< Previous30 Vol. 23/08, August 2022 At the intersection of innovation, impact, and opportunity, Disruptive and Disruptive World take on all things metaverse and NFT while founder David Zennie embraces impact-driven policy Leading industry readiness for the metaverse and beyond C OVER S T O RY / BLOCKCHAIN Q WE AIM TO GUIDE OUR PARTNERS AND CLIENTS THROUGH AN EDUCATIONAL, TRANSFORMATIVE, AND PURPOSE-DRIVEN JOURNEY INTO THE NEW WORLD OF BLOCKCHAIN AND WEB3” Nowadays, an increasing number of brands and celebrities are being drawn into the world of blockchain and Web3, says Disruptive founder and CEO David Zennie. “These days it is impossible to ignore the increasing number of brands and celebrities that are being drawn into the world of blockchain and Web3”, says Zennie. He explains: “Web3 and the metaverse have the potential to empower new communities at scale while blockchain-based digital assets are proving to be very powerful tools. You begin to find a very special and important blend when you add impact into the mix.” Offering a transformational journey Award-winning content creator and production house Disruptive is transforming as they adopt new strategies and embrace Web3 integration into their company’s profile. Evolving their DNA while building out their financial flow systems along the way that implements impact-driven models. Their world-class reputation has garnered the trust of industry leaders and has attracted both corporates and celebrities. This has led to the establishment of its parallel company, Disruptive World, a strategic advisory firm with a passion for purpose. “The two companies work together seamlessly to offer a full solution and award-winning results to all stakeholders. We aim to guide our partners and clients through an educational, transformative, and purpose-driven journey into the new world of blockchain and Web3,” he explains. To get industries metaverse ready, the Disruptive and Disruptive World teams are not only producing NFTs, but also crafting metaverse campaigns and designing Web3 models, while providing educational training for clients. “The first step to industry readiness is education. At Disruptive World, we have designed a comprehensive course for C-Level executives, marketing, and agency professionals who want to unlock the potential of this essential ecosystem.” Robust collaborations across industries Disruptive World is currently collaborating with prominent organisations across multiple industries and several layer 1 blockchains, offering strategic advisement, metaverse/NFT campaign strategy, as well as an educational programme that is transforming businesses for the future. On the creative and production side, Disruptive sees a client list that spans across the u Adopting tech Zennie shared his expertise on the metaverse and the role it can play to serve humanity at the 2022 Arabian Business Forum OPERATION 2018 is the year in which Disruptive Creative & Production was set up in Dubai, to cater to the growing media industry in the regionarabianbusiness.com 31 MEDIA INDUSTRY The Middle Eastern media and entertainment market was valued at $30.3bn in 2020, and is expected to be worth $47bn by 2026, according to a research by Mordor Intelligence Q THESE DAYS IT IS IMPOSSI- BLE TO IGNORE THE INCREAS- ING NUMBER OF BRANDS AND CELEBRI- TIES THAT ARE BEING DRAWN INTO THE WORLD OF BLOCKCHAIN AND WEB3” / DISRUPTIVE u Virtual world Founder and CEO of Disruptive / Disruptive World David Zennie (left) and sports icon David Beckham (right) on set. Disruptive’s recent production took place in London alongside Beckham’s production studio – Studio99 entertainment sector with productions featuring Arabic superstars including Hussain Al Jasmi, Rashed Al Majid, and Maya Diab; international artists such as French Montana, Fat Joe, and Sean Paul as well as Bollywood’s Guru Randawah, Honey Singh, and Akshay Kumar. Disruptive’s corporate list includes Expo 2020 UAE Pavilion, Special Olympics, Dubai Tourism, Swarovski, Apple, W Motors, Jetex, and over 40 productions for the telecoms giant Etisalat. Their latest production stars sports legend David Beckham stepping into the metaverse. The UAE fosters innovation Dubai is set to become a global metaverse economy, Zennie points out, as the plan set forward by the UAE leadership aims to attract over 1,000 blockchain and metaverse companies to the country, a move that aims to support more than 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030. This has positioned Disruptive and Disruptive World as the prime example of how real-world success drivers gain momentum in the metaverse and other virtual worlds while aligning with impact partners. Zennie adds: “As businesses transform, there is unlimited potential for the corporate world to do good. There is more than enough room to make a profit while also driving impact. I see big potential for exchanges and digital commerce to lead the way here and the metaverse is serving as a multi-stakeholder