This is a transcript from our weekly YouTube live AMA:

SPEAKERS: Anita Mlakar and Sandi Bitenc.

About AMA: We’re proud to announce our newest feature: Connectivity NFTs in the 3air app! You can now purchase NFTs that grant internet subscriptions and send them to a mapped school in the 3air app. Watch this AMA for a Live Walkthrough and Q&A of our new features!

AMA Duration: 49:39

Introduction:

Anita Mlakar: 00:23

Hello dear 3air family and welcome to 3air’s AMA. It is Wednesday, 5 o’clock Central European Time. We are live again. I am really happy to have you here. So, if you’re with me right now do write it down in the comments, so that I can see who is with us. And of course, I would like to wish you a nice evening, day, afternoon, morning, wherever you are, you’re of course welcome here. This AMA is about the updates from 3air. So, Sandi Bitenc, the CEO of 3air will be with us in a couple of minutes but I would first like to invite you to be of course a part of our family, part of our channels, we have communities, of course on Twitter, on Discord and on Telegram. And if you’re not with us yet, please do join us, be a part of the community that we are making, a part of 3air. And what I am doing at the beginning is always introducing our project. So, what 3air is doing and what is our mission.

Sandi Bitenc, CEO of 3air Joins the AMA:

Anita Mlakar: 01:30

But first today, I would like to welcome Sandi. I hope that Sandi is already with us to say hello, let’s just change this a little bit.

Sandi Bitenc: 01:41

Hey, now you really surprised me, I was laying down still.

Anita Mlakar: 01:47

Yeah, I saw you over there. Is this like a way of meditation or preparing for AMA? What is this?

Sandi Bitenc: 01:57

No, it’s called sleeping.

Anita Mlakar: 02:00

Okay, so in the meantime, because we had like a minute now in the meantime.

Sandi Bitenc: 02:05

It was a power nap.

Update about Malta Events:

Anita Mlakar: 02:06

Short nap, yeah. That’s great. Sandi, nice to see you. Really nice to see you. And I was reading comments in our community, on Telegram. And of course, everybody is really looking forward to today’s update about Malta because this is where you still are, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 02:26

Yes. We are here now for a week. But the Malta event started. I don’t know where it started. Probably yesterday, in a sense. So yesterday, we have been invited to the IKIGAI Retreat with some VCs. So, we were pitching there and today, there was the conference. Actually, on Monday, there was the IKIGAI Retreat. Sorry, yesterday, there was the SiGMA event starting. So, we went just to do a sneak peek into how the SiGMA conference looks and the exhibition. And just to clarify, SiGMA is focused on iGaming. So, it’s a nice word for gambling. So, there is no excavation, there is just a big party. So, they have two huge halls. Like, I think it’s 20,000 people or something like that. And each of the booths has its own music, and they’re just trying to be louder than their neighbor. And each booth has a bar, literally a bar. So, it’s like all the video walls and loud music and a bar for a booth. So, you can literally go and get drunk 100 times over. I don’t know whose doing business there or partying is business, I guess in gambling.

Anita Mlakar: 04:01

Okay, so this is at SiGMA, but I hope that some work, of course, is also done there. This is a way I think they’re doing it. I really liked the concept maybe we should make the events that we have here in Slovenia, sometimes a little more loose or more party, I think more people would come. So that’s a recipe.

Pitching competition:

Sandi Bitenc: 04:23

Crypto is usually the party kind of segment of the business and so on. But it’s nothing compared to gambling to be honest. So, we have it far more civilized, and it started today. So today was the first day of the AIBC Conference, tomorrow starts the exhibition. I already sent in the group, a few pictures when they were setting up our booth. So, we do have a really good spot. And it’s coming nicely together. So, this starts tomorrow. And today, there the conference started. So, there are two stages. And the main stage was mostly dedicated to VC funds and speaking about how to get funding for the project, how to make good pitches and startups and those things, and there was also a pitch competition, which we took part of

Anita Mlakar: 05:25

How was it?

