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You first need to educate yourself about the different currencies and what they represent. This is very important. A transaction that involves a specific coin, currency or token means a data mining has taken place so there is a cost involved that is shared in the network. With that in mind, it is important to familiarize with the concept as well as understand the fundamental factor of the currency you are interested in.

Over the past few years, the Cryptocurrency industry has been making headlines nearly every week. Many people have gotten very wealthy investing or leading the cryptocurrency industry. At the same time, many people have lost a lot investing in the industry. In addition, more people have been scrutinizing the ecological impact of crypto mining, as well as its potential facilitation of illegal activity. What is being done and what can be done to address these concerns?

In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Understand In Order To Successfully Invest In Cryptocurrency” we are talking to leaders in the cryptocurrency industry, as well as successful investors, who share insights from their experience about how to successfully invest in Cryptocurrency.

As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ola Lind, Director, FTFT Capital.

Ola Lind is leading the FT Fintech Corp. Nasdaq listed in Dubai, FTFT Capital as a Director.

He is an international keynote speaker, an award-winning Start-Up Entrepreneur and a pioneer with an established track record in defining, creating, developing and implementing new technology in the mobile, gaming, blockchain and cyber-security industry in 5 continents over a 30+ years span.

Ola is also engaged as director in a few top Fintech Digital services companies in Southeast Asia to develop and implement new technologies including blockchain and cyber-security with turnover of over 100 million USD.

Additionally, Ola has been invited to speak to audiences across the world on topics including Gaming, Blockchain, Telecom and Start-up Cyber Security in conferences and expos across the globe.

His accolades include:
Winner of “Best Digital Start-Up 4YFN MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS AMERICAS” in 2017, SAN FRANCISCO.
Winner of Category -Mobile, Media & Gaming, and Runner Up at Echelon ASIA TOP 100 Startup 2017.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a little about your backstory and how you grew up?
Thank you for the invitation. I was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second biggest city. I grew up with an older brother. Our family was involved in the tourism and hospitality business running a tour operator company and a hotel. Throughout my life, I’ve been so fortunate to have the privilege of traveling and visiting other countries from a young age.
Being exposed to travelling from an early age, I became curious about other places, its people and cultures. That curiosity is still very much alive to this day and after visiting over 130 countries, working and living in five continents, I’ve come to appreciate, understand and most importantly, made it easy for me to adapt to new environments.

Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
From a young age, I’ve always been intrigued by book and film. In order to learn from other people’s experiences, I would constantly turn to movies as a source of inspiration and learning. When I was 11 years, I watched “Gandhi” — one of the greatest movies, which highlights major events in the life of Mohandas Gandhi (played by Ben Kingsley), the beloved Indian leader who stood against British rule over his country. To date, this iconic movie remains as one my favorite cinemas because it shaped my view on life and it showed me that with positive impact and action you can dream and do anything.

Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue your particular career path? We’d love to hear it.
My journey as you can probably imagine has not been impacted by a lot of people and events. Throughout my life, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with different kinds of people that have, in turn, influenced some of my life decisions. While growing up, I always looked up to my father and uncle. They were both serious entrepreneurs in their own right running successful businesses. To emulate them, I would constantly try and invent things, develop ideas and work towards realizing them. Naturally, my interaction with them influenced my desire to positively impact other people’s lives. These two fine gentlemen were my inspiration and also what made what I am today and the journey I took around the globe for the last 30 years.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
We all make mistakes in life. It’s human nature. The most important thing is what we learn from these many mistakes. Just like you, I’ve also made numerous mistakes and instead of feeling sorry for myself, I try very hard to analyze my mistake and also identify key learnings from them. One of my weaknesses, which is also coincidentally my strength as well is that I trust people too easily. I am also an optimist, which complicates things even further in my opinion. These two traits, which unfortunately are part and parcel of my Swedish DNA, have on numerous occasions landed me in difficult situations.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My father is undoubtedly one of the most supportive people I’ve ever known. His guidance and wise counsel have repeatedly helped me navigate even the most challenging situations in my life. Apart from just being my father, he is also my mentor. He has always taught me the basics of being a good person, how to treat others and how to be humble. Most importantly in business, he has taught me not to trust everything, some of which I admit I haven’t followed for one reason or another. He has also shown me what works and what doesn’t, the importance of being correct, fair and honest.
Despite not following his advices when I should have, I’ve grown to eventually see the wisdom in many of the basics pillars he taught and appreciate what makes a person’s true character. I am truly grateful for his unconditional support.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
At FTFT Capital, we are constantly looking for opportunity to grow and impact people’s lives. This is what drives, motivates and most of all, inspires the entire team. Currently, we working on a very interesting project that we believe will give our clients and prospects the right information to help them better understand and be able to actively participate in the new and exciting digital economy.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. The cryptocurrency industry seems extremely dynamic right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
Cryptocurrency us arguably one of the most exciting and also disruptive innovation to ever happen. What we are witnessing right now even as the world slowly embraces this new form of currency is indeed a gamechanger in itself.
Take a country like Argentina, for instance. Despite being an economic powerhouse in the south American region, it has continued to experience deep economic challenges, ballooning interest rates and inflation, which was most recently cause by a plummeting Peso against the greenback.
It’s now evident that Cryptocurrency has created a life line for many people and businesses at large. This innovation has enhanced transparency, especially for countries ttah have fully embraced it. From good governance, health sector to digital economies, cryptocurrency is proving to be a game changing innovation.
Other notable examples also worth mentioning is Estonia or even my home country, Sweden. Blockchain projects are now increasingly being integrated into government in a bid to show greater transparency to its people.
In Sweden today, cash is almost non-existent with almost 97 percent of transactions being digital. The interesting part is that it was not the Swedish government’s that initiated this futuristic move, it was the local merchants who made it happen. This change was largely driven by the high cost of handling cash in the country, which made the transition happen quickly.
Blockchain, which is the underlying technology that drives cryptocurrency is still where the real innovation and disruption of industries is happening and will continue to happen. A good example where this change is rapidly taking place is the remittance and banking industry. The same are being replicated in the health industry, in most governments, in product cycles, logistics industry, commerce and many other sectors. The future is, therefore, bright as we still expect more life-changing developments in that particular space.
Innovation The rapid uptake of blockchain would not have happened if cryptocurrency was not driving it as it has with Bitcoin and ultimately hitting record numbers. This trend has, in turn, created a one-of-a-kind industry and is also now changing so many of the old economies. It is, however, important to understand that Blockchain technologies are the underlying factors that are driving this innovation of products and services and that it has the potential to rapidly change the world.

What are the 3 things that concern you about the industry? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?
Naturally, with every new innovation comes its set of challenges and cryptocurrency is no exception. Driven by greed, the cryptocurrency industry has unfortunately attracted a lot of bad players that have taken advantage of this boom.
Other criminal elements such as fraudsters and cybercriminals also get attracted to this industry. The industry has also experienced an influx of scammers who exploit the good nature of blockchain for their own illegal gains.
Lack of goodwill from politicians is also hampering the growth of cryptocurrency. There’s a lot of negative perception being highlighted by the political class, which is unfortunately getting all the media attention. This kind of attitude is what will eventually discourage innovation in the long run.
Lastly, the lack of the requisite skill set to develop cryptocurrency is also standing in its way. As an emerging technology, cryptocurrency and blockchain is now in dire need of specialized engineers. According to the Blockchain Council, Blockchain Council the demand for blockchain engineers surged in 2019 by more than 500% over the previous year, with base salaries for blockchain developers surging in kind.
Like any new innovation, education is super important. All key stakeholders need to fully understand the impact cryptocurrency and blockchain will have on the future. The world has fully accepted its adoption and has already integrated it in most mission-critical functions. In order to accelerate its growth and deployment, all stakeholders need to be enlightened sooner rather than later.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about cryptocurrency? Can you explain what you mean? How do you think cryptocurrency has the potential to help society in the future?
That cryptocurrency is only being adapted in developed countries. This is not accurate. If you look at available data today from regions that have some of the highest level of crypto adaptation and taking into consideration crucial factors such as crypto currency received, retail activity, peer to peer trading, internet usage per population and purchasing power per capita, you will see that biggest adaptation is with low-income people. Why? This is because cryptocurrency has changed their lives and also empowered them as well.
Data from Chainanalysis and World bank shows that Vietnam’s low-income population leads in cryptocurrency adoption. Other countries like India, Pakistan, Ukraine, Kenya, Nigeria, Venezuela, Philippines, Ghana and Tanzania have also adopted cryptocurrency particularly in low-income regions. This shows how the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is being used to improve the lives of so many people in developing countries.

