Taking The Berkshire Hathaway Approach, This Company That Began As A Minerals Firm Is Taking A New Path
Brian Esposito, CEO of Diamond Lake Minerals, Inc. (OTCMKTS: DLMI), was recently a guest on Benzinga’s All-Access.
Diamond Lake Minerals, Inc. specializes in the development and support of digital assets and SEC-registered security tokens. The company’s goal is to responsibly innovate and develop valuable traditional businesses and successfully combine them with the future of money, digital assets.
Mr. Esposito spoke about his vision for the company. He talked about the company’s “old-school” approach to running a business: focusing on the balance sheet, increasing profits and wealth enhancement.
Diamond Lake Minerals, Inc. specializes in the development and support of digital assets and SEC-registered security tokens. The company’s goal is to responsibly innovate and develop valuable traditional businesses and successfully combine them with the future of money, digital assets.
Mr. Esposito spoke about his vision for the company. He talked about the company’s “old-school” approach to running a business: focusing on the balance sheet, increasing profits and wealth enhancement.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 All right, Brian Esposito, the CEO of Diamond Lake Minerals.
00:08 Brian, how are you doing today?
00:09 Hey, good, Aaron.
00:10 How are you today?
00:11 I'm good.
00:12 Thanks for taking time out of your busy Friday to join us.
00:15 Before we get started, do you mind just giving us a brief overview of your company?
00:20 Of course.
00:21 Well, I'm honored to have taken over as CEO of Diamond Lake Minerals in August.
00:24 What we're doing is bridging the traditional securities market with the future of digital
00:29 securities.
00:30 I'd like to look at us like an old-school, General Electric conglomerate model.
00:34 Our intentions are a highly covered subsidiary, industry agnostic across all different companies
00:40 and industries.
00:41 It is strictly focused on bringing in revenue, sharing those revenues and earnings with our
00:46 shareholders and truly focused on balance sheets, increasing profitability.
00:50 But the beautiful thing about what we're building here and what I've been doing over the last
00:53 10 years with digital assets and working in regulated environments such as security tokens
00:58 is incorporating within those business units the idea of security token offerings.
01:02 I do believe we truly have the hybrid approach of bringing in all that generational wealth
01:07 that's on the sidelines that hear about things like crypto, they hear about tokens, they
01:10 hear about NFTs and digital assets.
01:12 They don't know how to get involved.
01:13 They don't believe in it.
01:14 They're intimidated by it.
01:15 They don't know how to go and get a digital wallet.
01:17 All these friction points, what I believe what we're creating here is that missing piece
01:21 to get them involved in this wonderful market with something that they're familiar with.
01:25 It's going on their Charles Schwab account, calling their broker, and buying a stock that's
01:29 operating in this industry.
01:30 Wow.
01:31 Yeah.
01:32 That makes a lot of sense and seems like something that's needed in the market today.
01:37 How does having been a holding company in industrials and minerals mining affect how
01:43 you do business today?
01:45 That was the traditional model of DLMI.
01:48 Since taking it over, we anticipate having subsidiaries that operate in that space.
01:52 Going forward, we're going to be in things like TV, media, entertainment, music, real
01:56 estate across all 25 different industries that I currently participate in with my private
02:01 holding company.
02:02 I tend to replicate what I've done in my history and my career in this public company to show
02:07 that we do know how to provide value.
02:10 The entire model is wealth preservation, wealth enhancement.
02:13 Yes, there will be traditional minerals and mining, which DLMI has been since 1954.
02:19 That was the vision of that company.
02:22 We're going to incorporate that in going forward, but that will be one of many subsidiaries
02:26 in our holdings.
02:27 It's diversification.
02:29 Why I loved getting involved with DLMI and Diamond Lake Minerals, it is the very low
02:34 flow.
02:35 We anticipate highly coveted shares, hard to get.
02:40 Mimicking GE with a little Berkshire Hathaway, where we want to have very highly valued stock,
02:45 and the only way we're going to be able to do that is to perform, to execute, to bring
02:49 in earnings, bring in strong profitability, and show that we are completely shareholder-focused.
02:55 We want to reward our shareholders.
02:56 We want this to be something that they never sell.
02:58 We want this to be something that they pass down from generation to generation.
03:02 Something that they earn from.
03:03 The beautiful thing about it, again, is we're going to be educating traditional shareholders
03:07 that there is such a strong opportunity in the digital asset world with security tokens,
03:13 and that they're going to benefit from the work that we're doing in that space as well.
03:16 Wow.
03:19 There's a lot of debate out there right now in Web3 and digital assets about the actual
03:23 value of these digital assets.
03:26 To you, Brian, what do digital assets bring?
03:29 What is their real value?
03:30 Efficiencies.
