Web3 | Identosphere Blogcatcher

Last week, on this show, we wondered whether Genesis, the struggling crypto lender, would be the next domino to fall in the wake of FTX’s collapse.

This weekend my friend Dru hosted Jason and I as speakers for her Tucson Summit. The presentation I gave was recorded and should be up on my channel in the next week or so after Jason gets back to Denver and has time to knit it together. The format was eight ten-minute segments followed by a panel discussion with Q&A. The focus was a bit unusual, even for me, and included readings from the 1929 book by X-Ray crystallographer JD Bernal, “The World, The Flesh, and The Devil,” with links to sociobiology, ant computer simulations, consciousness studies, and space exploration. All of these topics are highly relevant to Tucson, a city that leads in aerospace development with a history that extends into radio-astronomy, interplanetary colonization, and spiritualism.

Here’s a link to my slide deck in the mean time.

Southern Arizona, the site of one of the longest military engagements on US soil waged by Apache leaders Cochise and Geronimo, is home to Fort Huachuca, a center of electronic warfare. It’s also a testbed for smart city policies and social impact finance programs (here and here). I’m sure a lot of what I put out flew over the heads of the audience, because most of us don’t yet have the language or mental structures to imagine what’s on the horizon – the smart contract logic layer of Web 3. These past few weeks I keep repeating – If we’re not spending half of our intellectual “free-time” learning about Web3, the consequences won’t be good. We won’t understand the story we’re inhabiting. We won’t be able to see where the walls of the labyrinth are.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are a couple of videos Jason and I made with Leo Saraceno that deconstruct the vision Juan Benet of Protocol Labs has for Web3 and the development of “innovative” finance mechanisms for “open source” “digital public goods.”

If you’d like to go back and re-watch the clips, you can click the circles on this interactive map. the sidebar will open with the links to each.

Later today we’ll be exploring the city with planned stops at the labyrinth in Udall Park and an address associated with the early history of L5. You can read about the Tohono O’odom’s story of the “man in the maze,” a motif incorporated into basketmaking practices a century ago. The newsletters from L5 dating to the mid 1970s are available on Wayback – very much an eye-full. Here’s that link. Mo Udall, an environmentalist and Arizona Congressman from 1977 to 1991, supported L5’s efforts. See screenshot below.

A few images from our sunset walk through the Sabino Canyon National Recreation Area.

 

Crypto Lender Paused Withdrawals On Nov. 10 Citing FTX Exposure

The Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) program funds independent teams to perform major ongoing development (or other work) that benefits the Zcash ecosystem. Grants are chosen by a five-person committee whose members are elected by the Zcash Community Advisory Panel (ZCAP).

Four of the current ZCG committee members’ terms expire at the end of December, so we are inviting nominations for an election to be held in December.

How to Stand for Election to ZCG

Anyone can stand for election to the ZCG committee. Existing members may stand for re-election, and there are no term limits.

Candidates should submit a forum post (ideally five paragraphs or less) in the governance zcg-elections category of the Zcash Community Forum, announcing their candidacy, and outlining their priorities and vision for Zcash. Community members will have an opportunity to ask candidates questions directly as replies to their respective posts.

The deadline for nominations is 09:00 UTC on 12th December 2022. 

We cannot prevent anyone from talking about their candidacy in other media, but we encourage candidates to use the forum threads as their primary method of “campaigning.” Doing so will make it easier for Zcash community members to interact with and assess candidates.

During the week commencing 12th December, the Zcash Foundation will host a community call, during which the candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves, and answer questions from the Zcash community.

After the community call, ZF will open a Helios poll of the Zcash Community Advisory Panel to select four candidates to join the ZCG Committee. The poll will close at 09:00 UTC on 1st January 2023. As with previous polls, the election will be decided by approval voting. The four candidates with the most approval votes will become the new ZCG Committee members. They will serve a one-year term, ending on 31st December 2023. Committee members may stand for re-election at the end of their term.

Prospective candidates should familiarize themselves with the Conflict of Interest policy (see below).

About the Zcash Community Grants Committee

The largest slice of the Zcash Dev Fund is earmarked for major grants “to fund independent teams entering the Zcash ecosystem, to perform major ongoing development work (or other word) for the public good of the Zcash ecosystem”. While the funds are administered and disbursed by the Zcash Foundation (ZF), applications for major grants are subject to approval by a five-seat Major Grant Review Committee, which is elected by ZCAP. 

The first Committee was elected in September 2020, and adopted the moniker Zcash Open Major Grants (ZOMG). The second Committee was elected in December 2021, and branded itself Zcash Community Grants (ZCG). Hudson Jameson’s decision to step down from the committee in June 2022 triggered an election resulting in the appointment of Cody Burns, whose term will expire in June 2023. The other four committee members’ terms are expiring at the end of December 2022.

The Committee reviews, assesses and approves or rejects grant applications. Committee members currently meet for brainstorming sessions every week, with formal committee meetings held every two weeks.

From January, members will receive a stipend of $1,650 per calendar month (paid as shielded ZEC). 

Conflict of Interest Policy

To avoid conflicts of interest, the following policy applies to the ZCG Committee:

Serving ZCG Committee members, and entities in which a serving ZCG Committee member is an officer or director or otherwise has a financial interest, are ineligible to submit a new grant application to ZCG. A person who has submitted a grant application (or who is an officer or director or otherwise has a financial interest in an entity that has submitted a grant application) on which the ZCG Committee has not yet rendered a decision is ineligible to serve as a ZCG Committee member (unless the grant application is withdrawn). A person who is a current grant recipient (or a person who is an officer or director or otherwise has a financial interest in an entity that is a current grant recipient) is eligible to serve on the ZCG Committee so long as the decision to accept their grant application was made before they began serving as a member of the ZCG Committee. Milestone payout decisions that relate to a serving ZCG Committee member’s grant (or a grant awarded to an entity in which a serving ZCG Committee member has a financial interest) will be taken by the executive director or other officer of ZF. Before taking their seat on ZCG Committee, newly-elected Committee members will be required to undergo the ZF’s KYC process, complete a conflict of interest questionnaire, and sign an independent contractor agreement with ZF (to ensure that their status and relationship with ZF is clearly-defined). Additionally, serving ZCG Committee members will be required to notify ZF of any new conflicts of interest that develop or emerge during their tenure.

If prospective candidates have any questions about the role, they should post them to this topic on the Zcash Community Forums.

The post Opening Nominations for the Zcash Community Grants Committee appeared first on zcash foundation.

✨ DEBRIEF | Unpacking the Episode: https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/debrief-tim-ferriss 

------

Tim Ferriss is a 5-time NYT best-selling author, an award-winning podcaster with over 900 million downloads, and a prolific angel investor. After nearly a year of work, he has finally begun to start talking about his secretive NFT drop.

What’s it about? Why’s he spending this next chapter of his life on NFTs? What alpha did he decide to drop on Bankless?

Also, Tim—like some of us, unfortunately—had money in FTX. We ask him about that and his advice for dealing with these tumultuous times.

------ 📣 Infura | Join the New Decentralized Infrastructure Network www.bankless.cc/infura 

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

👯 DESO | DECENTRALIZED SOCIAL BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/Deso 

🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

📡 TRUEFI | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/TrueFi 

👾 SEQUENCE | ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM https://bankless.cc/Sequence 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/fuel 

------ Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 7:20 Tim a Crypto Guy? 18:00 Tim’s Crypto Trepidations 26:32 What’s in Tim’s Control? 30:20 NFTs & Creative Expression 36:13 Evaluating NFTs 42:30 Tim’s Team 47:10 Tim’s NFT Origins 51:40 Why Tim’s Excited & World Building 1:03:13 Cockpunch 1:22:03 Cockpunch Utility 1:24:40 Supporting Science 1:30:26 Cockpunch Mint Details 1:41:43 Strategizing Cockpunch Community 1:49:46 Storytelling via a New Medium 1:53:00 Next Steps 1:54:10 Tim’s Advice on FTX Closing & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

Trickster makes this world https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56450.Trickster_Makes_This_World 

Tim Ferriss https://twitter.com/tferriss 

Cockpunch www.cockpunch.com 

Saisei Foundation https://saiseifoundation.org/ 

Fear Setting https://tim.blog/2017/05/15/fear-setting/ 

The TAO of Seneca https://tim.blog/2017/07/06/tao-of-seneca/ 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Large CRV Trade Left DeFi Lender With $1.6M Bad Debt Last Week

renBTC Cauldron Could Accrue Bad Debt If Open Positions Are Not Closed

Brave’s native crypto wallet now features integrations from 1inch, Allbridge, AutoFarm, Based, Cardinal, Coral Cube, DARA, EYWA, Guild, Hyperspace, Matrica, Morpho, Tectonic, Plaid, and Quest3.

Brave continues to expand its Wallet Partner program with the addition of 15 new DApps in November. Since June, over 75 projects have integrated Brave Wallet in their Web3-enabled applications. While we encourage outreach and partnership with the growing ecosystem of DApp builders, developers looking to add Brave Wallet to their DApps independently can use our Brave Wallet documentation for DIY integration in just a few steps.

To learn more about our previous Wallet partners, read our past announcements from June, July, August, September, and October. Here are the partners that joined in November:

1inch

The 1inch Network is a collection of DeFi products made for safe, lucrative, and fast operations in DeFi. Their lead product is a DEX aggregator that finds the best rate on swaps across 300 liquidity sources on multiple blockchains. The 1inch DEX aggregator has reached more than 3.7 million unique wallets, and $254 billion in overall transaction volume to date. Alongside the aggregation protocol, the 1inch core contributors’ team keeps developing their own liquidity protocol, limit order protocol, and a multichain mobile wallet.

“We are thrilled to be integrated with Brave Wallet,” says Sergej Kunz, the 1inch Network co-founder. “This is an important step towards growing out of the DeFi space and bringing new users to Web3 products.”

Allbridge

Allbridge Core enables the transfer of value between blockchains by offering cross-chain swaps of native stablecoins. Being messaging protocol agnostic, Allbridge Core connects a variety of EVM and non-EVM networks.

“We are incredibly excited to join Brave’s Wallet Partner program. This enables us to provide cross-chain services to the widespread Brave community. Integrating Brave Wallet with Allbridge Core paves the way to more accessible stable swaps in the DeFi space,” said Andriy Velykyy, co-founder and CEO of Allbridge.

Autofarm

Autofarm is a multichain yield optimizer that enables users to get returns from yield farming pools by simply staking in Autofarm vaults. Vaults auto-compound yields at optimal intervals, while pooling gas costs through battle-tested smart contract code and best-in-class yield optimization strategies. AutoSwap also acts as a DEX aggregator which splits trades across multiple DEXs to ensure the best prices and lowest slippage possible, with no extra fees at all.

“As a leading yield optimizer in the DeFi scene, we are happy to partner with Brave. By implementing support for Brave Wallet, we have opened access to our safe and user-friendly DeFi experience for millions of Brave browser users,” said Luuk, Business Development at AutoFarm.

Based

Based is a social messaging platform built around NFTs. They seek to enable individuals to create and experience more meaningful interactions around their NFT networks and content, with less effort, on one native platform.

Cardinal

Cardinal is a Solana protocol that enables the conditional ownership of NFTs. It’s powering the future of NFT utility through rentals, subscriptions, staking, tickets, royalty enforcement, and more.

“Innovating with the Brave team was exciting on many levels. We had a chance to work with a group who were passionate about making a difference in the NFT landscape and tackle the challenge of enforcing royalties. From a custom minting experience using BAT token, to delivering world class art, the Brave launch was exactly what the space needed,” said Manny Lora, Head of Partnerships at Cardinal.

Coral Cube

Coral Cube is a best in class NFT aggregator, marketplace, and launchpad. Since inception in early 2022, the team has been dedicated to serving creators and collectors across NFT use cases, known for its ability to address customer needs throughout the value chain.

“It’s a tremendous honor to partner with a Web3 mainstay like Brave. At Coral Cube, we’ve admired Brave’s innovative practices and sustainable business model, a pioneer for delivering user value. We’re excited to deepen our partnership, help bootstrap Brave’s NFT initiatives and support their growing team,” said Meisam Vosoughpour, CEO at Coral Cube.

EYWA

EYWA is a decentralized cross-chain interoperability protocol that allows cheap transfers between asset types within any connected chain. EYWA helps projects become cross-chain and offers ultimate transaction simplicity for users. The EYWA ecosystem includes cross-chain products such as Token Bridge, Data Protocol, DEX, Assets, Liquidity Aggregator, and Liquidity Protocol.

“Our main idea is decentralization. We believe that partnering with Brave will accelerate the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies in the global community. Brave is one of today’s best Web3 projects with a huge audience who has access to cryptocurrency benefits through their wallet and browser. We will help bring in additional features such as gasless transactions, and fast and convenient cross-chain exchanges. We believe that society is ready for decentralized and reliable finance,” said Boris Povar, CEO at EYWA.

Guild

Guild.xyz is the infrastructure for platformless access management. It exists to help you manage communities, and create portable memberships and social structures around on- and off-chain requirements—and to build unique user journeys across applications.

“When users connect their wallets to guild.xyz, Brave is the default wallet Guild offers at login if they are not using other extensions. This makes the user experience much smoother, familiar, and personalized for our members,” said Raz, Founder at guild.xyz.

Hyperspace

Hyperspace.xyz is the most liquid NFT marketplace and aggregator on Solana helping NFT traders save money buying and selling NFTs across over 20 different sources. Hyperspace also provides infrastructure to empower creators and developers to build native web3 experiences via NFT APIs. Their mission is to enable the future of NFT trading and commerce.

“We are proud to partner with Brave wallet to enable users to use a secure wallet experience. With so many users using the Brave browser and BAT, we are excited to integrate more deeply into the Brave ecosystem,” said Kamil, Co-founder at Hyperspace.

Matrica

Matrica Labs focuses on providing critical infrastructure within the blockchain ecosystem. As the premier gating and identity-provider in Web3, Matrica powers nearly 2,000 communities with over 300,000 users. Serving as an all-in-one intuitive experience with a powerful and extensive suite of services, Matrica provides a platform that empowers individuals, communities, businesses, marketplaces, and more.

“As a daily Brave browser user, utilizing Brave Wallet was a no-brainer. The experience has been seamless and it’s great knowing you’re receiving the same emphasis on security and privacy that Brave is all about,” said Joseph, COO at Matrica Labs.

Morpho

The Morpho protocol is a lending pool optimizer on the Ethereum blockchain. It’s a peer-to-peer layer on top of lending pools like Compound and Aave. Rates are seamlessly improved for suppliers and borrowers while preserving the same liquidity and risk parameters. The core use cases are lending and borrowing assets and earning interest. Currently, the protocol deals with ~$300 million in total liquidity.

“Thanks to Blocknative, the integration of Brave Wallet in our DApp was almost seamless,” said Tom, DevRel at Morpho Labs.

Tectonic

Tectonic is the leading decentralized lending and borrowing protocol and money market on Cronos, the first EVM-compatible chain built on Cosmos in partnership with Crypto.com. With Tectonic, users can lend or borrow top cryptocurrencies and stablecoins at attractive rates and browse easy-to-understand dashboards to make informed investment decisions. Soon, they’ll also be able to set-up time-critical notifications to monitor their positions.

Plaid

Plaid is a financial technology company that develops a range of financial products, namely Plaid Link—a way for consumers to quickly connect their bank account to apps for a variety of use cases. Recently, Plaid released Wallet Onboard, a safe and easy way for developers to onboard their consumers through a seamless wallet-linking experience. This product supports more than 300 self-custody wallets through one single integration, making it a one-stop solution for developers who want to be able to support as many wallets as possible with minimal technical development needed.

“We viewed fully integrating Brave Wallet into Plaid Wallet Onboard as an important priority for crypto consumers and our developers. It is one of the top wallets on desktop and mobile, and we want to make sure these consumers can quickly find and connect Brave whenever they are connecting,” said Clay Allsopp, Head of Crypto at Plaid.

Project DARA

Project DARA is building an immutable publishing platform and social network, starting with a browser extension that snapshots websites and archives files using a unique IPFS and blockchain hybrid solution. DARA (derived from the Irish word for “oak tree”) is a freemium product where core features are free but premium users unlock more advanced features. This open-source, community-driven project created the world’s first dictionary-on-a-blockchain, and is building the Immutable Project Gutenberg Collection.

“By using a freemium model and removing barriers to entry, we hope to introduce millions of people to powerful censorship-resistant technologies, and provide them with compelling products that can make a truly positive impact on their lives,” said Dorian Sherman, founder of Project DARA.

Quest3

Quest3 is a marketing tool collection for sustainable Web3 project growth incubated by Hogwarts Labs. There are more than 40 quest and event templates, both on-chain and off-chain, that are completely free and open for everyone to use. Quest3 is aiming to be the Web3-native advertising platform, on which ads will be delivered in a fun and gamified way. Existing customers are operating in the fields of public chains, DeFi, NFT, GameFi, DAO, protocols, and KOLs.

“Quest3 is dedicated to providing service to Web3 projects for effective and organic user growth. Offering a complete set of all-in-one growth tool products (which is extremely user-friendly, fully permissionless, and autonomous), Quest3 enables all kinds of projects to build their own growth engines to acquire users in a more efficient and low-cost way,” said Chess, co-founder of Quest3, CEO at Hogwarts Labs.

About Brave Wallet

Brave Wallet enables Brave users to store, manage, grow, and swap their crypto portfolio across multiple blockchains from a single wallet. Unlike most crypto wallets, Brave Wallet is browser-native, meaning it doesn’t require any additional downloads or extensions, helping reduce security risks and reliance on extra CPU and memory. Users can transact with thousands of crypto assets with superior safety and performance, as well as connect with other wallets and Web3 DApps. If you’re a developer interested in integrating Brave Wallet into your DApp, take a look at our developer documentation.

If you’re curious about Web3, check out our Web3 Information Hub, which features simple guides and overviews to answer all your questions.

Want a faster, more secure, and private browser? Download Brave today and take back control of your online footprint one blocked tracker at a time.

@Fiat24Account @GrizzlyFi We are looking forward to this event! Here is the correct link to register in person. Onl… https://t.co/P9XRFZuiCG in reply to Fiat24Account 2022-11-21 RT @MLL_Legal: Andrea Trost is participating in a panel discussion on the latest European and #UK regulatory developments on 5 December 202… 2022-11-21 RT @JeromeBailly: J’ai créé le Western Chapter de @thecryptovalley pendant un bear market, en 2019. C’est le moment de réunir notre communa… 2022-11-21 Last chance to register for tomorrow's thrilling event about #Web3! Join us together with @dfinity, @andrasnobank,… https://t.co/sDI04VmWps 2022-11-21 RT @THORWalletDEX: Have a look at @thecryptovalley’s recording on self custody

@THORWalletDEX $TGT 2022-11-21

RT @JeromeBailly: Time to build. Great working session with @thecryptovalley Board Members and Working Group Chairs to build the future of… 2022-11-22 Crypto #regulation has been a hot topic for a long time. If you want to hearwhat are the currents trends and dev… https://t.co/klAOqCtn84 2022-11-22 Please give a big welcome to our new corporate member, privacy focused decentralised transfer & storage solutions p… https://t.co/ZuzDPi9GA9 2022-11-22 RT @rick_coli: Live from the @dfinity zürich HQ: “Web3 Revolution, and how it changes our daily lives” with @thecryptovalley, @nobankfina… 2022-11-22 Only 10 tickets left for theevent about #bankless future!

You will have the opportunity to hear leading experts… https://t.co/ib9wIaTooi 2022-11-23

That was quick!

Only 1⃣ ticket left, who's gonna get it?
https://t.co/TOvpGGyL2a https://t.co/kqxBCuFTb1 2022-11-23

And we are sold out!

See you all onNovember 29 at @Fiat24Account. https://t.co/47HQaXeYRK 2022-11-23

RT @JeromeBailly: J’ai parlé avec @GregoireBarbey de @heidi_news du scandale FTX, de son impact en Suisse, du rôle de notre régulation bloc… 2022-11-23 Please give a big welcome to our new corporate member @Inkluziva_Edu! The world's first education economic ecosyst… https://t.co/38psKuFWiH 2022-11-23 In our nextonline event, we bringtogether a group of #cryptoVCs for a panel discussion!

Moreover, @CryptoPhD,… https://t.co/RbTwtJ2z89 2022-11-24

Speakers

@DTAPCAP
Founder & CEO of 10T Holdings LLC

Jake Cormack
COO and Managing Partner of Chiron Group… https://t.co/dFZB36fcQq in reply to thecryptovalley 2022-11-24

A thrilling event by @ftlive is coming up inLondon on Nov 28!

The #WinterEdition of the Crypto and Digital Asse… https://t.co/N1pSG9fVFa 2022-11-24

CVA members have a unique opportunity to get a 20% discount on their tickets https://t.co/xuaV7id1Wy

What more… https://t.co/6JPY0OORHe in reply to thecryptovalley 2022-11-24

RT @JeromeBailly: It was nice to gather our @thecryptovalley Western Chapter in Lausanne yesterday. We felt a great energy and joy to be to… 2022-11-25

The post Weekly Twitter Summary (2022-11-20 – 2022-11-26) appeared first on Crypto Valley Association.

BitGo COO Assures Investors that WTBC Reserves Can Be Verified On-Chain

ZenCon0 – Our first-ever ecosystem summit has wrapped up! This inaugural event brought together some of the greatest minds in crypto to envision our future.

Celebrating the growth and accomplishments of our project and ecosystem with partners and supporters was a dream come true for us. Hosted by our sister company Horizen Labs, we welcomed partners, advisors, and community members that joined us at our first ecosystem summit to celebrate our achievements and share ideas for growth. 

The two-day conference was filled with spotlights, panels, and break-out sessions ranging from Metaverse on the Horizen, Web3 & Sports, The Power of Community, Zen OG stories, and more!

Welcoming Our Friends

We were thrilled to see many of our partners, team members, and long-time community members on stage at this event. Each panel and discussion was fantastic, but some of our favorite highlights included the Zen OG panel with Horizen co-founder Rolf Versluis, the Web3 Sports fireside chat with Andrea Radrizzani of Leeds United, and the Horizen EVM marketplace presentation and demo with Sebastian Gronewald of Create3 Labs. We were also able to capture footage of the event setup, which you can check out on YouTube. 

The BizTalks

We heard many interesting talks in the areas of finance and investing, such as “Growing the Ecosystem Through Investments and Introducing HL Builders,” “Cryptoeconomics trends”, Venture Now – The Investor Perspective, and more!

The panel “Metaverse Trends” gave attendees an intriguing look into what trends thought leaders in the space are looking at currently and where they think they will head in the near future.