Sandi Bitenc: 05:28

We didn’t win. So, I was satisfied. I think I presented it well, there was a project that was doing something with sports and gaming and those things. So, they did make a good presentation, for sure. So, I think it’s really tough. I don’t know exactly why they picked him, but I do think that we made a really good case. And also afterwards, the judges came and congratulated us and so on. But I also saw that the guy that won was then just afterwards, kind of hugging one of the judges and so on. So yeah, they probably knew each other. I’m not saying that this is what they want. They just have a good project for sure.

Anita Mlakar: 06:22

Okay, next year, we will be hugging judges and then…

Sandi Bitenc: 06:27

I was trying yesterday to bribe some judges, but unfortunately, I was driving the wrong guys. Just kidding.

Anita Mlakar: 06:35

With what did you try to bribe them?

Sandi Bitenc: 06:39

I didn’t. I’m just kidding.

Anita Mlakar: 06:42

Because if it is a hug, then it’s a lot, you know?

Crypto Mondays:

Sandi Bitenc: 06:45

Okay. But yesterday, there was a networking event already. So, I was speaking to a lot of people. We were also part of the Crypto Mondays on Monday. So that was a conversation that I was then also having later yesterday evening, but I think the Crypto Mondays, they have been streamed somewhere on YouTube, I think it’s quite a big YouTube channel. So, I was a panelist there, I will probably be a panelist again there. So, it’s a great community that they have. So, if somebody still doesn’t know Crypto Mondays, go and check them out.

What is 3air actually:

Anita Mlakar: 07:30

Okay, today’s AMA is about updates at 3air, we don’t have a guest today. So, it’s just you, I will be asking questions, you will be answering them. This is how it goes. Of course, not only me, but also our community and people who are with us. They’re welcome to ask questions. But I always do a short introduction of our project at the beginning. I didn’t do it this time, straight at the beginning, but maybe I wanted you to help me with it a little bit. So, this time, just to remind people of what we are doing. So, I will start as I usually do, and then you will help me out. Okay? we are talking about world’s first blockchain platform. This is what 3air is and it enables individuals and businesses to thrive on Web3 and we are providing broadband internet connectivity. And what we are saying all the time Sandi is that we are connecting the unconnected and banking the unbanked. You did such a nice explanation when we started the project. What does that mean? What you do, a little bit again?

Sandi Bitenc: 08:39

Sure. So, first of all, we’re not the first blockchain platform, we are probably the first blockchain telecom platform in a sense because we are a mix of a telecom and blockchain. About connecting the unconnected. So, we are focused on emerging economies, there where the infrastructure hasn’t been built yet, or it’s just impossible to build because of the situation there and we have our own technology where we can bring broadband internet over air. So, this is why we don’t need the infrastructure, we can work without that infrastructure. We set up our own towers, and that those towers have a range of 50 kilometers, and they bring around up to one gigabit per second of broadband internet to homes or businesses. Additionally, we also provide digital TV and IP telephony and that’s kind of for connecting the unconnected.

09:42

Banking the unbanked there’s that’s a really good question, right? So how do you bank the unbanked if they’re not connected to the internet because the unbanked, there’s a huge overlap of the unbanked and the unconnected. So, you need to first give them an internet connection then you can start banking them with crypto. But there’s also one other thing, another paradox, and this is, how do you onboard somebody to crypto and bank them with crypto if they don’t have already a credit card or a bank account, because right now, you still need to have some way of digital payments to get digital assets. So crypto assets, it’s not that you can scan in $1 bill in your computer, and you get magically some bitcoin back or something like that. So, you need to be able to take in cash. And this is where I think a lot of projects are failing that are trying to bank the unbanked because they’re not thinking about that. So if you’re buying crypto with a credit card or a bank account there, then you actually already have a bank account and then you are banked already so this way, you cannot bank the unbanked. So this is why we are also partnering up with projects that are doing peer to peer cash to crypto onboarding, and offloading. And we bring it also ourselves through the offices that we have on the ground.

