WeFi’s co-founder and group CEO Maksym Sakharov has positioned himself at the centre of a financial shift that is starting to reshape how money moves, how value is stored, and who gets real control over their wealth. Leading the world’s first deobank, he sits at the intersection of traditional finance, blockchain, and global regulation, arguing that the next big leap in banking won’t come from sleeker apps or faster KYC, but from rebuilding the system on-chain. In this conversation with
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Gulf Business, he breaks down what a deobank actually is, why he believes the model is inevitable, and how WeFi plans to bridge familiar banking habits with decentralised infrastructure for a world that increasingly lives, works, and earns across borders.
You now lead WeFi from Dubai, but originally you come from Ukraine. How did your personal journey, from Ukraine to the Middle East, influence your ambition to build a deobank?
I grew up in Ukraine, a place where money isn’t just numbers on a screen, but something, unfortunately, deeply fragile and uncertain. Over the years, I saw how savings and livelihoods could be destabilised by inflation, restrictive banking practices, or economic turbulence. That background taught me that financial systems built on outdated legacy rails often strip individuals of real control over their own wealth.
When I later moved through different fintech and crypto projects, and ultimately settled in Dubai, this lesson followed me. In the Middle East, I saw a future where finance could be more inclusive, more global, and fairer. It’s a world where people from different countries, backgrounds, and incomes could access banking without bureaucracy or borders. The question raised logically: if we really believe in financial inclusion and user sovereignty, why don’t we rebuild banking from the ground up, not merely repackage old banks as digital?
The deobank idea is a synthesis of those experiences. It takes the skepticism you develop in a volatile environment and combines it with the openness and regulatory ambition. And then channels it into a model where people hold the keys to their assets, move value globally in real time, and rely on transparent, programmable accounts. For me, WeFi is a very personal answer to a problem I’ve watched from both sides of the world.
What exactly is a deobank, and how does it differ from both traditional banks and neobanks? What gap does it fill in today’s financial ecosystem?
A deobank is not a cosmetic update to banking. It is an institution whose core balance sheet lives on-chain. Traditional banks keep money inside closed, proprietary ledgers and settle via legacy rails like correspondent banking. Neobanks improve the interface but usually still sit
on those same rails. A deobank uses blockchain as the underlying accounting and settlement layer, so user balances are held in wallets and smart contracts instead of a black box. Deobank is the world’s first bank where fiat money lives on-chain.
This means users can deposit fiat in a familiar interface and get instant limitless access to stablecoins, with no swaps and no fees. This architectural change means users own accounts with distributed custody, you can retrieve your money under your full control at any moment, but you won’t have to worry about private key management thanks to social recovery. Near-instant global transfers, access to crypto-native tools such as on-chain yield and tokenised assets, all of this is available in an app that feels as familiar as a regular mobile bank.
The gap this fills is the space between two imperfect worlds. On one side, highly regulated but rigid and siloed banking; on the other, powerful but often confusing DeFi protocols. A deobank is designed to combine the sovereignty and transparency of DeFi with the usability and reliability people expect from everyday banking.
With WeFi aiming for “full user control” (distributed custody, blockchain, crypto and fiat under one roof), how do you balance decentralisation with the need for compliance, regulation, and everyday usability?
We don’t treat decentralisation and compliance as enemies. We separate where each one should dominate. On the asset and transaction layer, WeFi is built as an on-chain bank, balances are recorded on public ledgers, and users can opt for distributed custody models that still keep them as the ultimate key-holders. That gives transparency and clear ownership.
Around that, we operate licensed entities in relevant jurisdictions to handle cards and payment flows, which brings us under existing AML, KYC, and consumer-protection frameworks. On the front end, we deliberately make the experience feel familiar: account opening, cards, transfers. People don’t need to understand the technical details of private keys or smart contracts to use it safely.
The balance comes from letting decentralisation govern custody and transparency, and regulation govern how we plug into the real economy and protect users.
As a pioneer in the deobank space, what key challenges have you faced, especially regulatory, tech-related, and customer adoption challenges, while building and launching WeFi globally?
The first big challenge has been regulatory language. When you are an on-chain bank, many regulators instinctively compare you to either a traditional bank or a crypto exchange, even if a deobank sits somewhere in between. We’ve had to spend a lot of time explaining how on-chain custody, stablecoins, and programmable accounts can coexist with licensing regimes built for more traditional intermediaries.
The second challenge is technical. If you want to serve people in multiple regions, you need infrastructure that is scalable, secure, and interoperable across chains and currencies. You also need to manage liquidity, stable coin flows, and tokenised assets in a way that feels invisible to the end user.
