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, next steps and Q&A.

AMA Duration: 28:25

Introduction:

Anita Mlakar: 00:21

Hello, everybody, this is 3air’s AMA. I’m Anita Mlakar, the host of this AMA. I would like to welcome you and say thank you because you are here with us right now, live on our YouTube channel. Please, join us on our other channels. We are on Telegram, on Discord and on Twitter. Of course, you can also subscribe to this channel to YouTube channel, so that you will get notifications when we are going live. What are we doing in this AMA, introducing 3air and our project and this is what I’m doing always at the beginning. Let me just take a minute to do that. If you’re maybe new here or if you’re someone who is with us for a long time. I’m sure that this is always interesting.

01:08

What are we doing? We are connecting the unconnected, once people have an internet connection, we can provide them with digital identities and then we can bank the unbanked. What are the core objectives of 3air? Provide a broadband connectivity to cities in Africa. Create an easy-to-use system for acquiring ISP services. Give us users control over their identity and credit line. Allow ISPs community building and loyalty programs. Provide micro loans for people in Africa. Implemented security and fraud prevention features enabled secondary markets for bandwidth and other subscription services built robust platform for ISPs. Connect is based around the globe and enable to seamless roaming and so on and so on.

02:04

Today, we are here to answer your questions. So, this is your opportunity. If you have a question, please do write the question down in the comment section. And now it’s time to of course, invite the CEO of 3air, Sandi Bitenc.

Sandi Bitenc, CEO of 3iar Joins the AMA:

Anita Mlakar: 02:20

Hello, Sandi, and welcome.

Sandi Bitenc: 02:24

Hello. I don’t know. I’m Leon today.

Anita Mlakar: 02:28

Hello Leon.

Anita Mlakar: 02:32

Did you try to switch identity maybe?

Sandi Bitenc: 02:36

Yeah.

Anita Mlakar: 02:37

Or Sandi maybe you tried to encourage Leon to be live with us, one day.

Sandi Bitenc: 02:44

I think he should be. He’s always in the background.

Anita Mlakar: 02:57

We already have some people with us. Hello, 3air. Thank you. Problem with audio. Who has problem with audio? Miran, please do tell us? I did. Okay. We are trying to solve that problem for some time now. And obviously, the cause is not here with me because I really have a good connection. Maybe we should check Sandi with this stream but we will see okay, but now am I okay?

Sandi Bitenc: 03:28

I think now it’s fine. Yeah.

Anita Mlakar: 03:31

Okay. Audio now Okay, Says also Miran. Okay, let’s go. Sandi, from which parts of the world are we having you here today?

Sandi Bitenc: 03:42

I’m in Zanzibar currently. Working from here. So, we’ve been here for now around 10 days or something like that. Have business have pleasure and then that half of the pleasure is actually when I am at my computer doing stuff. It’s nice here. I actually like it. I could say it’s kind of a hidden gem although, I know that back in the days it was quite popular. But I guess then everything quite stopped and I think people started to kind of notice Zanzibar again during COVID because they were one of the few that didn’t have the restrictions. So, things are quite starting to pick up here but still a lot of development is needed.

Anita Mlakar: 04:37

Yes, Sandi. You are right. A lot of people also from Slovenia went to Zanzibar during this COVID situation. I also heard that it’s really nice. By the way, you have a very interesting room or a bed or whatever is that behind you.

Sandi Bitenc: 04:53

Yeah, we’re staying here in a bungalow. So just at the seaside. It’s nothing special, but it’s quite nice. And I like working from outside with a really nice view.

Anita Mlakar: 05:06

Yeah, I believe you do. So how is the temperature there?

Sandi Bitenc: 05:12

It’s hot. We don’t have a room with AC. So, it’s kind of like at the limit, I would say and I do like really hot weather. If it would be a bit hotter, it would be quite hard to be here but also, it’s a constant temperature. So, during the day, and during the night, it’s the same. It’s warm enough that you literally don’t need to cover yourself when you’re sleeping.

Anita Mlakar: 05:43

Okay, now we have snow and 0 degrees or minus. I don’t know how much in Slovenia. So that’s a big difference. And by the way, Sandi, you tint a little. You have a little tint. So, the sun is good for you. Right? It’s doing you good.

Sandi Bitenc: 05:58

You think so? Yeah. It’s actually, when I’m working there is a roof above me that it’s not like totally close. So, some sun comes through it. I guess it’s far from that.

