On this topic, joining me today in the studio is Phillip Lord, CEO of Bitcoin Japan. Phillip, thank you for coming here and welcome to Wall Street to Mena.
Thank you so much.
So straight answer from you — what are we looking at when it comes to the AI era and investing early? How do you actually do that?
I think this is the biggest opportunity we've ever seen — much bigger than the tech bubble. There are so many exciting opportunities. We are investing in late-stage private companies, so we recently invested in SpaceX and Figure AI before their IPOs. We found a good price on those. And we're looking at all of the major top 20, top 30 companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, but there is a lot of liquidity in those names so we're being opportunistic on price as well.
You mentioned Anthropic, OpenAI, and Figure AI — and you invested early in SpaceX before it hit public markets. How do investors get access that early?
There are some exchanges out there offering early access through an SPV wrapper, or there are companies like Bitcoin Japan — we're a publicly listed company in Japan, which is a super liquid, compliant, and internationally respected market. So investors can essentially buy companies like ourselves. There are also similar vehicles in the US where we're investing the cash we raise from the stock market off our balance sheet into late-stage growth.
You've described your investment approach as a barbell — Bitcoin on one side, AI infrastructure on the other. Why those two specifically and nothing in between?
I think everything is connected. Humanoids are going to be using digital currencies — Bitcoin being one of them, USDT and pegged US dollars being another. We're also going to see the Asian economy grow significantly. Robinhood put out a piece just today saying they're likely to see more AI agents trading than actual human customers. So we want to be invested in digital assets, but also heavily in the AI sector, because digital assets will power the AI economy.
So you're trying to beat everyone to it. Let's talk about the Gulf now — sovereign wealth funds like PIF and MGX are making the same bets on SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI. Do you think there's a global convergence happening around who owns this era?
These companies need a lot of funding, and there's only so much you can get from Silicon Valley or Wall Street. The sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East — PIF and MGX — are making very strategic bets. The UAE is also so embracing of AI and everything related to it. We're seeing Waymos on the streets, government departments being run on AI — so it makes sense for them to put capital in and then deploy it locally as well.
We mentioned Anthropic and OpenAI, and Perplexity is doing the same thing. Both Anthropic and OpenAI are heading to the public market. Which is the most compelling opportunity for investors right now?
I use all of them, so I think it really comes down to price. There are headlines out today on Anthropic around what they're doing in the drug and pharmaceutical space — that creates competition for their own customers, which could disrupt B2B sales in the short term. And then there are headlines on OpenAI giving 5% to the US government. At the top end of these valuations, it's buyer beware right now. We're being opportunistic — we'd like to see a 20 to 30% pullback in the secondary market on these names, and then we'll buy.
Away from AI, you're also looking at rare earth minerals. What do AI and space have to do with mining?
Rare earths make chips, and we need chips for computers, drones, everything. It's become a sovereign risk issue for Japan specifically, because China dominates 80% of the rare earth market. If you want security of supply — and Japan needs a lot — you have to look at mining. We would be a financial investor with a strong partner in the mining space, but that would give us security of supply for a country like Japan.
Your AGM also touched on AI agents needing programmable money and stablecoins to transact autonomously. How close are we to that?
People are already transacting in them right now. By the middle of next year, I think there will be more agents transacting than humans. These are real customers to go after. Whether it's just trading or transferring money, X Money is coming out, Robinhood — all of these companies are launching major products in this space. I've got three sons and they're all operating in AI every day, building things. They need their digital money.
Do you think that shift will affect every market and every region equally?
Especially in emerging markets — USDT has already dominated those markets because you don't have to touch the banks, you can transfer it instantaneously. Now imagine that with agents. There are going to be a lot more transfers and cross-border payments, which will make doing commerce much easier. Traditional banks need to embrace this and build their own solutions.
We're seeing that here in the UAE too — traditional banks trying to collaborate with neobanks and go digital. You've also set up a Dubai vehicle as part of your international structure. Why is the UAE part of that?
The UAE is so forward-thinking. We wanted to set up an investment vehicle here to potentially invest into companies in the region and also explore operational partnerships. We're very excited about the region — we think it's very progressive and that growth rates here will continue for many years.
Five years from now, what does the AI investment landscape actually look like?
We're going to be heavily into space — data centers in space will just be kicking in. The robotics and physical AI part of this era is just starting. We've invested in Figure AI, which we love, but you've also got Optimus and Unitree — these companies are really scaling production. We haven't had our ChatGPT moment for robotics yet because of production issues, but in the next 2 to 5 years we're probably not going to be doing a lot of work — we'll have robots walking around with us. It's an exciting time. I hope they work with us, not against us.
Yeah, I think you have to adapt to this future.
Embrace it and learn as much as you can. There's no barrier to entry on knowledge with AI — you can be a seven-year-old kid or an eighty-year-old grandmother. We're all equal, and that's the opportunity.
That's amazing. Thank you so much for your thoughts and insights on the future of AI and technology in this region and the world in general. Thank you for being here with us.
Thank you.
