Ilia Obraztcov of Definder On The 5 Essentials for Smart Investing

An Interview With Jason Hartman

Don’t focus solely on fast ROI. If you consider investments as a long-term thing, you need to generate cash flow to support the investment opportunities. So make money work for you rather than cashing out at the first opportunity.

As a part of my series about The 5 Essentials of Smart Investing, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ilia Obraztcov.

Ilia Obraztcov is the CEO of Definder, an international group of companies that leverages blockchain-based tokenization to unlock liquidity for asset owners and opportunities for investors, building the future of decentralized finance in Europe and beyond. The company’s mission is to democratize how the world invests in real-economy assets. Definder, previously known as Smartlands, launched their first STO in 2019 and closed the sale of security tokens in a student accommodation block in Nottingham, UK, and has since then made substantial progress in launching a scalable international tokenization business, having inlined the strategy, the legal framework, and the technology itself.

Thank you for doing this with us! Our readers would like to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the finance industry?

I started off working in a bank as an analyst right after graduation from university. That job had me working on all sorts of tasks, and it helped me realize how archaic the whole system was. Back then, I had no idea that I would, one day, lead the company that changes the investments world. Still, I understood that I wanted to be a part of the change. So, I pivoted my career to the technological side of finance and became a software developer.

I always had a certain kind of entrepreneurial mindset, moved quickly to managerial positions, and landed jobs in thriving Silicon Valley startups, so I received both technological and business expertise in the domain over the years. I discovered crypto investments, and the crypto community led me to Definder — the company that I joined as a CTO and the one in which I am now a CEO. I am incredibly passionate about the modern world of investments and more than happy to share insights with your readership.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away you took out of that story?

Glad you asked! Let me tell you the story of how I… got fired!

At one point in my career, I landed a job in hardcore Machine Learning engineering — you know, the type of job where there’s little to no business involvement, purely writing the code in a very specific niche. Well, after four months, I was fired.

I found myself in a difficult position since my tech expertise was quite exotic, and industry giants had no openings for such skillsets. To top it off, I was offered only junior positions despite having five years of experience.

I know that many can relate to this. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs because of the pandemic and are forced to explore other professions. I’ve been there, and I have to say: don’t let this break you. I couldn’t afford to give up, so I kept searching and shortly landed a job in Silicon Valley — the developer’s ultimate dream!

The main lesson for me was not to fear the future — and I urge you to do the same. Believe in yourself, keep looking for opportunities — you never know what’s around the corner. My firing story has actually led me to the most rapid growth in my career.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Absolutely. We have built working on a new platform that will completely change the world of investments as you know it and transform investment opportunities for individuals. It will democratize access to real estate investing and offer all perks previously available to large investment funds without investing millions.

But that’s just the beginning, as we have great ambition. Overall, we are working on scaling and offering a blockchain-powered ecosystem for investments into the real economy to each and every one. For example, Banksy’s artwork recently sold for $25.4 Million. Imagine being able to co-own it without spending more than a weekly rent — and then selling your stake at a profit. It’s called fractional investments, and it’s going to be one of the key pillars of the platform.

Or think about getting instant loans against the collateral of real economy assets — all powered by blockchain with zero risk. We’re looking at a completely different future of the world of finance — without huge lines in banks, stacks of documents, or bureaucracy — fully automated, transparent, and secure. We already have over a thousand early customers on the waitlist, and we are ready to offer the platform to the masses.

Ok. Thanks for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. According to this report in Fortune, nearly two-thirds of Americans can’t pass a basic test of financial literacy. In your opinion or experience what is the cause of these unfortunate numbers?

Finance can present a massive learning curve for the uninitiated. And sadly, people just don’t have much time to understand finance to get to where they can manage capital properly. Companies in the industry invest heavily in promoting their services, but not in educating their customers or simplifying their tasks, which, I think, is a huge mistake.

Companies should take the lead here: work on simplifying processes, adapting interfaces, and overall removing any complexities, as well as educating their customers transparently.

