Defending the Digital Frontier: Hacken CEO Dyma Budorin on Cybersecurity, Regulation, and the AI Arms Race at HODL 2025

In an era where digital threats evolve faster than most defenses, Dyma Budorin, Co-Founder and CEO of Hacken, took the stage at HODL 2025 in Dubai to share a powerful message: cybersecurity is not just a technical issue—it’s a critical foundation for the future of Web3, digital finance, and global trust.

Representing Hacken, a Web3 cybersecurity company, Budorin brought an urgent yet optimistic tone to the summit, highlighting how proactive regulation, public-private collaboration, and AI integration are shaping the next chapter of cybersecurity.

Hacken: On the Front Lines of Web3 Defense

At its core, Hacken is more than a security vendor—it is a guardian against black hat hackers, fraudsters, and scammers in the decentralized digital space. Budorin emphasized that their mission goes beyond detection and defense. Hacken is equally committed to:

  • Educating the community
  • Collaborating with regulators
  • Shaping policies that matter

“We are fighting not just hacks, but the entire triad—hackers, fraudsters, and scammers,” said Budorin. “Our role is to make their lives harder and your systems safer.”

Regulatory Innovation: UAE’s Bottom-Up Approach

As a speaker at the event, Budorin applauded the UAE’s groundbreaking approach to crypto regulation, contrasting it with the more bureaucratic European model. While EU directives like MiCA and ESMA come top-down and often create friction at the local level, the UAE has taken a bottom-up, experimental approach.

By empowering Emirates and free trade zones to develop localized crypto frameworks, the UAE has fostered a collaborative regulatory ecosystem. This inclusive environment has attracted industry giants like Binance and Bybit, with national licensing efforts soon consolidating their global operations under ESCA, the federal-level regulator.

Budorin sees this as a game-changer:

“With Binance and Bybit already rivaling the liquidity of the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges, and future licenses enabling them to trade stocks, the UAE is poised to become a global financial powerhouse, possibly rivaling even Nasdaq in the next 5 to 10 years.”

The AI-Cybersecurity Paradox: Friend or Foe?

When asked about the future of cybersecurity in the age of AI, Budorin didn’t mince words. While AI is helping automate routine testing and improve security audits, he warned of a dark possibility: AI systems with the creativity and reasoning skills to discover zero-day vulnerabilities—security flaws unknown to even the most advanced systems.

“If generative AI can find zero-day vulnerabilities, it could be catastrophic,” he said. “A single undetected flaw can lead to a domino effect of breaches if not patched across connected systems.”

Despite this risk, Budorin remains practical. He acknowledged that AI is now a fundamental part of every cybersecurity team’s toolkit, and in true hacker fashion, efficiency is key:

“We always joke that hackers are the laziest people—they automate everything so they just press a button and it works.”

Dubai: A New Global Cybersecurity and Finance Epicenter

Budorin’s admiration for the Middle East’s open and ambitious environment was clear. Dubai, in particular, is quickly becoming a testbed for fintech, crypto, and regulatory innovation, making it a magnet for forward-thinking companies like Hacken.

“This is the global hub for experimentation, entrepreneurship, and real change,” he said. “Being here means being at the center of the future.”


At HODL 2025, Dyma Budorin didn’t just advocate for better security—he advocated for a smarter, more collaborative digital future, where regulation, innovation, and vigilance go hand in hand. As AI advances and blockchain continues to reshape global finance, Hacken remains firmly positioned at the intersection of risk and resilience—defending the very infrastructure that powers tomorrow’s digital world.