The discussion “Raising Funds – The Startup Perspective” gave us all an intriguing perspective on some of the early stages of creating a startup especially focused on web3 and blockchain. 

The TechTalks

On the tech side of things, we heard incredible updates from the Horizen and Horizen Labs teams’ – an overview of TokenMint and its current status, where the team is on the Horizen EVM sidechain, DeFi on Horizen, and what’s next for Zendoo. 

We welcomed experts to share their knowledge on topics like “Plonk and LookUp Arguments,” “Private NFT Protocols,” and “zkVMs Under the Hood,” to mention a few. These educational panel discussions and talks provided many with additional technical expertise and understanding.

The Team Sessions

ZenCon0 also brought the global team together in one place to brainstorm, connect, and innovate. The Horizen Labs and Horizen teams from different divisions gave presentations on their expertise areas, which allowed members of other teams to gain exposure and knowledge in areas they might not previously have. Ranging from hands-on demos and product overviews to improving blockchain communications.

Internal sessions like “Bridging the Divide: From Tech to Product,” a discussion on how products go from technical concepts to useable products and how we market them, enabled the team to learn more about process flow and improvements and get insights into how other teams work together to drive our future.

While sessions like “Common Vulnerabilities in Solidity Smart Contracts” enabled us all to learn more about the tech behind our upcoming releases and understand more about the engineering decisions behind the creation of things like our upcoming EVM sidechain.

The Parties!

We kicked off ZenCon the night before the conference with a beautiful, welcoming party at the location of the event. This was an amazing opportunity for everyone to network and was where some of our team members met one another in person for the first time before kicking off the next two days!

The next side party was the CryptoMondays and Horizen Rooftop Aperativo at the Horizen Milan office, which was a great opportunity for further networking and enabled our team members outside of Milan to see the new office! This was an amazing event followed by a mystery dinner, where everyone was grouped randomly to enjoy dinner and network outside of our typical teams.

Finally, we ended this amazing experience and event with a fantastic closing party with great music, delicious food, and dancing! It was the perfect end to the best event we attended this year, and we cannot wait to welcome everyone again for the next ZenCon!

After ZenCon – Getting the Team Together

After the main event, the Horizen and Horizen Labs teams took on an exciting challenge – A Horizen hackathon focusing on dapps that could be created on our upcoming EVM! The winners would have a chance to help make their idea a reality in our ecosystem.

This fun team-building exercise was a great way for everyone to get to know each other better. The teams all came up with great ideas that we could see being potential use cases on Horizen one day! You may even see one of them in the coming months!

We also took a day to enable our teams to get to know each other better and get some well-deserved relaxation. We spent time hiking, exploring, and enjoying one another’s company. Afterward, the team split into groups to complete a fun scavenger hunt! Followed by an amazing final dinner together before we all traveled back home.

ZenCon Replay

Although ZenCon0 is now over. You can still watch some of our amazing talks and panels! Check out our full ZenCon0 playlist on YouTube now. It includes both mainstage and technical talks!

Some fantastic highlights to check out include: 

The Horizen Ecosystem Vision – Rob Viglione from Horizen and Horizen Labs Web3 Sports as an Opportunity with Herve Larren and Andrea Radrizzani Horizen Labs in Horizen – Rob Viglione from Horizen and Horizen Labs Horizen EVM and Beyond The Vision of Horizen Labs Builders – Dean Steinbeck from Horizen Labs Origin Story and Building Zen for Scale – Rolf Versluis from Horizen Web2 to Web3 as a Bridge, with Liat Aaronson and Howard Draft

Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Discord, and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest Horizen updates!

The post ZenCon0 Recap appeared first on Horizen.

Eleventh-Hour Decision Riles BAYC Community

Artificial Intelligence is a fascinating field that has made tremendous development over the past few years. From GPT-3 to Dall-e and Stable Diffusion, the vastness of the scope of applications for AI and neural computing is becoming clearer than ever. At the base layer, there is a need for decentralized p2p AI compute platform that provides flexible access to the wider public. Gensyn sets out on the mission to provide just that by building a market place protocol for AI compute - ultra-low cost, hyperscale, permissionless.

In today’s episode we are joined by the project's co-founders Ben Fielding and Harry Grieve. We take a deep dive into the current landscape for AI and AI compute, the reasonings and trade-offs in building Gensyn, the protocol’s focus and edge cases, and how the protocol is utilizing the blockchain technology as both incentive layer and credibly neutral platform.

Topics covered in this episode:

The founders' background and reasonings for development on Blockchain The current state of AI development and breakdown of AI concepts The current landscape for AI modeling and compute Gensyn's difference to other protocols, such as Golem How Gensyn is adhering to the decentralized default, and making trade-offs in product building Building Gensyn as a Layer-1 protocol Deep dive into the Gensyn Protocol and edge cases Other players in the protocol: solvers, verifiers, and whistle blowers Building a blockchain

Episode links:

Gensyn Gensyn on Twitter Ben Fielding on Twitter Harry Grieve on Twitter

Sponsors:

Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/471

Erigon To Wind Down Support For Akula

Introducing the Nym SDK — powerful privacy served directly to your browser

Nym releases a new TypeScript SDK to create apps that can use the Nym mixnet and Coconut credentials quickly

The Nym SDK allows you to send data over the Nym mixnet with ease from browser-based applications. It has recently been updated to version 1.1.4.

This is the very first time that the full privacy powers of mixnets are available easily and directly from a browser window!

Any application that works from a browser or embeds a WebView can use this SDK to send data through the Nym mixnet to benefit from the network layer privacy protections it offers. This also includes client-side apps that use Electron, React Native, or Tauri frameworks (basically anything that can execute WebAssembly).

If you are a JavaScript or TypeScript developer and would like to give things a try and see how it works, have a look at our GitHub repository for examples on how to use the SDK.

As an example, here is a basic chat webapp. Texts that are sent through the Nym mixnet and to the receiving party. Try running it between yourself and a friend or in two browsers! The code can be found here if you’d like to understand how it works.

We are currently working on reply SURBs, which will allow the recipient to reply to the sender without knowing their address. We are also working on a version that works with NodeJS and native workers, so you can use the mixnet from your Express webapps or from a CLI.

Experiment with the current version and watch NPM for upgrades.

We look forward to seeing what kind of apps people will build with this client!

We are always looking for new community members to run nodes and create privacy-enhanced applications on top of Nym. Join our community to participate and keep up to date:

Discord

Twitter

Telegram

Introducing the Nym SDK — powerful privacy served directly to your browser was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Thanksgiving 2022

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👾 SEQUENCE | ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM  https://bankless.cc/Sequence

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/fuel

------ 0:00 Intro

4:45 MARKETS 8:30 Down From ATH https://messari.io/screener 12:55 Calling the Bottom Cobie - https://twitter.com/cobie/status/1594635144207699969 14:10 Going Bankless https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/exchange-withdrawal-ftx-collapse 15:10 Uniswap Polygon ATH https://twitter.com/sandeepnailwal/status/1594147481709080576 16:15 Profitable Ethereum https://twitter.com/tokenterminal/status/1594818145402978304 20:20 Black Friday https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/0d234f3f-792b-4d65-ab51-2841b16bbb14

25:00 Will Genesis Fail? Barry’s Tweet - https://twitter.com/BarrySilbert/status/1408191462324441092 7 Million - https://twitter.com/GenesisTrading/status/1590391027214725120 FTX Exposure - https://twitter.com/GenesisTrading/status/1590836594382032896 Genesis Loan - https://twitter.com/AP_ArchPublic/status/1594386225200234496 Timeline - https://twitter.com/CryptoCred/status/1594818326282534912  Emergency - https://twitter.com/fintechfrank/status/1594820487582023680  Letter - https://twitter.com/tier10k/status/1595140018871631873  Summary - https://twitter.com/TradFiWhale/status/1595235835431075842 

34:25 Genesis Summary https://twitter.com/TradFiWhale/status/1595235835431075842  41:05 Gemini Earn Update https://decrypt.co/115270/gemini-still-working-genesis-digital-currency-group-unlock-user-withdrawals  42:05 SEC Role https://twitter.com/mikebelshe/status/1594368875482607617  45:45 Grayscale Revenue https://twitter.com/fintechfrank/status/1595205526127771648 

49:20 FTX Update SBF Letter - https://twitter.com/lizrhoffman/status/1595183732989779970  Contagion - https://research-assets.cbinsights.com/2022/11/17113850/FTX-Infographic-1117_2022-1.png 

54:00 FTX Hacker On The Move - https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/11/20/ftx-exploiter-converts-millions-in-ether-to-alameda-linked-ren-bitcoin-tokens/  RenBTC - https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1594730133591662598  58:40 SEC Scrutiny https://www.theblock.co/post/189351/sec-facing-rising-scrutiny-after-ftxs-epic-implosion 

1:00:00 Mango Attack Statement - https://twitter.com/avi_eisen/status/1581326197241180160  Returned - https://twitter.com/mangomarkets/status/1581351549644591104  Aave - https://twitter.com/AaveAave/status/1595168980993556480  Curve Stable - https://twitter.com/0xAlunara/status/1595056270683377664  Gauntlet - https://twitter.com/gauntletnetwork/status/1595174743891709953 

1:09:30 Staking Withdrawals https://twitter.com/vdWijden/status/1595386746786779137  1:10:45 Flashbots Open Source - https://twitter.com/bertcmiller/status/1593668480951373827  Censorship - https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1595198944623165448  1:13:15 Polygon x Magic Eden https://twitter.com/0xpolygon/status/1595056828538564609  1:13:40 rETH in Maker https://twitter.com/MakerDAO/status/1594700128920682503  1:14:10 Arbitrum Decentralization https://twitter.com/bkiepuszewski/status/1594754717330309120  1:15:15 Bankless Collectible https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ/status/1595104542428839936  1:16:55 Alexey Prison https://www.theblock.co/post/189086/tornado-cash-developer-alexey-pertsev-to-be-detained-another-three-months-in-amsterdam  1:18:45 JPMorgan Trademark https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1594676000000212992  1:19:20 OP Coinbase Withdrawals https://twitter.com/MSilb7/status/1595384920322482184  1:19:48 New York BTC https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/23/new-york-governor-signs-law-cracking-down-on-bitcoin-mining.html  1:21:00 Across https://twitter.com/AcrossProtocol/status/1595466083913199616 

1:21:20 Jobs https://pallet.xyz/list/bankless/jobs 

1:24:00 Talking to Family https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/fcaac3a4-5905-47ab-a580-1af82f1255af 

TAKES 1:31:45 Genesis Chapter 11 https://twitter.com/RyanSAdams/status/1594820199806631936  1:33:10 8 Year Winter https://twitter.com/CryptoHayes/status/1594996079015116806  1:33:50 Bull Ponzi https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1595170691917041664 

1:35:50 What David’s Thankful For 1:37:45 What Ryan’s Thankful For

1:41:50 MEME of the Week https://twitter.com/TheFutureisDAO1/status/1594680888767422465 

---- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Arbitrum Continues to Lead Sector After Nitro Upgrade and OpenSea Integration

Genesis Reportedly Considering Bankruptcy As Funding Proves Elusive

Diardi Election — Results

Hello everyone!

As you all may know, the Diardi election concluded last week and was a great success. Thanks to everyone who participated; you are contributing to making Scala more distributed and decentralized.

Results

72 participants applied to become node operators, and more than 130M vXLA tokens were used to vote.

After some internal discussion within the core team, we decided to elect 36 nodes in total.

The 32 community candidates with the most votes in the election application will have the opportunity to become node operators.

We also decided to elect 4 node operators within the core team for further testing and development on mainnet.

What next?

The 32 selected candidates from the community will be contacted on Discord or by email by one of the core team members.

They will receive instructions on configuring their node and server on the final testnet that is about to begin.

During the testnet, we will verify the operation of Diardi and familiarize the team with the operators and vice versa.

All communications will be handled in our Discord server, in a dedicated channel. If you haven’t joined our Discord yet, please do it now!

Community 👋

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact us:

Website: https://scalaproject.io/ Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/djAFVvy Telegram: https://t.me/scalaofficial Twitter: https://twitter.com/scalahq Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ScalaNetwork/ Scala Mining Stats: https://scalastats.com/ Email: hello@scalaproject.io

Diardi Election — Results was originally published in Scala on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Thankful for Crypto

Bogdan Alexandrescu is the co-founder and VP of engineering at SAGA.

USDC, USDP and GUSD Vaults Affected

On 23rd November, ConsenSys shared an update to its privacy policy to all of its users, which included updated clauses in the policy to clearly communicate what information is being collected and how it is used. Specifically, (i) the addition of contact details of our recently appointed Data Protection Officer as required by Article 13 […]

The post ConsenSys Privacy Policy Update appeared first on ConsenSys.

The following images were offered by Maria to share with you. A botanical intention for healing in the shape of a heart placed in the countryside of Mexico. A PDF of this set of images is available here.

Maria also prepared a PDF with a set of images about the Maya Train project, but due to the number of links I decided to pull out the text so that it was more readable in the blog format. Her images can be viewed or downloaded here as a set, and I will place them at the end of this post, too.

 

THE TRUTH OF THE “MAYA TRAIN” PROJECT AND UN AGENDA 2030

The Maya Train Project has been so controversial in Mexico, since years ago, as many people are against it due to the fact that the project will destroy the nature, many archeological sites like Mayas, Olmecs (before Mayas) and others since 7,000 B.C. It will violate the Indigenous populations’ human rights with the risk of disappearing those original etnias, their ancestral traditions, and knowledge, as always, by abusing or even killing them.

Besides those issues, the five states that cover the Ruta Maya are rich in natural resources that corporations are craving to exploit. The people fighting against the Ruta Maya, sadly are Mexicans that are unaware of the role of the United Nations (UN) in the project, even ignoring the existence of the Agenda 2030, as the mainstream media and the government suppress this information to to keep them ignorant. Besides, many Mexicans are totally mind controlled and interested only in money, football, celebrities, corruption, and superficialities.

I want to show you how deeply the UN is involved in this project. The Mexican government has almost zero power of decision making. They just obey the UN and the numerous documents and sub-projects, trainings, meetings, and many websites that have been prepared to reach their goals. The “tourism project appearance” is not the only or the main goal. We will see later, that the real intentions are to create efficient smart cities and smart supply chains that will produce products already decided by the UN for Mexico to export worldwide.

I see the Ruta Maya as a kind of a BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) designed to align the economy with the Great Reset, Agenda 2030/21, and all the implications that conveys for the populations. An important factor to consider is that Mexico doesn’t have strong railway lines as other countries do. For tourism there are basically none, just a very small one in Chihuaha state. For civilian transportation between cities there are no trains. People can only travel by bus, airplane, or car. For the transportation of industrial goods there are some lines that cross the country from south to north and from the main ports and are totally privatized. The owner of FERROMEX is the billionaire Germán Larrea.

“The Maya Train is a comprehensive project of land use planning, infrastructure, economic growth and sustainable tourism that seeks the social welfare of the inhabitants of the southeast of Mexico.” 

This quote is taken from an August 2021 article by UN-Habitat with the support of FONATUR and the UNESCO laying out twelve guidelines “to promote sustainable urban developments In the municipalities of Southeast Mexico, where the Maya Train stations will be built.”

The Guidelines for Urban Design and Planning will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA) in the Southeast Region of Mexico.

In this document we see a preliminary map of the Ruta Maya dated “until July, 2021,” which I took from the Guidelines document website last September 2022 when I made the complete report “Truth of the Ruta Maya” in Spanish. However, it’s very curious that if you download now (November, 2022) the same Guidelines document, they deleted page 2 where this map was located, meaning maybe changes in the route or in the extension of the project.

Since 2019, the UN-Habitat has been providing technical assistance to FONATUR (the National Fund for Tourism Development).

The agreement was signed by the UN-Habitat, FONATUR, Ministry of Treasury and Public Credit (SHCP) and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) on May 21st, 2019.

The five states of the Ruta Maya are: Campeche, Yucatán, Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Tabasco. The most important Mexican ports for export & import are conveniently located close to the Ruta Maya route: Salina Cruz Port (next to Chiapas) and Veracruz (next to Tabasco), Veracruz port being more important than Progreso port that is inside the route. Veracruz state plays an important role in the products decided by the UN to be produced for being exported worldwide.

The indigenous etnias original from the five states and still living there in danger of extinction are: Akateko, Ixil, Kaqchikel, Jakalteco, K’iche, Mam, Maya, Q’anjob’al, Q’eqchi, Chuj, Ch’ol, Awakateco, Lacandón, Mocho o qato’k, Teko, Tojolabal, Tseltal, Tzotzil, Zoque, Chontal de Tabasco, Ayapaneco, Nahua.

 

The Ruta Maya is included in this document called “Atlas Prospectivo Territorial-Industrial para la Atracción de Inversiones” or “PROSPECTIVE ATLAS TERRITORIAL- INDUSTRIAL ATLAS FOR INVESTMENT ATTRACTION” that was published and prepared in 2021 by the UN-Habitat, the ONUDI or UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.

They “…jointly formulate a novel approach to attract foreign investment that lays its foundations.”

SOURCE OF THE “ATLAS” WEBSITE: https://onuhabitat.org.mx/index.php/atlas-prospectivo-territorial-industrial-de-mexico

The excuse, as they mentioned in their website: “The socioeconomic effects of the pandemic have imposed big challenges to comply with the Agenda 2030.” It’s incredible and cruel that they’re more worried about fulfilling the goals of Agenda 2030 on time than in taking care of the people that has suffered, died, get disabled, that has lost jobs, properties, or even their savings to make richer the unethical doctors with the excuse of the pandemic.

We see real intention behind the tourism facade when reading “The Atlas,” which has identified five strategic industries where Mexico can strengthen their GVC (Global Value Chains) to generate a greater value (below) and by analyzing the GVCs.

It includes new geographical industrial configurations according to the needs required by the “pandemic”, by the T-MEC (Mex-USA-Can Treaty), and according to the principles and goals of the sustainable development agendas. That means new regions that are really new “smart cities clusters” that they called “corridors” in Spanish.

The “Atlas” project will work together hand in hand with the Geospatial Strategy for the United Nations to monitor and plan the spaces in the earth for Agenda 2030. Its role is to “strengthen geospatial mandates…and authoritative services to underpin all aspects of the work of the Organization” and “foster a global integrated, federated and multi-disciplinary geospatial services delivery across the United Nations system “Delivering as One.”

The products that the UN has decided that must be produced (cultivated) for worldwide export in the Ruta Maya region are vanilla and cacao.

The Ruta Maya is the train route that will underpin the supply chain of the economic “Corridor or Smart City cluster named “Coartzacoalcos-Villahermosa-Palenque” that is inside the “Ruta Maya” and conveniently connected to the main ports of the South of Mexico. Municipalities included in the “Corridor” where they’ll gather the vanilla and cacao production for processing and packing prior to export. The cacao and vanilla will be exported to the monopolies. They have even calculated the supply chain, the km, the travel times by air, land and train.

In conclusion, the United Nations is reorganizing the space, creating smart city clusters, assigning economic products and services to each country of the work, and opening areas to exploit natural resources. Who loses? They will kill the middle class or loot them to make them poor, forcing migrants and the poorest people to work in whatever the “masters” want as real slaves, more than before, with advanced technology. It’s more than clear that the United Nations supported by NGOs, universities, and corporations control all the countries.

 

Sources:

English – Mexico’s Southeast Region to Benefit from UN-Habitat Urban Planning and Design Guidelines  

Spanish: Corredor Regional Tren Maya 

Spanish: Lineamientos de Deseno y Planification Urbana, Report Download

English: Tren Maya Technical Assistance

PDF below can be viewed or downloaded here.

 

Launch of Shipyard Developer Grants

The value of Nym is realised through its user-facing applications. For this reason, we want to support a thriving developer community and make it as easy and rewarding as possible to build privacy-enhanced applications (PEApps).

Following the launch of Shipyard and the first tranche of grants (Service Grants), we are now launching the next tranche of Shipyard grants, this time for developers.

The Nym mixnet offers network layer privacy and is an agnostic application privacy layer across web2 and web3. This provides plenty of opportunities to build for a broad range of developers — blockchain devs, traditional web2 privacy devs and FOSS devs.

Developer Grants scheme now open

The Shipyard Developer Grant scheme aims to support developers with grants for a variety of projects, making it easy for people with coded proof of concepts or ideas to be rewarded. Joining this scheme will be a fantastic opportunity to inspire, showcase your big ideas and transform your long-term visions into reality with our full support.

Support offering

The scheme will see the Nym core team offer support in a few areas to advance your ideas to market including:

Financial support Dev support Marketing support Project support

Two open calls for grants available

Within our first round of the Developer Grants Scheme, there are two open calls available, each with a different size of grant. This is just the start and we will build to larger calls in the future.

Vinge Grant Offering support up to $3K worth of NYM. For applicants that have an idea of a project that they would like to bring to life with a proof-of-concept. Opportunity to start building out your idea.

2. Brier Grant

Offering support from $3K — $10K worth of NYM. For applicants with integration-specific projects. Examples of these could be wallets or chat applications but we are open to wildcard applications. Opportunity to integrate Nym into an existing application.

Up to 5 Vinge and 3 Brier grants will be selected this round.

We are excited to receive your project ideas and await your applications. Please note that the deadline for applications is 8 December, 23h59 UTC. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 December.

To apply, please fill out the form: https://nymtech.typeform.com/to/eyPtfD8e

Dev resources

Nym SDK

Nym platform docs

Discord

Relevant links:

Shipyard Service grants What is a gateway? / Docs What is a network requester? / Docs Sign up to the Shipyard grants email list Nym Whitepaper

Socials:

Twitter Discord Telegram

Announcing Nym Shipyard Developer Grants was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Within the digital identity ecosystem, verifiable credentials (VCs) refers to an open standard for digital credentials that represent information that would normally be found in passports, driver’s licences, university titles, and other forms of accreditation.

In this post, we explain the mechanics underpinning VCs and some potential use cases.

In another time and another place, there were trustworthy knights.

Ivanhoe is one of Walter Scott’s best-known works. Deemed a historical romance novel, the story follows Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight, and his beloved, Lady Rowena. The thrust of the plot is Ivanhoe’s determination to marry Lady Rowena, with whom she grew up after Rowena was orphaned and became the ward of Wilfred’s father, Cedric, a powerful Saxon lord. The conflict arises when Cedric betroths Rowena to another, Athelstane, out of political interest.

Wilfred is portrayed as the epitome of chivalry. He’s heroic, honourable, and loyal. Rowena is equally depicted as chaste, virtuous, and loyal to her true feelings of love for Ivanhoe. Becoming a knight was a big deal in those days. Indeed, knighthood came to be considered a form of nobility, though in the lower scale. But the point is that knights were respectable, trustworthy individuals. So much so that, often, knights were assigned as elite personal guards for lords, who trusted knights implicitly. Over time, and as methods of warfare evolved, knights gradually became obsolete and eventually morphed into the honorary titles that survive to this day.

