dove status, which signals that they will keep interest rates steady or even cut them. This shift in policy has direct implications for the cryptocurrency market, as it is seen as a sign of economic stability, and therefore encourages investors to purchase digital currencies.
The pivoting of status is beneficial for the crypto market, as it shows that institutional investors are willing to put their money into digital assets, which can lead to further growth in the industry. Moreover, a lower interest rate environment increases the appeal of crypto relative to other asset classes, allowing more investors to take advantage of the market’s volatility.