Anita Mlakar: 11:15

Yeah, of course, you’re explaining it so nicely, we are giving people a digital identity, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 11:21

Yes, we have a digital identity already in place. So digital identity is not only about identity, it’s about much more, it’s not just showing a policeman that your ID or your passport, when you go over the border or something like that it’s actually storing data, your private data in a way that you can present it in a provable way. So that the other side actually can trust that it’s true. And also, in machine verifiable way. And it can be any sort of data, you can store what you wrote on some social media, if that’s something that you want to have in a presentable manner, or you can store your credit information and something that that’ll help you calculate your credit score, and potentially allow you to get a loan, for instance, if you don’t have an identity, you cannot have a loan, you cannot own a car, you cannot own a house. Everything is connected to that. So, in a sense, digital identities are far larger concept and what we think about our physical IDs right now.

Anita Mlakar: 12:53

We are very proud also to say that we are educating people, and that once we put them through all the steps that we have prepared, they are actually not only connected and banked but they’re also empowered, and that is important.

Sandi Bitenc: 13:08

Yes, so we are partnering with different education providers, and there’s so many providers that are really trying to reach and educate people in Africa. But you know what? every one of those actually needs to have an internet connection to the end user, it doesn’t go without it. What we like to do with our platform is not to do all the things ourselves, it just doesn’t make sense if, there is some projects out there that’s doing a really good job in education. Or if there’s one project, it’s doing a really good job in swapping tokens, like a DEX or something like that we won’t be developing this ourselves and trying to compete with them. Rather, what we are really good at is providing broadband internet and also the digitally ID. But afterwards, we are just partnering and pulling in the content from other projects that we have partnered with, in that sense, we can provide far more content, more value in a shorter amount of time.

3air project and challenges for Sandi up until now:

Anita Mlakar: 14:19

Project is now live, let’s say for more than a year. We have been here in this AMA for a year time. So, it started before that, you know, going through this year Sandi, with everything that was happening. How was it for you?

Sandi Bitenc: 14:38

Yeah, what does it mean that the project is live? It’s live in a sense that we announced it, and we started talking a bit about it, but the project has started far earlier. So if we go back when we started developing the telecom infrastructure, this goes back more than 10 years and also Sierra Leone, as our first telco is being run for three years right now already. And 3air as the blockchain platform, its design and conception has been ongoing for two years, then one year, we’re doing our AMAs right now. And we published the platform in August, it’s still not finished, we launched the token on September the 22nd. And this week, we actually did a major update on the platform and enabled some really cool stuff. And we’ll be talking about that. If there would be, you know, some things to really consider is, it was a crazy ride. I do have experience in startups and entrepreneurship, and so on. But this was something totally different. And I’ve been part of crypto projects before, but just experiencing it firsthand. It is quite an experience. It was a lot of negotiations, a lot of talks, a lot of partnerships, a lot of traveling. We were literally starting at the top of the market and riding the whole bear market throughout launching, if you would asked me last week, I would say we launched at the worst time possible. But I think the worst time possible it was actually last week. Not too good stuff happening in the crypto space. And of course, it affects us also that it affects the whole crypto space, whatever you do. But there was also a lot of really good stuff. So, I do remember when we first connected the first school to the Internet for free, and all the thankful faces and thank you sent over from the children that are using our connectivity right now. It’s so good to give something back to the community. And if we can change one life, one child, it’s going to be worth it already.

Anita Mlakar: 17:24

You mentioned traveling Sandi, you are traveling a lot, of course, not only representing 3air, but also you because 3air and the project is of course your child and I know that you’re in a way emotionally connected to it. But have you managed to count in this your time? And how many countries were you and how many times you were speaking maybe?

