"Patience is the master key for newcomers in any arena, unlocking the door to enduring success."
Alexander Ray, CEO and Co-Founder of Albus Protocol, a regulation-compliant DeFi framework for public blockchains, and JFactory, a Swiss company specializing in the development of decentralized finance technology.
A tech executive and entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in developing infrastructure, cloud- and data-based solutions for European businesses.
Working for such companies as Deutsche Bank Frankfurt and General Electric as a software architect and development lead, Alexander was involved in the design and development of forecast models of regulatory risk and financial figures, which gives him deeper insight into DeFi algorithms and instruments from an old finance perspective.
Prior to JFactory, Alexander worked together with Sonny Wolfson and Leonid Krassovitski to launch MFactory venture, which specialized in eCommerce and blockchain solutions.
Among their successful products were the interactive solutions for visual advertising controlled by gestures for Pierre Cardin offline stores in Germany; a monitoring workflow platform for General Electric; Swisscom Schweiz GIS PTA Monitoring Console; and more.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET FEATURED?
All interviews are 100% FREE OF CHARGE
Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Alexander Ray: My name is Alexander Ray and I am a tech executive and entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in developing infrastructure, cloud- and data-based solutions for European businesses.
Since 2021, I have been CEO and Сo-Founder of Albus Protocol, a company meeting the regulatory requirements of the DeFi framework for public blockchains, and JFactory, a Swiss company focused on developing decentralized finance technologies.
Albus Protocol is about “Knowing your Customer” — it is an on-chain digital identity infrastructure for Web3 protocols and their users.
Building on the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) model, Albus harnesses the power of blockchain to create a secure, functional and easy-to-integrate environment where businesses can know their users. Through The Zero-Knowledge Proofs support, the protocol provides its clients with flexibility in the level of user data privacy they want to achieve.
Albus also adds an extra layer of compliance by ensuring that user data can be made available to authorized entities through a legitimate request.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Alexander Ray: We assembled a team of more than ten people. Together we launched the product and successfully garnered a lot of media attention. We attracted our first customers, who are expected to bring us over 100,000 KYC procedures in the next couple of years.
We focused our business on B2B and attracted our first three customers from that segment.
In addition, we managed to secure two grants and expanded to two blockchains. We have launched on Solana and are now preparing to go live on Neon EVM and ICP (Internet Computer Protocol).
This year, we have launched the TV show ‘Albus Talks’ in collaboration with Swiss Dukascopy TV. It features industry leaders discussing advancements in Web3.
Both newcomers and professionals in the Web3 industry will benefit from our show and the experience shared by prominent industry figures. We expect this show to become one of the top resources for gaining insights from the forefront of leading Web3 companies.
What advice do you wish you had received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Alexander Ray: 1. Focus on the MVP before you start selling. At the beginning, we made quite a big leap by contacting thousands of companies interested in our technology. However, we didn’t have a working product, so we couldn’t start integrating with them.
As a result, we are now doing all over again: we have to remind our customers of ourselves, re-establish contacts, and pitch more actively. Of course, companies already know us, and it reduces the cost of contact. But as a founder, you cannot afford to waste resources by repeating the same actions. If you are working in Web3, you should have an MVP ready to go.
2. Don’t always listen to investors; they’re not always right. We are ‘customer-wise’ — that is, we started looking for customers before our product was ready, because investors wanted to see market demand. As we wasted resources on this secondary task, we could not focus enough on preparing documentation, so we ended up losing a few months.
Eventually, we came to the point where we started doing a full review of all the required documents — doing it again but this time with full focus. Now that we’re a startup, our documents and processes are perfected, but in the pursuit of investor approval, we could have lost out on the quality of our product or overlooked something important. In this case, both us and the investors would have been worse off.
Sometimes you have to prioritize product over money, and it will pay off. It is very difficult to find a good approach to business development and build the right go-to-market strategy at the start. It is hard to align your product with the market. In order to succeed, try a lot of different approaches. We have tested this hypothesis too.
The moment we started out, some channels were easy for us to reach, and at the end, completely unexpected opportunities opened up thanks to this trial and error method.