And the last one is human, trust and adoption. We invest huge resources in user education to help the mass user understand crypto, stablecoins, and their real-life value. Part of building WeFi has been showing, through real-world use cases and a familiar interface, that an on-chain bank is as stable and usable as any digital bank, while expanding what is possible.
Which use-cases or customer segments benefit most today from WeFi’s combined fiat and crypto offering?
The strongest early fit is people whose lives are already cross-border, freelancers and remote workers who get paid from other countries, migrant workers sending money home monthly, and entrepreneurs who deal with suppliers and customers across multiple currencies. For them, holding stablecoins on-chain while still paying with a card or sending fiat transfers brings real practical value.
Another important group lives in economies where inflation, capital controls, or fragile banking systems make it hard to preserve value. Adoption is already growing fastest in Nigeria, the Philippines and Argentina, where people use stablecoins for remittances and everyday spending. A deobank allows those users to tap that resilience without losing the convenience of everyday banking tools.
How can WeFi meaningfully support financial inclusion across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and the wider Global South?
The problem is still large, with 21 percent of adults globally having no formal bank account. Many rely on cash or informal networks that are slow, risky, and expensive.
Because a deobank is mobile-first and on-chain, the entry barrier is low, a smartphone, connectivity, and basic KYC are usually enough. In regions where mobile money and informal remittance channels are common, receiving income directly into a stablecoin-backed on-chain account that also issues a card can be a major upgrade.
In the Middle East, large remittance flows and a young, tech-oriented population are already pushing innovation. The UAE’s work on the digital dirham shows how governments are also exploring new settlement layers for low-wage payments.
How does WeFi ensure transparency, trust, and compliance across different jurisdictions?
We build trust in three ways: structure, transparency, and behaviour.
Structurally, WeFi operates through licensed entities that seek appropriate approvals for fiat, virtual assets, and payment flows.
In terms of transparency, using on-chain infrastructure means large parts of our operations are inherently auditable. Wallets, smart contracts, and flows can be reviewed by regulators or independent third parties where appropriate.
Finally, behaviour, we invest in strong compliance standards: KYC, AML, transaction monitoring, and user education. As regulations evolve, especially in markets like the UAE, serious players must build with that scrutiny in mind.
What’s your vision for WeFi in the next three–five years? Will deobanks coexist with traditional banks or replace them in some markets?
They will coexist, but with different roles. In mature markets, people will still rely on legacy banks for mortgages and corporate services. In parallel, deobanks will increasingly handle cross-border income, digital asset savings, and high-frequency payments for users who value flexibility and global reach.
In emerging markets, the shift will be faster. If someone has never had a local bank account, it’s very likely their first will be mobile-first and on-chain. In many places, people could skip several stages of traditional banking altogether. This is where the next billion crypto users will come from, and WeFi aims to be one of the institutions making that transition safe and useful.
What are the biggest obstacles that could slow global adoption of deobanks, and how is WeFi preparing?
Regulatory fragmentation is the biggest one. Countries treat stablecoins and on-chain custody in very different ways, and the rules keep changing.
The technical side is another, scaling securely while dealing with smart-contract risk, chain congestion, and liquidity management.
Culturally, trust is still a hurdle. For many, the word “crypto” triggers memories of collapses and scams. The only way through that is to build products that work, protect user funds, and operate with transparency. WeFi treats this as a decades-long effort.
What role can the UAE play as a regional hub for deobanking?
The UAE is already a major financial and remittance centre. It hosts a large migrant workforce, a growing crypto founder base, and regulators who are actively shaping digital-asset frameworks.
For WeFi, that means we can test products in a market where cross-border use-cases are normal and work closely with regulators. The challenge is that expectations are high: security, compliance, and user protection are non-negotiable. But this is exactly the environment in which a deobank should prove itself.
Why are events like Abu Dhabi Financial Week important for WeFi?
They bring together regulators, institutional capital, and real users in one place. You can explain the mechanics of on-chain banking to policymakers, demonstrate the product to investors, and shape the wider conversation around crypto beyond speculation. These events let us shift the narrative toward real-world use-cases like remittances, inclusion, and payment rails.
On a personal note, what keeps you up at night, and what excites you most about the future of money in a deobanking world?
I sleep well because I know the work has a real impact. That’s not a slogan, it’s the feedback we get from a community of over 150,000 users globally.
What excites me is the chance to build something from scratch that pushes finance forward. And the idea that within a decade, “on-chain bank” won’t sound unusual at all. In many parts of the Global South, people’s first meaningful interaction with formal finance may come through a deobank. If we make that experience safe, fair, and empowering, the effort will have been worth it.
