This is a transcript from our weekly YouTube live AMA:

SPEAKERS: Anita Mlakar and Sandi Bitenc.

About AMA: On this AMA, we are giving you our Weekly update and Q&A.

AMA Duration: 23:16

Introduction:

Anita Mlakar: 00:06

Dear ladies and gentleman, it is Wednesday, 5 o’clock. Welcome to 3air’s AMA. I’m really happy to have you here. If you’re with us right now, do write down in the comment that you’re with us, you can also write where you are, so that we will know. I can tell you that I’m in Croatia right now. Sandi Bitenc, CEO of 3air is in Slovenia, with guests going around. So, this is actually a special edition of AMA. Why? I will tell you a little bit later. But right now, let me invite you of course, to be a part of this, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you’re not subscribed yet. Please do it because you will get notifications whenever we go live. That is usually happening on Wednesdays, but you never know when we come live. Anita Mlakar is my name. I am the host of these AMAs.

01:01

I would also like to invite you to be a part of our communities on our channels. We are on Twitter, on Discord, and on Telegram. Just check, find 3air also on social networks and of course be a part of our community. A lot is happening. We have every week live AMAs. We have nonstop answering your questions in this group. So yes, you are very welcome.

01:25

First, let me do a short introduction of our project. We are doing that every time when we are live on AMA. So, we are connecting the unconnected, if you didn’t hear that yet, we are banking the unbanked, and actually, we are connecting people of Africa to internet because there’s a really bad internet connection. And if you’re unconnected, you are in a way underpowered. So, we’re doing that with two technologies, K3-Last Mile Solution, and our 3air internet. Once you are connected to the internet, you get a digital identity from us, then you can of course, store everything that is a record of what you have done. And of course, you can identify yourself with it. We also create your digital bank account, we are giving you a wallet. And all this time we’re educating you and this is the real empowerment.

02:16

The next step is providing financial service. Since we have Fiat onboarding and offboarding ramp, peer to peer cash, crypto onboarding, Defi, we’re working on micro loans and yield farming, and so on and so on. We also have outside partners that will provide additional digital revenue streams. And once we put you through all these steps, you are connected, you’re banked, and you are empowered. Of course, you also have financial tools. We have the revenue streams, and you have the knowledge and that is why we would like you to be a part of this. This is a very important project and, in a way, important mission. Now, I would like to invite Sandi Bitenc, the CEO of 3air with us.

Sandi Bitenc, CEO of 3air Joins the AMA:

Anita Mlakar: 03:00

Hello, dear Sandi.

Sandi Bitenc: 03:03

Hello, Anita. Hello, everyone.

Anita Mlakar: 03:06

Hello, Sandi. Now I did mention something at the beginning that this is a special edition of this AMA. It is actually from the trip or let’s say from your honeymoon.

Wedding talk:

Sandi Bitenc: 03:17

Yeah, it actually is. So, I don’t think it’s a secret right, that me and Petra got married on Saturday. And then afterwards, with some friends we just went to see a bit of Slovenia and currently we are in in Bohinj. We’re actually at a in a hotel that was built of one of the guys that started Bitstamp because Bitstamp actually started in Slovenia. So, it’s kind of a hotel that was built on crypto.

Anita Mlakar: 03:58

Oh my god. This is not a coincidence, I’m sure. I have to tell you I did post the photo of course because I promised of a beautiful couple on a special wedding day on Saturday. I was there. We had the most amazing time. I think that was the most beautiful wedding I ever attended. It was really, really special. So, thank you for that. And yes, now you are Mr. And Mrs. Bitenc. Petra, of course is your dear wife. You are gorgeous. Everything was perfect. Please do tell me, Sandi. How did you feel about it? How was this happening for you?

Sandi Bitenc: 04:49

It was really, really nice. I actually got a bit more emotional than I thought I would. So, I think that that’s actually a good thing. And I don’t know, it was just magical. Everything in the end, you know, just came together perfectly. And yeah, as I said, I also think it was perfect.