03:31 Larry Fink talked about this with his BlackRock interview a month or so ago about how the
03:37 transparency is extremely important to understanding things like blockchain allow where people's
03:42 tax earnings are going.
03:44 You have that component.
03:45 You have the ability to participate in digital assets or security token offerings 24/7.
03:50 Our security token exchange that's regulated by the SEC is INX.
03:55 We've got longstanding relationships with them and their firm and the great work that
03:58 they're doing.
03:59 They recently got the full support and investment from Republic, which is one of the largest
04:02 crowdfunding platforms in the world.
04:06 The traditional markets operate within their timeframes and their windows, and that's the
04:09 normalcy that those shareholders and those investors are used to.
04:13 Now when you combine the idea of being able to have access to investments that traditional
04:18 investors may not have had access to on a global scale and have access to those business
04:22 units 24/7, that's where it gets quite interesting.
04:28 Can you tell us a little bit about your background, Brian?
04:31 What makes you uniquely suited to run Diamond Lake?
04:35 My entire professional career has been as an entrepreneur with my private holding company,
04:40 Esposito Intellectual Enterprises.
04:42 I built that over the last 23 years.
04:44 That's wholly owned by me.
04:46 Within that model, there's over 110 companies that operate within that holding company.
04:50 There's over 200 joint ventures around the world and proudly operating over 25 different
04:54 industries.
04:55 So I have built what I like to look at a giant pool of resources, IP technology, solutions
04:59 and services.
05:00 But more importantly, I've built great relationships and access into industries that we have true
05:05 proven experience in.
05:08 For me, most of my career, I have made every mistake you can think of, but I've managed
05:11 to battle through that.
05:12 I've overcome it.
05:13 I have quite a to-the-street learning experience on how to perform, how to add value.
05:19 I am always looking at win-win situations for all parties involved.
05:23 As a public company now and operating as a CEO, the win-win opportunity is always for
05:28 our shareholders.
05:30 My private career has always been adding value, boosting balance sheets, and creating opportunities
05:33 in markets.
05:34 Now, I get to perform that in the public sector and show what I'm capable of doing.
05:39 I'm here for my shareholders.
05:40 I'm here to add value.
05:41 If you look at from when I took it over in August, you were sitting at a $0.35 stock.
05:46 It was stuck there for quite some time with a little over a million-dollar market cap.
05:50 With the new direction that we've taken it, with the amazing, iconic advisors that I've
05:55 added to this company that support my vision of what we're doing, within a few months,
05:59 we're sitting at nearly a $100 million market cap and a $3-3.50 stock.
06:04 What I love about now operating in the public markets is, you're going to see real-time,
06:08 tangible reflection of my capabilities, the work that we're doing, the momentum that we've created.
06:14 We've just gotten started, but the market seems to love what we're doing, and we're
06:17 just going to keep building one day at a time.
06:20 Lewis: That's impressive growth you've seen since taking over there, Brian.
06:25 You mentioned it earlier, working as that intermediary or bridging that gap, but how
06:30 are you bridging the gap for traditional investors looking to gain exposure to digital assets?
06:36 Feroldi: Again, it's through the familiarity of buying a stock.
06:39 That's how we're doing step one.
06:41 Within our subsidiaries, our anticipation and our plan is, these business units will
06:46 have a security token offering attached as one of those revenue mechanisms within that business unit.
06:54 As a security token, how that works is, there is an offering that goes out into the world
06:59 of what a security token is and how it relates to that potential business or business unit.
07:04 Typically, they're a share of profits, a share of revenues.
07:07 Now, what you're doing is, you're bringing in a new type of investor that owns and holds
07:12 that security token on an INX exchange.
07:14 That security token will be connected to the business unit underneath DLMI.
07:19 It could be across, hopefully, dozens or hopefully at one point hundreds of different business units.
07:24 They're earning off of the revenues or the revenue share within that business unit.
07:28 That's the strategy. That's the plan.
07:30 At some point, you're going to be able to go onto your Charles Schwab account, your
07:34 Morgan Stanley account, and be able to buy security tokens.
07:37 That's when you start to get real mainstream mass adoption.
07:41 But until that happens, it's going to be a very slow growth as to building that audience,
07:45 having people trusting that process, which is why we truly believe bringing that into
07:50 a regulated security like DLMI and offering regulated security tokens through our partnership
07:55 with INX to be able to allow that to happen flawlessly and within the familiarity that
08:00 investors are used to.
08:03 Got it, Brian.
08:05 What are the biggest trends that you're seeing in crypto right now?
08:08 We were talking about it earlier.
08:09 The markets have just been absolutely rallying.
08:13 And digital assets, what are the biggest trends you're seeing right now?
