What we do outside Web3

Spend long enough in crypto chats and it may seem that the average Web3 denizen is a pallid vampire with blood-red eyes, seared by 24/7 dashboard-gazing.

To test that prejudice, ForkLog asked leaders of crypto projects what they do in the rare moments when the power is out or they simply decide to switch off.

“I opened my own rowing school”

The team at World Exchange: The World Exchange story began long before blockchains, charts and rates. Once we were a team of professional rowers—champions of Moscow, Russia, Europe and the world, as well as Olympians. Sport taught us the essentials: act as one, work in sync and deliver results together.

The company’s founder, Bogdan Ageev, is a multiple Russian champion and a winner of global competitions. At one point he ended his sporting career and decided it was time to build his own business. Rather than recruit from scratch, he called on those closest to him—the people who had trained alongside him for years, fought for every finish and knew the value of real cohesion. That is how the World Exchange team was born.

We are building a reliable, convenient cryptocurrency exchange service, and everything we do rests on the same sporting principles: trust, coordination, results. Perhaps that is why things run like clockwork: we do not burn out, snap or quarrel.

We still train together four or five times a week—rowing as before, but now for pleasure, unity and energy, not medals. Though, we admit, medals do still appear: recently our teammates won the Moscow championship. This is no longer sport for sport’s sake; it is part of our culture—almost like a corporate away-day, but on water. Fun, powerful, real.

By the way, Ageev opened his own rowing school, called “AAA Club”. It is not just a sports school—it is a magnet for future champions, a place where we invest our heart, time and resources. So World Exchange is not only about crypto exchange; it is also about supporting sport. We sponsor young athletes, including those preparing for the Olympic Games, and the whole team travels to cheer them on at Russian and international events.

Perhaps that is our secret: we do not build a business to tick a box. We continue to be a team, only now in another kind of sport—the cryptocurrency one. And in it we are aiming for gold, too.

We go go-karting together, play paintball and head out for barbecues, but most importantly we share one idea, one project. That is why the business moves steadily. In the end, we do not “go to work”; we enjoy ourselves from morning till night. Together. In sport, in business, in life. We do not burn out because we have built not just an exchange, but a team where everyone is like a brother. And when your team is made of people like that, you simply cannot do a bad job. That is why it works for us. That is why we are World Exchange. And we are here for the long haul.

Ray Youssef, CEO of NoOnes: Every day of mine begins in the gym—the body must be strong if you face a big goal. Just as blood carries oxygen to sustain life in the body, money must circulate for the economy to breathe.

That is why we give half our profits back to the community. Everyone needs something to eat. We helped build 18 schools and orphanages—not for the sake of charity, but because I believe strong leaders grow where you invest in others. If you are truly part of your community, you have no right to be greedy.

“To take off calmly and land confidently”

Mari, founder of AISM: Here are the three main things that interest me in life. First, and foremost: to understand how reality works. Which means: books, books, books. In fact, everything else I have ever done flows from that primary impulse. In my life I have launched many different startups—successful and failed, online and offline. I have had everything; I even had a hookah bar! But, interestingly, I never stopped searching for myself; I never told myself: here I am, the CEO of such-and-such a project! I seemed to understand that yes, that is so, but it is not mine; there was a premonition that the most important thing was still ahead.

Now, in retrospect, I understand that I could reach where I am only by this route: not stopping my development for a single day. Through a combination of theoretical study of reality—through psychology, philosophy, economics, physics—and at the same time through the practical application of my knowledge, through my endless new startups in very different fields. Only thus could I arrive at AISM—a sober view of humanity’s future.

Second: cinema. I shot full-length feature films at my own expense. I aimed for extreme realism, trying to get close to the level that, for example, Émile Zola, Balzac and Leo Tolstoy achieved in literature. It was cinema where people talked a lot and there was little action. I made works that could not be placed or housed anywhere and that brought no return: all my films simply sank under the mass of everything “famous” and “popular”. I continued to believe in myself… but I had less and less strength and energy to endure their “unwantedness”. I began to perceive my films as stray mutts. Sometimes a passer-by will look, feel pity, pause—how cute!—and move on. That is normal. But it was hard for me to think that I could produce only yet another such mutt. I felt about my films as if they were children; I gave birth to them, but they did not breathe fully, they suffocated from being unable to find their way to viewers, and I hurt—for them. Not for myself. Then I deleted my YouTube channel with all the films. So they would not suffer.

Third: I really love the series “Air Crash Investigations”. It seems to me that I extract from it complex patterns of cause-and-effect that I then observe and account for in real life. Not to mention that—paradoxically—technical understanding of how an aircraft works, what problems may arise in flight and what to do about them gives me confidence when flying. I live across several countries, but I truly feel at home only on board an aircraft. And, of course, I train on flight simulators: in good weather conditions I can calmly take off, fly and land with confidence, for example, a Boeing 737.

Vladislav Krieger, CEO of Veles Finance: It is padel—or, to be precise, visiting courts around the world. Courts can be outdoor or indoor, and I “collect” them: I constantly try new venues; I like playing in different places.

“With a cue in hand and an idea in mind”

Dmitry Korniychuk, founder of PirateCash: We have simple and quirky interests—to build the best free open-source services, ideally to embed our Core everywhere, right up to a smart fridge (in the series “Silicon Valley” they stole our idea). Even when we drink beer during team-building, new and bold solutions appear. We simply live our project.

Mikhail Smirnov, communications director at EXMO.me: I love chess, hiking and bonsai—different hobbies, but each gives something of its own. In winter I completed a trek in Patagonia. The mountains are the best way to reset. Chess keeps the mind sharp, and bonsai teaches patience and work with detail. All this helps me keep focus, see the full picture and bring things to completion—in life and at work.

Nurhat Kushimov, general manager of Binance Kazakhstan: On weekends I try to get out on a road bike; 40–60 kilometres along scenic routes helps me reset and gather my thoughts. I am also interested in wine culture: studying flavours, regions and pairings is a true art. And in the quiet of the evenings I like to read—from classical literature to contemporary authors. It helps me switch and look at things from another angle.

Rob Chiu, CSO at CoinEx and ViaBTC: Late-night billiards, making dumplings at weekends and rewatching classic Chinese series after long workdays. I love crypto’s speed, but sometimes the best way to reset is a quiet evening with friends and old shows—or with a cue in hand and a great idea in mind.