Let’s focus on the trust part, as this has bearing on our narrative. Knighthood could be earned by different means: prowess on the battlefield, for certain. Social status did have an influence. The peasantry had a scant chance of being knighted, for example. And there were economic factors at play, too. Armour, weapons, and knight-related paraphernalia were expensive, and beyond the reach of most. But perhaps the key factor for a lord (or someone from the royalty) to bestow knighthood unto somebody was trust. A knight-to-be had to prove himself worthy of trust by the lord. This implied honour, the upholding and protection of the weak, and respect. All these attributes had to be proven before the dubbing ceremony took place, where the lord would place the flat of a sword on the shoulders of the man kneeling before him, thus bestowing knighthood upon him. A foundation of trust was vital for the lord-knight relationship to work.

The triangle of trust

Fast forward a few centuries to the present day. Blockchain technology has enabled a new identity framework, centred around digital credentials. VCs are part of that framework.

VCs stand at the centre of a triangle of trust, which features three vertices: Issuer, Holder, and Verifier. The triangle represents the following flow: the Issuer digitally signs a credential (or set of), and issues them to the Holder, which manages the credentials and, when required, presents them to the Verifier. In this context, the Issuer and the Holder trust each other. The Holder trusts the Verifier, and the Verifier trusts the Issuer. As we can see, VCs are anchored on implicit trust, much like the relationship between a knight and a lord was all those years ago. Furthermore, this identity model puts the individual (the knight, in our narrative) in control of their identity attributes.

Verifiable credentials: quick definition

We all carry a set of physical credentials in our wallets at all times. Driver licenses, government IDs, library cards, health insurance cards, a passport if we are abroad, and myriad others. These things are a) cumbersome, and b) antiquated. It is cumbersome because we have so many of them, all issued by different entities. And antiquated because, well, they come in physical form, which means they can be lost or damaged beyond usability. Both scenarios would require contacting the issuing entity’s help desk many times, and a lengthy wait until a replacement is issued.

Now imagine if, instead of having to carry all those documents on you at all times, all you had to do was show a QR code that contained all that information. If you needed to use any of your credentials, someone would just scan the QR code, and poof, voila. Done. This is the essence of VCs. A digital representation of credentials that enables the individual to selectively share their information, without having to actually show the actual data. VCs enable the third party to instantly verify that the information is true, without having to call or contact anyone else.

In short: VCs are tamper-proof credentials that can be instantly and cryptographically verified.

Verifiable credentials: properties and components

As specified in the W3 data model, VCs must fulfil three inherent properties. They must be:

Machine-verifiable Secure and tamper-proof Respectful of privacy

At a technical level, VCs have three basic components: metadata, claims, and proofs

Metadata – This is information cryptographically signed by the Issuer. Metadata reflects the properties of the credential (who the issuer is, expiry date, and a public key, among many other pieces of information).
Claims – A statement about the Holder. Date of birth, for example.
Proofs – Information about the Holder that accomplishes four things:

Allows others to verify the source of the data (i.e., the issuer) Proves that the data belongs to the Holder, and to that Holder alone Guarantees that the data has not been tampered with Checks that the data has not been revoked by the Issuer

All this information is contained within a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) file, which is an open specification format for transmitting data as a series of attributes and values, and also arrays. These JSON files can then be converted into a JSON Web Token (JWT), which is essentially a JSON file with a cryptographic signature added in. These signatures are kept secure by a pair of public and private keys.

Verifiable credentials: use cases

VCs can be applied to many different aspects of identity-related frameworks. For example:

Government-issued documents, including passports, driver licences, national ID cards, etc. Travel visas Healthcare certificates Credit scoring information Educational credentials (diplomas, university titles, and any other academic achievements) Documentation required for opening bank accounts, and applying for financial products (loans, mortgages, etc.) Credentials for opening a bank account or setting up payments Verification of disability status

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Rather, it is a sample of some of the possible solutions that VCs can be part of.

Conclusion

There are no knights in today’s world, at least not like the ones described in Ivanhoe, or so many other medieval-themed tales. But the image of the honourable and strait-laced Wilfred will do just fine for our analogy. Wilfred (and all those bestowed with a knighthood) embodied trust, truth, and honour. VCs play a very similar role, albeit several centuries later, and in a world that has moved away from the centralization of power that lords represented. You can think of VCs as the knights of a decentralised world, representing the system of trust, truth, and honour that every identity framework requires to function.

Key takeaways VCs stand at the center of a triangle of trust, which features three vertices: Issuer, Holder, and Verifier Current standards dictate that VCs must be machine-verifiable, secure and tamper-proof, and respectful of privacy At a technical level, VCs have three basic components: metadata, claims, and proofs VC information is usually presented in JSON format, which can be converted into a JWT. This adds a cryptographic signature to the credential

The post Verifiable Credentials Explained appeared first on Zaisan.

In today’s episode, we have a special treat. Flexport’s co-CEO and Founder, Ryan Petersen, chats with a16z Growth Editor Das Rush. They start with the question of why Ryan has chosen – of all the problem spaces to work on – improving the resiliency of the supply chain. They cover just how complex the supply chain is in the era of ecommerce, evolving customer expectations, and ultimately how we can rearchitect our supply chain to meet them. Given the holiday shopping coming up, you won’t want to miss this.

 

Resources: 

Ryan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/typesfast

Flexport’s website: https://www.flexport.com/

 

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

SINGAPORE, 24 November 2022 – StraitsX, a part of Southeast Asia digital financial services group, Fazz, a Major Payment Institution in Singapore announced today that it has partnered with Circle Internet Financial, a global financial technology firm and the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin (EUROC), to promote greater access and adoption of USDC by enabling its personal and business account users to deposit and receive USD/USDC via the StraitsX platform.

StraitsX account holders will now be able to mint USDC by depositing USD into their StraitsX accounts, and redeem USDC to receive USD in their StraitsX accounts.

With USDC being one of the fastest-growing stablecoins in the world and a widely requested asset from partners on StraitsX, the integration aims to better serve its business, corporate, institutional and retail users. As of 24 November 2022, over 20 million USDC has been traded since the launch of the StraitsX OTC desk, and in 2022, demand on the platform for the digital asset continues outpacing 2021 growth with three times as many trades year over year.

Alexey Pertsev Will Have Been Jailed For 193 Days Before Trial Begins

Leading Ethereum Wallet Has Over 30M Users

Shandong Testnet Will Relaunch With Withdrawals Enabled

After the collapse of FTX, everyone looked around, wondering, “what’s the next domino to fall?” Well, everyone’s now looking at Digital Currency Group, nervously watching it totter.

I have a friend, Peninsolar, who’s been navigating a new life in Sweden after unexpected dislocation. Peninsolar is an artist who works in sound and images, an explorer and interpreter of big thoughts and intriguing places. He sent me images of early snows there, signaling the winter storytelling season. I felt transformed by the window he offered into his world. There was magic, and he was happy to allow me to share it with you. The delicate branches and ancient stones carry a spirit of play and the heft of time. Surprises await where light and optics unexpectedly shift our view of “reality” to make space for gratitude even in times of loss.

I have another friend, also an artist, who works in pen and ink. She’s incredibly adept at simplifying complex ideas, even my expansive ramblings on human capital finance! Sometimes Eve travels to Philadelphia, and today we were able to hug and nibble cheese and cucumber slices and cookies and talk about her planned follow-up to that first amazing zine. I left with a bag of shells she’d gathered from the coast of Florida on a beach above which rockets are sometimes launched (feature image). I will take these delicate, iridescent, spiral messages west with me to Tucson to set an intention at the Cochise Stronghold. Southern Arizona is a land of dark skies dominated by searching telescopes built on sacred lands that look and look and look without truly seeing.

If you are in the US and enjoying a long weekend, you may enjoy the conversation Cliff and I had examining the Sky Woman origin story and Julian Huxley’s imperative towards “progress” – as much as possible as fast as possible. If you feel you’re in a position to do so and wish to honor the lands upon which we live, you might consider sending some gratitude to my friend Chas Jewett, Cheyenne River water protector, @chas-jewett-1 on Venmo.

 

 

To compliment the sparkling shells, crystalline greetings from Sweden. Thank you Peninsolar!

Announcing Verus Block Reward Halving — Predictable, Transparent Monetary Policy Every two years the Verus block reward is halved. This is part of the predictable and transparent monetary policy, set in place by its inception in May 2018. Halving Event

The current block reward is 12 VRSC — which means that miners and stakers who win a block are rewarded 12 VRSC for their efforts of securing the network. This number will go down to 6 VRSC, drastically lowering the number of coins coming into circulation. See the complete coin emission schedule here.

⭐ What: Block reward to 6 VRSC

⏱️ When: Block height 2,329,920 ( ~ Saturday 17 Dec 2022) see countdown

Introducing the Fee Pool

With the PBaaS-mainnet upgrade coming closer, let’s introduce one of its gaming-changing features that will reward miners and stakers with drastically higher block rewards.

Higher block rewards for miners and stakers.

When PBaaS is activated on mainnet, anyone can launch blockchains, tokens and currencies, and they can convert currencies through Verus’ L1 DeFi protocol. All these activities cost fees that directly go to the miners and stakers of the worldwide network.

So even though a halving to 6 VRSC might seem bad for miners and stakers at first glance, a lot of good things are on the horizon.

👉 Be on the cutting edge of blockchain technology and try out the fully functional testnet and its Fee Pool economy

Discuss and explore all Verus has to offer on Discord

Follow on Twitter

Go to verus.io

Announcing Verus Block Reward Halving — Predictable, Transparent Monetary Policy was originally published in Verus Coin on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Trader Had Warned Aave of ‘Trading Strategy’ Last Month

This giving season, Web3 unites with health workers to create wellness through collective action.

BOSTON — November 23, 2022 — Last night, at the Ukraine Charity Dinner hosted by Dr. Lisa Cameron, Member of Parliament and Chair of the Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group, Circle Internet Financial, LLC  was delighted to announce a 100k Euro Coin pledge UK for UNHCR’s Ukraine Emergency Appeal. This will help support UNHCR relief efforts for people displaced by the war in Ukraine. 

TVL for Top Five Stablecoins Falls 18% Since FTX Meltdown

Argentina’s Fan Token Slumps After Shock Loss to Saudi Arabia

Is Genesis the next domino to fall in the 2022 Contagion? As one of the biggest lending desks in the industry, what does it mean for Genesis to be in danger?

In this episode, we dive into David's conspiracy theories about unravelling ponzi schemes and the death of the bull market. Has David figured it all out?

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0:00 Intro 4:30 Barry Silbert in 2021 7:00 The Pyramid 11:30 Who Made the Money? 16:15 The Yield Game 23:00 The Players 27:00 Arbitrage 35:45 Deploying 41:00 The Macro Picture 45:00 Terra Luna Crater 48:30 The Blow-off Top 54:00 The GBTC ETF 58:00 3AC Liquidated 1:02:00 Saviors FTX and Genesis 1:05:30 FTX Threatened 1:09:50 Greyscale vs SEC 1:13:00 SBF Crumbles 1:20:00 SEC's Role 1:25:20 The Genesis Domino 1:32:00 Is this it? 1:36:00 2021 Was a Scam 1:40:00 Hitting the Reset Button 1:44:00 Comparing Bear Markets 1:47:00 Looking Forward

----- Resources:

Barry Silbert Tweet https://twitter.com/BarrySilbert/status/1408191462324441092 

Bull Market Pyramid https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1BoRcwjJx3yp1UG9G2eFMNEzKDG4ufThLI1_JR1wk2y4/edit?usp=sharing 

Who Made the Money? https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1590483734650056706  https://twitter.com/bmcmillan888/status/1590516943211368449 

GBTC https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1588489/000110465921000026/tm2039668d1_sc13ga.htm  https://miro.medium.com/max/4800/1*Axga-kkSolJ1eG0VfdRE_A.webp 

Investing into AVAX https://www.theblock.co/post/117895/polychain-three-arrows-capital-lead-230-million-avalanche 

Solunavax https://twitter.com/zhusu/status/1471807725742931969 

Inflation https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/10/january-2022-cpi-inflation-rises-7point5percent-over-the-past-year-even-more-than-expected.html 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Binance Holds a Larger Piece of a Smaller Pie

Primary Promise and the “Transformation” of Children’s Healthcare

By Julene Humes

As a mother, grandmother, and Waldorf teacher of young children, an article on KSL.com entitled “3 ways the Primary Promise Initiative will create the nation’s model health system for children” caught my attention. Intermountain Healthcare (IHC), the largest healthcare provider in the Intermountain West, is sponsoring this initiative and, as the title states, is boldly proclaiming their goal to “transform” children’s healthcare and set a standard for the nation to follow. Such an audacious claim raised some red flags for me.

Intermountain Healthcare as an institution is problematic at the outset. It enjoys a monopoly in this area with the consequent centralization, bureaucracy, and imbalanced financial control of health care in general. Moreover, the organization’s handling of the pandemic induces me to be suspicious of any new initiative they advance.2

IHC has three areas of focus for the initiative:

1. Primary Children’s Hospital [in Salt Lake City and soon to be in Lehi, Utah] will be strengthened with the additions of the advanced Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center, an enlarged and enhanced Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, an expanded cancer treatment center, and heightened research activities in partnership with University of Utah Health.

2. Pediatric care excellence will be extended across the Intermountain West to bring expert care closer to home. This effort includes the construction of the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Campus, which is a second 66-bed Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi, Utah; and an expanded pediatric care network utilizing tele-health and digital health services.

3. Emerging children’s health needs will be innovatively addressed through expanded mental and behavioral health services delivered close to or at kids’ homes; teen-to-adult transition programs for children with chronic illnesses; and an expanded Healthy Kids program focused on helping children stay healthy and safe in their communities, including helping kids who have experienced traumatic events to avoid health complications later in life.

Having delved into Alison’s material, I know enough to be alarmed by the words highlighted above. IHC’s plans to “transform” children’s health care through tele-health and digital health service and innovative means of health care delivery hearkens to the global push to use technology to capture, chronicle, blockchain, control, and surveil human beings. Referring to digital health technologies on the World Health Organization (WHO) website it says, “The purpose of a global strategy on Digital Health is to promote healthy lives and wellbeing for everyone, everywhere, of all ages. To deliver its potential, national or regional Digital Health initiatives must be guided by a robust strategy that integrates financial, organizational, human and technological resources.” (Emphasis mine.)

To reduce this to a more immediate and succinct context, at the recent B20 Summit 2022 in Bali, Health Minister of Indonesia Budi Gunadi Sadikin boldly repeated what is being proposed in many places, “Let’s have a digital health certificate acknowledged by WHO.” The B20 Summit resulted in a fifty-two part declaration in which it states, “We support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks.”

Or consider a statement made by the University of Utah research department, which is partnering with Primary Promise in its efforts, “The Digital Health Initiative (DHI) aims to transform health and health care for patients, their families, and their health care teams by cultivating a thriving research community of digital healthcare pioneers. DHI leverages world renowned expertise from the GApp Lab and ReImagine EHR in playful engagement, standardsbased electronic health record interoperability, and participatory design to catalyze research in engaging digital health innovations.”

The polished presentation of these ideas should not obscure the underlying reality that, to accomplish their aim, there must be significant monitoring and data collection, chronicling of behaviors, and intrusion into every aspect of life through AI, machine learning, sensor networks, biometrics, wearables, and implantables, all likely to be fueled by social impact markets. (Alison’s readers should be very familiar with her voluminous research and documentation in these areas. For review, see here, here, and here.) What better sector than the medical industry to implement these methods of control.

Digital health directly relates to the tele-health aspect of Primary Promise which also raises questions for me. It seems apparent that the lessening of actual, face to face interaction of caregiver and patient results in deteriorating quality of care. I understand the intent to give healthcare access to rural areas, but is tele-health the only way to make that happen? Again, is this normalizing a new, less effective, model of healthcare? Will people’s expectations change? Is it substituting technological solutions for the indispensable human touch?

Moreover, in promoting efforts to go into people’s homes and schools to monitor needs, behaviors, and trauma, will the net result be ever more delegating of heretofore family and community responsibilities to “professionals” and “experts” in a large, removed, centralized organization like IHC? They envision a large cohort of professionals actually visiting homes and schools, but given the exodus of healthcare workers out of the industry, it is more likely that IHC will be forced to rely on digital forms of interaction to monitor children with resulting loss of privacy. In addition, will parents rely less on the traditional, time-tested care passed down from generation to generation and more on these institutions and substandard care administered through remote devices? I understand that people are desperate for help and are caught in cycles of poverty and lack of education that need to be addressed, but, again, and I can’t state it enough, distancing that aid to large, bureaucratic centers will not, in the end, be the most effective. A Zoom call with one’s doctor many miles away for a child with a raging fever cannot replace in-person interaction.

I have no doubt that the people involved in this initiative care about children, and I’m aware of the physical and emotional crises children are in at the present time, yet I don’t think the leaders of this initiative quite realize the potential for abuse through the means they will use to implement these seemingly laudable goals. The leaders and donors to Primary Promise, with, I’m sure, the noblest of intentions, are a who’s who in banking and finance, big tech, multi-level marketing, and religion.

Chairs:

1. Crystal Maggelet, trustee on the board of IHC and CEO of FJ Management, a Utah private holding company in petroleum, healthcare, hospitality, and impact funds

2. Gail Miller, owner of the Larry H. Miller Group investing in healthcare and finance

3. Steve Lund, Executive Chairman of the Board and co-founder of NuSkin, a Utah-based multi-level marketing cosmetic company, and General Young Men’s President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 3

4. Spencer Zwick, co-founder and managing partner of Solamere Capital, former chairman of the Romney for President campaign, former Romney aid, and son of W. Craig Zwick, General Authority Seventy of the LDS Church and former CEO of Zwick Construction Company, a leading general contractor for massive construction projects of the Church.

Some of the donors and Primary Promise Campaign Members:

1. Andie and Todd Pedersen, founder of Vivint Smart Home

2. Julie and Greg Cook, founding executive of another Utah-based multi-level marketing company, doTERRA essential oils4

3. Ashley and Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz basketball franchise and co-founder of Qualtrics, a data gathering platform for companies to assess customer and employee satisfaction.

Some of the Board of Trustees for Intermountain Foundation overseeing Primary Promise:

1. Scott Anderson, Chair of Intermountain Foundation, President and CEO of Zions First National Bank

2. Spencer Eccles, former Chairman of Wells Fargo and Co., former CEO of First Security Corp., board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The University of Utah recently renamed the medical school The Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine.

3. A. Marc Harrison, MD, President and CEO of IHC I make an especial note of the following trustee: Bert R. Zimmerli, CFO of IHC, who oversees IHC insurance and health plans, oversees Intermountain Information Systems, Co-chair of Amerinet Board, a networking, storage and security company, board member of Sotera Wireless, a wearable medical monitoring device company and board member of Healthbox Global Partners, a venture capital company that came out of Healthbox, which says of itself, “Healthbox, a HIMSS Solution, enables healthcare organizations – providers, payers, market suppliers, and start ups – to develop, adopt and invest in the technologies that will drive innovation and digital transformation. . . .”

The readers can make of these connections what they will, but, in my opinion, there is a lot of potential for conflict of interest in addition to the headlong pursuit of high tech solutions to children’s health issues.

Summary

IHC will be lending its formidable presence to normalize the detailed extraction of data from children and technological replacement of personalized care. I doubt the players in this endeavor see it that way. People promoting technological solutions to human problems see it only as a convenient way to organize complex information and enhance abilities. Who wouldn’t want these capabilities?

I say—slow down and consider the implications.

I want children to have access to needed health care, to have their traumatic events addressed, to have helpful mentoring; the problem is the overall trend of taking away those services from the communities themselves to be placed in the hands of distant “professionals” on remote devices who claim a monopoly of knowledge that dismisses the importance of warm, present human interaction and the collective wisdom of mothers and grandmothers through the ages. Scientific discovery has blessed humanity, but I fear the tide is turning so that people doubt their own abilities and outsource community services that once upon a time were naturally met at the hearth and home.

Perhaps even more alarming, this new delivery of care will condition children to accept around-the-clock monitoring, extraction of their data, and being tools of machine learning for feeding the AI, the very digitization of their humanity. They are being captured in a “healthbox,” removed from the natural world and alienated from their natural bodies.

In the last two and a half years, I’ve come to doubt that these large behemoths, whether it be IHC or the WHO, have the personal touch children need. Rather I think they have betrayed those they supposedly service. Their handling of the pandemic and reliance on technological solutions has greatly reduced my trust in the medical ethics of the principal players that are now enthusiastically claiming their ability to advance the standard of medical care for children. I recognize that IHC has dedicated, caring, unselfish people who have sacrificed themselves for others. If I get in an accident, I want the incredible care that only they can give; in the area of disease and mental health care, they are increasingly less trustworthy. I don’t want myself or my family to have no option but to submit to invasive monitoring and to be captured in digital systems to qualify for help.

1 – Intermountain Healthcare is changing its name to Intermountain Health in 2023.

2 – IHC mandated vaccines for employees with little to no recourse for exemption and were in lockstep with the national guidelines of Covid care that put people’s lives in jeopardy, i.e., denial of care until severely ill, the administration of the toxic and largely ineffective drug Remdesivir, unnecessary intubation, etc. They also praised and promoted the administration of the Covid vaccine for children.

3 – The LDS church is heavily invested in pharmaceuticals, medical companies, and digital 3 technologies. See https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/03/07/lds-church-discloses/

4 – Perhaps incidental to this discussion, I personally distrust the multi-level marketing companies named here. To address the issues completely is beyond the scope of this post, but, with a little research, it is easy to find questionable ethics in the running of these companies. See https://gephardtdaily.com/local/ftc-warns-3-multi-level-marketers-in-utahabout-false-claims-their-products-treat-covid-19/, and https:// www.naturalproductsinsider.com/litigation/judge-approves-nu-skin-lawsuit-settlement

gnark is a high-performance, open-source library that enables effective zkSNARK applications.

The post gnark: Your Guide to Write zkSNARKs in Go appeared first on ConsenSys.

Nym Shipyard Academy — welcome to Stage 2!

Congratulations to our Nymsters — the more than 600 graduates from Stage 1 of the Nym Shipyard Academy! Over the past two weeks, participants learned about the Nym privacy system and some of the main surveillance problems of digital infrastructures. Two quizzes tested their knowledge. Those who scored 60% or higher on at least one quiz during Stage 1 have graduated to Stage 2 — the Navigator stage. Those who scored 50% and more will receive Stage 1 rewards.