Anita Mlakar: 05:13

Yes, it was. Now guys, if you would like some more pictures, you can write it down or send on Telegram. I have a lot of them. I also have some videos, I think I was shooting all the time. I was, of course I wanted to enjoy. So yes, I did want to just get that insight and watch it. But now and then I had to film it. I had to take some pictures because it was like a fairy tale. And I couldn’t resist. And now Petra just posted, “Send me some pictures”. And I was crying and laughing at the same time. Because everything is on this pictures. It really shows how it was. And I know that Petra really, really liked the day. So that is all that you actually want. Is that right?

Sandi Bitenc: 05:59

Exactly. Yeah. I could not have wished for more.

Anita Mlakar: 06:05

And also, Sandi, I had an opportunity to meet some of the team members from 3air live. And that was also special for me.

Sandi Bitenc: 06:15

Yeah, not everyone was there. But you actually didn’t meet everyone from Maribor, even before that, right. And then we also brought some people from different parts of the world, that are working with us. But unfortunately, there was no space to actually bring the whole team together. So, I think we need to make a gathering, for the whole team, somewhere in autumn.

Anita Mlakar: 06:48

Yeah, that would be great.

Sandi Bitenc: 06:50

Maybe we can then also invite some of the community members, let’s say, the most active ones.

Anita Mlakar: 06:57

Yeah. Can you imagine that? That would be a great reward, right? Oh, I’m looking forward to that, Sandi, another thing. The scene where this wedding was happening was really special one, a really nice place in Slovenia in Maribor, outside of Maribor, in the middle of the Vineyards. And when I was talking to people that came from Dubai and from other parts of the world, they were just thrilled about it. They said that that is just amazing. So, Slovenia, again is a very beautiful country. Agree? Beautiful, a lot of wine.

Sandi Bitenc: 07:33

Let me try and show you a bit where we are right now. I hope I’ll still have the internet connection here. So here at the back, actually one of our biggest Mountain, highest mountain in Triglav.

Anita Mlakar: 08:03

It’s beautiful.

Sandi Bitenc: 08:07

I think I need to be inside, right?

Anita Mlakar: 08:09

Yeah, we did see a little bit of it, the nature, Triglav, and the surroundings of Triglav, beautiful. Were you ever on the top of Triglav, Sandi?

Sandi Bitenc: 08:18

Yeah, I’ve been there a few times. So, the first time I went to Triglav, I was actually on an event that I organized. So Triglav is our highest mountain. It’s just a bit below 3000 meters. So, it’s 2864 meters high. So, in 24 hours, me and the team went up, and then down and on the bikes and with the bikes to the coasts, and then we dove on our breath, two of the team members, we actually dove on our breath to the deepest point of our sea and that’s 38 meters. So, we were on the highest mountain and on the deepest level of the sea in 24 hours with just our own, let’s say power.

Anita Mlakar: 09:30

Oh my God, I didn’t even know that was possible. Really?

Sandi Bitenc: 09:34

Yeah, that was back in 2006.

Anita Mlakar: 09:38

Because usually people need like two days to come to the top of the Triglav. First day they come to this beautiful launch, and then they go up, and you did it up, down, to the coast and down to the sea. That is just amazing.

Sandi Bitenc: 09:53

Yeah, it was quite good. The bike tour is quite hard. And then we actually swam out to the deepest point. And yeah, dove down.

Anita Mlakar: 10:11

Oh my god. Sandi, you went after the wedding, you went a little sightseeing in Slovenia, with your friends from abroad. Where were you till today?

Sandi Bitenc: 10:24

So, we were in Ptuj, then we went to Ljubljana, and from Ljubljana we came to Bled and now we are in Bohinj. Actually, today’s the first day that we are alone with Petra. So, everyone else left yesterday evening. So, yeah, kind of the first day of the honeymoon and I already had a meeting just before this AMA.

Anita Mlakar: 10:49

Oh, my God, you’re working. I also said, “Okay, Sandi, if you got married, you don’t have to do this AMA.” “No, no, no, we will do it shortly. But we will do it because I want to do it.” And that is the right spirit.

