Crypto entrepreneur Ola Doudin has done alright for someone who was kicked out of high school at 15.
Her school, in Amman, Jordan, she explains, had a strict academic focus, and students weren’t encouraged to express themselves in other ways.
“Ultimately I just kind of rebelled, and the school didn’t really like it,” the co-founder and CEO of the Dubai-based crypto platform BitOasis tells MONIIFY.
“I think ultimately that taught me a lesson of, you know, you can still create and change systems from within, but in a more constructive manner.”
No great surprise, perhaps, that after stints studying and working in the UK, Doudin would go on to make a name for herself as a pioneer in the Middle East’s crypto scene – a natural fit for a disruptor with strong convictions.
“One of the things that really pulled me into crypto is that democratization, rebuilding systems outside the traditional systems,” she says. “To some extent, you know, the root of it, it’s still that.”
Launched in 2015, BitOasis was the first crypto exchange in the Middle East. In its early days, Doudin recalls, she’d hand out fractions of Bitcoin to curious attendees at meet-ups, “just to kind of try it out.” Turns out the concept had legs. In July, BitOasis was acquired by CoinDCX, the $2 billion unicorn that is India’s largest crypto exchange, for an undisclosed amount.
In a wide-ranging interview with Money Moves host Muhammed Mekki, Doudin discusses surviving crypto crashes, how to get your startup acquired, and what the new Trump administration will mean for the global crypto industry.
Here are three takeaways from the conversation:
- Understand your vision. Having a big picture understanding of the space you’re in, and the role you see yourself playing in it, will help you to navigate the inevitable turbulence. When crypto crashed in 2018, Doudin stayed true to her core mission, while other players pivoted and ultimately lost opportunities.
- M&A is like a marriage. You need to make sure your mission and company culture align with your partner. Get to know the founders, the management, even the shareholders and board for a compatibility check before getting into bed.
- Investors need a thesis. Despite what the naysayers might argue, investing in crypto isn’t gambling. You need an understanding of the space, and what developments within it are going to hold long-term value.
Muhammed Mekki: One of your hallmarks has been having a very clear vision about where you wanted to get to and persevering – never more so than during the 2018 crypto crash. What gave you the confidence to keep going?
Ola Doudin: That was probably amongst the toughest chapters that happened to BitOasis. I think a lot of people in the space didn’t have the conviction that we had, myself and my co-founders, and that’s the time where you started seeing a lot of companies pivoting.
We’ve seen some really wrong pivots, in my opinion. Then ultimately when the market recovered they lost on that opportunity as well.
Those are the kind of times where you’re going to have to believe in the mission. You really have to believe what you’re building. Believe in the space, the opportunity. Crypto is amongst the most important innovations that we will see over the next decade or so.
I think for me, as a founder, what was very important was to really understand where the real opportunity is, despite the noise and the market volatility,
[It] was very important for me to realize early on that we are in a volatile market that is early, and we’re building an infrastructure play. Every geo-financial center in the world will need a local regional crypto player that is focused on building the right market structure. This is a long-term opportunity that ultimately you need to have in the market to kickstart and scale adoption.
Crypto is very different to other spaces. You have to kind of stick to the opportunity, you know, cycle after cycle, but then at the same time be laser-focused on where the demand is, where the demand is going to come from. There’s more of a survival play, versus incrementally growing.
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- Mekki: When it comes to crypto, many emerging markets have benefited from having clearer, or more flexible regulatory environments than the US. How do you see the new crypto-friendly Trump administration impacting emerging markets?
Overall, I see it as a positive move for the space. I don’t see the US setting pro-[crypto] regulation as taking opportunities from other markets. Ultimately, I think what’s happening is that the space is growing.
In fact, I think the US having pro-crypto regulation will ultimately drive pro-crypto regulation in other jurisdictions that have trade relations with the US. Particularly in India. I think US pro-crypto regulation will ultimately spill over as a policy into larger markets that follow the footsteps of the US when it comes to tech regulation.
I think ultimately Middle Eastern markets such as the UAE are going to be looked at as regional hubs where you’re able to leverage that to be able to serve other markets.
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- Mekki: Last year, BitOasis was acquired by the giant Indian crypto platform CoinDCX. What prompted that colossal move?
I think when we started seeing positive regulatory moves or pro-crypto regulation in the UAE, you suddenly started having all the global players take interest.
When you start seeing all those global players coming in, the main question for me was “well, how do we compete then?” They have much more mature products. They are in all those main markets globally. So, do we get acquired? Do we raise money? Who do we raise money from?
How are you going to compete with Binances and the OKXs that are already setting up in the market, when we don’t have the same pools of capital, we don’t have the same kind of suite of products, or the ability to execute as fast as they are?
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- Mekki: So how did you strike on the right partner?
With crypto, it was very important to find a much larger player that is well-funded, that has a strong balance sheet, but has a very similar playbook to us because they will also go through the same ups and downs we would go [through].
But they have a long-term vision of what the space is.
I think one thing that I would give as a tip for founders: understand your journey and your market opportunity and the mission of your company. And then based on that, understand what type of capital resources you might need at every stage of the company.
In our case, crypto is a long-term opportunity.
When we look at the pace of regulation, because we believe regulation is part and parcel of our mission in scaling BitOasis… regulation takes time.
So, opportunities like crypto need patient capital, need long-term capital. And that typically comes from institutional play: you know, corporates, much larger companies.
I know the founders of CoinDCX, and I know how they look at their markets and their vision in terms of growing their companies.
I think for us, it was the right move where we are able to tap into much bigger pools of capital, be able to leverage their tech, their mature suite of products that is on par with some of the other global players, but then still maintain our autonomy and our brand and our closeness to our customers.
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- Mekki: Any other dos and don’ts for founders considering that step?
M&A is really a marriage, right? You really have to seriously think early on who the right partner would be, and ensure that your mission, and to some extent, your company culture, aligns with the mission and the company culture of the acquirer.
That’s why building those relationships early on is important. Knowing the founders – but also the management team. To some extent, I would say even shareholders and board, if you’re able to.
[It’s about] understanding how the acquirer thinks of your market and what type of resources and opportunities and synergies that acquisition is going to unlock.
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- Mekki: Let’s imagine you’re established in your first job and you’ve pulled together your first $10,000 of investable money. How do you spend it?
I would say crypto. Surprise, surprise! I think it’s one of the most interesting wealth creation opportunities of our time.
It is a risky asset, for sure. So, if you’re investing in this space… you also have to do your own homework.
You need to build a thesis on where you think the next growth is going to come.
It does need continuous research and self-education. But that’s I think part of the joy of really growing your knowledge and specializing in the crypto space.
Edited by Lin Noueihed. If you have any tips, ideas or feedback, please get in touch: talk-to-us@moniify.com