Anita Mlakar: 06:15

Okay, Sandi we’re here to answer some questions today. So of course, I would like to invite anyone who is with us to ask questions. We also had some questions coming up during the whole week in our Telegram channels. So, we will go through that. By the way, Juels is saying Tanzania didn’t have any lock down during the COVID season. Thank you, Jules for that information. I didn’t know that. I did know for Zanzibar, but not for Tanzania.

Sandi Bitenc: 06:47

Zanzibar is this Tanzania.

Anita Mlakar: 06:51

Oh, okay. Thank you for sharing that with me. Okay, I should maybe look up something that I learned in school. It wouldn’t be bad. Thank you!

Sandi Bitenc: 07:02

It’s an island that belongs to Tanzania.

Market Update:

Anita Mlakar: 07:07

Zanzibar belongs to Tanzania. Okay. I think I will remember that forever. Thanks. And, of course, I think that we all appreciate that. You’ve shared that with us. Sandi, a little update. Maybe before we start with the questions, how is the current situation? You are always giving us a little market update? Would you do that now please?

Sandi Bitenc: 07:33

You mean a general update?

Anita Mlakar: 07:35

Yeah.

Sandi Bitenc: 07:35

We’ve seen quite a nice Bitcoin Crypto rally. So, the prices are now up above $21,000 again. Let’s see, I’m not 100% sure this is it, that this is what we’re waiting for. But it was really interesting to see in during the weekend and in during the last days, it looks like there were really genuine buys. And there were literally almost no sellers. This is why that the price was skyrocketing so much.

08:21

There were a lot of liquidations this time in a positive way. So, everyone that was shorting, now flashed out of the system. So, this is also why we’ve seen such a big spike. When I do my TA, I would say that right now 22k is, is the resistance and it’s the main bull market resistance. So, let’s see if we break above 22k really nicely, come back down and test it. I think we could potentially be out of the waters. But there are still some things, there might be some dark clouds on the horizon. Let’s see if we get over that. So DCG for sure is not out of the water. I think they own now 3 billion to their clients. They already announced they will start selling some assets but I don’t know exactly what they’ll sell if they sell the grayscale GBTC and ETF then we might see quite some bitcoin sell offs. Else, I don’t know exactly what they have on their balance sheets. This is for sure one thing that can bring us down.

09:43

I also don’t think that the Fed likes what is happening what goes in their last meeting. They kind of said that the markets should not rally in a sense, they didn’t say directly but that was how I interpret it and that the labor market needs to slow down a lot. So, let’s see, first of February is their next meeting and their next rate hike. I think what sparked everything were the CPI numbers and the CPI numbers came back favorable. So, the inflation came down quite a lot. It’s now at I think 6.5%. So, it came down from 7.2, I guess. And that was, in a sense, what the markets actually expected. Then in regards to that, we then got a really nice rally. I think everything was kick started because of that. And it started even around two days before that. But let’s see, first of February when the interest rates come out. The next ones, I think that will be the determinator if we are going straight into a bull run, or we’re going back down. So, it looks good. It for sure. The markets look far better than they did on our last AMA.

Anita Mlakar: 11:14

Okay, thank you Sandi for this update. We should also do an update about 3air but I think we should do that through the questions because we have some questions. And I think it is time to check a couple of them from Telegram. Sandi, you will be of course answering them. And we will through that get a little update about what is going on. Do you agree with that?

Sandi Bitenc: 11:41

Yeah, sure. Absolutely.

What about the big announcements?

Anita Mlakar: 11:43

Okay. Let’s take the first question. In early December in an AMA, we were told by Sandi that there will be an announcement of a big investment for 3air and that there will be an announcement about that. Okay, but did I miss anything? Or was there an announcement Sandi?

Sandi Bitenc: 12:08

No, we did not announce it. So, let’s say it like this, one is for Ethiopia and one is actually for DRC and unfortunately did not went to plan as we expected it. So, the investors are still there, to be honest. So, they’re still there. But there were some hiccups in DRC. And in Ethiopia, there is a lack of funds from our side, because we weren’t able to raise everything that we started raising. And yeah, so the investors are still willing to invest for DRC, we’re waiting for some additional paperwork. This is actually out of our hands. It’s a waiting game for now. Although it does take far longer than we expected for DRC. For Ethiopia, we actually need to raise some funds to proceed with that.

I think Sandi said there would be an update to the roadmap? Is that on the way?

Anita Mlakar: 13:22

Okay. Here’s another question. Let’s see. I think Sandi says there would be an update to the roadmap. Is that on the way?