Changes to Shipyard Academy Rewards

The total reward pool for the Nym Shipyard Academy was 100K NYM tokens, with a 15K prize pool for Stage 1. However, since we designed Shipyard Academy the market took a heavy hit, not to mention that probably quite a few participants of the Academy were personally affected by the FTX meltdown. We want to make sure to account for that.

For this reason, we decided to increase the overall prize pool to 115K NYM tokens, adding 5K to the prize pool of each stage. This means the prize pools of each stage are:

Stage 1: 20K NYM tokens (from 15K) Stage 2: up to 40K NYM tokens (from 35K) Stage 3: up to 55K NYM tokens (from 50K) Stage 1 rewards

When it comes to Stage 1, all pupils who achieved 50% or more on quiz 1 or quiz 2 get a share of the reward pool. The rewards scale with quiz performance, with top scorers receiving the highest rewards.

Here is the Stage 1 leaderboard — check it to find out how you did and whether you graduated to become a Nymster!

Congratulations to all our participants! If you didn’t manage to graduate to Stage 2, but want to know about future opportunities? Sign up here.

To receive your NYM tokens:

Download the Nym wallet Await further instructions…

Did you know you can use your NYM tokens via the wallet to bond a mixnode and help run the Nym mixnet?

Learn more.

Did you know that you can delegate your NYM tokens via the wallet to help secure the Nym mixnet and earn rewards for doing so?

Learn more.

Stage 2: Navigator

By the end of stage 2 you know how to navigate the digital oceans in a safe manner and will have become a privacy advocate.

Now that you have learned the basics about Nym, network layer privacy and digital surveillance, it is time for you to help others navigate the digital oceans securely. The second stage of the Nym Shipyard Academy is all about sharing what you have learned so far and start to take action — by protecting your privacy as you use some of the most common apps in Web3.

During this stage, you will:

spread the word to others about privacy online and the problems of popular applications like Telegram and Discord; learn to use NymConnect to protect the network layer as you chat online and tell the world you are doing so; deepen your knowledge about the Nym network and the types of nodes it consists of; learn about the token economics and how incentives help to ensure the privacy and security of the Nym mixnet.

As the stakes are getting higher, the quiz will be more difficult during Stage 2. You may want to look around on our Discord server for study groups, or create your own! Reach out to our Community Managers if you need info on study groups.

Stage 2 rewards

When it comes to Stage 2, the final size of the prize pool is in your hands! You now understand what the Nym mixnet does, and the importance of using it to protect your privacy. It is time for you to start using it, and get others to use it too!

The initial prize pool of Stage to is 25K NYM tokens and today, NymConnect has 250 daily active users. If together we hit and maintain 800 daily active users throughout Stage 2, the reward pool will go up to 40K NYM tokens. Keep an eye on our Discord server where we will regularly report the current daily active users, along with the current size of the Stage 2 prize pool.

Kick-starting Stage 2…

The first thing you need to do is download NymConnect to protect your desktop Telegram chat messages. Follow the instructions for how to set your Telegram chat app to run via a SOCKS5 proxy and send your traffic through the Nym mixnet.

Now that you understand our tech and the problem it is solving, it’s time to spread the word. Over the next two weeks, you need to post a minimum of three posts on socials, memes, visuals or text about the privacy issues of popular apps or what is good about privacy and Nym. One of these posts needs to include a link to NymConnect.

Our aspiring Nymjas, a hand-picked group of elite privacy enthusiasts should take note, as this task is especially important for them. We are also keeping a close eye on the Contributions channel on the Nym Discord server, where you can share your blog posts, translations, guides and other contributions.

Just like last week, there will be information drops across Nym socials that will give you the necessary information to pass the quiz which will take place at the end of Stage 2. There will be two lectures on Nym node types and Nym token economics. NOTE: Stage 2 will have only one quiz, and a submission form to show us your best social media post.

Make sure to keep an eye on our socials and attend the weekly lectures to max out on the Stage 2 quiz!

Minimum passing requirements:

download and use NymConnect post 3 original tweets mentioning Nym or sharing our content pass the Stage 2 quiz with at least 60% correct answers.

Good luck!

The Nym Network is powered by the NYM Token, a utility token that can be used to access the network, run a mix-node, and NYM should only be used within the Nym mixnet. NYM is not a general purpose payment mechanism nor cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. For investment purposes, do not use NYM but instead look into Bitcoin or other investment vehicles.

The rewards of and participation in Shipyard Academy is only available to individuals who do not reside in locations that makes them ineligible to participate and/or receive prizes, including the United States, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, the Crimea region of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic. Nym may request that participants provide relevant information as necessary, and can only process payments once cleared by the Nym legal team.

Nym Shipyard Academy — welcome to Stage 2! was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This episode is a continuation of a mini season of RadicalxChange(s) titled A New Era of Democracy.

In today’s episode, we welcome Professor of Communications and Political Science Zizi Papacharissi who discusses her latest book, After Democracy with host Matt Prewitt. In this thought-provoking conversation, they examine how social media affects our culture, our relationships, and consequently our democratic processes, while exploring potential ways to imagine new and better forms of democracy by “living with technology, not through technology.”

Zizi Papacharissi, PhD, is Professor and Head of the Communication Department, Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and a University Scholar at the University of Illinois System. Her work focuses on the social and political consequences of online media. She has published nine books, over 70 journal articles and book chapters, and serves on the editorial board of fifteen journals. Zizi is the founding and current Editor of the open access journal Social Media & Society. She has collaborated with Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Oculus, and has participated in closed consultations with the Obama 2012 election campaign. She sits on the Committee on the Health and Well-Being of Young Adults, funded by the National Academies of Science, the National Research Council, and the Institute of Medicine in the US, and has been invited to lecture about her work on social media in several Universities and Research Institutes in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Her work has been translated in Greek, German, Korean, Chinese, Hungarian, Italian, Turkish, and Persian. Her 10th book, titled After Democracy: Imagining our Political Future, is out now, from Yale University Press.

 Zizi Papacharissi’s Professional Website

Matt Prewitt is a lawyer, technologist, and writer. He is President of the RadicalxChange Foundation. 

Episode Credits

Originally produced by G. Angela Corpus and Aaron Benavides for 2021 RxC Annual Conference RxC TV program. Produced by G. Angela Corpus, Jennifer Morone, and Matt Prewitt. Co-Produced and Audio Engineered by Aaron Benavides. Intro/Outro music by MagnusMoone, “Wind in the Willows,” is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

This is a RadicalxChange Production.

An update on the tokenomics of the Nym mixnet with a new vest underway.

A new vest is underway this month. Over the course of two years, NYM tokens vest on a quarterly basis, meaning backers, team and Option 2 token holders receive a batch of tokens (testnet participants now fully vested!) This incrementally increases the circulating supply of NYM, stake supply and saturation point, affecting the token economic dynamics as the privacy network and the NYM supply grow. This blogpost gives an overview of changes as a result of the new quarterly vest.

In short, the main token economic changes you might want to be aware of are:

The circulating supply of NYMs is now around 304 million NYM. Staking supply is approximately 349 million NYM. Target level of staking across the entire network is 50%, and thus mix node rewards are maximized when 174 million NYM (50% of the staking supply) are staked. Stake saturation point is now 726K NYM saturation per node. It is determined by target stake divided by the target number of mix nodes (that remains unchanged at K=240 rewarded nodes per epoch). Dividing 174 million of target staked amount by 240 nodes results in approximately 726K NYM saturation per node. The ability to delegate unvested tokens is now capped at 10% to prevent whales from receiving the largest proportion of rewards by staking locked tokens, thus ensuring a better rewards and wider distribution among all the stakeholders that stake unlocked NYM tokens.

Circulating supply of NYM

The circulating supply (let’s denote it by C) of NYM is defined as the amount of unlocked tokens that are available. Currently, the circulating supply is around 304 million NYM.

The circulating supply increases on a per-epoch (hourly) basis with the rewards distributed from the mixmining pool and quarterly with the vesting of locked tokens (let’s denote by V the amount of tokens that are still in a vesting contract). The quarterly vest is currently underway, unlocking an additional tranche of tokens, hence a more drastic change to supply.

As of end November 2022, taking into account rewards distributed so far and newly vested tokens, the circulating supply stands at about C=304 million NYM — with about V=451 million NYM still locked in vesting accounts and the remaining 245 million NYM locked in the mixmining pool.

Staking supply of NYM

The staking supply (let’s denote it by S) of NYM is defined as the amount of NYM that is available to stake in nodes in the Nym mixnet. Currently, the staking supply is about 349 million NYM.

The amount of NYM tokens available to stake on nodes in the Nym mixnet is slightly higher than the circulating supply as people are also able to delegate stake using a portion of their locked tokens.

More precisely, the staking supply includes all the circulating supply C and part of unlocked tokens V. Thus S = C+f*V, where f is the fraction of unvested tokens that can be staked. The parameter f is set to 10%, resulting in a staking supply S = 304m+0.1*451m = 349m.

The staking supply S is an important parameter, as it affects the mix node saturation point, meaning the stake required for a mix node to achieve maximum rewards.

Mix node stake saturation point

The node stake saturation point, which we denote by Nsat, is given by the stake supply, target level of staking and number of rewarded nodes. The current node saturation point is approximately 726K NYM (after adjusting for the fact we aim for 50% of the supply being staked).

The node saturation point, Nsat, is the amount of stake (reputation) that a mix node needs in order to maximize its rewards. If all of the staking supply is taken into consideration, then the mix node saturation point is given by the staking supply S divided by the number of rewarded nodes (denoted by K and currently set to K=240 nodes), ie, the equilibrium (maximum distributed rewards) is reached when the entire staking supply S is distributed equally among K nodes.

Note however that this assumes that 100% of the tokens in the staking supply must be staked for the network to distribute maximum rewards. Since aiming for 100% staking is unrealistic, we have introduced a parameter b (with values between zero and one) that determines the target level of staking. Thus, for example if b=0.5, then the network reaches maximum rewards (equilibrium) when 50% of the supply S is staked on K nodes. Taking all of this into account, the node saturation point is computed as Nsat = b*S/K = b*(C+f*V)/K.

The parameters C and V (circulating and locked tokens) are given by the token distribution and vesting contracts. The parameter K (number of rewarded nodes) is selected so that there is a sufficient number of nodes in the mixnet to route all the user packets.

The fraction f of unvested tokens that can be staked is set to 10% as a compromise, to enable participation with locked tokens while keeping high rewards for staked circulating tokens. The target level of staking b is set to 50% to account for a fraction of the token supply not being staked. This results in Nsat = 0.5*(304m+0.1*451m)/240 = 726K NYM.

Mixmining pool and per-epoch node rewards

The mixmining pool started out with 250 million NYM and it currently still contains about 245 million NYM, after having distributed about 5 million NYM in rewards to mix nodes over the last few months. The mixmining pool is configured to make 2% of its value per month available for rewards (currently 0.02*245m = 4.9m).

The resulting mixmining rewards available per hourly epoch for the set of rewarded nodes are about 6.800 NYM per hour (4.9 million divided by 30*24 hours). Note that out of the 6.800 NYM rewards available for distribution in an epoch, not all is given out to nodes, e.g. due to low stake or underperformance. The unallocated rewards remain in the mixmining pool for future distribution.

Considering K=240 rewarded nodes, the maximum rewards received in an epoch by any given node are about 6.800/240 = 28 NYM/hour, which are reached when the node is fully saturated with stake, has perfect performance and a very high bond. In practice, a typical node that is close to saturated, has less-than-perfect performance and a minimal bond receives about 21 NYM/hour in rewards.

Estimated APY

Estimated APY with the new node saturation stake is approximately 29%.

Considering 21 NYM/hour earned by a node, how does the node saturation point relate to the APY of tokens staked on the node? Simply put, the higher the saturation point, the lower the APY, because those 21 NYM are shared among all the tokens staked on the node.

Before the vest and corresponding increase in circulating supply, the node saturation was at Nsat=430K NYM, while now it has increased to Nsat=726K NYM. A saturated node receiving 21 NYM in an epoch provided 21/430.000 NYM rewards per staked token. With an increased Nsat=726K NYM, each staked token receives 21/726.000 NYM in rewards.

The APY is an “annual” yield that takes compounding into account, and in the case of Nym compounding happens on an hourly basis (24 times per day and 365 days per year). Thus, if the rewards per token per epoch were 21/430.000, then the APY of that node was APY = (1+21/430.000)^(24*365) — 1 = 53%. With the increased saturation point, each staked token receives 21/726.000 in rewards, and the APY = (1+21/726.000)^(24*365) — 1 = 29%.

Note that for simplicity we are considering that the node’s profit margin is zero. A higher profit margin increases rewards (and APY) for the node operator at the expense of decreasing rewards (and APY) for the node’s delegates. (The total mix node rewards stay constant regardless of profit margin, which only affects the operator / delegates split of rewards).

Whale defenses — cap on staking for unvested tokens

The parameter f determines the contribution of unvested tokens to the staking supply S = C+f*V. Bonding and delegating unvested tokens as stake is now capped at 10% in order to prevent whales from hoarding the majority of rewards and ensure a fair saturation point and rewards across the network.

On the upper bound, f=1 considers that all 755 million tokens (whether liquid or locked in a vesting contract) can be staked. This high value of f favors whales with a substantial amount of unvested stake, by making their locked tokens have the same staking power as unlocked tokens. Considering b=0.5 and f=1, this would lead to a saturation of Nsat=1.6million NYM per node! And a corresponding APY of only 12%.

On the lower bound, f=0 considers that only the currently liquid 304 million NYM can be staked. This low value of f favors stakeholders that do not have any unvested tokens. Considering b=0.5 and f=0 leads to a saturation of Nsat=633K NYM per node and a corresponding APY of 34%.

In order to allow stakeholders with unvested tokens to participate in staking while limiting their overall effect on the staking supply, we select f=0.1, i.e. 10% of unvested tokens can be staked. This 10% is applied equally to all accounts with unvested tokens.

This results in an overall staking supply S = 304m + 0.1*451m = 349m NYM which are then factored by b=0.5 to account for a 50% staking target, leading to a target staking supply of 174 million NYM. This results in node saturation Nsat = 726K NYM and APY of 29% when considering 21 NYM/hour in rewards for a typical near-saturated node.

We are always looking for new community members to run nodes and create privacy-enhanced applications on top of Nym. Join our community to participate and keep up to date:

Discord

Twitter

Telegram

Essential links

Tokenomics FAQ

Nym on CoinList

The Nym architecture

Nym network explorer

Nym Whitepaper

Nym Github

Nym Docs

Nym Token Economics update was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Overcollateralized Design Will Use a Novel Lending-Liquidating AMM Algorithm (LLAMMA)

British Virgin Islands — Nov. 22, 2022 — FoodChain Global (FCG), a unique blockchain organization that is focused on real world utility by providing funds to food banks through a combination of digital products and merchandise, today announced that it has teamed up with Circle, a global digital financial technology firm and the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin (EUROC). FCG will leverage Circle’s payment solutions to send donations settled in USDC to local charities worldwide.

Disseminating ecosystem knowledge and emphasising community-oriented support shows the road forward for web3 customer success organisations

The post A Positive-sum Game: How MetaMask Support Reflects Web3 Values appeared first on ConsenSys.

The Ghost of Grants

When Neal Stephenson coined “the metaverse” three decades ago, his book Snow Crash was found on the shelves of “science fiction”. While the book remains in that category, many of its concepts are now found in reality…

Fast forward to 2022, where numerous companies are now building toward their version of the metaverse, including Neal himself – working on Lamina1 – a blockchain company oriented toward creators. 

While the present metaverses don’t perfectly mimic that from Stephenson’s early imagination, we get the unique opportunity to discuss the various design decisions that he’s making, but also the intersection between the metaverse and gaming, the involvement that AR/VR might play, the evolving role of IP, how artificial intelligence fits in, what he’s building and why, and where he gets all of his ideas from.

 

Resources: 

Neal’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nealstephenson

Lamina1’s website: https://www.lamina1.com/

 

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

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Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

New Privacy Policy Says Exchange May Share Personal Data in Certain Cases

DFK Chain Subnet Drives 51% Jump in Transactions Processed in September

Tornado Cash Developer Remains Jailed

Findora Postmortem Report

This postmortem report is written for and provided to the community to provide transparency into a recent outage. This article will describe the event, its root cause, and its resolution while highlighting how improvements will be made in an effort to prevent a recurrence of the issue.

Event Date

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Impact & Duration Mainnet consensus halted Duration: 4.5 Hours Overview

The Discreet Labs DevOps team attempted to coordinate with a set of Findora community validators for a pilot upgrade on the Findora Mainnet network. During this attempt, the Mainnet network experienced an unexpected outage. Engineers identified the issue, immediately began troubleshooting efforts, and worked with the affected validators to revert the nodes to their previous version. More community validators joined the effort to restore their nodes.

What Occurred

At approximately 5 PM, Nov 15, 2022 (PST), the Findora Mainnet’s consensus stopped for 4.5 hours. The incident was triggered, not caused, by several transactions sent from a newer beta version of the Findora wallet after DevOps coordinated with a set of validators during a pilot upgrade with the v0.3.3X Mainnet update.

The event was detected proactively by the event monitoring system. Discreet Labs began troubleshooting efforts within 10 minutes of the notification.

Root Cause(s)

The v0.3.3X update includes a new transaction parameter in the transaction body. The transaction hash calculation logic of the node is as follows:

Deserialization -> Signature Verification -> Transaction Execution -> Serialization -> Compute Transaction Hash

Since the new parameter did not exist in previous versions, nodes running v0.3.27 ignored the parameter when calculating the transaction hash. In version 0.3.3X, however, this field is involved in the transaction hash calculation, thus causing the transaction hashes to be inconsistent.

Resolution

The new transaction parameter will be ignored for hash calculation in v0.3.3X but will retain its role in signature verification. This update to release v0.3.3X will ensure transaction hashes remain backward compatible with v0.3.2X nodes.

Moving Forward

The Discreet Labs team has documented several lessons learned and preventive measures to take moving forward. The items below reflect the methods teams will use collaboratively to minimize risk and optimize communication.

Additional Testing via Mainnet-Mock Upgrades with impact potential will undergo additional rounds of testing on a transient network called “Mainnet-Mock”. This network will be an identical copy of Mainnet, including its data and validators, acting as a mirror of Findora’s production network. Mainnet-Mock will be created and deconstructed as needed. As a mirror copy of Mainnet, testing against the Mainnet-Mock network will require the assistance and close communication of Findora community validators to reach > 66.67% consensus. Upgrades that carry potential impact will be validated on the Mainnet-Mock network before being classified as “Mainnet-Ready”. Change Management Process Improvements

Changes that can impact production will go through an improved change management process. These process improvements will ensure that all the appropriate stakeholders are in-sync with the engineering change task.

Discreet Labs will continue to ensure that partners and CEX contacts are notified of upcoming changes using the schedule above. Technical support will continue to be provided when needed. The details of changes that can impact production will be communicated extensively with the community well in advance of the scheduled change date. Discreet Labs will share information two weeks before the change, one week prior, three days prior, one day prior, the day of the change, and the day after. Change information will be shared across social media, pinned to the official Discord and Telegram channels and Reddit as announcement posts. Discreet Labs will communicate to the validator community on validator-specific channels across Discord and Telegram. Mainnet-Mock testing will be conducted as part of the change management process. See above for information on Mainnet-Mock.

Special thanks to the validator community who worked together in restoring their nodes in a collaborative manner, reflecting the positive values the Findora community fosters and embraces. Your decision to help decentralize and secure the Findora network is greatly valued.

We look forward to upgrading Mainnet to v0.3.3X together.

About Findora

Findora builds privacy through advanced zero-knowledge proof cryptography. An innovative layer-1, it combines a native UTXO ledger optimized for privacy with an EVM extension for programmability and interoperability. Developers can leverage either model as they build dApps with auditable privacy.

We appreciate our developers and would love to onboard you to the Findora ecosystem. Please reach out, and join our social channels for more.

Discord | Twitter | Telegram | Medium | LinkedIn | Facebook | Reddit

Postmortem Report | Nov 15, 2022 was originally published in Findora Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Secure multi-party computation is a well-known cryptographic technique designed to secure digital assets or protect information cryptographically. Today, several MPC theories and algorithms are leveraged in various sectors to safeguard information. Similarly, with the rise in popularity of blockchain-based financial solutions (DeFi), the interest in MPC has spiked, mainly due to the applications of MPC in safeguarding funds in crypto wallets.

In a nutshell, multi-party computation enables programmatic solutions to secure “secrets” by splitting them into multiple parts, such that no single participant know the underlying “truth”. Thanks to this, no single participant can reconstruct or leak secret information.

In this article, we will understand the concept of secure multi-party computation in detail, how it works, and its numerous applications.

What is multi-party computation (MPC)?

Multi-party computation is a cryptographic technique that allows multiple parties, each in possession of fragments of private data, to participate in computing a specific result. This specific result is computed by combining their data without disclosing the nature or content of their inputs or any other secret information related to the process.

In simpler terms, multi-party computation brings together separate entities holding pieces of information that, when combined, can reveal a secret, sign a message, or approve a transaction. It’s also worth noting that MPC achieves this without revealing any details on the information in each individual's possession.

It’s worth noting that in MPC, the data split across multiple participants does not represent the secret if simply combined together. Instead, these pieces of information will serve as inputs to participate in the desired computation. Every valid MPC protocol must fulfill two specific requirements:

Suppose participants reveal their secret information or discard the rules during the computation. In that case, the multi-party computation protocol will not allow dishonest participants to force the honest parties to disclose their confidential information or influence the outcome of the result.
No one can deduce each party's secret information from the protocol's execution. This means that the result of the computation does not give its holders any hint of what the private information in the participants' possession is.

MPC as a concept is said to be born in 1980s when Chinese computer scientist Andrew Yao first adopted two-party computation and introduced secure multi-party computation. Here's what the timeline of the evolution of MPC looks like:

1982 – 1986: To solve the famous Millionaire's Problem, Andrew Yao introduced two-party computation and adapted it to any calculation involving two parties.
1987: Oded Goldreich, Silvio Micali, and Avi Wigderson release the Goldreich-Micali-Wigderson protocol, adapting two-party computation to a multi-party format.
The 1990s: More studies on multi-party computation resulted in several breakthroughs, one of which was enabling MPC on mobile (i.e. less powerful) devices.
2008: The first practical application of MPC at scale occurred in a sealed-bid sugar beet auction in Denmark.
2015: Following an increase in hacks and thefts from crypto wallets, crypto wallet providers and custodians begin utilizing MPC for private key and digital asset security. 2019: The MPC-CMP debuted as the first automatic, one-round key-refreshing multi-party computation algorithm. How does multi-party computation work?

To understand how multi-party computation works, let’s consider one famous example.

