The global blockchain market size is expected to grow from $27.84 Billion in 2024 to $825.93 Billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 52.8%. This rapid expansion is driven by increasing demand for decentralised solutions, enhanced security protocols, and transaction transparency.
These aspects have positioned blockchain as a critical force in reshaping the future of global business and technology. Undoubtedly, there lies a huge potential for rapid growth in this sector.
All About MAI Labs’ Sutradhar
In a recent conversation with Varuni Trivedi of The Coin Republic, on the ‘Money and Me’ podcast, Tapan Sangal, Founder and CEO of MAI Labs, discussed the explosive potential of the Blockchain industry. He also reflected on his remarkable decade-long journey at the company’s helm.
Question: Can you share a bit about your journey and the key experiences that led you to founding MAI Labs?
I would like to describe myself as the “Sutradhar” of MAI Labs and not the ‘Founder’. ‘Sutradhar’ majorly because I love to bring people together.
Coming from a legal and real estate background, Sangal prefers to call himself the ‘Sutradhar’ of MAI Labs since he brought together experts in different fields to create MAI Labs. The Sanskrit word ‘Sutradhar,’ Sangal defines, as someone who puts everything together.
Sangal noted a lack of trust in the industry during his time as a legal consultant to real estate agencies.
“I observed this from close quarters, during my time as a real estate consultant. Therefore, I felt the need to do that with the real estate industry struggling to bring in the ‘trust’ factor, especially in the business-to-business (B2Bs) and business-to-customer (B2Cs) segments.
This is where blockchain can be a viable solution. Sangal was fascinated by how blockchain could introduce the ‘trust element’ into a place where it was missing. So, in 2014, I wrote my first article, where I mentioned that here’s a tech which could be a blessing in disguise, which could, you know, bring in that element of transparency and immutability.
Launched in 2015, today, MAI Labs has a presence in the United States, India, Mauritius, Singapore and Dubai. MAI Labs leads a portfolio of ventures including MayaaVerse, and STOEX, among others, all dedicated to democratising access and providing creative, immersive solutions.
Aiding Blockchain Growth
Question: Can you delve a little more into how MAI Labs’ unique technology can bring the trust factor?
Kalp blockchain, the bedrock of MAI Labs, draws inspiration from the Hyperledger blockchain. Tapan describes Kalp as ‘regulated by design,’ highlighting the project’s razor-sharp focus on being fully compliant. It was specifically designed to cater to the needs of enterprises, startups, and developers and is different because it is regulatory-friendly.
“We have contributed it (the Kalp blockchain) to a not-for-profit company called Kalp Decentra Foundation which is based out of the US. And Kalp as a blockchain, we are projecting it as a DPI or Digital Public Infrastructure where it will be open source, free for people to develop on it, and this would be permissioned.”
Question: Speaking of trust, what’s your take on the regulatory aspect of the blockchain or the crypto space?
The first thing that comes to mind in the crypto space is when anyone hears the word regulation. In fact, many are put down by the constant series of back-and-forths in court, massive fines, and millions in investor funds down the drain. But in my view, regulation, in itself, isn’t such a bad thing.
“From day one, we were very sure that we would want to do business on this side of the law and not on the other… For a purpose of blockchain, which is regulated, all the laws are already in place, you don’t need a special law to regulate this. All you need to do is to imbibe, take all these laws into account to produce yourself…”
MAI Labs bypasses the regulatory issues by creating its benchmark, which is the ‘sum total’ of regulations from jurisdictions like Dubai, Thailand, Malaysia, and the US, among others.
Because of Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization, the income generated from these assets is not controlled by the company. These token holders can then access the account via the MAI Labs DAO in a way that does not violate securities laws.
This protocol also features self-modifying (thanks to Oracles) smart contracts that adjust their parameters based on regulatory changes.
Powering Blockchain: Kalp Studio and STOEX
Question: You recently launched Kalp Studio and STOEX. Can you delve a little more into the two?
Kalp Studio, a product of Kalp Digital, is a one-stop Blockchain Development infrastructure. It has an extensive ready-to-use module library for (dApps), future-centric features, third-party integration & advanced customization capabilities, the best UI/UX, and a complete supportive ecosystem to develop anything Blockchain. It can accelerate even the most innovative, scalable & complex Blockchain solutions development, seamlessly.
STOEX (or S.M.A.R.T Token Exchange) is a regulated tokenized real-world asset exchange that allows users to invest in real-world assets through tokens. Built upon the Kalp cross-chain infrastructure, STOEX promises a compliance-first approach toward making investing in these niche asset classes more accessible and profitable for retail investors and specialized businesses at large.
Question: Of late, we have seen an influx of immersive technology & metaverse. What’s your take on it?
The immersive tech domain offers a huge opportunity and is projected to generate up to $5 Trillion by 2030 across consumer and enterprise applications. With significant investments already pouring in, it is poised to revolutionize both commercial and personal spheres, impacting our lives profoundly.
Seeing this opportunity, MAI Labs’s foundation, as a deep tech company that is committed to democratizing and empowering users worldwide. MAI Labs has invested heavily into immersive tech.
Often the challenge that many budding developers and companies see is its inability to see the light of day because of the long road from inception to launch.
MAI Labs uses immersive technology to present designs and initial concepts to would-be consumers, after which the company involved can get feedback before investing in said product.
MAI Labs recently raised around $7.5 Million in funding and is looking to raise another $50 Million for ‘immersive technology,’ including wearables and metaverse applications. “(out of) that 50 Million that we are targeting, almost 30% will go into R&D. We are heavily heavily R&D focused… Almost 40% would go towards marketing… the rest would go for internal management.”
When we all heard of ‘metaverse’, it didn’t take time for it to become the buzzword. However, most of the technology products that came out before lacked a realistic experience. MAI Labs’s ‘MayaaVerse’ is working on a photorealistic metaverse that will feature extremely high FPS (Frames per Second) speeds and precise scale.
Future of MAI Labs?
Question: What the Future Holds for MAI Labs?
In the future, we will be tapping into some of the emerging technologies that might turn out to be big-ticket items in the next five years. Some of these include sensory blockchain applications that take in touch, sight, smell, and even taste.
At the same time, with AI also playing a major role, we are trying to ensure that AI is tamed through blockchain. Tapan said, he feels AI should be governed by smart contracts. But AI needs to be regulated.
As AI is a master of re-creation, whatever humans have created, AI can make it better. Nonetheless, there will come a time when human creativity will be celebrated compared to AI’s because certain aspects of human intelligence exist, that AI is incapable of replicating.
