Building Sorbet: MENA's First On-Chain Neobank (Maher Ayari)

And we got a chance to meet up in person, uh, last year in, in Saudi.

So we held the-

Yeah

... first, uh, event, uh, for stablecoins in Saudi Arabia, uh, you know, with Stablecoin Standard and, uh, and, and other associations in, in the region.

So, um, you're definitely-- How long have you been in the region now, like, uh, building, building, uh, Swyftx?

So end of 2026 is gonna be, uh, three years.

So we, uh, the-

Three years

...

the Answer program was, uh, end of 2023, um, going into-

Yep

... 2024.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

And how have you seen stablecoins, uh, develop over this, in this region? You know, this has been a hot, hot topic, and it's a running joke with me and Luther on most podcasts, we're talking about non-dollar stablecoins and local stablecoins, but here it really is happening.

You know, there are dirham stablecoins and dollar stablecoins, and both are being issued here.

And as I saw last year when we went for Money 20/20 and we did our stablecoin event together, um, it looks like even Saudi Arabia is looking to become a bit more progressive, um, a-around digital assets.

So h-how building a business like yours, which is so fundamental to a first...

It's a first principles problem you're solving.

You know, people need to get paid.

People need to just transfer money without cost.

You know, money is not borderless and easy to move in some of these regions and some of these use cases.

Contrasted with a, uh, or to a, a pretty conservative regulatory spectrum, particularly in the, in the, in, in, in, in the GCC and especially in, in Riyadh.

Uh, building in that environment, what is it like? 'Cause it's not exactly a Silicon Valley or even a, uh, building in Canada style proposition.

Yeah.

And we got a chance to meet up in person, uh, last year in, in Saudi.

So we held the-

Yeah

... first, uh, event, uh, for stablecoins in Saudi Arabia, uh, you know, with Stablecoin Standard and, uh, and, and other associations in, in the region.

So, um, you're definitely-- How long have you been in the region now, like, uh, building, building, uh, Swyftx?

So end of 2026 is gonna be, uh, three years.

So we, uh, the-

Three years

...

the Answer program was, uh, end of 2023, um, going into-

Yep

... 2024.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

And how have you seen stablecoins, uh, develop over this, in this region? You know, this has been a hot, hot topic, and it's a running joke with me and Luther on most podcasts, we're talking about non-dollar stablecoins and local stablecoins, but here it really is happening.

You know, there are dirham stablecoins and dollar stablecoins, and both are being issued here.

And as I saw last year when we went for Money 20/20 and we did our stablecoin event together, um, it looks like even Saudi Arabia is looking to become a bit more progressive, um, a-around digital assets.

So h-how building a business like yours, which is so fundamental to a first...

It's a first principles problem you're solving.

You know, people need to get paid.

People need to just transfer money without cost.

You know, money is not borderless and easy to move in some of these regions and some of these use cases.

Contrasted with a, uh, or to a, a pretty conservative regulatory spectrum, particularly in the, in the, in, in, in, in the GCC and especially in, in Riyadh.

Uh, building in that environment, what is it like? 'Cause it's not exactly a Silicon Valley or even a, uh, building in Canada style proposition.

Yeah.