Sandi Bitenc: 11:01

Absolutely.

Anita Mlakar: 11:03

So, Sandi, okay, you are right now, let’s say this is the first day of the honeymoon. Or let’s say you had the first part of your honeymoon with your friends, which is special too.

Sandi Bitenc: 11:13

Yeah.

Anita Mlakar: 11:14

Now you will have some time alone. But Sandi, you did mention that you won’t be staying in Slovenia with Petra. Right? You have other plans.

Sandi Bitenc: 11:22

Yeah, so we don’t have a lot of time alone, actually. So, it’s just today, tomorrow, we are going back. And then I have some meetings also over the weekend. And then we need to say goodbyes to our families. And we are flying to South Africa on Tuesday if we get the visa. So, we were really, really working a lot too. It’s so hard to get a visa for South Africa, it’s unimaginable. And we’re actually the only ones here so if you’re from Italy, from Austria, from Hungary, you don’t need a visa for South Africa. But if you are from Slovenia, you need a visa and I’m not kidding, it was like this much of paperwork that we sent them over.

12:08

So hopefully we get it by Tuesday, because on Wednesday, I am a speaker at a crypto event in a Johannesburg University. So, I would really love to be there. And then I also have some meetings, some crypto meetings. And from Johannesburg, I think on the 22nd, or on the 23rd I think we’re flying then to Cape Town to some other meetings. And I think we’ll be then in Cape Town till end of the month. And then we are planning to fly to Kenya and spend some time there. There’s also a lot of things to do in Kenya. What’s really nice is I can work from wherever. I just need an internet connection. So, if we find a nice spot, with a good internet connection, we’ll probably just stay there and work from there. Yeah, and the next stop that I know of is in Switzerland, I think on the 14th of September. I’m also again a speaker at the Crypto Valley event.

Connecting Africa:

Anita Mlakar: 13:29

Oh, it will be very interesting. So actually, this is now, let’s say, not a honeymoon, honey-days, then working again, in Africa, of course, going where everything is happening right now, connected also to 3air. And Sandi, we are back to what we’re doing actually, connecting Africa, because connection there is really bad, I really do hope that you will find a good place with internet so that you can work. And this is the whole purpose actually, a very important mission, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 14:00

Yeah, it is. So, we are trying to find the places that are lacking connectivity, and there’s a lot of them. And where we can actually really work well with our technology, connect as many people in the shortest time as possible. And then just take it off from there. So, we’re focused on bigger cities at this moment in time, just because we can connect a lot of people there, just with a few towers. And once we have those areas covered, then we’re trying to expand also to a bit more, let’s say remote places, that usually don’t have any internet connectivity at all.

Market update of the past week:

Anita Mlakar: 14:48

We’re already talking about the progress going on in 3air in this time. A very important time. So, you always do a little market updates when we are together?

Sandi Bitenc: 15:01

Yes, I do, because it’s really important for the 3air Token Launch that the majority of the community has actually eager on and so are we, to be honest. And I still think that the markets will start turning in maybe August, maybe September. So, we’re getting closer and closer, I think, to that point. Just today, we got the CPI numbers, that were not good, that we’re not good. So last months were also not good. So, we were expecting, that the inflation would already peak out and then, instead of going down previous month, it went up. And we I think we it was 8.6. And just now this month, it came out at 9.1%. So, 8.8 was kind of expected. Even the White House was actually warning about the CPI numbers, that they will be high. And it’s not really their job to do that. So, we have seen today, just before the numbers came out the markets, Bitcoin just shot up to over 20k. And then once the numbers came out, it went down to, I think, 18,700 or something like that. And since then, it recovered a bit again, so hopefully it will hold, it will not drop lower.