Sandi Bitenc: 13:33

Yes, this is what we’re doing right now. And this is the majority of the work that I’ve been doing right now. It is going to be a big twist. There are still some things that we need to figure it out. But I think once you see it, everyone will like it. I cannot tell you exactly when it’s going to happen. But it should be ready in February for sure. So, it’s going to be a big change and I think a big change for the positive and it’s going to bring, if everything goes to plan it’s going to bring 3air to a global level and for everyone to actually participate in it. We are aiming to actually go out of Africa alone and start doing some things differently. We found some really good people, some good new team members. But we need to work out the own you know the idea to the point that we can actually present it there are still some holes that need to be filled and right now if I would be right now presenting it to you. They’ll probably be some answers some questions like I wouldn’t be able to answer So it looks like everything will work out and go to plan. But we’re still not there yet.

If 3air is to launch globally it will need it’s own Blockchain. Why let others have the transaction fees.

Anita Mlakar: 15:10

Okay, that sounds great. Sandi, thank you. Maybe this is also a suggestion for what you just said. If 3air is to launch globally, it will need its own blockchain. Why let others have the transaction fees?

Sandi Bitenc: 15:26

Yeah. So, if you remember the first white paper that we put out, there was actually a mentioning of the 3air blockchain. So yes, this is something that we’re actually actively working on and thinking about right now. It’s not that we are thinking about something that its totally new, it’s just we’re bringing some things that we thought we’ll be doing a bit later, we’re bringing to the front, and it’s a bit of what we’ve learned through the last year of working. And we just thought that the best thing would be to continue with our proprietary technology that actually has so many beneficial things to give to areas that are really under connected. But to really get enough of a big of a community, I do think that we need to bring some value to everyone actually. So not only the value to Africa, we do want to expand this, and we thought that the right steps would be go and just cover Africa and start expanding in Africa. But we do think that probably it’s best if we just bring forward the global part of 3air and then when once Africa is a bit on hold currently, we’re working there, but then we need to wait out the all the licenses and all the paperwork. We have a bit of time right now. So, we’re bringing the global into play a bit earlier that it was planned initially.

When does the platform go live for users in Africa?

Anita Mlakar: 17:17

Okay. But there is a question still, when does the platform go live for users in Africa?

Sandi Bitenc: 17:26

Yeah, so the platform for Africa is actually planned with the opening of DRC. So, DRC has been delayed. So also, the platform is late.

How is 3air being promoted in Africa?

Anita Mlakar: 17:40

Let’s go to another one. How is 3air being promoted in Africa, which countries and local investors and any feedback from potential users?

Sandi Bitenc: 17:51

So, the platform is not live there yet. So, in that sense, we’re not putting anything really into high level of promotion, what we were doing with marketing was addressing general crypto communities. And that turned out for the past year that with the bear market it just does not work. In the bull market, whatever you do whatever marketing you make, you get a lot of returns on it, but in the bear market, I haven’t seen anything like that before and I’ve been working a lot. Not so much in the crypto marketing but I’ve done some other marketing’s and this was just like there were no people anymore in the crypto space and you could also see it with other projects. A lot of projects actually lost community and a lot of community during this bear market.

18:53

I guess right now we are not doing any special marketing except for some social media postings and so on. So, what we can actually do organically and once the time is right. We will do some also on ground marketing. Once 3air platform goes live and people can start using it but right now, the only thing that you can use the 3air platform right now and it’s working is to give connectivity to schools in Sierra Leone and that’s it. For that I don’t think that some big marketing right now is the right way to spend funds.

What influence does K3 still have on 3Air in connection with development and/or support towards 3Air?

Anita Mlakar: 19:41

Okay, let’s go to the next question. What influence does K3 still have on 3air in connection with development and or support towards 3air?

Sandi Bitenc: 19:55

Yeah, so as you know K3 and 3air are really deeply connected. So, we do share a lot of developers. So, in that sense, when we do DRC, K3 is actually setting up the towers. And 3air is doing the software layer on top of that and of course, we need to work closely together. So K3 for sure has a lot of impact on 3air still now.

Anita Mlakar: 20:33

Okay, I see that Richard has just arrived. Hello, Richard. And thank you for being here as always.

Sandi Bitenc: 20:41

Hello Richard.

Is there a way to stop the big sale of that whale, or a way to counter this, besides buying everything ourselves of course?

Anita Mlakar: 20:42

We’re glad you’re here. Okay. We are answering questions today. Is there a way to stop the big sale of that whale, or a way to counter this, besides buying everything ourselves of course?

Sandi Bitenc: 20:58

Unfortunately, I don’t see any way of stopping. So, I’ve tried to talk to him. We know who he is but it’s his right. And I don’t know what to do there. So, if he wants to sell, he can sell. It’s his right. In his own best interest, I don’t know. But unfortunately, we tried quite a lot and that’s it.