Sandi Bitenc: 17:49

No, but maybe Petra knows in how many countries we were this year.

Petra: 17:55

Sandi Bitenc: 17:55

In 15 countries this year. She knows. She keeps track of those things. So, 15 countries this year. I don’t know how many speaking positions, but I am building a list. So, I would need to check it and it’s still not over. So, I will be in Malta till the 19th. So, 9th during the night, I fly to Dubai, I was hoping I can stay there, but at 7am on the 20th. So just overnight, I’m flying out to Saudi Arabia to Riyadh, for another conference. Or for another speaking position. I’ll stay there two days, and then I’ll stay another two days in Dubai, and then we’re going to Miami.

3air new feature update Live Walkthrough: Connectivity NFTs and Schools:

Anita Mlakar: 18:47

Okay, nice plan. New year is coming. So, we will be maybe talking also about that in December. What are the plans. Sandi, we will be going through what you said earlier, a little update and new features in the 3air app. So, a lot is happening right now. There are some changes, some updates. Maybe we should start with that. Of course, we were talking about it last week, we launched our token on ApeSwap, which is actually a little marketing update also, and talking about development update, School Connectivity NFT feature is live and that is very important.

Sandi Bitenc: 19:35

Yeah, maybe just I can run you through the update just a bit what we did or share my screen. I did not prepare that, so we’ll just do it with an empty wallet. [Screen shared] That’s now the dashboard it’s just a bit redesigned, we corrected the chart, the 3air price chart, because before it was not showing really nicely, it showed great data, but it was not formatted nicely. And you have now the seven days or three month chart or you have like direct on chain data price feed for 3air directly. So, you’ll see your funds here.

20:27

We are right now integrated with two chains, we’re looking into integrating the third one soon. But you’ll see your wallet assets from Binance Smart Chain and OKX Chain. So, you’ll see both here if there’s something on.

20:49

Then what we did, we restructured the whole menu because we added so many features that we just couldn’t fit them in anymore. And probably the most important one is the Connected School. So, we’re building here a list of schools, and we’ll be adding schools here. Once we are connecting them to the internet, there are three more schools that are already we’re just getting all the descriptions and images added. But right now, there are two schools. So, it’s the Rural Education Committee that we connected to the internet and give them the internet. So, you can take a few pictures, read the description. Also, all the schools that are here, you can gift internet to already and as I said, we’ll be soon adding additional schools.

21:48

We updated the marketplace a bit so that it is displaying a bit more randomly the NFTs that are on there. And you can see there are the chain. So how we implemented cross chain is that you can select the chain and you can switch the chain here if you want. And then you will mint an NFT on the chain of your choosing actually. So, we’re not forcing you to use one chain, you can use either one of those two. And we are adding more as I said so. And what’s new is the Connectivity NFT. So, you can potentially use the filter. And you can go to collection and use 3air connectivity NFTs. And then these are now the Connectivity NFTs. So those NFT is when you send them to a school will grant instant connectivity to the school. So, if you buy a 30 day, dedicated Internet, once you buy this NFT you can then send it to a school then the school will get 30 days of 10 megabits per second dedicated Internet. So that’s actually dedicated, it’s not the same as you would have 10 megabits at home when you’re on a shared. So, this is professional level broadband internet. And then you have also a yearlong Connectivity NFT. So, you can buy a yearlong of internet for a school, or just one day, if you don’t have the funds, you can do something for $40 or then a 10 day. if you’re just looking a month long worth of broadband internet. So, there are around 500 to 600 children in a school. So, this cost 15 cents per day for a child to provide them with really stable internet. And you can also pay with 3air, you can pay with stable coin, whatever you want. So, you can decide. And once you minted, this will go to your NFTs, “My NFTs”. So, you’ll see it here, then you can just click on it and then it’s just a drop down. You select the school you want to send it to, or you can also send it to whatever wallet you want actually of your choosing. So we’re not limiting that and just click send and you’ll be able to send it to another Wallet. So that’s for the marketplace.