Recently, more people have been scrutinizing the ecological impact of crypto mining. From your perspective, can you explain to our readers why the cryptocurrency industry is creating an environmental challenge? From your perspective what can be done to address or correct these concerns?
The fact the Bitcoin mining is using too much energy has created a negative image. However, efforts are being made to change this in the future as stakeholders seek other sustainable technologies such as Filecoin, which is reportedly a more energy-efficient and green technology.

Recently, more people have been scrutinizing cryptocurrency’s impact on illegal activity. From your perspective, can you explain to our readers why cryptocurrency, more than fiat currency, is seen as an attractive choice for criminals?
Any new innovation that is designed to make life a bit easy for people will always be exploited by criminal elements and cryptocurrency is no exception. You see, hard cash is difficult to move. Hard cash is also easily traceable, which poses a challenge to criminals. With cryptocurrency, money can be easily moved around, which is ideal for criminals. This innovation allows these criminals to hide behind an IP address and evade being identified.

From your perspective what can be done to address or correct these concerns?
As a global problem that needs a global approach, it automatically calls for a collaboration between stakeholders. The overall strategy also needs to be anchored on two key policies and procedures — KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti Money Laundering). This will go a long way in streamlining the industry and also safeguarding this important innovation.

Ok, fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. What are “The 5 Things You Need To Understand In Order To Successfully Invest In Cryptocurrency?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. You first need to educate yourself about the different currencies and what they represent. This is very important. A transaction that involves a specific coin, currency or token means a data mining has taken place so there is a cost involved that is shared in the network. With that in mind, it is important to familiarize with the concept as well as understand the fundamental factor of the currency you are interested in.
2. Ensure that you utilize trading or software that will allow you to spread your risk appetite. One of the most common mistakes we all do, including myself, is to trade on emotion and not on an informed and disciplined approach.
3. It is also Important to understand when your trade equities on the normal stock markets are opened throughout the week as Cryptocurrency exchanges normally operates on a 24/7 basis. Also, be aware that there is no stop mechanism for a certain coin or currency in a normal stock market to pause and investigate unusual dips or highs. So, you need to be prepared and also have a process in place to safe guard yourself from a run or a dip. Failure to do so would be catastrophic.
4. Utilise the readily available technology to monitor the financial markets and also get useful
insights about the industry. This will allow you to keep track of the trends as well as make informed decisions fast. It is encouraging to see that this is a growing trend, especially now that most processes are automated.
5. Repeat No, 1 …

What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they enter the industry? What can be done to avoid that?
A common mistake most people make when venturing into the cryptocurrency space is investing in cryptocurrency because their friends told them that they are making a killing. While this might be true, it’s also advisable to do your own research and speak to other investors as well. Don’t just rely on your friends’ advice.
The other mistake most people make is to risk more than they are willing to lose. If you want to play in this market then you need to invest an amount that is manageable. For instance, you can start by investing a little amount, maybe even your entertainment budget, and then grow your portfolio gradually. This way, even if you make a loss, it will not leave a huge hole in your bank account.

Do you have a particular type of cryptocurrency that you are excited about? We’d love to hear why.
The entire cryptocurrency spectrum is exciting. It is revolutionary concept that has the potential to change the world. In my opinion, we have only scratched the surface. However, I am particularly interested in Filecoin. I fell that the technology behind it will one day revolutionize many industries in the future.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
My dream is to see the youth getting actively involved as well as learn more about blockchain. We have an abundance of young bright minds, that I think should start taking advantage of blockchain to power some of their innovations and ideas. This is because blockchain is rapidly becoming part of our daily lives and they should, therefore, tap this concept to develop efficient innovations that will, in turn, help to improve our communities not to mention offer even greater connectivity and mobility. This is exactly why our youth need to get involved sooner rather than later.

We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
This is an influential platform that helps to shape opinions in the region and I am honored and excited to be part of. Having said that, this is a very tough question because I have a number of influential people that I would like to have breakfast or lunch with. However, I’d be honored to have breakfast with our great visionary and leader in Dubai, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
His leadership, vision and commitment are unmatched. His wisdom and guidance have been emulated across the region, not just politically but also throughout the business world. Dubai and the UAE in general has benefitted immensely from his strong and forward-thinking leadership — qualities that I strongly admire.

Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
You’re most welcome. I also want to thank you for inviting me. I hope your readers will enjoy and also get inspired to join the cryptocurrency industry. I am always available if any of them would like to engage me on the topic. I am happy to help. Thank you and good luck.