08:16 How will a Bitcoin spot ETF affect the market?
08:21 Obviously, you're seeing that fuel great strength and comfort into the market.
08:25 That opens up, like what we're doing with DLMI, that allows for investors to be able
08:29 to participate in that digital asset or that Bitcoin spot ETF through mechanisms that they're used to.
08:36 They don't have to go and get a digital wallet.
08:38 They don't have to go through all those friction points.
08:40 They don't have to go through KYC on another exchange that they may not know about or trust.
08:44 That's part of this process of getting people used to understanding what these assets are,
08:50 that they actually have true value and they have true earnings or growth potential behind them.
08:55 That's all part of the people getting familiar and comfortable with getting a portion of
09:00 their portfolio involved in some capacity of digital assets.
09:04 It's great to see the markets are approving these things and they're being adopted.
09:10 Hopefully, we will set the benchmark as to the methodology for all public companies to
09:15 mimic what we're doing of having a security token digital asset incorporated into those
09:20 business models so they can increase their shareholder base and they can show true transparency
09:25 behind what their company is, how they're operating, and sharing those earnings with
09:29 their security token or shareholders.
09:31 Lewis: Got it.
09:33 Brian, I understand that you'll be at the Future Digital Assets event next week in New York City.
09:40 Can you talk a little bit about what you're expecting or hoping at the event to see with
09:47 some of the other companies and everything there?
09:50 Feroldi: It's an honor to be there.
09:52 I truly appreciate the opportunity for Benzing inviting me.
09:55 Some of the people that are there are people that I admire and respect in this industry.
09:59 They've been working so hard to prove its legitimacy and to prove that this is the way
10:03 of the future.
10:04 I expect to get continued great adoption, market awareness.
10:08 Right now, the key thing is educating people across the world what these things are, how
10:12 they can get involved, and more importantly, doing it in exchanges and regulated environments
10:16 where their tax earnings are protected or their assets are protected.
10:20 It's great to see that the movement is happening.
10:23 It's great to see some strength in digital assets.
10:26 We are not a crypto company.
10:27 There's an important differential between an SEC regulated public company and the word
10:33 crypto.
10:34 They do not go well together.
10:36 We are a digital asset security token company.
10:38 I do watch the crypto markets because those investors hopefully will transfer into owning
10:45 security tokens and understanding that's more of a diversified, more strategic, more thought-out
10:50 business plan that has really seasoned people behind running those businesses, such as security tokens.
10:57 A lot of the crypto projects don't really have that type of experience, that know-how.
11:01 They're not really building businesses.
11:02 They're more about building community, building interactions, building these things known
11:06 as meme coins.
11:08 That's not where I play or what we're doing.
11:10 We're going after more of the more sophisticated investor that understands things like yield,
11:14 dividend distribution, revenue sharing of profits or revenue sharing of gross profits.
11:19 That's what we're going after.
11:21 That's the type of investor that we're talking to.
11:23 I'm hoping that we start to see more of that through the conversations that are happening
11:26 next week at Binz and Go's Digital Asset Convention.
11:29 Yeah, well, we're excited to have you and can't wait.
11:34 Last question here, Brian, what regulatory changes would you like to see in the space?
11:39 If you were in charge or you had a magic wand and tomorrow could control the landscape,
11:46 what would you do?
11:47 Great question.
11:49 I don't like fast, drastic changes.
11:52 You're talking about markets and mechanisms that have been placed for a very long time.
11:57 You've got to be very careful as to what rules and changes to law or regulatory start to happen.
12:02 I personally think it's great that you can offer a security token through exchanges like
12:06 INX, TZERO, Securitize.
12:08 There's some great, great companies out there that do it right.
12:12 That's where I see the next phase of this happening.
12:15 The important thing right now is for the digital asset, crypto community, token community,
12:21 security token community, we all need to focus on those security token offerings.
12:25 We really need to make sure they all succeed and their raises sell out, those projects
12:29 get supported.
12:30 We show that there's really a true great market there.
12:33 From that moment, then we can build upon what else can we add to this to really add value,
12:38 open up new asset classes in these portfolios in a regulated environment.
12:42 For me, right now, my ask to these communities is to get behind security token offerings,
12:47 support them, promote them, because that's already approved and working with the SEC.
12:52 We need to start there and from there, we can build upon what additional changes to
12:55 regulatory that we need.
12:57 Well, Brian, it's been a pleasure to have you on Benzing is All Access today.
13:03 Again, looking forward to next week's event and good luck with everything else.
13:08 Thanks, pal.
13:09 I appreciate the time.
13:10 Keep up the great work.
13:11 Of course.
13:12 Brian Esposito, CEO of Diamond Lake Minerals, ticker DLMI.
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