Is it possible to share new pictures/videos from the present Freetown Sierra Leone towers/offices/client-data?

Anita Mlakar: 21:32

Richard has a question. Is it possible to share new pictures videos from the present Freetown, Sierra Leone towers, offices, client data?

Sandi Bitenc: 21:45

I can ask the K3 actually to send me some pictures. Yes. We’ll post them in Telegram.

Will 3air be attending the WEF?

Anita Mlakar: 21:56

Okay, just a minute, I had another question. Is 3air going to be present at WEF at any capacity?

Sandi Bitenc: 22:09

No, we decided not to go there. I actually don’t agree with the policies of the World Economic Forum. I don’t think that they’re actually leading in the right direction. For what I see is, it’s everything about control with them. I think it goes directly against what blockchain stands for. And what Bitcoin stands for as the as lead example of blockchain. It also goes against what I personally stand for. So, just to give you an example of how we are doing the DIDs, the digital identities. Our digital identities, you have full control over all of your data, all data is stored on your own device, you have the full control of, with whom you want to share it, who you want to present it, how you want to handle it, you can even choose only parts of data to share and the digital identities that are coming from their side are totally different. Also, we’re against centralization, we’re against anyone being in control of your funds and so on, and WEF as it looks like, they’re supporting the CBDCs they’re supporting full control with digital identities, and so on and so forth. So, I do not agree with their policies and this is also why we will probably not be there to support that.

Is there still a big investment coming to 3air?

Anita Mlakar: 24:07

Okay, we have one more from our Telegram channel. Now that the expansion of 3air in Ethiopia has been delayed due to the budgetary reasons what happened to those financial resources that were ready for it. I believe it was 10 million.

Sandi Bitenc: 24:27

Yeah, it’s so that is still there and it’s still waiting. So once the licenses are granted, this is for DRC. And for Ethiopia, there is not 10 million. Part of it is missing and once it gets up to 10 million. We can start doing stuff, looking into doing stuff there. What whatever was there is still there and is waiting.

It would be great if Rok will give us a technical update again. Is that possible?

Anita Mlakar: 25:04

Richard is saying it would be great if Rok will give us a technical update again. Is that possible?

Sandi Bitenc: 25:13

Yeah, sure, I actually need to ask him. So, it’s not that I’m forcing everyone to come on the show. But if he likes to, he’ll come on. I’ll ask him.

Anita Mlakar: 25:24

Okay. His technical updates are always interesting, right? Sandi. He has so much knowledge. It’s really nice always to have him on AMA. Okay, Sandi, these were the questions for now, I think we have used all of them. Of course, if there is another question, you’re welcome to ask questions here live. Sandi, we said we will do every 14 days, every second week, AMA? And the main thing is, of course, to give an update and to answer all the questions, and this is what we did today. So, I think it was a lot of information. Is there something else maybe that you would like to add? That wasn’t answered yet?

Sandi Bitenc: 26:10

No. I think we answered the questions also, for the updates, there’s not so much to update right now. We are working on the new roadmap. And it’s hard to share something that we are not 100% sure of, because then everyone jumps on it. And when we change it, it’s going to be a problem. We are really working hard on that. And I personally think it goes really in the right direction. So hopefully I’ll be able to share what we are working on and how the future 3air will look like. Pretty soon.

Anita Mlakar: 26:57

Okay, because we have a question, if next time will be the roadmap update.

Sandi Bitenc: 27:03

Potentially, I’m not saying it could be. It cannot be but there are a few things that we need to work out. And if they work out as planned, then yes, then we will share.

Anita Mlakar: 27:21

Okay, thank you very much, Sandi for this update. What are you gonna do now? You’re hungry?

Sandi Bitenc: 27:27

I’m gonna go have dinner. Yes. And I’m gonna go get some bug spray, because in the meantime, I’ve really got bitten like by 100 mosquitoes.

Anita Mlakar: 27:38

Okay, that’s a part of being Zanzibar, I guess. Let’s get those better. I really wish you to have great time there to relax a little bit and of course, successful work. Looking forward to next AMA in two weeks. And of course, you’re welcome to be a part of our community. Stay with us. And do write questions down of course, also in community and on our live AMAs. Do subscribe to this YouTube channel if you’re not subscribed yet. And of course, we are here to do the good work. Sandi, thank you very much.

Sandi Bitenc: 28:17

Thank you, Anita. And thanks for everyone listening in.

Anita Mlakar: 28:21

Enjoy. Thank you. Bye.

Sandi Bitenc: 28:24

Bye

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