24:41

You can get to the same place if you just click here on “Donate” you’ll go to the marketplace with the filter enabled. Of course, there are the news those news are pulled off of our Telegram channel and we started on the dashboard. That’s the Connectivity NFTs, then you still have the claim 3air. So, this is working as it was before, you have some more information on the 3air token. So here we have the release chart, you can literally see exactly how many tokens are going to be released into the circulation, you have the price, and then some additional market cap information, what’s the TVL? What percentage of the tokens are staked, and you can also check here the token trackers on Binance Smart Chain and so on.

25:48

Then you have the Staking. So, this hasn’t changed a lot, it just it was a bit redesigned so that things make a bit more sense. And they’re a bit easier. But we’re constantly trying to innovate on the UX. And you also have a swap integrated so you can swap from BUSD to 3air or vice versa. And this actually is connected directly to PancakeSwap. And then additionally, you can see a staking calculator. So, it’ll calculate how many tokens you’ll have. So, if you put in 1000 3air, it’ll show you. So, what’s the next reward ratio and how many tokens you will have after six months or after 12 months. This is a cool thing. So, this, we need to mention this one. So that was the Coverage App. So, this is a live coverage from Sierra Leone. Those are our two base stations. And there are also some additional access points that are setup. And this is how we actually have done the coverage. And the blue spots are all the schools in Sierra Leone. And the bigger ones are the ones that are connected with our services currently. So, there are a lot of schools that actually still need connectivity, some of those already have some internet, but for majority, those still don’t have it. And you can turn things on and off if you want. We will also be adding some additional information on this access points and everything. On the next update.

Does the number of days for the Internet NFT refer to the actual equivalent number of Internet access hours? Or is it just whole calendar days? Whether they use the internet or not?

Anita Mlakar: 27:51

This is just amazing. Richard is saying the coverage map is super cool. So, what is important is that users can now purchase NFTs and send them to school and these NFTs grant school connectivity for the chosen length of time. And there are maps, coverage maps where you can see which schools you can donate or help. And going back to that Sandi, there was a question about that in our community. And it said like this just a minute. Okay. Does the number of days for the Internet NFT refer to the actual equivalent number of Internet access hours? Or is it just whole calendar days? Whether they use the internet or not?

Sandi Bitenc: 28:45

So, it’s whole calendar days, and I’m telling you, they’re using it day and night. I don’t know how they do it day and night. But yeah, I know they use it day and night. So, for instance, a lot of those schools are not only school. So, the two schools that you saw right now in there, when we were sharing the screen, are actually also in a sense, orphanages, because the children are actually sleeping in school. There are two, those two are really schools in the rural areas where children just don’t have the means maybe they don’t even have the parents anymore. They’re just staying in the school. And they’re now browsing all the time.

29:29

Also, what’s happening in Africa. A lot of times if you just do almost wherever you go, you’ll see like we were before as children gathering somewhere in the playfield. They’re actually gathering around places that have Wi-Fi. And there is not a lot of those places in in Africa. So, right now gathering around schools where the connectivity is and then they’ll just use the Wi-Fi and connect to the school internet. So, they are using it. So, we are tracking the usage. And I think we even shared a few of the graphs of usage. I don’t remember if we did or I have those graphs, so I just needed to send them over. And it’s quite amazing how they’re using it. They’re actually even getting peaks up to 70 megabits per second, to be honest. So, and we’re also allowing this. But just to answer the question, straightforward, it is the day per day, so it’s not our per hour, if they’re not using it, it’s not that, we are providing the broadband and we need to buy the broadband also ourselves. So, it’s not free for us. We need to buy the broadband, we need to deliver it. And it’s an ongoing thing. So, we cannot say, “Okay, we’re shutting it down right now during the night and we’re not paying for it”. It’s not like that. So, it is a monthly subscription. It doesn’t work in any other way. So, it is one day, or it’s 10 days, regardless of it’s used or not, but it is used.

