Episode 82
Trust Is the New Security: The AI & Quantum Threat Reshaping Finance by 2029 | Maxwell Denega, Founder & CEO of Quantum Chain
The encryption protecting banks was built 50 years ago, and quantum computing is about to break it. In this pod I sit down with Maxwell, Founder and CEO of Quantum Chain, to unpack why AI and quantum computing together represent the biggest untold threat to global financial security, and what FinTech leaders need to do about it before 2029.
- Why 50 year old encryption is no longer sufficient to protect financial services
- How AI is already being used to exploit smart contracts and financial infrastructure today
- Why quantum + AI together create a 24/7 attack threat no current protocol is ready for
- Why trust, not technology, is the real battleground for the future of finance
We cover:
[00:00:00] The $4M hack that started a mission to secure global finance
[00:01:00] What is Quantum Chain and why does it exist
[00:02:00] Quantum computing explained in plain English
[00:03:00] Why 50 year old financial encryption is already failing
[00:04:00] The real risks to banks, neobanks and financial services
[00:05:00] Trust is the new security
[00:08:00] AI as the elephant in the room
[00:09:00] Quantum + AI: the compounding threat no one is preparing for
[00:12:00] From military to banking: Max's unconventional founder background
[00:15:00] How banks can become quantum safe
[00:16:00] Quantum assets, QRC standards and the quantum blockchain alliance
[00:17:00] What every neobank CPO and founder should be doing right now
[00:18:00] Founder mindset: resilience, consistency and showing up every day
👉 Follow Max:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwell-denega-14300178/
Website: https://www.quantumcha.in/
👉 Connect with Monica
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares
Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/
Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com
Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.
Transcript
Max. Quantum - TO ADD INTRO TEASER V2.0
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Max: [:The horrible thing is with what we are doing if I don't get to year seven, then the world kind of doesn't get there either.
So it is a lot of responsibility.
Monica: Can we backtrack?
Max: Yeah. Because that's, that's a big statement, but it's, it's true. Yeah.
Monica: Okay. So if you don't get to year seven,
Max: then the world kind of doesn't get there either.
Monica: Max, it's
Max: Hello.
Monica: A pleasure having you here. Thank you.
Max: Good to be here, Monica. Yeah.
Monica: Having fun.
Max: Always.
Monica: Good. Good, good. You
Max: have to in this industry.
Monica: Yeah. Yes. Have you laugh all you going? No, but that is true in this industry.
You have to have fun. It's intense. So if you don't have fun, then
Max: yeah, it can be overwhelming.
Monica: It can be too much.
Max: Absolutely.
Monica: You and I spoke the other day.
Max: Mm-hmm.
lking about founder journey. [:Somebody has to do this. Yes. And basically, just for context, we'll go into what you do in a second, but it's like, this is about. Security quantum, it's a topic that I'm not an expert in. That's why I do, we have
Max: issue. I, uh, very few people really are, but I don't think you need to be an expert in that to understand what the threats are.
Okay.
Monica: So tell us about who you're, what you do.
Max: Okay. Right, so most of you probably know who I'm by now, Scott. I think our marketing team's done pretty well, but I'm Max, I'm the founder and CO of quantum chain and, uh, we are the future of global financial. Security basically. So a quantum secure blockchain, it goes a little bit further than that, but that's the, uh, that's the gist of it.
future proof state. So I'm a [:Monica: I want to step back
Max: Sure.
Monica: Just for everyone I'm a in plain English because
Max: tough in this
Monica: topic. Participate in the conversation. Mm-hmm.
Max: So,
Monica: plain English. What's quantum?
Max: Okay. So quantum computing. Okay, it's the advancement of using quantum algorithms and specific hardware to create computers that are powerful enough to use post quantum algorithms, right, to attack existing legacy computers.
Monica: Oh,
-year-old encryption. And [:Uh, and even the fact that retrofitting mainstream protocols change like Ethereum for example doesn't come without serious issues. So it's kind of scary not trying to fear monger in this area. That does happen a lot, but, uh, yeah, it is, it is a scary thing happening.
Monica: Can you explain to us what are the risks of quantum Hmm. So that's, that's a very generic thing. 'cause if I say everything, I'm both right and wrong. So every industry specifically finance is. Again, protected by these encryptions that are now too old to be able to handle, uh, being broken by algorithms like, like Shor's I mean, some people probably heard what that is.
's a post quantum algorithm. [:Monica: So you used the word they will not be able to secure it for that much longer. Mm. So what I'm paraphrasing is the industry has secured protocols
Max: Yes.
Monica: That will be become obsolete soon given the technology and then we are under, there's a threat.
Max: Oh, absolutely.