3. Network as much as you can, because things change very rapidly in fast-growing markets. And tomorrow, yesterday’s market leaders may lose a lot of value, while an unknown startup could break into the top 10. In emerging industries, many key decisions are made exclusively through networking or in the circle of people who know each other.
Networking is not only about professional growth, it is also a catalyst for personal development. You become exposed to different perspectives, new ways of thinking, and life-changing encounters that broaden your horizons.
4. Focus on partners rather than investors. As I have said earlier, the Web3 market is volatile. It receives a lot of media attention, and every piece of economic or political news has an impact on it. Owners of Web3 businesses have to be able to adapt to every market shift to stay in the game. On the other hand, there are investors, and most of them lack patience.
They may take a sharp drop or bad news very seriously and withdraw their assets to invest in something more stable. Business owners with much more skin in the game cannot afford such a reaction.
They understand perfectly well that every bear market is followed by a bull market and vice versa, so they don’t overreact to market downturns. This is why our key partners are big blockchain networks. We managed to secure business development grants from industry leaders, who can become our strategic partners in the future.
Here is a two-fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Alexander Ray: It is documents, not books, that have had the greatest influence on my life. I read a lot of white papers published by Web3 projects. And since the industry is soon to be regulated, I also read legislative documents.
I think every entrepreneur in Web3 needs to learn how everything works under the hood first, and then proceed to study structural, financial, and regulatory aspects.
This will help to understand where the industry is going to be in one, two, three or five years from now. That is something that directly impacts my business.
I read a lot of other books that shape my worldview and help me be the person who can find common ground and network with all kinds of people. One of the books that surprised me is Roger Penrose’s ‘Shadows of the Mind.’
It is a popular science book by a British physicist and mathematician about artificial intelligence, one of the hottest topics in high tech today. ‘Shadows of the Mind’ talks about how the human mind evolves, how the computer industry works in general, and where AI is going.
I take a special interest in this and other Penrose books because they indirectly influence the development of the Web3 industry. AI is being integrated into all areas of our lives, and to catch the trend, you need to understand the basics first.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Alexander Ray: We have created a technology ahead of its time, as we anticipate that in two years most players in the Web3 industry will have to introduce KYC (Know-Your-Customer) practices under MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation.
The challenge for us is to convince the currently unregulated market that integrating our product today will be beneficial. Market players need to understand that the day will come when each one of them will be required by law to put the KYC practices in place and those who prepare in advance will gain a competitive edge and growth opportunity.
We are concerned about user expectations of future regulations. We believe that regulators will recognize Zero-Knowledge Proofs utilized in the DeFi context as a compliant solution.
This will greatly simplify the process of user adoption. Otherwise, the DeFi sector may face additional complexities and even migrate from jurisdictions with stricter regulations.
The country that will be the first to recognize Zero-Knowledge Proofs on the legislative level could become the main hub for DeFi businesses. For example, if Switzerland takes the lead, it will attract many protocols from across Europe. The same could be the case for Dubai or other jurisdictions.
It is our belief that regulators will take into account the unique nature of Web3 and work towards creating an environment where Zero-Knowledge-based solutions will be recognized as fully compliant.
For us, the challenge is to drive the integration of our system and convince people that they should become compliant. But we are a start-up business, and the convincing task seems daunting. That’s why we launched a TV show on Dukascopy TV in Switzerland to highlight the issue of non-compliant accounts and draw attention to our technology.
‘To raise cash to pay its depositors, SVB announced on March 8 that it had sold more than $21 billion worth of securities, borrowed $15 billion, and would conduct an emergency sale of some of its Treasury stock to raise $2.25 billion, including $500 million of General Atlantic. The announcement, coupled with warnings from prominent Silicon Valley investors, triggered bank failures as customers withdrew funds totaling $42 billion the next day.’
Years 2020-2023 threw a lot of curve balls into businesses on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past years, how can businesses thrive in 2024? What lessons have you learned and what advice would you share?
Alexander Ray: The main advice for newcomers is ‘be patient’.