About access points:

Anita Mlakar: 31:17

Thank you, Sandi. Richard has a question. Can you tell us a bit more about the access points? What is it exactly.

Sandi Bitenc: 31:25

It’s a bit of help and relay for us. We get the data from the base stations, we will then be beam a steady stream of the signal to another so it’s kind of a smaller base station. Let’s say it like this.

Are these the K3 base stations?

Anita Mlakar: 31:46

Okay. Another one from Richard are the two base stations, the K3 base stations?

Sandi Bitenc: 31:52

Yes. That’s it.

Anita Mlakar: 31:56

Okay, Rachel, thank you. I was wondering earlier Sandi, I don’t know how many questions did you already answered about 3air in this year and of course before. Is there something, is there a question or something that could still surprise you about 3air or something that you didn’t? Or wouldn’t have the answer to?

Sandi Bitenc: 32:17

I don’t know. So, until now. Even if I would get, I would be actually happy to get something like that, then it would make me think and when something like this, I always take this as learning opportunities and improvement opportunities. So, if there’s something that I would not know, I would immediately go in, take the answer up and just integrate into the system. But I think I know pretty well, what we’re doing, what we need to do, where we are going, so it’s probably going to be tough to surprise me. But I dare anyone, I would really love to be surprised to be honest. So, this is the only way that I know that I can grow personally and also as a project.

Weekly Market update:

Anita Mlakar: 33:12

Okay, this is in a way challenge for our community, for our family. Maybe someone has a question like that. Richard is always very active. I’m sure that he will come up with something and we will see. Okay, Sandi, you were talking earlier that the last week was really, like you said, probably the worst week. And you’re always giving us a short market update. So please do tell us what was and is happening?

Sandi Bitenc: 33:43

I really don’t I don’t remember what we were talking last week because I was talking so much about the current situation and Sam Backman-Fried and the FTT token. So, I don’t know where it was. But things are for sure not rosy right now for the crypto markets and we don’t know what will happen, how much other projects are involved. But I can tell you just by speaking to some VC funds in the last few days, they are almost everyone’s affected. And it’s really a problem. So, you need to understand that FTX Exchange was actually the same business as Alameda Research. So the founder was the same and everything and FTX was born out of Alameda and Alameda was the one that was doing all the tradings and so on and investments and Alameda was the one that made the losses, the whole and FTX was then taking the funds that their clients deposited. So they were taking their funds and putting it into Alameda and making even more damaged. So, this was really bad.

35:09

When Alameda was also a VC fund, so they were invested into, I think over 200 projects in the crypto space. And a lot of VCs were also following them. So, Alameda was usually the lead investor. And once Alameda invested, everyone else started also investing. And for instance, I know that I think near had gotten 300 million from Alameda, and also Aptos. I think even more than that, and there are a lot of projects that didn’t even come out. The problem is that they didn’t get money from FTX, or from Alameda, they got FTT tokens, and FTT tokens are like worth zero right now. So, all that money that they got, and they didn’t get everything at the start. So they’re just right now without the funding, and it doesn’t drag down only the projects that are out right now it drags down also the project that already started developing, but now just without funds, and without any runway.

36:11

The problem is then also for the VCs that were investing in those projects, because now those VCs, they really put the money inside these projects. And those projects now need to go to another fundraise to make up for the losses or for the lack of funds that they didn’t get from Alameda. And if they don’t get them, then the project is dead and the VCs that invested the money and they’ll lose their share there. So there are right now, probably the majority of VCs are right now looking to save the project that they invested already by funding them and plugging the hole that Alameda Researched did.