arena that showcases new thought and opportunity. One that suggests the point of sale is not where a relationship between producer and consumer ends but rather where it begins.” Purpose-driven virtual event The evolution for Disruptive is further benchmarked by a purpose-driven virtual event: Mind Matters: Healthy Mind, Healthy Body. The virtual event encourages the physical and mental health of film and advertising professionals and will take place on October 8, 2022, in a ramp up to World Mental Health Day on October 10th. In an industry-first approach, Mind Matters rolls profit redistribution and allocations of sponsorship towards impact and wellness for fellow peers as they navigate the high demands and complexities of the advertising industry. Mind Matters invites all film and advertising professionals, including all those interested in learning about mental wellness regardless of industry. Purpose-driven initiatives To align with the current/future market trends and technological advancements, Disruptive and Disruptive World have adopted strategies in full support of industry strength in the UAE and look forward to preparing all interested partners as they evolve. By creating industry-ready opportunities aligned with purpose-driven initiatives, those in the Disruptive World portfolio will have an enduring impact in new digital markets not only attracting brands onto the blockchain but providing ad agencies and organisations cutting-edge opportunities to become industry leaders. In conclusion, Zennie adds: “We look forward to working closely with more allied partners this year and encourage interested clients, teams, and ad agencies to contact us to reimagine what’s possible for their position in this emerging industry and their opportunity for impact to the world.” *To discover more, please visit: https://www. disruptive.ae/portal32 Vol. 23/08, August 2022 A content creator and a bestselling author with her trademark animated series Tara Duncan, Princess Sophie Audouin Mamikonian, CEO and founder of Princess Sam Group, has developed her own ImpactcapitalMetaverse© and reveals why the virtual world is vital On top of the metaverse C OVER S T O RY / BLOCKCHAIN Why is the transition from the real world to the digital metaverse world so important for you? I wanted to be an engineer, or a researcher, but finally, DNA won, and instead, I became a writer and a movie director. I am not a scientist, but I understand science. When I think about it, finally going to the metaverse is just the extension of the deep love I have for science, mixed with what I have created for Tara Duncan, or Indiana Teller: two universes, plenty of different planets, 3,000 characters, living on many cities, 1 million images, in 3D high definition, which were designed to be easily used for our video games and metaverses. And I have to thank my fantastic computer science engineering team who transformed my vision into digital reality. As children are seeking out answers to how the world was managed, we are creating not games to earn, but games to learn. We will bring people to learn how to code, but in a very amusing way as we want to share our skills with everybody across the globe. How did you predict the importance of a digital world? While we are too young to remember life before the invention of the cinematograph in the 19th Century, but at that time, people were fascinated by this new form of entertainment. Then television arrived which became a new revolution. From there, the evolution to personal computers arrived and the internet, and now we have the metaverse. Despite the digital world becoming intrinsic, people still need to go out together and interact. How do you defi ne the metaverse? In the beginning, the metaverse is a platform. Fortnite is a metaverse, its ancestor, World of Warcraft, has been the first metaverse. A place where you initially come to play a video game, and then as the rules are grasped, you begin to travel into the game, not to play, but to share and to enjoy. Video games conquered our planet. This is where Sandbox and Roblox got their u Storyteller Princess Sam Entertainment Group is managed by Mamikonianarabianbusiness.com 33 RISING NUMBERS The metaverse technology market was valued at $32bn in 2021 and is likely to reach $224bn by 2030. Software contributed more than 80 percent of the market in 2021, according to data from Research And Markets. Q IF YOUR CONTENT IS EXCELLENT, PEOPLE WILL CERTAINLY RETURN TO IT AND ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE” success. This is also why content is king. Because if your content is excellent, people will certainly return to it and enjoy the experience. In this new extension, you can buy clothes; watch a concert, and participate with friends. Within 10 years, the metaverse will be part of your life, as television and cinema were part of the lives of our parents, and the internet became a part of ours. What makes your metaverse ‘ImpactcapitalMetaverse©’ unique and what will users in your space experience? Unfortunately, the internet requires excessive electricity and producing computers and content is also very polluting; which is a concern. Coming into the ImpactCapitalMetaverse© will be fun and will be entertaining as well as meaningful. Therefore, we plan to reinvest a portion of what will be spent in our metaverse into real-world sustainable projects. Just some of these include Futura Gaia and more; while through a special place into our ImpactCapitalMetaverse©, our visitors and members will see the video of what has been created especially for the planet. We also work as a team with our shareholder for CSR events and are going to be the only company to do so. Princess Sam Entertainment Group is going to change the game because you are a creator. What strategies are being implemented to help facilitate this change? I am a creator and for me, to create a video game, a book, a movie, an animated series, and a metaverse, is all the same. Disney did it, George Lucas did it; I don’t require people to create for me. People don’t realise it, but it is a tremendous advantage. For instance, we are creating a new branch to involve people into the creation of games and series. We also have the best designers in the world who created Despicable Me and The Minions. Also, our art schools are globally recognised as the best. What will happen, in your opinion, to companies that don’t stay abreast to the metaverse? Do you remember Kodak? They were a phenomenal photo company which unfortunately did not foresee the digital [evolution] coming. Unfortunately, they claimed bankruptcy in 2012. It is similar to the start of the year 2000 and saying ‘I don’t want to be on the internet’. Having said this, it most certainly will take time for people to adjust to the concept, with the helmet, haptic glasses, gloves, and special space. How do you think the metaverse is going to become a viable business and profi t making space for companies in the future? Remember back to the time when people were sceptical about the internet and the online market and website digital space? They couldn’t imagine how, from a simple company selling books online 25 years ago, with a very small market at first, Amazon would ultimately go on to become a global giant, selling everything everywhere. Companies are resilient and initially will test, then will try, and they will lose, and they will win. But ultimately, all of them will be in the metaverse. And our ImpactCapitalMetaverse© has the ambition to be on top of them all. / IMPACTCAPITALMETAVERSE© u Animation Princess Sam Pictures is creating visual content for Mamikonian’s books on screen adaptation u Bestseller Tara Duncan’s 15 books has sold tens millions of copies around the world34 Vol. 23/08, August 2022 As technology continues to advance, Talal Al Ajmi, founder and CEO of VI Markets, explains how specifi c technological innovations including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are going to steadily shift the way we trade and interact with currencies in the metaverse Metaverse and the future of trading C OVER S T O RY / BLOCKCHAIN The potential benefits of leveraging augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in the metaverse and its implications In particular, trading is an ideal use case for these evolving paradigms where rich data sets and complex products provide opportunities to leverage technology, such as augmented reality to support daily business, says Talal Al Ajmi, founder and CEO of VI Markets. He adds: “The benefits of leveraging augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in the metaverse include the ability to generate opportunities through leading-edge technology and the reduction of operating costs. Specifically, within trading, key use cases are driven by AR/VR’s abilities to bolster an unconstrained environment to visualise data, for example as providing a medium to easily recognise changes and patterns; collaborate with clients and interact with counterparties, all in a dynamic and real-time system.” The potential benefits from leveraging AR/VR, as described above, can reduce the costs to an overall business infrastructure by eliminating multiple monitors, prime real estate, advanced wiring, systematic cooling, and so on. As market data providers evolve their products, Al Ajmi points out that it will be important for them to build application programming interfaces (APIs) that are tailored for consuming their data via different AR/VR solutions. “This includes providing value-add services that support analysing through research and market data in a seamless manner,” he explains. The metaverse economy and the transformation of forex trading through VR will be an immersive experience According to Al Ajmi, the metaverse will allow traders to trade and will transform forex in a way where no borders, strict regulations, or trade barriers will stop anyone from any country from trading