Greg and Smith, two employees holding similar roles at a company, are having lunch. Then, they want to know whether they earn the same amount or if any of them is being paid less than what they deserve. Yet, they do not want to reveal their wages. How do they solve this dilemma without revealing their secrets to one another?

A simple way to solve their problem would be to disclose their income to a trusted mutual friend, who can tell them if they earn the same wage based on the information she has received. However, the goal of a multi-party computation protocol is to help them figure out who's worth the most among them without third-party involvement.

Using oblivious transfers, Greg and Smith can solve their dilemma quickly. The oblivious transfer method is a non-technical way to explain secure multi-party computation. In this scenario, Greg gets four locked suggestion boxes and marks each box with a particular amount that may represent the hourly pay for their roles. Box-1 is marked $40, Box-2 is marked $50, Box-3 is marked $60, and Box-4 is marked $70.

Let’s say Greg earns $50 hourly, so he takes only the key for Box 2. Smith makes $60 hourly and has to select the box that matches his hourly earnings. On four pieces of paper, he writes a 'NO' on three sheets and a 'YES' on the fourth. These scribblings will go into each box, and the one with a 'YES' goes into Box-3 since Smith earns $60 per hour, while other boxes get a NO.

When Greg unlocks Box-2, he finds a NO, indicating that Smith does not earn $50 per hour. Greg now has to tell Smith that they do not make the same hourly wage, though neither of them knows who earns more or less. Their secrets are safe, and they have exchanged information without revealing anything. Note that this analogy depends on honesty from both parties.

Secure multi-party computation splits essential information that can be used to compute a specific result among multiple parties in total secrecy. Each participant only knows the information in their possession, and throughout the computation, no part of the secrets are revealed.

Another example, similar to one mentioned above, to understand the concept on MPC. (Source)‌ ‌

Threshold signature scheme MPC diagram. (Source) Applications of multi-party computation

Over the years, multi-party computation has found several use cases and applications. The earliest large-scale application was recorded in 2008 at a sealed-bid sugar beet auction in Denmark. Farmers' bids were private, with the protocol responsible for determining the highest bid. The farmer with the winning bid went on to pay the second-highest request on the bidding log. Sealed-bid auctions remain popular still.

There are several variations and modifications of multi-party computation schemes enabling further applications. Threshold signature schemes and Shamir's Secret Sharing are two famous examples of cryptographic methods leveraging MPC.

Other significant applications of MPC include:

Data Analytics

Big firms that deal with confidential user data, like healthcare companies or financial institutions, can collect data securely from an anonymous pool of users, compute, analyze, and gain insights from the data using MPC. This way, users will not reveal their personal information, and these organizations can analyze the data for insights without uncovering it.

This same method can be applied to autonomous cars, shipping or truck fleets, and aircraft fleets, with recipients like car companies, city planners, and service providers benefitting from the insights without knowing any details on the information provided.

Genetic Testing

Secure multi-party computation can also be utilized in genetic testing. Patients can access their genetic profiles privately and securely without revealing any confidential information on their metabolism rates, family traits, hereditary disease information, and other data thatthey would rather not share.

Threshold MultiSig in Blockchains

Threshold multi-signature schemes are a subfield of multi-party computation and can perform similar functions as a private key on the blockchain, including public address generation and transaction signing.

With MPC, the private keys of a crypto wallet can be split (shards) among several parties in such a way that for any function to be performed, a minimum number of people holding key shares have to be involved.

If some participants within the group become dishonest, they will not be able to have their way unless they reach the threshold for signing transactions. Usually, these participants do not know each other.

Digital Wallet Security

Multi-party computation protocols enhance private key security and, by extension, digital wallet security. Most cryptocurrency wallets use private keys, usually stored in a particular 'trusted' device. While this method primarily depends on the strength of the device's security measures, it also presents a single point of failure.

Using MPC, private keys are split up between multiple entities, making it more difficult for attackers to compromise the digital wallet since they have to attack multiple points simultaneously.

Closing Thoughts

Multi-party computation has evolved over the years and remains a crucial breakthrough in the world of cryptography today. From sealed-bid auctions to crypto wallets, MPC protocols are being leveraged in various applications.

From a blockchain perspective, however, leveraging MPC for security of digital wallets is a critical, immediate application that multiple parties are invested on. As more and more wallet providers begin to adopt MPC protocols for wallet security, the era of seed phrases may be over. As of now, several wallet providers have already started opting MPC to offer better protection and an improved user experience.

In the coming year, hopefully, we'll have more real-life applications of multi-party computation touching our daily lives similar to what happened with public key authentication.

About Panther

Panther is a decentralized protocol that enables interoperable privacy in DeFi using zero-knowledge proofs.

Users can mint fully-collateralized, composable tokens called zAssets, which can be used to execute private, trusted DeFi transactions across multiple blockchains.

Panther helps investors protect their personal financial data and trading strategies, and provides financial institutions with a clear path to compliantly participate in DeFi.

Stay connected: Telegram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Easily bridge across multiple networks directly inside the wallet.

Let’s face it — user experience sucks when it comes to Web3 bridges. You’re overwhelmed with all the options to choose from, while simultaneously paranoid about which protocols are actually legit.

The reality is, user experience bridging on Web3 is nowhere near good enough…until now.

Introducing BlockWallet Bridges. Send tokens across multiple networks directly inside BlockWallet.

Skip the sketchy websites and nerve-wracking wallet permissions — use BlockWallet and bridge right on the spot.

BlockWallet users can now explore cross-chain EVM opportunities with ease. Bridge quickly with just a few clicks, bridge cheaply with the best quotes on the market, and bridge with peace of mind by dodging scam websites.

Thanks to Li.Fi’s advanced Bridge aggregation with DEX connectivity, BlockWallet users get the best possible quotes when bridging.

Follow the instructions below and start using BlockWallet Bridges today!

How to bridge your tokens Select the desired network you’d like to bridge tokens from. Select the token you would like to bridge from the “Assets” tab on the home screen. Select the Bridge icon. Enter the number of tokens you would like to bridge. Select the network you would like to bridge to. Press “Review”. On the Bridge confirmation page, there are several features to ensure you’re satisfied with your Bridge. In the “Settings” tab, you can customize slippage and also turn on Flashbots Protection. This option will only be available for transactions consuming more than 42,000 gas. In the “Details” tab, you can view the contract address and other details like fees and rates. If you are satisfied with the details of your transactions, press “Bridge”. Once the bridge transaction has been initiated, the “Activity” tab on your BlockWallet home screen will show that your “BlockWallet Bridge” is pending. You can also check the “Activity” tab in the destination network to confirm there’s an “Incoming Bridge”. Once the bridge is complete, your tokens will now be available on the destination network!

There’s a 0.5% fee involved when you use Bridges and Swaps in BlockWallet. No hassle, fast, and super cheap. BlockWallet’s got it all.

For all the visual learners out there, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Here’s a screen recording walkthrough on how to bridge ETH tokens from Ethereum network to BNB Chain.

To learn more, check out our HelpDesk article on How to Use BlockWallet Bridges.

About BlockWallet

BlockWallet is a privacy-first self-custodial browser extension wallet where you can store, send or receive crypto and interact with your favorite blockchain apps privately.

As crypto sees mainstream adoption, blockchain’s lack of privacy often translates to security risks. BlockWallet is here to ensure that on-chain privacy does not lag behind. The wallet provides a set of advanced privacy tools wrapped in a familiar and user-friendly wallet experience, eliminating friction and making privacy accessible for everyone.

BlockWallet protects you and ensures privacy by default. When you make transactions or interact with blockchain apps, BlockWallet routes all node requests through Privacy Proxies, which mask the IP address and other metadata, that can be used to identify and track you on a blockchain. BlockWallet offers integrated Flash-Bot Protection, shielding you from sandwich attacks when you trade on DEXes. Meanwhile, the Phishing Protection feature helps you combat phishing scams by generating unique artwork on all sensitive pages.

BlockWallet is not a compromise. It’s privacy-first, but it still packs all features you would expect from a wallet. With full Web 3.0 support, the wallet allows you to connect to any DApp.

Become a part of the BlockWallet community today:

Homepage | Medium | Twitter | Telegram | Discord | GitHub | E-mail

Bridges Are Now Available on BlockWallet was originally published in BlockWallet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Converge Dispatch is a blog series focused on exciting updates announced during Converge22, Circle’s inaugural crypto conference. See previous articles here, here, here and here.

Deal Challenges Liquidity Staking Giant Lido

I’ve been gifted quite a few insights from James Carse’s “Finite and Infinite Games” over the past month. Thank you Paul for recommending it to me a few years back. In yesterday’s livestream I reflect on Carse’s ideas of “winning,” “invisibility” before a perceived audience, and the power of “touch” as a language in contrast to being moved through external forces like cybernetic nudging. I also dig into Vannevar Bush’s ideas for an external brain, stigmergic thought trails, Xanadu, and how indexed information (possibly from tokenized “Athenian-inspired” governance systems on blockchain) could be an armature for the emergent super-organism.

I’ll restate my open invitation to publish letters from readers open to “looking around the labyrinth” with the understanding that the goal is to learn to look in our backyards with compassion at the structures – no hammers. Do come play and in doing so reassure me that I haven’t strayed too far off into the woods. I’m gathering sticks and bits of natural frippery to make a charming hideaway. Some day it will be the setting for a fabulous gathering of like-minded souls. There will be many stories to tell around the fire.

Until then, here are parts of the D-Cent Map that I talk about in the video above. Each image is hyperlinked to the interactive version. Enjoy the “garden of forking paths” I’ve prepared, lol.

Map Links

Hypertext

Tokenized Democracy

Stigmergic Coordination of “The Commons”

Book List

Finite and Infinite Games – James Carse

We – Yevgeny Zamyatin

The Garden of Forking Paths and Labyrinths – Jorge Luis Borges

Gathering Moss – Robin Wall Kimmerer

Thy Will Be Done – Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett

Manhattan Project to the Santa Fe Institute – George Cowan

Signals and Boundaries – John Holland

 

ConsenSys’ Infura infrastructure integrates with Celo for speed, scalability, convenience, and extensive multi-chain support, reaching 1,000+ mission-aligned projects
Celo joins ConsenSys’ Ethereum Scalability Partners with planned improvements to MetaMask compatibility, making it easier for users of all experience levels to transact on the blockchain

The post ConsenSys and Celo Announce a Multi-Faceted Partnership to Drive Real-World Adoption and Use Cases. appeared first on ConsenSys.

Someone stole almost half a billion dollars from FTX on Nov. 11, just hours after it declared bankruptcy. Now, some of the funds are on the move.

Welcome to Markets Roundup, brought to you by Sent Galaxy x The Defiant. Check in every Monday to keep up with the latest market moves on DeFi, CeFi, NFTs, and everything in between.

✨ DEBRIEF | Unpacking the Episode: https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/debrief-leonard 

------ How is money created? Why? Whose job is it? We often discuss the Federal Reserve, and in this episode, we’re doing a deep dive into what the Fed is—its origins, its purpose, and ultimately, its concerning behavior.

What do we do about this institution? Something has to change, but what is the path forward?

Joining us to answer these questions is Christopher Leonard, investigative journalist and author of The Lords of Easy Money.  

------ 📣 Infura | Join the New Decentralized Infrastructure Network www.bankless.cc/infura 

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER:          https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST:                 http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

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👾 SEQUENCE | ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM  https://bankless.cc/Sequence 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/fuel 

------ Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 5:30 Should We Be Worried? 8:35 This is Insane 15:30 Origins of the Fed 23:50 A Young Fed 30:40 From Gold to Fiat 35:50 A Tool of the State 43:25 Incentives and Structure 47:25 Against Ben Bernanke 55:20 Institutional Pressure 59:30 Jay Powell 1:05:20 Banking Pressure 1:12:30 Political Actors 1:16:30 The Terminal Point 1:20:40 What Comes Next? 1:24:00 What to do about the Fed 1:29:15 The Legacy of the Fed

------ Resources:

Christopher Leonard https://twitter.com/CLeonardNews?s=20&t=2hDVEsJqii7nFVkuwxDPvQ 

The Lords of Easy Money http://www.christopherleonard.biz/ 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

New Technology Can Deliver a User-Controlled Web and Propel the Expansion of DeFi

Nearly $500M Was Drained From Bankrupt Exchange On Nov. 11

0x59 still has over 200,735 ETH, worth around $236M, in its wallet.

RT @JeromeBailly: I’ve created @thecryptovalley Western Switzerland Chapter during a crypto winter, in 2019
We’re now living an especially… 2022-11-14 Please give a big welcome to our new corporate member, an international management consulting and technology compan… https://t.co/GoN6khAOTZ 2022-11-14 Do you want to learn more about how #Web3 works? How it's gonna change our lives? And what the #decentralisedinte… https://t.co/wodGhjLp0m 2022-11-14 The countdown for @Cardano_CF Summit begins, only a couple of days before we're heading to Lusanne.

Our CVA team… https://t.co/EyZtHFZ7Je 2022-11-14

RT @ondefy: Online is good, but offline is better

@thecryptovalley organises a meetup with all crypto people mainly based in western Swit… 2022-11-14

RT @Fiat24Account: We are delighted to be hosting this event with @thecryptovalley on November 29th!

On the panel – @Fiat24Account, @Velas… 2022-11-15

Please give a big welcome to our new corporate member! @Enerhash1 helps energy companies optimise power plant produ… https://t.co/en42wf3QXE 2022-11-15 Are legacyfinancial institutions here to stay or are we heading into a bankless futures?

Join us together w/… https://t.co/zIbn8AfwLu 2022-11-15

Last chance to register for the The Institutional Digital Assets and Crypto Regulation Symposium startingtomorro… https://t.co/W40V0STDSm 2022-11-16 Only 39left for the CVA Western Chapter Meet up onNov 24 inLausanne.

A unique opportunity to catch up w/ the… https://t.co/NNG9UmW9KY 2022-11-17

RT @dfinity: Let's talk about the #web3 revolution. @thecryptovalley & @dfinity are hosting a meetup in #Zurich. Register now – spaces… 2022-11-17 Have you registered yet ?!

We hope to see you on TUESDAY 22/11 in Zürich at the @dfinity office at 18:00 CET for… https://t.co/hFTeDI0csR 2022-11-18

Please give a big welcome to our new corporate member, a blockchain security company focused on real-time attack de… https://t.co/XNB0y2Oocv 2022-11-18 The @Cardano_CF Summit begins tomorrow!

The CVA team, @EmiMoonsoon, @JeromeBailly, @niki_csanyi, & @CryptoSherazo… https://t.co/xSoNN6ohTt 2022-11-18

What a phenomenal time at the #CardanoSummit2022 kickoff event tonight in beautiful Lausanne!

Happy to see so man… https://t.co/H35DNhTqW2 2022-11-19

The post Weekly Twitter Summary (2022-11-13 – 2022-11-19) appeared first on Crypto Valley Association.

Cites Security Concerns for Not Publishing Proof-of-Reserves

Maker moves to clear bad debt, Aave explores new ways to generate yield, and Uniswap looks into the Boba network!

The post DeFi Protocol Governance Report | November 2022 | Week 3 appeared first on ConsenSys.

Since joining Privy earlier this year, I’ve been spending most of my time working with web3 developers to help improve their products’ UX, onboarding flows, and user data privacy. I’ve spoken with over 100 founders in the space working on gaming, NFTs, web3 social, defi, payments/accounting, and much more. In spite of all the recent market uncertainty, my optimism about our market burns hotter than ever. Here are some learnings from a very deep dive with Privy.

Winter is here. As we bundle up and prepare for another cycle of hunkered down building, the Privy team has been reflecting on what it’ll take for web3 to unlock the next phase of adoption beyond financial use cases. In the coming months, seeds will be planted that’ll grow into the next wave of consumer apps to shape our lives. These apps must prove to be useful and fun enough to pull both my 15-year-old cousin and my 85-year-old grandma into our market (whether they know it or not).

Our work helping developers build better web3 products and bridge the gap between on and off chain data has given us a sense of the features these apps will need to have to hit mainstream adoption. Without further ado, here are our ingredients for developers cooking up the web3 consumer apps of tomorrow:

Progressive onboarding — meet users where they are: The next billion blockchain users don’t have self-custodial wallets yet. While self-custody is perhaps the single most important feature of a web3 product, apps need first-class ways for walletless users to onboard and get immediate value. The best apps will have ways for users to onboard via email or social identities, and seamlessly upgrade to self-custody when they’re ready or as the app demands it. As the old saying goes: you’ll attract more bees with email auth than with mnemonics. Mobile-first — bringing blockchains to every pocket: If you’ve given up on a web3 app after trying to connect on mobile, you’re not alone. The broken mobile user flow of getting misdirected to the app store upon wallet connection runs rampant, and for good reason: building mobile-optimized experiences in web3 is hard. But mobile accounts for >60% of internet traffic (growing fast!). The web3 apps of tomorrow will be natively mobile — props to apps like OpenSea, Zapper, and dYdX for leading the way here! Friction where it matters — when to slow a user down: Not all blockchain transactions are created equal. While it might make sense to interrupt a user session to prompt a signature on a financial transaction, many on-chain events should occur without user interruptions, notably in web3 social and gaming. Should you sign something every time you follow a new account, make an in-game move, or like a post? Of course not. Lots of exciting development in areas like session-specific keys and account abstraction will pull UX forward on this front. The best apps will be judicious about when to prompt users (shout out to our friends at Farcaster for showing us an example of what great looks like!). Asset portability — open is the way to win: Whether they realize it or not, consumers will choose to use blockchain apps because they allow users to seamlessly bring their assets in and take their assets out. While it can be a tempting value capture play for developers to lock assets into their apps’ walled gardens, this misses the point! Games that let users bring their own leveling reputation and that let users leave with assets they earn in gameplay stand to attract new potential audiences and deliver much richer first time experiences for those audiences off the bat. Financial assets, user data, and identity will travel with users across the internet, and developers who build for more than just using blockchain as a financial backdrop for their apps can unlock new user experiences that are only possible in web3.

It’s always darkest before dawn. Winters are exactly the sort of distraction-free environments necessary to breed the innovations that pull our market forward each cycle: it’s no coincidence that Ethereum and Uniswap were launched in the depths of 2015 and 2018, respectively. As long as we cook up the next generation of web3 apps with the above in mind, this should be the last winter before mainstream consumer adoption is here to stay.

We’re lucky to be serving the builders working day-and-night to turn mainstream adoption into a reality, and we can’t wait to show you all what we’ve been up to these past few months.

How Crypto Goes Mainstream from Here was originally published in Privy Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

EigenLayer enables users to restake their ETH and extend cryptoeconomic security to additional applications on the network.

The post EigenLayer: A Restaking Primitive appeared first on ConsenSys.

The post Jumpstarting <span>Data-Centric</span> AI appeared first on Greylock.

In this episode, David is joined by John Light of Sovryn and Eric Wall, who moonlights David on the Bitcoin technical details throughout the interview.

The three go over the bull case for ZK-Rollups on Bitcoin. It’s undoubtedly the frontier.

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0:00 Intro 5:10 John’s Background 8:24 How zkBTC Works? 11:00 Eric’s Interest 15:43 A Better Lightning Network? 21:33 Rollups on ETH vs. Lightning Network 25:50 Rollup Potential 29:24 Optimism 32:15 Expressivity 43:53 Limitless Bitcoin Applications 46:29 Layer 3 Protocols 50:25 What Needs to Happen 52:05 Forks & Flippening Effects 58:00 Proof Systems & Recursive Covenants 1:09:40 Next Steps 1:12:00 Research 1:14:12 Eric’s Thoughts on Bitcoin 1:16:50 Closing & Disclaimers

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This is the final installment of a series I published in January 2022. I’m not sure why I waited so long to upload this final piece. Perhaps it was providence, because I have more context now from my D-Cent map. Today I’ll be reading from this post and discussing the portion of the map having to do with Brazil, digital currency, and impact tokenization.

Map Link

You can read the rest of the series by following the links below: 

On Cyberpunk, Sumer, Synagogues and Vending Machine Government Link

Poverty, Identity, and Child Gamers in Rio’s Favelas Link

Pay For Success Finance: How the Dorseys of the World Could Use Wearables to Profit from Poor Kids’ Prescribed “Wellness Behaviors” Link

How Privately Funded Recreation Centers Could Harm Children – Human Capital Finance In Brazil Link

It’s Time To Talk Social Impact Investing In Brazil Glenn Greenwald Link

The Internet of Bodies and Human Capital Futures Bets In Brazil Link

An Infrastructure Of Faith-Based Data Colonialism In Brazil Link

Fin-tech, Digital Identity and E-Government in Brazil Link

Omidyar Network And National Education Standards in Brazil Link

Brazil’s first national smart city initiative, Cidades Digitais, began in 2012. It was replaced in 2019 by Nacional de Estrategia para Cidades Inteligentes Sustentaveis, advancing adoption of facial recognition infrastructure, connected agriculture, urban mobility, and electronic health records. The 2014 FIFA World Cup provided officials in Rio de Janeiro the excuse they needed to ramp up deployment of “smart” technologies. That effort that was expanded with the 2016 Olympic games.

As preparations were underway for Rio’s World Cup, the Rockefeller Foundation was launching its “100 Resilient Cities” program. Rockefeller officials selected UK-based global consultancy Arup to create a design book for cities of the future. The firm consulted on several Olympic facilities in Rio, is deeply embedded in UN SDG planning efforts, as well as being collaborator with ICLEI. That project resulted in a “framework” for cities where “inclusive’ and “integrated” data would be captured to inform response for future crises.

Arup established permanent offices in Rio and Sao Paulo in 2012 knowing there would be a lot of work coming through the pipeline. One of Arup’s projects was a “child-centered resiliency” report for the favelas of Salvador, funded by the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, a philanthropy backing the creation of early childhood impact investing markets in Brazil. It was one part of Salvador’s larger 200+-page resiliency plan that identified the following “pillars:” cultural identity (social engineering); healthy communities (bio-surveillance); inclusive economy (digital ID + fin-tech); innovative governance (data-driven public-private partnerships); and urban transformation (sustainable panopticon).

Once you understand that engineering poor communities is central to the social impact / AI machine learning enterprise, you can see why venture philanthropists are so interested in Brazil’s favelas.  This moment has been a long time coming as NGOs with international ties, like Theresa Williamson’s Catalytic Communities, have harnessed grassroots organizing and groomed community leaders for their moment to shine as quality human capital on data dashboards set up by B-Lab’s social entrepreneurs and the University of Pennsylvania, the alma mater of both Dr. Williamson and Judith Rodin. Williamson, originally from the UK, has been working in Rio de Janeiro for two decades, bringing her Ivy-League credentials and connections to implement a community solutions database, embed digital organizing, rebrand slums as culturally rich favelas (setting up future markets in creative capital), and install an Asset Based Community Development framework (a Northwestern University developed model that will prop up sustainable finance projections).

