Investors are looking for the next cryptocurrency to explode in 2022 to jump to the next big thing this year that attracted so much attention in a short time and displaced other cryptos. But there’s still plenty more room for growth in this exciting and rapidly developing world for cryptocurrencies. IASC provides viewers a look at what’s ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers and unique stories from the crypto industry. Below you will find an interview conducted with Mr. Bilal Ahmed Mir, CEO of “Carter & Capital” one of the biggest crypto asset management company located in Dubai. He is an ex-Investment Banker, having spent over 6 year at Cohen & Company in London as Emerging Markets Distressed Credit Trader. Prior to this, Bilal was a pricing analyst at Zurich Insurance Group. Bilal has been investing in the crypto space for 7 years. Carter & Capital is our incredible partner which helps us inform the public about the latest developments in Crypocurrency World.
This interview was conducted from Gabriele Pao-Pei Andreoli, President of IASC.
Gabriele Pao Pei Andreoli: So today we welcome Bilal Ahmed Mir, founder and CEO of Carter & Capital. And I will love to start with a little conversation with you. We’ve seen in the last few months a really big change, a change in perspective, a change in technology. There is a lot of talking about all the finance and technology coming together. People are a little bit confused. The pandemic, the shut down, the financial crisis. What are the opportunities you see out there?
Bilal Ahmed Mir: It’s a great question, Gabriele, and thank you for having me join you today. It’s a great pleasure to be with the Institute and yourself. You’re right. There’s been a confluence of finance and technology, I would say, over the last ten years, as technology has begun to proliferate various areas of our life. It’s only natural that the financial side of things become affected by this.
Certainly post-pandemic, we saw a huge expansion in the money supply. We saw central banks around the world, not just the U.S., Europe and Japan, but also other central banks, begin to expand the money supply in an activity known as quantitative easing. I think as this began to show real world effects in people’s lives, such as inflation, fuel prices and asset price inflation, people began to understand a lot more about what is going on. And certainly communication online was one of the main driving forces of this education, which most likely is coming in online forms as well, is a driver of this. And the blockchain space, which is almost completely conducted online, has been greatly affected by this as well.
Gabriele Pao Pei Andreoli: Okay. And how do you see people reacting? I know you know, you have a background in finance, but you also have a background in philosophy and politics. So it’s interesting for me to understand from your standing, are the people adapting to this or, there are, like investors, before investors are used to have a huge amount of money and go to Wall Street and the financial market. Today, you have a couple of hundred dollars and you can jump onto this opportunity of playing with crypto. Is that right? Is that how people are reacting?
Bilal Ahmed Mir: Now, if we look at the impact that the Internet has now had on all of our lives and how closely it is connecting us, indeed, we are speaking over an Internet connection right now. We can only imagine the impact that blockchain and crypto will have on our financial lives as this proliferation increases. Blockchain and crypto is very much driven and developed by retail. We say retail investors as opposed to institutions but also small projects. We are just only in the last 12 to 18 months seeing the world’s largest banks, corporations and money managers entering the blockchain space. For example, the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, which has assets in the management of over $10 trillion, only last week announced that it would be providing crypto investment products for its investors. So we are just at the very early stages of large company and financial institution adoption. However, in the individual space, in the enthusiast space, that adoption is raging very much so in absolute numbers. Still very small. The number of crypto holders globally is only 300 million, which is just under the population of the United States. However, we are seeing that increase and as you point out, as we see geopolitical issues around the world, such as inflation, political unhappiness, shall we say this will only hasten the move towards blockchain in countries that are facing financial pressures. To name a few such as Venezuela, Argentina, Nigeria, Lebanon, we see very high rates of crypto adoption here. So I am forecasting that to continue on its upward trajectory.
Gabriele Pao Pei Andreoli: Fantastic. Thank you for illuminating this world. I know a lot of people are wondering because there is so much interest, but there is also, it’s fairly new. And so they are trying to understand, well, if I can go with my iPhone and get a wallet by myself, why would I need someone like Carter to help me out? Why would I need professionals? So I think we have to explain a little bit of the difference between playing with crypto, like a little video game. This is the way I perceive it. And doing the real thing, with real professionals. I think this is, something that maybe people are interested in understanding.
Bilal Ahmed Mir: It’s a very good point, Gabriele. I mean, with crypto, there are very little barriers to entry, as you have mentioned, an individual anywhere in the world, regardless of age, gender, race, education level. As sure as long as they have access to a smartphone or a laptop, they can have a crypto wallet and enter into the blockchain sphere that is very different to other sophisticated financial markets, such as stocks, private equity, fixed income, where you need to have a level of access through banking or investment partners to set foot in this arena. There are very easy and accessible ways to access the crypto world that also means that there are risks. There are a lot of dangers from security hackings and also misplacement of your own encryption and passwords. That is why Carter was created. It was created to assist the people in need around me that I knew were very interested in this sphere, had a desire to become invested and have exposure to this sphere, but did not have the capabilities to do that.
You point out, you know, doing things in a professional manner, as you know, myself and the co-founder of Carter Capital, who’s very well known to you, you spoke to him very recently. We both come from the investment banking world. So we are very knowledgeable about risk parameters, about managing assets diligently and doing things in a prudent manner. We try to maintain capital preservation of our clients wealth as much as possible, and we do not act in very high risk areas of the crypto world which do exist. And quite frankly, one can experience exceptional returns in multiples of ten and above, but in doing so it does entail a very high level of risk, which I do not recommend an individual investor pursues on their own.