He Built Systems for Dubai: Crypto, Power & the Price of Silence | Mohammad Al Hakim | BXB EP 32

What happens when you build the system — but walk away before anyone knows your name?

Mohamed Al Hakim helped shape the crypto and regulatory landscape in Dubai, quietly building behind the scenes — before the hype, before the headlines, before anyone knew what “blockchain” even meant in the Gulf.

In this episode of Business with Bartawi, Mohamed opens up about the pain of exile, the discipline of system-building, and what it means to pursue impact without seeking credit.

We talk childhood displacement, emotional detachment, crypto infrastructure, and the invisible legacy left behind when no one’s watching.

If you're building quietly, navigating power, or struggling to stay true while playing a bigger game — this episode is for you.

💡 Topics Covered:
✅ Building crypto infrastructure for Dubai
✅ The emotional cost of exile and boarding school
✅ What founders get wrong about “legacy”
✅ Building Shariah-compliant crypto systems
✅ Why trust, not tech, decides who wins
✅ Letting go of credit, and choosing silence

⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 – "My childhood was not any kind of childhood"
02:45 – Alone in Australia at 11 years old
06:10 – Coming back to the UAE, but not the same
08:45 – Building systems inside government
11:20 – The AED wallet and Dubai’s crypto foundation
15:30 – Joining Crypto.com and scaling with speed
20:15 – Creating the first Shariah-compliant crypto offering
23:40 – What crypto got wrong about community
27:10 – Why alignment matters more than adoption
30:40 – Building quietly, then disappearing
33:20 – The graveyard story — “No one remembers their names”
35:00 – “Do good, and throw it in the sea” — legacy without credit
37:30 – Crypto vs traditional finance: power, risk, opportunity
38:40 – Government vs tech: where change really happens
40:00 – What’s next: “I want to be the world’s first Minister of Crypto”
41:30 – UAE’s unique leadership role in crypto infrastructure
43:00 – Tokenization: The future of ownership
45:00 – Using your crypto like a debit card
46:30 – Real-world use case: Hotel payments in London via crypto
47:30 – Advice to his 25-year-old self: listen, learn, and wait
49:00 – Losing millions in a failed Ramadan tent venture
51:00 – Signing a paper that cost him — and what he learned
52:30 – Final reflection: Family, faith & what truly matters

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