The Author’s Note

In the World Economic Forum 2025, the community of U.S. investment banks radiated optimism during the sessions in Davos. But shortly after the last day of WEF 2025, the DeepSeek moment stirred huge volatility on Wall Street. It appears that artificial intelligence (AI) is not just another hype but a powerful factor shaking the largest stock market in the world.

The release of Qwen 2.5 from a big tech player in China, Alibaba, just as Wall Street took its first deep breath from the DeepSeek moment, reinforced the feeling that we faced tectonic changes. The race between various AIs illustrates a pivotal moment in tech evolution, one that can only be won through innovative approaches that harness blockchain's unique capabilities.

At the same time, we see how the U.S. 47th President Donald Trump’s administration tries to unleash the power of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a whole. But there is a catch, and I explore this topic in depth. The presidential term in the U.S. is four years, and tides can shift again in 2028, which can affect AI and crypto regulation. The world is waiting for sustainable regulatory transformation in the U.S.

As I see it, crypto (or digital assets), one of the most vibrant emanations of blockchain, and blockchain itself are in the same boat. Both innovations, in their convergence, create unique opportunities to drive the financial sphere to a new level to onboard various generations; however, these innovations also present challenges. I discuss these challenges in the book. One of those challenges is how to connect the big data of legacy financial institutions with new opportunities.

In my experience — one of which was being the head of the Board of Directors of Otkritie Broker (2017-2022) — I drove digital transformation within the business, and I’m proud that it was successful. This experience gave me early insights into how blockchain and AI can become a new engine for modern brokerage houses and how they can fundamentally transform Private Banking and Private Equity services for the better. In fact, I dealt with blockchain and AI several years before these innovations hit the mainstream road.

Now I see how deeply intertwined crypto and AI are and how Crypto Reset 2.0 is evolving before our eyes and minds. This book provides a view into this evolution and a brave glimpse into the future we will all be living.