We’re also working on this in the new platform that we’re about to launch. So, again, we will introduce a seamless user experience, simple UI, and friendly support to facilitate our customers like never before.

If you had the power to make a change, what 3 things would you recommend to improve these numbers?

For people looking to improve their knowledge of investments, I’d recommend taking the time to research the basics. First, understand the investment platforms and apps within your reach and then make sure that they are trustworthy, gather feedback, and search for reviews.

Look for simplicity and transparency, and make sure you understand what you invest in. If you think of many existing investment platforms, they provide investment opportunities, not in the assets themselves but derivatives, which can be complicated for users. You might think you invest in Tesla shares, but you’re investing in derivative products based on Tesla shares. So, look for transparency and try to understand where your money goes.

Ok, thank you! Now to the main question of our interview: You are a “finance insider”. If you had to advise your adult child about 5 non intuitive essentials for smart investing, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?

My advice #1 would be: start with the intuitive ones! Only then move on to the life hacks and more advanced techniques.

#2. Don’t just focus on studying success stories. Instead, ask around and research the unsuccessful investment stories. They might teach you a lot more!

#3. An oldie is not always a goodie. Yes, the experience of a person that has spent 50 years in the field is tremendous, but they might not be aware of all the novelties and trends. So, study the basics, look for advice but don’t be afraid to explore entirely new tools, platforms, and tactics.

#4. Forget about your personal preferences in terms of investment assets. You might be tempted to pour cash into the stakes of software or a video game company whose latest release kept your attention for weeks, but don’t let that affect your judgment. Focus on what has more potential, not only what you love.

#5 Don’t focus solely on fast ROI. If you consider investments as a long-term thing, you need to generate cash flow to support the investment opportunities. So make money work for you rather than cashing out at the first opportunity.

What are your thoughts about investing in cryptocurrency? Can you explain what you mean?

It’s a great modern instrument in the future of money, but you need to be careful. The sudden raging interest in it makes me want to compare the cryptocurrency investment spike to the dot com bubble. Companies could register a domain name with dot com extension and immediately go to IPO and sell their shares, betting on price skyrocketing. Likewise, there’s a massive potential in crypto investments, but there’s also a risk. Even after the dot com bubble crash, real businesses have shown tremendous growth. So, do your research, start small, and do not hurry into investing big money until your knowledge in the field is solid.

What are your thoughts about daytrading, using apps like Robinhood? Can you explain what you mean?

I know people who made a fortune day-trading, but I also know people who lost a fortune day-trading. It can be either a full-time job or a gamble. Either, or.

You need deep knowledge of the patterns and correlations between price changes and be willing to spend your days carefully studying the slightest changes in prices to make a profit. Carefully manage risk and your portfolio, understand the market and how it works, how the exchange works, how the leverage works. If you don’t do any of that and can’t allocate eight hours a day on trading, you are gambling. Understand that and allocate your capital accordingly.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

So you see all this purpose and resolve to get things done? All this would have been very difficult to attain had it not been for the Mrs. supporting and uplifting me and everyone else in our small family. I drive my strength and determination from those who love me, and she’s made sure I am constantly surrounded by them.

My home is my foundation, and it is made stronger by my wife. I am sure it hasn’t been easy for her to support me because of my whims, drive, and ambition. But she has held me up despite all that.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Do what you love, love what you do. If whatever you’re doing is not making you happy, then it’s unlikely that there will be a success. So whatever you do — invest, bake muffins, or build a unicorn company, make sure you enjoy the ride and not just chase the result.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would encourage people to give back, and this kind of goes back to the whole subject of the interview — investing — as well. Some might think that they are not in a position to do so, but believe me, regardless of your financial status, you have all the capital in the world — your knowledge.

So, think of a way to give back: share financial advice with younger generations, offer your support to female entrepreneurs, or pick any cause that inspires you and support it in any way you can. Additionally to what I mentioned above, I personally support several local charities that offer various activities to underprivileged kids, as I firmly believe in the importance of supporting the younger generation and providing equal opportunities for all.

Thank you for the interview. We wish you continued success!