in the metaverse. “The metaverse economy would be based on blockchain technology and related asset classes like NFTs and u Sound advisor Al Ajmi believes that businesses may fi nd investment opportunities in the metaverse due to the demand for high-value NFTsarabianbusiness.com 35 $143bn The market capitalisation of the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Boursa Kuwait) Q AI-ENABLED DIGITAL COACHES COULD BE ON-HAND TO ASSIST IN EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND WITH CAREER ADVICE” crypto,” he explains, and this means businesses should expect a future where they can set up their VR stores by buying property as NFTs and using crypto to price product catalogues. Businesses can also use NFTs to sell and buy virtual assets in the metaverse. He elaborates: “Non-fungible tokens, often known as NFTs, are a type of digital asset that grants the buyer a type of ownership license for virtual goods. Digital artworks, GIFs, memes, and Tweets have all been sold as NFTs in the past.” Because of this huge demand for high-value NFTs, Al Ajmi explains that businesses may find investment opportunities in the metaverse. VI Markets is aligned with providing education to its clients, while the metaverse will provide VR-based learning to businesses and brokers According to Al Ajmi, the main mission and vision of VI Markets is educating and spreading awareness about trading online with staff trained to provide customer service unparalleled elsewhere. In this context, the metaverse, reveals Al Ajmi, could revolutionise training and skills development, radically compressing the time needed to develop and acquire new skills. “AI-enabled digital coaches could be on-hand to assist in employee training and with career advice.” Meta-reality will alter customer interactions, one of the most significant aspects of a brokerage. To adapt to this shift moving forward, VI Markets might alter some customer interaction for some time. “However, I don’t think it will do that for long time as people will get used to the meta- world and acquire the skills of interaction required,” he says. Key advantages to brokers trading in the metaverse The benefits of trading in the metaverse, says Al Ajmi, include the ability to generate opportunities through leading-edge technology and the reduction of operating cost. “Specifically, within trading, key use cases are driven by AR/VR’s abilities to boost an unconstrained environment to visualise data, for example, providing a medium to easily recognise changes and patterns; co-operate with clients and interact with counterparties, all in a dynamic and real-time system,” he says. The future of trading in the metaverse Currently, VI Markets offer Copy Trading, a unique, patented technology which automatically copies trading portfolio performance for individuals who want to link their accounts with a specific trader. This new technology eases the process of managing one›s portfolio, and with Copy Trading, many traders can start joining the social trading revolution, and connect with other traders, discuss different strategies, copy or even mirror their trades. Another unique offering by VI markets is One Connect app, which Al Ajmi points out handles it all in a safe and secure environment and keeps all your execution in one place whilst experiencing all the exceptional trading tools it offers. In the future, Al Ajmi says that users will be exposed to a value creation platform which will allow users to optimise, upgrade and engage in real life investment activities in virtual spaces. “They will have more opportunities to trade on a larger scale and use AI as form of an advantage to ease the time and the effort,” he says. “Also, the AI will mine huge amounts of data from exchanges and coin prices which may have been accumulated over a long period of time and analyse it to find complex patterns that the human being cannot find.” VI Markets is walking in these footsteps and planning to have metaverse lands in the coming future. / VI MARKETS u Trading platform VI Markets provide investors the opportunity to trade forex and CFDs on indices, commodities, energies, bonds and futures36 Vol. 23/08, August 2022arabianbusiness.com 37 Driven to appreciate technologies that provide transparency and data ownership while they are still available, Vigen Badalyan, the founder and CEO of Fastex, explains how their future- driven products, solutions, and platforms align with a digitised economy for the future Why leveraging cryptocurrency, metaverse and multiple payment capabilities are key / FASTEX Q WE BELIEVE THAT THE UAE IS ONE OF THE GLOBAL LEADERS IN TERMS OF TRUST IN DECENTRALISED SOLUTIONS”38 Vol. 23/08, August 2022 C OVER S T O RY / BLOCKCHAIN 7,000+ The number of staff employed by SoftConstruct around the world Q ALL OF OUR FORCES ARE FOCUSED ON DELIVERING A PERFECTLY- THOUGHT EXPERIENCE TO OUR COMMUNITY, NOURISHING MUTUAL TRUST AND COOPERATION FOR A COMMON FUTURE” years ago, we successfully