Capturing the arts and creative thought within the container of social impact finance is a priority for those in power, lest truly imaginative and revolutionary ideas take hold and break through the veneer of cybernetic control. Program officers have travelled the world proselytizing that the arts must be exploited to maximize their measurable economic contributions. A project financed by the British Council in 2017 laid out a framework for the creative economy in Brazil. The emphasis is always on inclusiveness – to pull those on the margins, including youth and women, into the vortex of social entrepreneurship. Know what we know about the rise of digital economics, NFTs, and the imperative to design the Metaverse, it goes without saying that the impact investors will seek to digitize all forms of creative expression to make it profitable from an impact standpoint, and legible for machine learning. A 2021 paper “The Favela as a Place for Development of Smart Cities in Brazil: Local Needs and New Business Strategies, “states the following:

“Seen by many in a simplistic way, summed up to be geographic spaces of drug circulation dominated by trafficking, Brazilian favelas have been consolidating themselves as storehouses of innovative minds, a creative territory with multiple and complex structures. These places today can produce a positive image with potential for market exploitation. Therefore, the objective was to draw a relationship between the creative economy, branding and favelas, considering the concept of smart cities that include products and services from the slums.”

In the above paragraph, favela residents are seen as resources to be exploited. The challenge for policy makers devising a robust policy structure that sounds equitable whereby these people’s lives can be remade as commodities that can be integrated into digital knowledge, learning, creative, and eco-tourist economic transactions. The built environment in which they live is a maze that makes their resources difficult to access. Thus, numerous mapping and demographic projects are underway by academic institutions working to make the social relations and geography of the favelas more readily understood by outsiders. In the country’s rich tradition of marronage, where enslaved people escaped their captors for distant outposts in jungles or swaps, the favelas had long been as Greenwald notes, beyond the reach or interest of the state.

That, however, is changing as drones, apps, geospatial mapping, and laser scanning, pushed under cover of digital equity and inclusion, have begun to chart the terrain of the favelas with granular detail. Residents’ existence is about to fundamentally change. They will be “included,” the question is included in what?

In the coming era of stakeholder capitalism and circular economies a person’s use of privatized welfare (inputs) will be evaluated against their economic productivity and good citizenship status (outputs) according to ever-changing rules of a game set by corporate governments. With pre-natal monitoring and blockchain electronic health records and birth certificates, it is possible this would start before birth. Add to that geo-spatial atlases augmented with socio-historical data such as that being collected for imagineRio, by Houston-based (and nano-bio-tech research hub) Rice University. The possibilities for factoring intergenerational trauma into predictive profiling for human capital bets are jaw dropping. Rice University has numerous partnerships, including University of Sao Paulo and the army’s Institute of Military Engineering, cultivated through Brasil@Rice and the Houston embassy.

In the United States, and in Scotland tapped to become the first ACEs-aware nation, there has been a huge push to screen for Adverse Childhood Experiences and score the results using a tool created by Kaiser Permanente, a health system that is now a leading voice on social impact investing. You can read my 2019 post about pay for success finance and ACEs scoring here. A quick search for “Adverse Childhood Experiences” + “Screening” + “Brazil” results in numerous research studies carried out in the past five years: here, here, and here. Trauma metrics in the scoring will be used to impose data-driven non-solutions on needy communities.

Scientists have linked childhood trauma to changes in one’s genetic profile. They have carried out research indicating epigenetic trauma carries across and accumulates over generations, which is significant for communities that have faced ongoing physical and economic violence. California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, a lockdown fanatic who’s campaign was funded by Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Pritzker family (JP Pritzker, Illinois governor sponsored creation of James Heckman’s early childhood investment equation), has been a heavy promoter of comprehensive ACEs screenings of anyone on Medicaid and for children. His appointment to Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris to the position of Surgeon General of California signaled this would be a high-profile issue for his administration.

Will legacies of domination be mapped and factored into social impact deals that leverage their cumulative trauma for “pay for success” investor profit?  Check out MIT’s Senseable Lab where favelas are mapped in 4-D with devices that capture 300,000 datapoints a second; Rice University’s historic atlas of social relations in Rio; and disturbingly Google’sRio Beyond The Map in partnership with AfroReggae. The latter is backing the UBI e-sports gaming / training program. I keep saying it seems like the plan is to force the masses to live inside the CIA’s (or the Crown’s) mixed reality video game.

So when I see gaming interests teaming up with Google to map (twin? simulate?) favelas that are literally centerpieces of games like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft 2016), it feels like that future is already here.

Smart Cities – Mixed Reality Gaming Environments

In the game that hedge funds want to play with our lives, smart cities have been set up as social impact game boards with embedded nudges and omnipresent surveillance. I should know; I live in a city of pawns. IBM launched a $50 million three-year project in 2010 to “build a smarter planet.” Twenty-four US cities received pro-bono corporate consulting services. Philadelphia was on-boarded in 2011 with a project that was somewhat surprising to me at the time. The “smarted” up infrastructure ended up being low-income youth placed on regional-workforce career pathways called digital on-ramps. It was the early stages of blockchain badges tied to human capital finance, which has since evolved into learning lockers like Greenlight Credentials based in Dallas that runs on IBM’s Hyperledger. Those “free” consultations were all about market-shaping.

IBM held a “Smarter Cities” global conference in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. The opening presentation featured IBM’s Rio Command Center a centralized data hub built for risk analysis and coordination around natural disasters, security, traffic management, and municipal concerns. The catalyst for its creation was a devastating weather event in April of 2010 that resulted in flooding and mudslides. The story goes that because of the disaster, a decision was made to create an exemplary global surveillance hub – “The Watchful Eyes of the City.”

The unspoken plan was that the IBM model would be used to sell the concept to other cities through strategic media campaigns. Hundreds of visitors a month are brought through the facility, which is largely inaccessible to residents. After its work in Rio, the United Nations tapped IBM, along with AECOM Engineering, to design a template for disaster resilience scorecard. While ostensibly meant to better protect lives and economic activities in vulnerable urban areas, it’s hard to set aside the World Bank’s catastrophe bond product line launched in 2010, the same year as the command center.

By 2015 the program grew to include 30 municipal agencies, 100 47-inch high-definition screens, 1,000 surveillance cameras, 15,000 sensors, a geo-portal system with 250 thematic layers, and LAB.RIO an e-citizen communications network of SMS messaging, social media apps, and digital civic participation. The emphasis on digital communications, noted in a 2016 case study sponsored by the InterAmerican Development Bank with support from the Korean Institute For Human Settlements (note Korea and Seoul being early Metaverse pioneers), caught my eye. Notable was the attention given to social media interactions, specifically Twitter and Twitter alerts (Jack Dorsey, the recreation center donor). It appears the hub was tasked with refining digital twin operations, maximizing sensor data (weather, traffic, etc.) and joining it with layers with signals intelligence drawn an array of electronic communications – OSINT.

Today’s Open-Source Intelligence encompasses vastly more signals gathered from sensors embedded in the environment that interface with Individual Communication Technology (ICT). Research into how to harness those signals and create systems of programmed behavioral nudging has been led by Alex “Sandy” Pentland, professor of social physics and human dynamics at MIT Media Lab. Pentland is a leader in the digital identity space, collaborating on blockchain development with the World Wide Web Consortium.

The Rio Hub project also encompasses DATA.RIO, the Bloomberg “what works” open municipal data protocol that needs to be put in place before the digital twinning can start. The collected metrics legitimize social impact investment deals under a deceptive banner of transparency and accountability. It’s useful to note that Bloomberg Philanthropies has been active in Brazil. Projects include: vision-zero planning for Sao Paulo and Fortaleza and a national Road Safety Plan; the 2014 Sao Paulo Bienal art event; a 2015 greenhouse emissions report prepared by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; 2019 Mayor’s Challenge Award for mapping Rio’s favelas; investments in obesity prevention; and fishery management in Fortaleza.

Perhaps most interesting in terms of timing given that it happened shortly before the pandemic was declared, is a four-year project with Vital Strategies to systematize and establish technologies including apps and AI databases to document causes of death throughout the country. According to Jack Dorsey’s spreadsheet, the foundation made a $20 million contribution to Vital Strategies in June of 2020 and handed over another $18 million in October of 2020 for digital tools to “fight the spread of Covid.”

Jose Luis Castro, executive director, has a background in public health research having done stints with the World Health Organization and the New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene. Through his work he has established close relationships with Michael Bloomberg and global aid organizations in the United State and the United Kingdom. The emphasis is on preventative care as a health INVESTMENT. Vital Strategies’ “Resolve to Save Lives” was touted by the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania as a “best bet” for high-impact philanthropic investment.

In a “stories from the field” propaganda piece we see the United Nations Information Centres and HABITAT program enmeshing itself in the favelas, spreading their Covid containment narratives with murals, t-shirts, and slick messaging campaigns intended to look homespun and emphasize disingenuous values of “collective” care. A partner in this effort is the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), started in 1898 to create serums related to the bubonic plague and implement sanitation campaigns. Based in Rio, it now has over 7,500 employees and is one of the largest public health organizations in the world, hardly a disinterested party.

I’ve done extensive research into how preventative health care metrics for chronic illnesses like asthma, diabetes, and heart and lung disease (conditions often caused or exacerbated by environmental pollution, endemic violence, and economic stress) are being woven into a data-driven social impact market in the United States. Under the guise of tracking population health, Black and Brown communities are being targeted for intense data surveillance. Communities defined by trauma and dispossession, like the favelas, represent valuable data deposits. These deposits are the foundation on which the Impact Management Project will construct its “sustainable” empire of managed poverty. In the favelas, they’ve struck “social impact” digital gold presuming they get everyone on the blockchain, which is what the health passports are meant to accomplish. I was asked to write about this issue a year ago by Urban Global Health Alliance. Go here for more details.

One paragraph really stood out for me in the UN, “stories from the field” article:

“The Social Territories Program implemented by the Pereira Passos Institute in partnership with the United Nations Programme for Human Settlements, aims to reduce the risk posed to vulnerable families living in Rio’s ten largest slums. The project implemented by the municipality of Rio De Janeiro in partnership with UN-HABITAT, identifies people who are extremely vulnerable in the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro and directs them to public services or cash transfer programs. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the search for these people, previously made in person, is now conducted by telephone. More than 1,600 calls have been made to date.”

It aligns with a push for digital welfare systems. In the US this transition has been advanced by the Zuckerberg-backed Benefits Data Trust. In Philadelphia the effort called BenePhilly, and operates in with community partners, including Project Home, a Catholic supportive housing organization that was the first non-profit in the city to adopt pay for success finance.

Green Finance, Digital Twins, and What Work’s Government

Peter Head, Executive Chairman of Arup, leads the Ecological Sequestration Trust. The organization, which calls itself a “resilience broker,” was a Rockefeller Foundation effort, put together during a series of meetings held at their Bellagio conference center starting in 2015; that’s the same place where the Global Impact Investment Network was formed in 2007. A new financial fiction, environmental green bonds, is required to channel trillion of dollars of concentrated wealth previously poured in toxic real estate deals into projects aligned to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Head tees this all up with a convenient roadmap to drive us into a “New Urban Social Contract.” The preface of EST’s document was written by Jeff Sachs, professor of economics home at Columbia University (home to technocracy) and special advisor to South Korean diplomat and former Secretary of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon. Sachs presented at the Vatican’s “Connectivity is a Human Right” in 2017. You can’t have a digital democracy, or social impact investment markets, if your cyber citizens aren’t plugged in. They start the paper with the final goal, Goal 17 “Partnerships.” The climate / sustainability narrative is about remaking society into a fully cybernetic system to run gambling bets on everything from natural disasters, to prescribed behaviors, to health crises and all can be tweaked using digital twin simulations to create desired outcomes good and bad. It’s a totally rigged game created by self-aggrandizing “partners.” To them, humans and the natural world are merely game pieces; and if those in power successfully paint their machinations green, it appears many people are ready to allow the game to continue.

The Ecological Sequestration Trust devised systems management software, resilience.io, that layers information about a region’s economics, government policies, resources, and development plans to evaluate social benefit on a variety of dashboards. Peter Head’s intent is to usher in a new “ecological age” where gamified platforms could be used to track social relations in “circular economies.” Metrics will be used to construct cost off-sets needed before ESG (Environmental Social Governance) investors can profit from offering band aid fixes for the environmental harm and poverty they had a hand in creating. Building from the initial carbon credit premise of assigning value in non-traditional ways, the door has been thrown open for the creation of Natural Asset Corporations, just starting to be traded on Wall Street. Analysts assign everything on the planet a price associated with its destruction, and thus by not destroying everything right away, those running the machine are able to continue to draw out value as they replace the natural with the synthetic.

Six years later Rockefeller’s “100 Resilient Cities” morphed two complementary groups. The Global Resilient Cities Network and Resilient Cities Catalyst. The first a collective of 200 City Resilience Officers working with global financial interests active in the region such as IDB Innovation Lab, Avina Fundacion, CAF Development Bank of Latin America. EDB (Economic Development Board) Singapore is a core funder, so it seems that is the planned cybernetic city model. Brazil currently has three cities participating in this network: Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and Porto Alegre.

Resilient Cities Catalyst on the other hand is tasked with getting policies in place to channel global capital into data-driven “sustainable” social impact markets through lobbying, strategic convenings, and change-agent training. They focus on refining “resiliency tools” and lining up pilot public-private partnerships that will later be brought to scale through their “diverse” community of practitioners.  Judith Rodin, former University of Pennsylvania President and Rockefeller Foundation head who led the creation of the Global Impact Investment Network, is board chair. The founding principal is Michael Berkowitz, coordinator of the initial effort. Prior to that, Berkowitz served as global head of Operational Risk Management for Deutsche Bank after serving as deputy commissioner of the Office of Emergency Response in New York City during Bloomberg’s administration.

So many climate and equity programs emerged after the UN SDGs were adopted in 2015, it’s impossible to keep track of them all. I do want to point out considerable overlap between the above two programs and C40 cities. In the latter, cities earn their membership by documenting emission reductions. The four participating cities in Brazil are: Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Curitiba. What’s important to know about this effort is Bloomberg Philanthropies is a lead funder, which means the “evidence-based” solutions that will be imposed are actually about harvesting impact data so markets to hedge and trade off-sets can be devised– not just carbon off-sets, but offsets related to supposed “equitable futures,” really privatized social welfare. This is euphemistically described as “financing the green transition.”

In addition to Bloomberg, another strategic partner is Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. The organization’s website state’s CIFF’s activities in Brazil include renewables uptake, air quality measures, and preservation of the rainforest, but I’m sure early childhood and home visit programs cannot be far behind. “Child Health and Development,” UN SDG 3 and 4, and “Girl Capital,” UN SDG 5 are both listed as priority areas. We know they are targeting children with a goal of reducing their lives to quantifiable data commodities, ESG portfolio assets, pliable human capital to be molded as dutiful citizens of the Metaverse. You can read more about Bloomberg’s “what works” government approach in a piece I wrote in the summer of 2018.

It is a testament to the mind control exerted by Extinction Rebellion that so many blindly follow “green” leaders not realizing that green is cash in the pockets of defense contractors, tech companies, and financiers profiting from “build back better” nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and spatial web ubiquitous computing that binds the fiction together. Covid provided us a front row seat for what tyranny by dashboard looks like. If they can convince people to live their lives in confined isolated spaces primarily through screens, the psychological warfare campaigns are more readily deployed. The data analysts working for the billionaires want us to believe in a surreality conjured up on digital interfaces more than we trust our own senses, our own instincts.

A global project requires global standards, which brings me to an important article written by Raul Diego of Silicon Icarus, “A Permanent State of Exception NIST’s Critical Role in Smart City Development.” Raul highlights the National Institute of Science and Technology’s efforts to launch global pilots and refine open standards for cyber-physical systems, “harmonizing” proprietary devices so they can communicate with one another in a straightforward plug-and-play manner. In the minutes from a 2014 virtual meeting of NIST administrators, Chris Greer, head of cyber-physical systems, provided updates regarding planning for Grid 3.0 with the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel that had representation from Korea, the EU, and Brazil. Testbeds for cyber-physical systems were being set up as that time and they were preparing for the launch of the Global Cities Team Challenge. That program did not involve public funding, but rather it was an opportunity for companies to coordinate with NIST to bring their products to scale.

The cloud world has no borders, neither does capital flowing into disruptive technologies. To facilitate markets and bring the Metaverse online, digital infrastructure must be carefully orchestrated. Picture the transcontinental railroad’s construction forcing the standardization of railroad gauges. In 2017 the National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development presented a federal strategic plan for “smart” communities for public comment. A detailed response was provided by IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) regarding their efforts to transition governments around the world into smart infrastructures that center, Internet of Things sensors and AI data analytics. IEEE has affiliated cities in Brazil – Londrina and Natal, where they hosted their first smart cities summer school for a week in 2017. There is also a “Smart City Natal,” developed by Planet Smart City, based in London with Italian founders, whose brand promise is new construction planned communities built around affordable housing. They have multiple projects in Brazil, India, and Italy. Stefano Buono, chair, is an investor and physicist who happened to make his fortune in a radiopharmaceutical company he sold to Novartis.

Reading between the lines of IEEE’s comments, the technocratic foundations for social impact investing can be seen in this excerpt “…it is also valuable to map and bind civic issues and progress against these issues with general metrics and indicator systems. This will allow a clear understanding of how elected government is performing in and around “the classic way of working” while allowing digital efforts and requirements, with an initial goal of seeing how these can improve, enhance, or replace classic government methods.”

“…replace classic government methods” sounds a bit like MIT’s Media Lab’s, Cesar Hidalgo, idea that we outsource voting rights to AI digital twins to achieve radical direct democracy.

Underpinning what they term “real-time digital democracy” is IEEE P1451-99, IoT harmonization that bridges devices to different protocols pulsing our personal data through the Metaverse. If you read the description for P1451-99 it speaks of global authenticated identities, authorizations, life-cycle management, interoperable communication, IoT discovery, and use of meta-data to dynamically react to changing environments. It’s vital that we understand that on the Internet of Everything life is just another thing, whether a human life, or a tagged bird or tree, or soil tracked through quantum dots.

With the steady hand of NIST on the wheel, there is considerable money to be made on “smart” infrastructure, the data it generates, and “pay for success” financial deals, fictions built on top of that data. In a sense, market logic compels us to break down our previous mode of living to “build back better,” since this process creates opportunities for capital flows that would not be possible if we simply repaired our existing infrastructure. Last year a piece in Bloomberg by Grand View Research estimated that five years from now the smart cities market, which encompasses transit, construction, energy, healthcare, security, water and assisted living, would be worth over $460 billion. As with post-war reconstruction – destroy civilizations and those with capital can pick up assets on the cheap, holding them until the subsidized rebuild is firmly underway to flip and sell on the upside. Now “the war” is the climate narrative, the Covid narrative, and quiet weapons of frequency and particles existing beyond the average person’s ability to perceive or even entertain if truth be told.

Once we agree to run the world on dashboards, the algorithms will digitally twin the planet – that “smarter” planet IBM was after. Dassault recently created a twin for the City-State of Singapore, the ultimate technocracy. Such a massive program of world-wide digital surveillance would never fly if the technocrats carrying out R&D and policy work acknowledged what it was, a permanent digital enclosure branded as a tokenized commons. Instead, for a decade the efforts of Global Cities Team Challenge participants have been spun as an ambitious program designed to improve lives, especially the lives of the poor and disenfranchised, by making us more “connected.” We are fast approaching an Internet of Everything age in which the natural energetics of an interconnected universe are being overtaken by a militarized web. The engagement we are in is about energy flows; and consciousness, too, but global players in the energy sector are driving a transition to decentralized power, which is anything but “just” or “green.”

In a downturn, sales teams that are accustomed to hitting quotas from inbound sources may suddenly find significant gaps in coverage as budgets tighten, projects are cut or postponed, and sales cycles lengthen. Indeed, elongated sales cycles have emerged as …

The post Pipeline Cures All appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

Terraform Labs Commissioned Study to Quantify Support for Stablecoin During May Crisis

Fall of SBF’s Empire Rocks Layer 1 As It Was Rebounding From Tough Year

GBBC Digital Finance (GDF) is disappointed by the FTX bankruptcy and its impact on customers, counterparties and market integrity. We call for calm until the full facts are disclosed during the unfolding crisis.

GDF remains committed to working with our members, regulators, and policymakers, to accelerate the adoption of best practices and governance standards globally, in a shared engagement forum.

As the leading global crypto, digital assets, and blockchain members’ association, we remain unwavering in our commitment to the GDF Codes of Conduct. This industry has no room for anything short of the global best-practice codes and standards that our members attest to.

We will continue to monitor the situation, and offer our knowledge, experience, and engagement forums to our members, policymakers, regulators, and the wider market.

The post GBBC Digital Finance Response to FTX Bankruptcy appeared first on GDF.