This is a universal piece of advice that applies to any market. But it especially works for the Web3 market, which is highly cyclical — even a lay person could see that. The cycle is not 30 years, but 2-3 years, which means you can survive a series of crises, falls, and upsurges.
We started building our business when the Web3 market was in decline (bear market). Now it is on the rise (bull market). When we started developing Albus, its metrics dropped from high to low in a while, but we kept pushing forward, we didn’t give up. It was persistence that got us to where we are now.
Newcomers need to realize two things:
1. You need to be able to survive a bear market. Put all your funds together and make calculations to understand whether you can survive the current crisis running on your own budget or whether you will need to raise additional funds.
You need to believe in what you are doing and build your product. Today, you are developing it with no money, no liquidity, and no users in the market. But tomorrow, when the market starts to grow, you will need your product working and ready to take its market share.
2. In a bull market, you need to increase your turnover and actively develop.
Attract investors and partners, make yourself known, network. When a bear market starts again, you will already have traction in your niche and will not suffer a significant decline in performance.
The volatile market period between 2020 and 2023 has taught me and the team three rules:
- In a crisis, it is important to keep a sober view of everything and never succumb to panic.
This means you need to look at what is going on with a cool head and plan your actions based on that.
Let me tell you about a real-world case from the last year. When Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) went bankrupt last spring, the USDC stablecoin got unpegged from the US dollar and fell by 10-15% because a part of the funds backing USDC was held in SVB’s accounts. This caused panic in the market as a lot of people kept their savings in USDC and they feared that the bank’s failure could ruin USDC and zero out their savings.
SVB could have avoided the failure if it had managed to convince its investors of its trustworthiness, but it failed.
- Treat everything with humor and understand the market you are playing in.
The blockchain industry, like any other emerging industry, is characterized by high risk, intense competition, and significant uncertainty. If you have managed to break into it with a fight, like many other guys, you should play this game with no regrets.
- Stay human.
When the market is hectic, and you are exposed to a lot of stress at work, it can overwhelm you. You need to look at it through the relationship with your team, the human relationship. It applies both to your business and your personal life. It is important to remain human under any circumstances.
2024 — Year of Integration
Web3 is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly integrated into all areas of our lives. When Bitcoin and other original cryptocurrencies first appeared, they were seen purely as money, investments, or means of saving. However, one important thing that Web3 lacked was integration.
The next evolution phase introduced the ability to write smart contracts. Then came DeFi. Today, blockchain tech is spreading to the outside world, and it is not just about blockchain or technology anymore. Crypto has become a thing of everyday life for millions of people around the world, and it is only gaining momentum.
In 2024, cryptocurrency can be used to pay utility bills or borrow loans. In some countries — for example, the USA, Ecuador, and Malta — it is used as commonly as conventional currency.
Yes, these countries are in the minority for now, but five years ago no one could even think of such a thing, and today it is our reality.
My point is that the integration of the crypto world with social networks, data sites, and different recruitment platforms is our future.
Blockchain is currently undergoing a phase of integration. It was preceded by the development and adoption of decentralized finance, and now blockchains are gradually integrating with traditional finance.
Of course, there are both pros and cons to this process. But there is no denying that the continuing adoption of cryptocurrencies is helping businesses from Web3 and several related industries to scale and improve.
What does “success” in 2024 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Alexander Ray: We recently received confirmation from a Swiss company that our technology complies with EU regulatory standards, and, importantly, with Swiss standards. Considering that Switzerland is an important technology center, this has a positive impact on our plans to expand our service offering.
From a financial perspective, we expect a positive cash flow. According to our financial model, we expect to attract at least 50,000 active users in the first year of operation.
In 2024, we plan to conduct KYC verification for 50,000 users. We have already confirmed this number by getting approval from the law firm Lindemann Law.
Our goal is to offer a technical platform that connects data providers with their end users, guaranteeing the quality of the information provided.
If the data providers are reliable, the end users will receive high-quality data. If the data comes from unreliable providers, it will be of poor quality. We are not responsible for the data provided by data providers, as our role is only to offer tools and infrastructure in SaaS (Software as a Service) format.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Alexander Ray for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Alexander Ray or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