launched SoftConstruct, one of the biggest IT companies worldwide, growing into a strong community of over 7,000 employees and more than 500 partners. And now, we are back once again to start a new journey that can help us achieve global empowerment, yet remain simple and transparent.” Tomorrow is now: the ecosystem enters the UAE market It is no surprise that Fastex has forayed into the metaverse space from the UAE. Badalyan sheds light on choosing the UAE as the starting point. “We believe that the UAE is one of the global leaders in terms of trust in decentralised solutions overall, and with its government’s constant support, the country plays a great role in instilling a deep confidence in people who are potentially on the lookout for new and steady ground for their business or personal growth”. And to make this journey successful and to serve as a gate to high organic growth and promotion, Fastex opens up the vast network of SoftConstruct’s millions of users and hundreds of partners. Badalyan sums up everything, advocating the following idea: “All of our forces are focused on delivering a perfectly-thought experience to our community, nourishing mutual trust and cooperation for a common future.” Powered and curated by parent company SoftConstruct, Fastex is an emerging ecosystem that delivers multiple centralised and decentralised solutions including blockchain technologies. The ecosystem operates as a branded house for innovative products including Fasttoken, Fastex Exchange, Fastex Chain, Fastex Verse, and also ftNFT Marketplace. Sparing no effort or resources to smooth the process of technological advancement for future generations, Vigen Badalyan, founder and CEO of Fastex, points out: “More than 15 u Banking on crypto The cryptocurrency industry is forward-looking and fastly developing, Badalyan saysarabianbusiness.com 39 $59.5bn The projected value of the blockchain technology market in 2030, according to a report from data analysts Future Market Insights / FASTEX Products, solutions and platforms portfolio by Fastex Intrinsic to the company’s operational agenda, the Fastex umbrella incorporate metaverse, multiple payment capabilities as well as cryptocurrency. Fastex constantly works to realise its vision, staying committed to bolstering the bonds of ownership and transparency between companies and communities along the way FTN is the native token for Fastex Chain that builds scalable, real-world and cost-effective solutions for multiple sectors including the gaming sector, fi nancial, IT as well as supply chain management. Being a solid blockchain-based token, FTN not only can leverage global reach, but is actually simple enough for daily use. And now is the time, says Badalyan, for a transformation in both technologies as well as in managing fi nances. “Fastex enables a smooth and seamless transfer of digital assets at several layers as well as empowers and supports these evolving changes at every level,” he says. Moreover, as the fi rst to acquire the electronic currency licence from Abu Dhabi, the token has received legal approvals as a benchmark of trust, security and excellence. In the most forward-looking and rapidly growing crypto industry, the approval granted from Abu Dhabi has paramount importance. As the offi cial electronic currency of Fastex, FTN will be integrated into the whole ecosystem, enabling all its end-users to rip the benefi ts that the token offers. Fastex Chain is an EVM blockchain which utilises a completely new modifi cation of the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. “This enables all parties to fairly earn the right to validate transactions and produce new blocks,” Badalyan says. “And we are looking beyond IT applying blockchain to renovate and reimagine industries including fi nances and supply chain management.” ftNFT Marketplace takes the direction of educating individuals and enables them to create their own NFT pieces. In Badalyan’s words: “It is made by the community for the community and stands out with its numerous possibilities implementing USP, a new discovery for the industry”. Fastex Verse is Fastex’s Web 3.0 next-generation platform loaded with the tools and capabilities to assist consumers in adjusting to the future internet era. “Fastex Verse places its main focus on business events, culture and education rather than games,” Badalyan says. “And the platform is designed to host virtual conferences, exhibitions, training sessions, corporate and networking meetings”. Fastex Exchange is the company’s cryptocurrency exchange platform. It offers multiple electronic (crypto) and fi at currencies, and the support of all required order trading types, aiming to soon become a unifi ed solution for all other brands under the Fastex ecosystem umbrella. Q FASTEX ENABLES A SMOOTH AND SEAMLESS TRANSFER OF DIGITAL ASSETS AT SEVERAL LAYERS” u Virtual Fastex Verse is an open platform for businesses and individuals to start their metaverse journeyNext >