3rd Week of November, 2022

------ 📣 Infura | Join the New Decentralized Infrastructure Network Early Access Program www.bankless.cc/infura 

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER:          https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt 

------ Bankless Sponsor Tools:

⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

👯 DESO | DECENTRALIZED SOCIAL BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/Deso 

🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

📡 TRUEFI | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/TrueFi 

👾 SEQUENCE | ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM https://bankless.cc/Sequence 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/fuel 

----- Topics Covered

0:00 Intro

3:30 MARKETS 5:30 Bitcoin Miners https://twitter.com/caprioleio/status/1591024605640019968  7:30 Burniske Calls Bottom https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/5-reasons-this-could-be-the-crypto  13:30 CeFi Ded https://twitter.com/haydenzadams/status/1592188164218707969 

16:00 SBF https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1593014949487730688  23:20 Vox Interview https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23462333/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-cryptocurrency-effective-altruism-crypto-bahamas-philanthropy  27:45 Summary Thread https://twitter.com/GRDecter/status/1593272102047580161  31:05 Alameda Mentality https://twitter.com/PetrifyTCG/status/1591802968940199936  32:40 Company Slack https://twitter.com/AutismCapital/status/1592563378408796165 

34:40 New FTX CEO https://twitter.com/kadhim/status/1593222595390107649  36:30 It’s Bad https://twitter.com/Dogetoshi/status/1593233836867194880 

CONTAGION 38:20 Genesis https://twitter.com/genesistrading/status/1590836594382032896  39:00 Fallout https://twitter.com/DylanLeClair_/status/1592960066293927937  42:20 BlockFi https://twitter.com/BlockFi/status/1590875997351866368  43:30 FTX Bailout https://twitter.com/autismcapital/status/1591569275642589184  44:20 Other Fallout Galois - https://twitter.com/autismcapital/status/1591302842639593473  Multicoin - https://twitter.com/TheBlock__/status/1592169646568144897  Circle Yield - https://blockworks.co/news/gemini-circle-genesis-exposure/  45:45 Lazy DD https://twitter.com/fintechfrank/status/1591656860276457472 

LEGAL 47:10 Committee Hearing https://twitter.com/WatcherGuru/status/1592901815481249792  47:50 Lawsuit https://www.reuters.com/legal/ftx-founder-bankman-fried-sued-us-court-over-yield-bearing-crypto-accounts-2022-11-16/ 

REACTIONS 48:44 Proof of Reserves https://decrypt.co/114482/binance-be-guinea-pig-vitalik-buterins-proof-reserves-protocol-cz 

50:30 Mainstream Reporting SBF Donator - https://twitter.com/ryaneshea/status/1592403915718656000  Blaming CZ - https://twitter.com/ColdBloodShill/status/1591850165446791168 COVID - https://twitter.com/Crypto_McKenna/status/1593190965917126657 

55:30 Twitter Coverage https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1592689928038912000  Hsaka - https://twitter.com/HsakaTrades/status/1592947452478656512 

57:50 3AC Redemption Arc Kyle - https://twitter.com/KyleLDavies/status/1591704172600397824  Su - https://twitter.com/zhusu/status/1590189369834758144  Bali - https://twitter.com/SquawkCNBC/status/1592880370344919042 

1:02:00 StarkNet Token https://medium.com/starkware/starknet-token-is-deployed-on-ethereum-f27f0000b00c  1:03:15 USDC Apple Pay https://thedefiant.io/usdc-apple-pay  1:03:38 Solana Deprioritized https://www.theblock.co/post/187970/binance-halts-solana-usdc-usdt-deposits 

1:04:25 NFTs Yuga Beeple - https://www.theblock.co/post/187970/binance-halts-solana-usdc-usdt-deposits  Nike - https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2022/11/14/nike-sprints-into-web3-with-new-swoosh-platform/  Sony - https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-patent-for-nft-and-blockchain-technology-uncovered  1:05:55 Bankless Podcast Collectibles https://collectibles.bankless.com/ 

1:09:30 Cosmos ATOM 2.0 https://blockworks.co/news/no-with-veto-cosmos-community-rejects-atom-2-0-white-paper  1:10:06 CBDC Trial https://thedefiant.io/as-skeptics-dance-on-cryptos-grave-the-fed-and-big-banks-launch-digital-ledger-project 

1:10:30 Releases DeFiLlama - https://defillama.com/aggregator 

Permissionless - https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/discount-to-permissionless-2022 

1:13:00 Matter Labs https://thedefiant.io/layer-2s-defy-market-angst-as-matter-labs-raises-200m  1:13:37 CZ Investing https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1592894516457279488 

1:14:00 Jobs https://pallet.xyz/list/bankless/jobs 

TAKES 1:16:00 The Only Path https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1591236973347627010  1:17:30 Stay Vigilant https://twitter.com/ErikVoorhees/status/1591151576680652800  1:18:50 Free Wizards https://twitter.com/cburniske/status/1591183041837559808 

1:20:05 What David’s Bullish On https://imgur.com/v8C9UnF  1:25:00 What Ryan’s Bullish On

1:26:50 MEME of the Week https://twitter.com/sassal0x/status/1590865451420389376 

Moment of Zen https://twitter.com/songadaymann/status/1592963492713492481 

——— Not financial advice. Do your own research. https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

On today’s live: All the latest on FTX, how far the contagion spread, and did DeFi really win?

Data Shows Activity Spike Came from Existing Users and MEV Bot

Fallout from the bankruptcy of FTX continues to harm individuals and businesses globally. In recent days, we have communicated with customers, business partners, regulators, and the media about Circle’s strong position despite market turmoil. 

The post <span>Supplying</span> Connections appeared first on Greylock.

…

The post Justin Thaler appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

Bankman-Fried Says Altruist Persona Was ‘Just PR’ in Wide-ranging Interview with Vox

Incoming CEO John Ray Cites ‘Complete Absence of Trustworthy Financial Information’

EigenLayer is a 'programmable slashing' layer2 protocol built on Ethereum which leverages security through the method of restaking. This is a bootstrapping mechanism which allows existing Eth2 stakers to access the collateral in the staking system to provide additional services, for additional yield, while taking on additional risk.

We were joined by founder Sreeram Kannan who explained to us the concept of re-staking, how this works in the EigenLayer protocol, use cases, and the roadmap ahead.

Topics covered in this episode:

Sreeram's background and how he got into crypto His role at the University of Washington Blockchain Lab EigenLayer and the concept of re-staking The risk with 'programmable slashing' The participants in the EigenLayer economy Impact on decentralization and home stakers EigenDA and other EigenLayer use cases Combatting malicious slashing The EigenLayer roadmap

Episode links:

Episode B007 - Devcon Panel – Censorship Resistance and Credible Neutrality EigenLayer EigenLayer on Twitter Sreeram on Twitter

Sponsors:

Omni: Access all of Web3 in one easy-to-use wallet! Earn and manage assets at once with Omni's built-in staking, yield vaults, bridges, swaps and NFT support.
https://omni.app/ -

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/470

To understand how radically gaming is about to be transformed by Generative AI, look no further than this recent Twitter post by @emmanuel_2m. In this post he explores using Stable Diffusion + Dreambooth, popular 2D Generative AI models, to …

The post The Generative AI Revolution in Games appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

Led by ConsenSys and Allinfra, the collective includes a still growing list of 19+ prominent tech companies, as well as civil society leaders: AAVE, Art Blocks, Celo, the Climate Collective, Codegreen.Org, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, ERM, Filecoin Green, Gitcoin, Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), Huobi Global, Laser Digital, Microsoft, Polygon, UPC Capital Ventures, and W3bcloud, in collaboration with Gold Standard.

The post COP27: Leading Technology Companies Launch “Ethereum Climate Platform” Initiative to Address Ethereum’s Former Proof of Work Carbon Emissions appeared first on ConsenSys.

Today, we have an episode with Chris Power, the founder and CEO of Hadrian. Hadrian is a company trying to build the most efficient factories on the planet. 

In this conversation, we’ll introduce the audience to advanced manufacturing, and expose them to the reality that it’s a remnant of the first space race. We also cover the challenge of manufacturing, the importance of visibility in complex systems, the killer app for space, how simplifying the world of atoms can be done through bits – and ultimately, what kind of experimentation that may unlock.

 

Resources: 

Hadrian’s website: https://www.hadrian.co/

Chris’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/2112Power

 

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

House Financial Services Committee to Call SBF to Testify on Exchange’s Failure and Practices

DeFi Lender Unaffected by FTX Yet Takes Steps to Fend Off Potential Contagion

NFT Community management tasks help to ensure the smooth running of the community and its future development in Web3. It helps to keep track of community events and developments and to keep the community organised and cohesive to the project goal. Community management can help to resolve disputes and to show empathy to digital asset owners. Nevertheless, NFT holders are, in essence, shareholders of the project. NFT community management is becoming even more important as Web3 communities continue to grow, and remember, with a strong community, anything is possible.

Quick refresh: what is an NFT (community)?

The management of non-fungible tokens (NFT) communities is a critical but often overlooked aspect of developing and deploying these digital assets. NFTs are unique tokens on a blockchain that can represent ownership of digital or physical assets. In contrast to fungible tokens, which are interchangeable and can be divided into smaller units, NFTs are non-divisible. Due to their rarity or uniqueness, they are ideal to represent items like art, collectibles, and in-game items with monetary value.

NFT communities are flourishing online spaces where people with a shared interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can connect with one another. As the popularity of NFTs continues to grow, as do too the number of people flocking to these communities in search of information, advice, and support.

Why NFT community management is essential

With such a wide range of people with different levels of knowledge and expertise, NFT community management can be a challenge. It is important to strike a balance between providing content that is both informative and accessible to all, while also avoiding overwhelming newcomers with too much information.

While the technical aspects of creating and deploying NFTs are essential, it is equally important to have a well-managed community around the project. This is because NFTs are often bought and sold in online communities. The success of an NFT project depends on the strength of these communities. For example, an NFT gaming community needs players to support the game, therefore, enjoy playing the game to transact in-game assets with one another.

A good NFT community will have a variety of content that covers the basics of what NFTs are and how they work. Additionally, it includes more in-depth articles and discussions for those with a more advanced understanding. It is also essential to have a system in place for moderating content and managing users in order to keep the community respectful and welcoming to all. One way is by establishing rules and best practices written on communication channels, as well as creating a tutorial page for newcomers.

With the right mix of content and community management, NFT communities can be a valuable resource for anyone interested in this exciting technology. It can be a fun entry point to the Web3 world!

3 Tips to create a strong foundation for your NFT Community

There are a few things that project owners should keep in mind when managing their NFT communities.

1. Constantly remind people of your vision

Have a clear vision and to communicate constantly with your members. This way, you can keep everyone on the same page and working towards the same goals. Let’s take an example: using Web3 technology, an NFT online chess game allows users to interact with in-game assets and transact them. It creates a Play-to-Earn (P2E) model. For instance, this NFT game has the vision to create a community in which chess players can enjoy playing the game while earning rewards in forms of digital assets, NFTs and cryptocurrency. It is therefore necessary for the weekly content plan to include benefits and positive facts about NFT online chess in order to create rapport and build high beliefs about the project as more players join.

2. Active moderation is key

The project ambassadors should be active in the community and should engage with community members on a regular basis. This is essentially getting more experienced people in the community to be a moderator. They should be the ones who are zealously advocating for the project. But as a project that just started, it is indispensable to have a community manager to push forward content and to be listening to the market needs.

3. Get people involved in decision-making

Finally, it is vital to have a community-centered approach to decision-making. This means that the community should be involved in decisions about the project, such as what features to add or what direction to take the project in. This will lead the project to a democratic system. The funds spent on NFTs are being directed to the project development from a shared decision-making perspective. In practice, this can be done by a voting system or members’ livestream meetings with the project owner.

The post The Power of NFT Community Management appeared first on Zaisan.

Magic Eden Launches ‘Fair Mint’ Mechanism in Slow Week for NFTs

In order to rebuild we must first learn or relearn (for some of us) the painful lessons of crypto’s past. It’s going to take more than beating the, “not your keys, not your crypto” drum.

Jesse Powell, Co-Founder of Kraken Exchange joins us to demonstrate how we can come together as a community to rebuild the open and inspiring crypto industry of our dreams.

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------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

👯 DESO | DECENTRALIZED SOCIAL BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/Deso 

🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

📡 TRUEFI | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/TrueFi 

👾 SEQUENCE | ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM https://bankless.cc/Sequence 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/fuel 

----- Topics Covered

0:00 Intro 4:38 Jesse’s Crypto Background 7:34 Relearning Painful Lessons 11:48 How Did We Get Here? 20:09 Things We Have Control Over 31:21 Striking the Right Balance 36:35 Proof of Reserves 43:55 Rebuilding 48:39 Zooming Out 50:35 Closing & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

Jesse Powell https://twitter.com/jespow 

Proof of Reserves https://www.kraken.com/proof-of-reserves 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Get out of Jail Free

JPMorgan’s First DeFi Trade

Users Of Gemini Earn Unable to Withdraw Assets as FTX Contagion Spreads

Today I’d planned to meet with Thaddeus Squire, Chief Steward of the Social Impact Commons, but he only wanted to talk on Zoom. What does it mean when an advocate for “the commons” works remotely and opts not to meet face to face? I guess this is our “new normal” where civil society is fed to AI in bite-size chunks. I cancelled the meeting and gave a two-hour presentation instead about what I’d hoped to tell Mr. Squire in person.

Check out the video below for an explanation about how social prescribing has been set up to undergird social impact profit taking via public health data analytics. So many well-meaning people seem intent on facilitating the tokenization of every sacred aspect of life and in doing so are unthinkingly shoving us down a path those in power imagine will lead to the emergence of a complex super-organism birthed from our collective consciousness.

I prepared this slide presentation on social prescribing to share with a local non-profit last year, but – shocker – they weren’t really interested at the end of the day. Still, it’s important information, and hopefully I will be able to a walk through it one day soon. In the meantime if you want to check it out, it includes useful links that provide context for today’s talk.

Feel free to explore the map / labyrinth here.

Remember, I’m uploading audio to Anchor if you want to listen instead.

Social prescribing slideshare link here.

Bonus! This is a video where I read-aloud (with some commentary) two posts from early 2019 on “collective impact” and the United Way’s ALICE (Assets Limited Income Constrained Employed) program in the context of the Shanzhai City’s Honk Kong Blockchain Time Bank initiative and Idaho Libertarian plans for privatized (tokenized) welfare. Read the posts yourself here and here.

A Step-by-Step Guide to One of Ethereum’s Key Scaling Solutions

Jul-Oct 2022 — Verus Monthly Recap The latest Verus updates on development, community, ecosystem and more. Subscribe to the newsletter here.

You can receive the exact same content through a newsletter. Subscribe here. I’ll keep things short and to the point.

Verus Desktop v0.9.5 Update

⏰ Update your Verus Desktop wallet before 19 November 11 PM UTC. This release updates the Komodo notaries to season 6 and you must update to reliably stay synchronized to the Verus mainnet (activation height of block 2,291,830).

v0.9.5 introduces 2 new APIs and CLI commands, signdata and verifysignature, that encompass all of the capabilities of previous signing and verification APIs and add new capabilities for advanced signatures and verification — a more powerful and flexible framework for NFTs and ID-bound legal rights and agreements.

In addition to digital signing of documents or information using an ID, the new APIs enable easily binding together multiple sources of content, documents, identities, and VDXF keys together into one verifiable signature and then being able to verify that signature, including all of its specific bindings.

🔗 Download Verus Desktop v0.9.5

Verus PBaaS & DeFi Updates

In anticipation of the Verus PBaaS mainnet upgrade — delivering no-programming needed blockchain and currency launches, MEV-free DeFi, non-custodial Ethereum bridging and so much more — community developers introduce a protocol improvement designed to make the Verus anti-MEV DeFi protocol even more resistant than what we believe was already the leading algorithm to multi-block attempts at MEV.

The protocol improvement makes the following adjustments:

Conversions and cross-chain transfers still roll-up into exports that are collected from one or more blocks of transfer transactions, but to determine when a block is the last of the prior export or first in the next requires a random bit pulled from later blocks. The last miner or staker to complete a block of an export retroactively receives 10% of all fees from processing that export, including all conversions, once the rollup is processed as an import. This reward used to go to the miner or staker who processes the export, which is no longer the case. Import transactions can now include up to n/2 arbitrage transactions, where n is the number of reserves in a liquidity basket currency.

These changes together serve to disincentivize any miner or staker from attempting to exclude a large set of transactions from a block and front run all of them, as they will have an even chance of having all of those excluded transactions put back in with their transaction, turning potential gain into potential loss. They would be better off saving their working capital to arbitrage imports by joining transactions, bringing them close to market, and earning money without risk of loss. In addition, if they do end up putting more value of transactions in a block that caps the export rollup, they will reliably earn meaningful rewards without risk of loss in that way as well.

Bug Bounties 💰

While we don’t expect it to be easy to find bugs in the protocol, The Verus Coin Foundation is offering a bounty of at least 500 VRSC (possibly more for security related reports) for the first 10 people who are first to report any actual protocol bug before mainnet release, meaning failure of a properly executed command or API on a functioning VRSCTEST or PBaaS chain to function as intended.

If anyone is first to find and describe the exploit for an exploitable security hole in any part of the protocol, the bounty will be a minimum of 1,000 VRSC, and for a serious potential security issue, 10,000 VRSC.

🗒️ See PBaaS-Testnet Release Notes

🛎️ Join Discord and report bounties

Introducing VerusID to Verus Mobile

This version of Verus Mobile takes a major leap forward, enabling support for VerusID, including sending and receiving funds and use of your VerusID as a password-free, secure and self-sovereign web or mobile app sign-in, made possible with the VerusID authentication protocol.

Verus Mobile v0.3.0–24 supports the version 1.0 of the VerusID authentication protocol, which prepares for the PBaaS upgrade and supports application provisioning of IDs, an important way applications can onboard users, give them a verified self-sovereign ID and funds address, enable sending and receiving payments, and make applications more secure by design with an easy, password-free sign-in.

In addition to its new support for VerusID and the Verus Authentication Protocol, this version of Verus Mobile continues to include Wyre as a fiat on-ramp and maintains support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a variety of popular coins and tokens.

If you are an app developer who wants to benefit from and help pioneer a better, more user-centric, inherently commerce-enabled, verifiable application model for a true Internet of Value, this is the release that enables you! If you’ve got mobile or web applications that you are seriously building and would like to integrate VerusID authentication, contact one of the community developers for more details.

🔗 Download Verus Mobile with VerusID

The Valuverse

Valu, a company using Verus technology, gave a sneak preview of their upcoming Valuverse. A virtual world where you are at the centre of your value. Check out the awesome videos below.

Valu.Earth on Twitter: "Welcome to the Valuverse - where you are the centre of Valu - Secure Private and Provable Vaults enable You to participate in the Information Economy of Me & We - Coming soon on Verus #Consilience #SelfSovereign #ConsciousAgency pic.twitter.com/kwOwClO5lc / Twitter"

Welcome to the Valuverse - where you are the centre of Valu - Secure Private and Provable Vaults enable You to participate in the Information Economy of Me & We - Coming soon on Verus #Consilience #SelfSovereign #ConsciousAgency pic.twitter.com/kwOwClO5lc

Join Twitter Army 🐦🛎️

We need your help! The Verus community wants to amplify tweets that are important. We make it easy for you: get notified when there are high-quality tweets that need more likes and retweets.

Join the discord, assign yourself the role of ‘Tweet & Share’ (in the #welcome channel) and get retweeting!

Verus Network Halving

The Verus network block reward halving is almost around the corner. At block 2,329,920 (~Saturday 17 Dec 2022), the block reward will go from 12 to 6 VRSC.

⏰ Countdown website

New Marketing Videos Subscribe to get the (bi-)monthly recap to your mailbox

Jul-Oct 2022 — Verus Monthly Recap was originally published in Verus Coin on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Are you a developer who’s passionate about sovereign, self-governed chains? Do you want to build and launch blockchains and dApps easily and fast?

The Interchain Developer Academy is a free, 7-week online training program that’s designed for developers who have at least three years of experience with object-oriented languages. You can improve your understanding of the Interchain Stack and become skilled in working with the Cosmos SDK, CosmJS, and IBC, the ideal way to begin or improve a blockchain career. You don’t have to have any experience with blockchain or Cosmos to apply — just an eagerness to gain some!

“I found the Academy to be very thorough, exhaustive and helpful. I feel confident I now have the tools and network to start building my own Cosmos-based app chain.” Max Heilman, Cohort 2

Applications are open!

The third cohort of the Academy will launch on December 1st and applications close on November 24th. You can find out more information about the program and key dates on the Academy webpage.

“The most valuable thing about the Academy is by far the amount of support that you get from both the instructors AND the community. I now have a much better understanding of CosmosSDK and what it takes to develop an application-specific blockchain. If you’re interested in becoming a Cosmos SDK developer, joining the Academy is a no-brainer.” Basel Hashish, Cohort 1

Self-paced with instruction and support from blockchain experts

You’ll get 70 hours of comprehensive content you can follow at your own pace, supported by a team of leading blockchain experts from our education partner, B9Lab. You’ll understand the core concepts of blockchain technology and put them into practice through coding exercises, all in the context of the Interchain, an ever-expanding ecosystem of interconnected apps and services using IBC, the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol.

“It was excellent, everyone was super helpful and prompt with their responses.” Abhishek Kaushik, Cohort 2

The Academy is fully funded by the Interchain Foundation, so you get the training absolutely free. When you pass the final exam, you’ll be certified and gain immediate access to projects and jobs in the Ecosystem, and can start exploring the Interchain with the support of a passionate community of your fellow graduates and other developers of the Ecosystem!

Why learn the Interchain Stack?

The Interchain consists of independent, interconnected, application-specific blockchains, built using developer-friendly, modular components from the Cosmos SDK, and connected with the ground-breaking Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC).

Using the Interchain Stack, developers build entirely autonomous, sovereign blockchain-based apps that can also easily interconnect with both traditional software and other blockchains. They can also rely on a well-maintained, continuously updated product stack, plus a large, supportive community.

All this has enormous implications for blockchain technology, and means the demand for developers in the Interchain will continue to rise. There are currently more than 50 appchains built with the Interchain Stack, all interconnected with one another, and with hundreds of dApps and services built on them.

You’ll be in good company!

350 devs have completed the Academy to date and you can be part of the third, kicking off on December 1st.

More than 96% of developers who’ve been through the Academy said they would recommend the Interchain Developer Academy to a friend or colleague, and satisfaction with the hands-on training is at 90%.

“Great! Interesting and engaging, good level and density of new information each week, and well presented!” Daniel Mayer, Cohort 2

There are only 200 places on the next cohort and the deadline for taking the screening test is November 24th, so make sure you secure yours as soon as possible.

What you’ll learn in the Academy

You’ll discover the foundational principles of blockchain technology and get a comprehensive overview of the Interchain Stack and ecosystem, elaborating on similarities and differences with other platforms as well as working with ATOM, wallets, and staking.

After completing the Academy training, you’ll have a solid understanding of:

Blockchain technology and cryptography Developing with the Cosmos SDK & Ignite CLI Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol Building front- and backends with CosmJS Integrating wallets such as Keplr Relaying in the Interchain Is the Academy right for you?

You should apply for a place on the Interchain Developer Academy if you’re passionate about blockchain technology and serious about leveling up (or starting) your blockchain career, or even building your own project with the Interchain.

You don’t need to know anything about coding blockchain to apply, but you do need at least three years of professional programming experience and be willing and able to commit to 10 hours of work per week to complete the program.

The application process and key dates

Applications are open now until November 24th, and begin with a screening test to evaluate your knowledge of software development concepts and problem-solving skills. There are no blockchain-related questions in this test — you’ll learn all about that in the Academy.

You’ll find out if you’ve passed the screening test and have been accepted to the program by November 28th. The Academy training starts on December 1st, 2022 and runs through to March 16th, including an exam period and two week holiday period.

Visit academy.cosmos.network to find out more about the application and screening process. We’ve got limited places on this cohort, so make sure you secure yours!

About B9lab
B9lab have trained over 17,000 people in more than 160 countries about multiple blockchain protocols, and now they have been tasked by the Interchain Foundation to run the Interchain Developer Academy. They are passionate about technology adoption, getting new developers into web3, and helping blockchain ecosystems to thrive.