36:54

There are also some other exchanges that has funds there and so on. So there still can be quite a lot of liquidations on the horizon, before all this contagion clears up. And until that clears up, the market can still be very bad. And it couldn’t be at a worst time. It’s on the bottom of the of the bear market. And it’s literally right now in the best two months of the year. So those were the two months that we were like hoping bull would save us and everything went really in the right direction. November and December are always wherever the most gains are made. And then we got now a really good CPI print. So, the inflation 10 It looks like it’s going to come down. So now there is already talk that the next interest rate raise won’t be 75 basis points, but only 50 basis points and all the traditional markets are in a sense rallying. So, you look at the S&P 100 or 500 or the NASDAQ, you will see all those are actually up but crypto is down. So yeah, it’s not a good time. It’s never a good time when something like that happens. It drags down the whole crypto space in the whole blockchain space.

38:30

What needs to be understand is that this has nothing to do with crypto or blockchain this has to do with one person that was greedy, and that was a criminal to be honest, and it was done in a totally centralized way. So, an Alameda Research and FTX Exchange, those are centralized entities, those are not the real blockchain companies that would do things in a decentralized manner as much as possible. Of course, some form of centralization is needed and having everything decentralized doesn’t make sense for sure not. But this is not because of blockchain or because of crypto. This is because of one man that was just a criminal and he scammed 5 million people at once. I talked now a lot. So, I hope it makes sense.

Anita Mlakar: 39:29

Yes, usually recoveries needed after something like that happens. And if we’re talking about bear market, we can say it is almost a grizzly market now. Just joking about it.

Sandi Bitenc: 39:41

You need to say it’s a bear market. I hear a lot from Germans that they are having beer markets.

Is there sufficient funding for investing into new countries?

Anita Mlakar: 39:52

Bear market. Yeah. Oh my God. Let us go to another question. How about the funds of 3air projects. Is there enough funding for investment into new countries? Or do we need to wait for the next Bull Run?

Sandi Bitenc: 40:09

So, the money for DRC is actually on the account waiting. So that’s not a question we are right now in DRC, we’re waiting for some paperwork and those things. So, it should be fine in that sense. So, the expansion should be ongoing. With Blockchain development we are we are running a bit short on our runway, I’m not gonna tell stories that we have a runway over a year and so on. But here we are, we are talking to some VCs for some additional funding and so on. And we’re just trying to make the best out of it and get through this bear market. but the expansion is confirm.

How the crypto world is responding to the market situations in the conferences?

Anita Mlakar: 41:03

Sandi, what are people that are really involved and since you are in these conferences right now and talking to people in crypto world, what are they saying? I mean, how is the atmosphere right now?

Sandi Bitenc: 41:25

Well, it’s far less people. I cannot judge it right now because Monday was a private event. So that was packed. That was good. There was no really mood or depression there. It’s not really that everyone’s hyped and running around with phones, like, wow, look at this, you know, I made so much money. And this was happening before. So, this is for sure not happening right now. Today, there wasn’t too many people attending the conference yet, because the AIBC actually kind of starts tomorrow on paper. So, it’s just a conference today. But when they were announcing it, they said, AIBC is 17th and 18th. And so, the exhibition starts tomorrow. Let’s see how many people are coming. And tomorrow, I’ll be able to give you a bit more information, how the mood is out there. But I when I see the mood in different crypto communities is either people are gone out of the space, they’re just attending any more or saying anything, or they’re being really negative right now. And it’s far more on the social media and the social channels than it is in real life. So, in real life, it’s not so bad. But it you do feel a bit of a difference when there is a raging bull market out and everyone’s hyped up and making a ton of money. It’s a different vibe.

What’s next in Malta?

Anita Mlakar: 43:11

But it will be back. When it goes down. It also has to go up. Sandi, what is awaiting you in this couple of days that you have still left in Malta?