16:40

But I think, right now, we still have some hard times to go through. Next week, we’ll see what the interest rates’ hike will be. So, we will for sure see something, it will be probably something between 25 and 75 basis points, I do think we’ll see another 75 basis points increase, I hope we don’t see a 100. Because if it’s a whole percentage point, interest rates going up, I do think the markets will tank. And the other thing to watch out for in the next couple of weeks is the earnings’ reports. So, from the 19th, I think the earnings’ reports are starting to come out from some big companies like Google, Apple, Meta, and those. So, if they’re really, really bad, then the markets will also go down. The Nasdaq and the stock markets will just go down and crypto is just being dragged down with it. But let’s see.

About Token launch and project development:

Sandi Bitenc: 17:47

I do think that the worst of the inflation is behind us. Right now, the majority of the inflation is being contributed still to the energy crisis. And a lot of commodities came down in the last couple of weeks, I think in a week came down, oil came down, nickel came down, there’s a lot of things that came down. And it’s like, now 25% off of highs of this year. So hopefully this will get inflation under control. And then if we get then, in August and September a good inflation reading. So, it’s always a lagging indicator, it’s inflation for the previous month, then I think, we won’t be seeing any interest rate hikes anymore. And then the markets will probably start turning and going up again. So, this is kind of what we’re looking for. And once we see that the inflation numbers are under control and dropping a bit faster than, right now they’re actually going up. But if we see a significant drop, I think we can start preparing for the Token Launch. So, this is what we’re looking for right now.

Anita Mlakar: 19:14

That’s good news Sandi. I mean, you’re always staying on the positive side, which is so great. Always hearing, of course, some bad things that are happening right now. But still, what is going in a way to plus, to be better. So, it’s great to hear that. So, we will wait for the right moment, like you said, and then of course we will be doing and talking a lot about the Token Launch, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 19:41

Yes. So, once we set a date, for sure, we’ll be telling you immediately. In the meantime, we’re still looking to also a part of my trip to South Africa is actually to get some more strategic partners in and to help us with the launch and everything. And in the meantime, we’re also working hard on developing the platform. I think some stuff will be deployed on SKALE in the next week or in the next 10 days. And I think then we’ll have actually a working Digital Identity System that will be live on chain. So, let’s see how this goes. Also, we are right now working on moving, or let’s say redeploying the NFT market system, on SKALE, also, so that we have this live on SKALE. Also redesigning it a bit to adding some more additional functionalities to it. And of course, the team is working hard on getting the NFT is the connectivity parts to the NFTs.

Anita Mlakar: 20:55

We will be updating you about everything that is happening. Sandi, I hope you will have good internet connection. So, the next time we are here live, next Wednesday, it will be from South Africa, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 21:08

Yes, I hope I’m not somewhere in the middle of any conference or that I’m not flying. Exactly, I think I have a flight on Wednesday, not 100% sure. But we’ll notify everyone in time.

Anita Mlakar: 21:29

Yes, that’s right. So do stay tuned, do be a part of our channels, like we said at the beginning, because everything will be there. And you will get notifications. Of course, if you’re not subscribed yet to YouTube, do that too. Or recommend us to a friend, we will appreciate that. And in the meantime, Sandi, I would really like you to enjoy the rest of your honey-days with Petra.

Sandi Bitenc: 21:54

I am, no worries. I like doing this. So that’s not a problem. I don’t know if Petra is really enjoying this right now. But I’m pretty sure it’s not a big issue.

Anita Mlakar: 22:04

Yeah, but like we said, we won’t do it the whole hour. And so yes, we did it shortly. We briefly did the most important thing, to get the most important information. And now we can slowly say goodbye. And of course, I wish you a very, very nice time Sandi and Petra. Once again, congratulations. There were a lot of congratulations on our channels right here also. So yes, do enjoy that time. It is, let’s say once in a lifetime event, an opportunity, maybe twice. Okay, thank you very much, Sandi. I am really looking forward to hearing you again next Wednesday if things go in the right way. And of course, to get visas for South Africa.

Sandi Bitenc: 22:56

Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. And also enjoy your stay at the sea level.

Anita Mlakar: 23:03

Oh, yes, I will. I will be off for a couple of days, then working again. So yeah. Bye bye, Sandi. Thanks for being with us and all of you who are here. Bye bye.

Sandi Bitenc: 23:15

Bye.

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