Monica: So that's the summary.
Max: That's the summary.
Yeah. Exactly. Well,
Monica: financial services stops being secure. That is quite scary.
happen, but we have to then [:So trust is the first frontier, right.
Monica: Building trust in the new security protocols or what type of trust
Max: and the brand? Just brands in general. That's why, um, you know, I'm not exactly shy about putting my face out there because this for me, uh, is not a business. This is a, a mission for me because, uh, I was subject to a hack about three and a half years ago, um, after doing fairly well in the industry.
So I, I woke up one day with about $4 million portfolio just gone. Uh, so it's quite clear I had been hacked. Still don't exactly know how, but I was taking all, you know, known security measures at the time, and it was across multiple platforms, so it was a very targeted thing. So I then sort of had a choice whether to try and trade again, you know, keep being a bit of a crypto bro working in finance or build a system that meant.
er have to feel what I felt, [:Yeah. Well, let's call it a quantum bank. It sounds better.
Monica: Okay.
Max: But yeah. So a quantum for the future, a quantum resistant bank. Yes, absolutely. That's on the roadmap.
Monica: I always say, or I've said in the past, anyone who's done a migration mm-hmm. Knows how painful it's to do immigration.
Max: Yes.
Monica: So what I'm hearing is. There's these new security protocols that we'll have to adopt. Mm-hmm.
Max: There
Monica: needs to be some sort of, we are here, we need to get there, there needs to be some sort of system migration.
ised you probably do they're [:Sorry.
Monica: 29.
Yeah.
Max:: Monica:: ifferent quantum thing. Okay.: it. Yeah, I hope so. It means:Monica: That's worrying.
the first place because it's [:It can be not, not plugged in, let's say, but used by a bank much more easily than a full migration to new protocols. So actually it's, uh, it helps.
Monica: Okay. We talked about quantum and ai. We put them together.
Max: Oh, yes.
Monica: And then that's an issue.
Max: Yes. Okay. So now everybody is focused on quantum and quantum security.
They are completely ignoring the elephant in the room, which is ai. And AI is responsible for most of the harvest now, de group later attacks that we have going on and frankly all the other attacks as well. Things like USR, maybe not drift. I think that was something else. But kelp dow the other day.
ary only has to take a smart [:Which is a whole new level of threat that, uh, basically changes our security dynamic from are we prepared for an attack one day to we are being attacked 24 7 3 6 5, and any vulnerability will be exploited. So people are gonna have to take this a bit more seriously.
Monica: Yeah, exactly. We don't. It's like, I'm sure you don't want to scare me.
And I'm like, oh my God. Oh,
Max: I mean, it is a
Monica: little scary, but at the same time I'm like it's pretty scary.
ax: It is. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. [:will probably fall away during this, this transition.
Monica: So I forgot to say something about you.
Max: Okay.
Monica: Ginning of the episode.
As you were speaking, I'm like, he's speaking like someone that knows security, not tech, but like safety, security attacks.
Max: Mm-hmm.
Monica: But a background.
Max: Um, okay. So I started out in the military, British military.
I joined the Royal Navy. Um, I tried to get into engineering but I was very quickly put into anti-piracy, which evolved into, uh, other things. So when you say security, more of a physical
Monica: Yeah.
at helps you be prepared for [:You know, so maybe that's a little bit of paranoia, but, uh,
Monica: no,
Max: that helps, I think.
Monica: But we need people. It's like I'm naive. Like I'm not, I'm not thinking like, oh, so and so is going to kill me. Like, I'm like, the world is a peaceful place.
Max: Well, let's, let's kill more. Steal your money in this, in this case. But, uh,
Monica: yeah.
Yeah. But it's like, I brought that up 'cause I like that. Because you, you are trained by the military to protect,
Max: to be ready for certain eventualities,
Monica: to be ready for risks.
Max: To expect, yes, exactly. To expect risks.
Monica: Therefore, you're bringing that mindset
Max: Yeah. To
Monica: the whole energy and the whole, how you run the company and how you question it Exactly.
Around the mission.
ogy and platforms, right? So [:We processed every eventuality, what the industry needs, what enterprise and even sovereign use cases will need for the foreseeable future. Because we knew that, you know, legacy and even new protocols at that point, they just weren't built for anything more than conceptual use. So that's why we focused on proof of authority governance and being public permission at the same time.
So it was suitable for those use cases later, and we, we knew that was gonna happen, so we built it perfectly.
Monica: So, like perfectly.
Max: It might be true, it might be true.
Monica: Coming back to the Quantum and AI together.
Max: Yes. Your
Monica: solution ready?
Max: Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. We are live, we've been live for about a year and a half now.