Sandi Bitenc: 43:26

So today was really a busy day. So yesterday, we were networking till about 1 AM. And we were actually the first one almost to leave. And I was waking up at seven, preparing my pitch. Then I had an interview in the morning, then I had the pitch that was taking quite a long time for everything. And then I had two more interviews afterwards or three, I don’t even remember anymore, but I know that one that I really liked was the Kitco news. So, I will be I’ll be on Kitco news probably pretty soon because they’re really publishing those things fast. And I’m talking also a bit more there not only about 3air, also on some other stuff in regards to blockchain, tokenization, also something on FTX and so on. So, I think that’ll be really cool.

44:26

Right now, I’m invited to a dinner with the mayor of Malta. So let’s see how this will go but for that I actually need to then not go to the AIBC VIP dinner. So, I’ll send Petra and Leon over to that one. And we also have Hilina here with us. And Markus is here with us. So, we have a strong team here that’s helping promote 3air and it’s just yesterday Hilina walked up to me, and she said like, “Look, I was in another event right now. And I was starting talking that I am with 3air, and everyone knew 3air”. So, it was really nice to hear that. We made some breakthroughs here for sure. So, people are noticing. So, this is today still. And then tomorrow, I am having, I think I still have another interview and a few meetings. And at 1:30 I’m having a keynote, or one on 20 something like that PM, a keynote speech. And then just afterwards, I’m part of a panel discussion. So, this is going to be tomorrow. And then Friday, hopefully, a bit more time to go and catch up with everyone that we met here and try to get some partnerships in and there will also be the AIBC awards. So, we are nominated for the Social Impact of the Year award. So that one is also, you can still go I think and vote for us on AIBC it’s not on the website. I think it’s on LinkedIn if I’m not mistaken, but either way, so you should go to our Telegram channel, and you will find the link to that one there and just go and vote.

Anita Mlakar: 46:34

Yes, do that. Busy, Sandi. In the days to come. I think Hilina was also with us here. She said hi, I’m not sure if she’s still here. But Halina is always nice to have you here and everybody else from the team. So, Sandi, I would really like to invite everybody, of course to be a part of our communities because like Richard said, share some pictures in our Telegram group, we have a great group and a lot is happening in there. So you’re welcome to join us on Discord, on Telegram, on Twitter. You can also subscribe to this YouTube channel. So that you will get notifications when we are going live. Usually that is every Wednesday at 5pm Central European Time because we are always here, and Sandi is always giving us updates. And we do also have interesting guests. So, you’re welcome to join us every time. Sandi, I will leave you now to whatever you have left today because there is a lot. Do enjoy dinner with the mayor. We’re having elections Mayor, elections here in Slovenia. So, I don’t think you’re having there, the elections there. But when that happens, they’re usually even nicer.

Sandi Bitenc: 47:56

I don’t know what’s happening. But I just get invited to dinners with mayors lately. And you remember the story when we were in Cape Town? It happened also it just like out of the blue. What you’re doing in the next three hours? You’re going to dinner with the Premier and the mayor. We have something in 3air, I am telling you for sure.

Anita Mlakar: 48:30

Yes, I know. And it’s in the air it can be felt. So, thank you, Sandi, very much for taking the time for this AMA. Stay tuned. Do let us know what is happening. Whatever time you have left. Do also write something or send some pictures in our groups. So that we will be following you. And if some question pops up, of course, we will be answering them or in our channels or at AMA or whenever we are live with you. So, you’re welcome to be with us. Sandi, have a great day.

Sandi Bitenc: 49:04

Thank you!

Anita Mlakar: 49:05

Say hi to everybody in team. Say hi to Petra and be here next week.

Sandi Bitenc: 49:12

Next week. I think I let me check what the date is. But I think it should be fine. The 23rd. Yes! I’ll be in Dubai actually just flying back to Saudi. Good. I’ll be here. No worries.

Anita Mlakar: 49:32

Okay, have a great day. And thanks, everybody, for being with us today and for all the questions

Sandi Bitenc: 49:36

Thank you. Bye.

Anita Mlakar: 49:38

Bye.

Subscribe to our mailing list to stay up to date