And actually, um, [:And that includes in things like missed encryptions. So if you used, uh, a system in the last sort of, let's say 18 months, it's highly likely that AI has created that in the first place. That's why the, um. The advancements have happened so quickly, you know, like a compacted effect. So it's that system is not only open source created by ai, it's then on someone else's server.
and Tron recently. It's not [:Monica: So I'm like, yeah, you paint a scary picture.
But having said that, there is also, like you touched about that in the beginning, like assets, different types of assets.
Max: Yes. Right.
Monica: And you used the word quantum resistance.
Max: Yeah.
Monica: How can we build. Quantum resistant assets, is that a, is that Q assets a fair question?
Max: Yeah, so, okay, so we are, we're obviously tackling SEO and branding quite well, so we're just quantum naming everything.
So if you see Q or quantum, it's
Monica: Q,
Max: it's eventually gonna go. So we call them quantum assets, but really what we mean by that is, uh, we have a QRC standard. So with Ethereum they've got ERC as of QC, so to create a quantum safe asset, uh, it's essentially building that asset, launching it on quantum chain.
ntum blockchain alliance and [:Will be the future of assets, I think.
Monica: Okay. So if I'm a Neobank or a FinTech or a bank, normal Fiat bank.
Max: Yep.
Monica: I'm the founder. The CEO. The CPO. What should I be thinking about right now to protect the company?
even a bank, let's say, and [:The next step is figuring out the strategy for. Your assets to become quantum safe or your rails to become quantum safe, right? So considering something like quantum chain, you'd start in a modulated fashion, right? Let's start with custody. So you test quantum safe custody and then tokenizing of an asset, and you have pilots for that now too.
So let's say a simple bond, easy to create. Once that's been tested, you move forward to things like payment rails. So we're already iso compliant amongst other things. So cross-border payments become very, very simple. Uh, and then go on from there. So, and it's a bit of a, a step by step process for a bank to become fully quantum safe within their sort of risk tolerances and compliance.
But we make it as easy as possible. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Will be.
a long time to do that and I [:Max: Mm
Monica: sure. But if I wanted to summarize, almost to summarize, what's the best question to ask you on your founder journey?
Max: Well, I think we covered that actually, and that's where it came from. So it came from not just my experience, but a hard, painful event. So for me, this, again, it's not a business I, I have to be successful.
And there's,
Monica: oh, there's
Max: no other way I know the
Monica: question.
Max: Okay. I
Monica: know the question. Okay. Got, I love getting into people's mindsets.
Max: Sure. Of
Monica: course. Being a founder is hard.
Yeah.
Max: Yeah.
Monica: It's like
Max: more than people tell you,
Monica: it's like, it's tough.
Max: Yeah.
Monica: I've been working with 10 years.
Max: Yeah.
Monica: I mean, I'm the one supporting them.
Max: Yeah. I mean, I'm drinking coffee, but these conversations should be over a bottle of whiskey or something.
Monica: So. Mindset.
Max: Yeah.
Monica: You've got an impressive mindset.
Max: Thank you.
Monica: So ask the last question.
Tell us about your mindset. When it gets tough
Max: you [:You are. You are not. Uh, you think this problem's not gonna occur. It is right. You think adoption's gonna happen quickly, it also won't. So you have to be incredibly resilient and as consistent as possible. I probably, a lot of people say this, but you have to show up every day and really give it everything you've got, but also try and, balance yourself.
Yes, exactly. A little bit not
Monica: to. So I want to go deeper. Resilience.
Max: Yeah.
Monica: How, I think think what goes through your mind. What's the beauty? It's like, what do you tell yourself?
Max: For me, it's, whatever's happened to me. Worse has happened.
Monica: The worst has
Max: happened. Worse has happened to me already, right?
never get there Um, and the [:And maybe that's not wholly true because there are others who are attacking the same issue, et cetera. We're facing the same goal. That's great. But it might make a huge difference. If I, if I decided to wake up tomorrow and I said, I don't wanna do this anymore, what happens? We could lose a. A whole segment of future finance that I, I, I don't want to give that to the world, you know, I want, I want safe finance for everybody and more inclusive finance as well.
So that's a different topic.
Monica: Cool.
Max: Yeah.
Monica: Ance and consistency.
Max: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's the key.
Monica: Previous conversation, we were speaking with a tri in the industry and she was saying, secret is discipline.
Max: Absolutely. Yes, it is.
equals discipline. Yeah. So [:Max: Yeah. Yeah. We probably have, uh, very similar mindset in this.
Monica: Amazing. Cool.
Max: My
Monica: pleasure,
Max: Monica. Thank you.
Monica: Thank you. Thank you, max. Thank you.