It’s back! Applications are open for the 3rd cohort of the Interchain Developer Academy was originally published in Cosmos Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Ethereum is at the forefront of the crypto charge, and Ethereum account abstraction might be a key aspect of bringing it to the masses. But what is it precisely, and what makes it necessary?

Many see the network as the future of blockchain finance, as it holds several advantages over Bitcoin. It is the first blockchain to support smart contracts and the largest (volume-wise) after Bitcoin.

But as beautiful as the future of Ethereum and crypto may look, mass adoption remains a genuine concern.

While crypto enthusiasts may not need help creating and preserving the security of their self-custodial Ethereum wallets, the user experience for newly onboarded users could be better. This is especially true when setting up a non-custodial wallet. The process of generating and safely storing seed phrases remains quite complicated and, if a user loses access to her seed phrase, they might as well forget about whatever coins their wallets hold because the funds will be beyond their reach. Surely, onboarding a billion users under such circumstances will remain to be seen as challenging.

To improve the existing technology and lower the barriers of entry for new users, developers at the Ethereum Foundation began to propose the concept of Ethereum account abstraction. In this article, we'll look at what Ethereum account abstraction is, how it works, and most importantly, how it will benefit users.

How do Ethereum accounts work?

To use the Ethereum network, you must create an Ethereum account. A typical Ethereum account has a public address and a private key. You should not confuse Ethereum accounts for Ethereum wallets, as the latter is only an interface that helps you interact with tokens on the blockchain.

An Ethereum account consists of four key components: nonce, balance, codeHash, and storageRoot.

The nonce is a counter that tracks the number of transactions an account sends or contracts an account creates, depending on the account type.
The balance is the amount of wei owned by an account. Wei is a denomination of ether, Ethereum's native currency.
The codeHash of an Ethereum account is the code tied to that account on the Ethereum Virtual Machine, a virtual computer built on the Ethereum blockchain. Since only contract accounts (explained below) are tied in code to the EVM, in accounts without code (also known as externally owned accounts or EOA), the codeHash is an empty string.
The storageRoot of an Ethereum account is the hash that encodes the account's storage content. Also known as the storage hash, it is a 256-bit hash of a Merkle Patricia trie's root node. A Patricia Merkle Trie is one of the key data structures for Ethereum’s storage layer and provides a cryptographically authenticated data structure that can be used to store all (key, value) bindings.

Essentially, Ethereum accounts are of two types: externally owned accounts (EOA) and contract accounts (CA).

Let’s have a look at both types of accounts and what differentiates them.

Ethereum account types – EOA & CA. (Source) Externally Owned Accounts (EOA)

A 'regular' Ethereum account with which you can initiate transactions, send, and receive ETH or any other Ethereum-based token (ERC-20, ERC-721, etc), and interact with smart contracts is an externally owned account (EOA). The average Ethereum user owns an EOA, and through wallets, the account interacts with the blockchain.

Externally owned Ethereum accounts cost nothing to create, as they incur no storage requirements. They are simple accounts unassociated with data storage or code. EOAs are the only Ethereum account type with private keys, and these private keys have control over transaction signing. Also, when two EOAs interact, they can only initiate ETH or token transfers.

In summary, an externally owned Ethereum account has a public address and a private key, can initiate transactions and interact with smart contracts, requires no storage, and is represented on the EVM with an empty code string.

Contract Accounts (CA)

Contract accounts are a tad different from EOAs, as a code written on the EVM controls their activities. They are also commonly known as smart contracts. This code, once written, cannot be altered and will define the nature of transactions the contract account can complete. CAs do not initiate transactions, unlike their EOA counterparts. Instead, they can only send transactions in response to a transaction received.

For example, if you send a token to a contract account to exchange said for ETH tokens, the CA receives your transaction and, through its code, sends the corresponding amount of ETH to your address. Apart from being able to transfer tokens, contract accounts can also create new contracts.

Since CAs are controlled by their code's logic, they do not have private keys. Also, contract accounts use network storage. As such, creating them comes at a cost. The nonce of a contract account counts the number of contracts every specific CA has created.

What is Ethereum account abstraction?

Data abstraction in computer science translates to hiding information to increase efficiency. For example, a software developer can learn how to write a compiler or understand the mechanisms between the compiler, processors, or memory functions when building with high-level programming languages. Data abstraction keeps the 0s and 1s underneath, allowing developers to work directly with more friendly languages, saving time and allowing for more complex operations.

In the case of Ethereum, account abstraction seeks to eliminate the existence of two types of accounts by unifying them. Thus, a single contract account will be empowered to transact with tokens and create contracts, unifying both account types. Instead of being separate account types, both EOAs and CAs will fall under a single type.

With this change, transactions will move off the blockchain and onto the EVM, eliminating the distinction between accounts. Let’s look into what exactly motivates this idea, whether it is truly achievable, and what are its benefits.

Motivations for account abstraction

Earlier, we pointed out the problems with the existing technology of Ethereum accounts and how a lack of flexibility translates to a poor user experience. With the complexities involved in the current account model, the developers are severely limited in offering a better user experience.

The core motivation for account abstraction stems from the goal of reducing from two account types to only one account type i.e., contract type. A single account type for all the Ethereum accounts will enable developers to provide a seamless experience to users on a single account with the functionality to transact tokens as well as create new contracts. It will also make it easier for developers to create better protocols and services without the need to make distinctions between account types since transacting will be moved fully into the EVM and off of the blockchain protocol.

Another motivation for account abstraction is to offer a rich user experience such as multi-signature security, social recovery, rate-limiting, creating allow/deny-list of addresses, and gasless meta-transactions. Currently, only contract accounts (smart contract wallets) are capable of offering these features, however, the UX offered by these accounts is hindered by relying on fluctuating gas prices. Additionally, since contract accounts cannot pay gas, the user needs an EOA to pay gas fees or leverage a relayer (usually centralized entities).

Account abstraction can offer the best of both worlds and drastically improve the user experience by taking steps toward a model where in the long term all accounts are contracts, contracts can pay for gas, and users are free to define their own security model.

To effect these numerous changes and pave the way for more implementations, better flexibility, and an upgrade in the Ethereum user experience, developers have created several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) on account abstraction, spearheaded by Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum.

Proposed EIPs for account abstraction

EIP stands for Ethereum Improvement Proposal, which are the core methods through which updates and decisions are made on the Ethereum blockchain. Here are several EIPs that were proposed to tackle the issues of account abstraction.

EIP-86 (Status: inactive)

EIP-86 can be said to be the first EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) aimed at account abstraction. After an initial proposal to prepare a security abstraction, the EIP-86 proposed implementing changes that would abstract out signature verification and the nonce scheme. These changes would allow users to create contract accounts that are not hard-coded to follow the traditional model but could be programmed to use any signature or nonce scheme in transaction processing.

The ECDSA and the default nonce scheme were the only mechanisms providing account security in the traditional model. In the proposed model, all accounts would become contracts, contracts would be able to pay gas fees, and users could tweak the account security and implement their desired signature/nonce scheme.

EIP-2938 (Status: inactive)

EIP-2938 offers a restricted version of account abstraction. The proposal sought to allow smart contracts to function as EOAs, allowing them to initiate transactions and pay for gas. In EIP-2938, developers propose introducing a new type of transaction and two new opcodes, aiming to keep implementation simple and allow more complex features over time.

The account abstraction transaction type would contain three fields – nonce, target, and data – where data represents all parameters that the account abstraction contract must execute and the transaction must validate. In contrast, the target represents the smart contract with the logic to validate transactions.

EIP-2938 is a simple proposal. As such, it does not support several features of account abstraction like nonce abstractions and meta transactions and does not remove EOAs.

EIP-3074 (Status: in review stage)

EIP-3074 takes another path, distinct from its predecessors attempted. Instead of converting smart contracts to EOAs, EIP-3074 tries to adapt EOAs, adding a few changes here and there to make them behave like smart contracts.

The proposal seeks to allow users to hand over control of their 'regular' accounts to a contract by signing a message with their account. With the signed message and two new opcodes, an invoker (the smart target contract) could initiate transactions in the EOAs instead.

EIP-3074 focuses on enabling transaction sponsoring and multicall execution and allowing users with EOA accounts to enjoy the benefits of account abstraction without creating new accounts or transferring their assets. The proposal could achieve flexibility, albeit it does not eliminate security concerns. Notably, users under EIP-3074 still have to back up their seed phrase.

EIP-4337 (Status: likely to be changed before activation)

The most recent proposal, EIP-4337, looks to improve smart contract wallets. In a drastic departure from the usual approach, EIP-4337 simplifies the creation and operation of smart contract wallets on Ethereum by sharing the load across the required on-chain and off-chain infrastructure.

Achieving account abstraction through EIP-4337. (Source)‌ ‌

EIP-4337 eliminates the need for sending transactions, with users required to send a set of UserOperations instead. Bundlers then pack the UserOperations into a single transaction and send it to the EntryPoint contract, executing the transaction and compensating the bundlers duly. EIP-4337 eliminates the worry of subsidizing gas fees, but it fails to end the era of EOAs on Ethereum.

Use Cases

Ethereum account abstraction, when achieved, will drive several implementations and user experience changes and allow developers the freedom to build or operate accounts on their terms.

Account abstraction will also enable developers to use smart contract logic to determine not just the effects of transactions, but also the fee payment and validation logic. Hence it could allow several crucial security benefits such as multi-sig and smart recovery wallets, the ability to change keys without changing wallets, and quantum safety.

Here are some use cases which account abstraction will help bring to reality:

Wallets: With account abstraction, users will be able to benefit from advanced security features such as multi-sig, and smart recovery as well as leverage the ability to change keys without changing wallets. Sponsored transactions: Account abstraction will allow entities or their subsidiaries to transact in several ways, like paying fees on users' behalf and allowing users to pay gas fees in ERC-20 tokens, which will be converted and relayed to the blockchain as ETH. Meta-transactions: With account abstraction, users can accept meta-transactions (gasless) and pay for gas without trusting a relayer. So: Is Ethereum account abstraction the next massive change for the network?

While Ethereum account abstraction is not yet a reality, it has become a hot discussion topic since the success of the Merge. Over the years, Ethereum's developers have pushed back account abstraction, favoring urgent blockchain upgrades.

Now, it is only reasonable that Ethereum accounts become easier to use and understand and more welcoming to onboard the less tech-savvy. Ethereum account abstraction, as of now, appears to be the most likely way to effect a massive UX change for Ethereum to lead the mass adoption charge in crypto.

About Panther

Panther is a decentralized protocol that enables interoperable privacy in DeFi using zero-knowledge proofs.

Users can mint fully-collateralized, composable tokens called zAssets, which can be used to execute private, trusted DeFi transactions across multiple blockchains.

Panther helps investors protect their personal financial data and trading strategies, and provides financial institutions with a clear path to compliantly participate in DeFi.

Stay connected: Telegram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Why AI models will replace artists long before they’ll replace programmers

Perhaps the most mind-bending implication we’re seeing from generative AI is that, contrary to the common view that creativity will be the last bastion of human ingenuity in the …

The post Art Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Machine-Generated appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

At Converge22, the Inclusion track featured panels focused on combating instability and inequity, enhancing financial literacy, and leveraging blockchain technology to increase social impact around the world. One session, Dollar Digitization for the Developing World, emphasized how important access to dollars has become outside the U.S. for a variety of use cases, including protecting earned value against currency inflation in national economies and sending nearly-instant and cost-effective remittance payments.

Today we release v1.1.0 of the Nym platform and wallet with new features and an upgraded version of NymConnect.

Earlier this week we wrote about the Nym mixnet smart contract getting a make-over.

Some of the improvements in the new contract are:

lower gas fees automated compounding for rewards allowing operators to set their monthly operating cost of running node allowing operators to adjust their node settings without unbonding and speedier contract queries in general.

The contract migration is now complete and it was a success! You can read about all the contract changes here. And now it is time to update all the binaries for Nym apps and services.

In this post we will go through the changes and new features in Nym v1.1.0.

NOTE: the unbond function has changed significantly. That means you should only unbond your mix node if you want to leave the mixnet permanently. When you unbond you will lose all your delegations. You can join the network again with the same identity key, but you will start fresh with no delegations.

Nym platform v1.1.0:

The new contract upgrade means the contract address and directory has changed, so all Nym components and clients need to be upgraded to v1.1.0 in order to work.

To upgrade, you can download and install the pre-built binaries or build the binaries yourself for your preferred operating system by cloning the Nym repo and following instructions on the docs.

Please check the change log, for a complete list of all fixes and improvements in this release.

NOTE: to upgrade your mixnode or update its settings (IP, version, etc), DO NOT unbond/rebond your node. Node settings can be adjusted without unbonding.

To upgrade your mix node:

- copy your existing keys for safety

- download and run the new binary

- stop and then restart your mix node

- update the config file with the new version 1.1.0

- upgrade the wallet, go to the Node Settings and change the version number to 1.1.0

Nym Wallet v1.1.0:

The Nym wallet has also been updated — please make sure to install wallet v1.1.0 as the older versions will not work with the new contract. Download the latest version of the wallet here.

Here are some of the new features and usability improvements:

Operators can now change/update parameters of their node (IP, version, profit margin, etc) without the need to unbond Users with delegations to nodes that have unbonded, will see those delegations grouped on top of the list and highlighted in red to undelegate stake from. Guide to help new users delegate stake if they have not delegated to any mixnodes before. New screen to view your bonded mixnode New screen for Node Settings, including information about when the next epoch and interval will start Operators can now set their monthly operating cost when bonding, and can update it in the Node Settings Displaying pending unbonds Displaying routing score and average score for gateways Improved account creation dialogs New Delegation screen, highlighting unbonded nodesNew bonded node screenNew Node Settings screen NymConnect v1.1.0:

NymConnect is an easy to use desktop application that allows you to privacy-enhance other apps by connecting them to the Nym mixnet and sending their data through it. If you have never used NymConnect before you can read more about it here and download the latest version of it here.

In this version we have fixed a few bugs including an issue that would cause the client to shut down unexpectedly. The changes should increase reliability, including graceful disconnecting from services.

Nym Platform, Wallet and NymConnect v1.1.0 was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Zero-Knowledge Powered Rollup Garnering Momentum in Race to Scale Ethereum

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The post Hidden in Plain Sight: A Sneaky Solidity Implementation of a Sealed-Bid Auction appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

Where were the adults? How did SBF manage to get away with so much (thus far)? We brought on Castle Island's Matt Walsh to explain.

We're pissed. How are you feeling?

Matt gives us a breath of fresh air as he outlines the timeline of the rest of the contagion, how long the healing process will take, what happens next, and how we rebuild this industry we've all come to know and love.

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------ Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 4:52 We're Pissed 9:52 Alameda Leveraged Data 13:34 Why Did We Accept This? 15:19 Regulators & Regulation? 21:55 Where Did the Money Come From? 24:42 The Human Destruction 26:35 Who Can You Trust? 30:51 What Will Regulators Do? 35:35 Will the Contagion Continue? 38:42 BlockFi 40:44 What Caused This? 45:10 Ego 47:50 What Should We Do Going Forward? 56:26 Who & Where Are the Adults? 58:33 How Long to Heal? 1:02:05 Is the Worst Behind Us? 1:03:55 Closing & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

Matt Walsh https://twitter.com/MattWalshInBos 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Earlier this year we announced our Bio and Science Fellowship at BlueYard — it is designed for us to learn from some of the brightest young minds in research and, in return for them, as a guide to the inner workings of the startup ecosystem around science. The program includes engaging with our science founders, deep dives and market maps into programmable biology, advances in AI for protein engineering and next-generation drug discovery platforms — in addition to internal master classes on everything from cap tables to due diligence, and visiting lectures from other investors and ecosystem participants. We believe tomorrow’s industry-defining companies will be built by technologists and scientists, building the interconnected elements that can become the fabric of our future (see our v2 thesis), and we want to empower this next generation of founders and investors.

We had hoped to attract aspiring founders or investors coming from the world of academia and couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome our first four fellows:

Stephanie Avraamides: Stephanie is completing an MPhil in Therapeutic Sciences at the University of Cambridge, an interdisciplinary programme tailored to generate scientific and business leaders in healthcare and therapeutics. Prior to this, her research experiences spanned the fields of cell and gene therapy, regenerative medicine and synthetic biology.

Ines Ullmo: Ines studied a BSc in Biology before she did a year in Business Management at Imperial College Business School. She is now a final year Biomedical PhD candidate at Imperial College London, working on developing NK cell-based immunotherapies for cancer treatment. Her work involves stem cell in vitro differentiation and CRISPR/Cas9 genetic engineering for the generation of off-the-shelf NK cell therapies.

Isabel Zhang: Isabel is a PhD candidate at The Francis Crick Institute in London working at the intersection of epigenetics, stem cell and neurodevelopmental biology. Prior to that, she graduated with an MSc in Molecular Medicine from the University of Heidelberg and Göttingen. Her research focuses on elucidating gene regulatory networks in neural progenitor cells using a range of gene editing and next-generation sequencing technologies.

Nicolas Krink: Nicolas is an independent Novo Nordisk Foundation postdoctoral research fellow at the NNF Center for Biosustaiblty of the Danish Technical University after he completed his PhD in Synthetic Microbiology at the Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology. Prior, he obtained his BSc in Biology from the University of Freiburg and his MSc in Interdisciplinary Life Sciences from Université Paris Descartes, with research stays at Stanford University and the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Berkeley. His current research focuses on the engineering of microorganisms to produce new-to-nature metabolites.

We look forward to working with them over the next few months as they help expand our efforts in life sciences, synthetic biology and beyond!

Nansen Data Show Double-Digit Jumps in Users at MakerDAO, Aave, and Other Protocols

Binance Begins Disclosing Wallet Assets in Transparency Push

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The post Achieving Crypto Privacy and Regulatory Compliance appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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The post Privacy-Protecting Regulatory Solutions Using Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Full Paper appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

Circle’s Move Comes as Stablecoin Has Been Losing Market Share

DeFi Won?

Validator participation on the Ethereum mainnet, anticipation of staking withdrawals, and a performance update on Codefi Staking.

The post The State of Staking in October 2022 appeared first on ConsenSys.

TestZEN or tZEN is a testnet version of ZEN to be used for testing various products and services on Horizen, such as deploying a testnet sidechain, launching a token or NFT on TokenMint testnet, etc. tZEN is free and has unlimited supplies. 

You can visit the Horizen tZEN faucet ( https://faucet.horizen.io/ ) to get tZEN sent to either Sphere wallet or Cobalt wallet. You will receive 42 tZEN each time and there is no limit to how many times you can claim tZEN. The tZEN faucet is currently on MVP stage. New release coming soon with improved user experience and interface.

Mainchain Faucet – Send tZEN to Sphere Wallet

This is where you enter your testnet Sphere Address in order to receive TestZEN to Sphere Testnet Wallet.

Sidechain Faucet – Send tZEN to Cobalt Wallet 

This is where you enter your testnet Cobalt Address to receive TestZEN direct to Cobalt!

You will also need the sidechain ID of the sidechain network that you will use the tZEN in. The sidechain ID can be found by clicking on Cobalt, clicking the hexagonal shape in the upper right corner and it will be displayed on the bottom. We are using TokenMint testnet as an example here: 

Once you click on GET TZEN, you will see a “Transaction successfully created! Your funds will arrive shortly.” You can track the transaction on the sidechain block explorer and activity history in Cobalt.

You will receive a fixed amount of 42 tZEN each transaction.

The post How to Get TestZEN appeared first on Horizen.

Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and MasterCard Test DLT to Connect Deposits

PHASE 1 Update Game of Chains✨

Dear Cosmonauts,
Phase 1 of Game of Chains is officially COMPLETE!

Read on for an update on how it went:

Game of Chains will be running for the rest of the month of November. In our first week of running the public incentivized testnet, we experienced some delays with launching consumer chains, however those bugs have been fixed! Validators, read on for more information on when to expect those governance proposals during Game of Chains!

HIGHLIGHTS 🎉

We started Game of Chains on November 7th by launching two “dummy” consumer chains — Apollo and Sputnik. While we had over 150+ validators sign up, we currently have about 90 validators in the active set. You can check out the group of validators here.

We’ve also launched a public leaderboard that anyone can follow to see which validators are in contention for WINNING Game of Chains! This leaderboard is a running tally and we will try to update it on a regular basis as tasks are submitted and evidence is confirmed. You can check out how the judges will be evaluating validator participation here.

Bugs, bugs, bugs! 🐜🐜🐜

During the testnet a bug was discovered in Gaia (Cosmos Hub) with ICS v0.2.0. The result of the bug was that multiple consumer chains were unable to start. This bug was fixed, and validators were able to successfully upgrade the network to the version of ICS v0.2.1 on Friday November 11 (morning EST), following which validators successfully launched two consumer chains!

Additionally, relayer operators found that validator set updates were not being propagated. This was investigated by Hermes and Interchain Security teams (thank you to the Informal Systems team!) and a patch for Hermes is now available

Memes, memes, memes! 😂

We have testnet awards for the best memes generated by the community and we’ve already seen some great memes by Stakecito and Jabbey in Discord and on Twitter! Stakecito contemplates what sabotage might look like in Game of Chains and Chainapsis asks us to let that sink in!

Public Goods 💗

Thank you to all the validators that are supporting this testnet through block explorers, RPC end points and more. Some highlights of the public goods that we’ve seen so far include:

Polkachu offering a variety of community tools and services PingPub added the ConsumerAdditionProposal to their dashboard and also offered RPC endpoints including this one for the provider chain (Cosmos Hub)! Thank you to Chainapsis for supporting Game of Chains through the Keplr wallet! Auditing 🔐

CrowdControl, Virtual Hive, and CryptoCrew have been investigating an issue where validator set updates seem to be inconsistent between provider and consumer chains. Plus, CryptoCrew published their script for auditing the validator set changes between consumer and provider sets (check it out here).

Next Steps 👇👇👇

Over the next week, we will continue running Game of Chains, this time with consumer chains that are planning to launch in production once Interchain Security goes live! This includes the Generic Asset Issuance Chain (or GAH for short). This chain will host USDC when deployed, and hopefully other blue-chip assets in the future. We will also be running Duality, a novel DEX/AMM coming to Cosmos. You can read more about them here.

Following these proposals, validators will run Stride and Neutron — two additional consumer chains coming to Cosmos!

Last, but not least, thank you to the entire validators for your incredible support throughout Game of Chains. Interchain Security would not be what it is without the dedication of the Cosmos validator community. Cheers to you and stay tuned for updates on the next phase of Game of Chains!

About the Author:
Jelena Djuric works at Informal Systems as product Marketing Manager.
Jelena is on Twitter.

PHASE 1 Update — Game of Chains✨ was originally published in Cosmos Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A Step-by-Step Guide to This Important DeFi Player

TokenMint is designed to provide a streamlined tokenization process for all users, with or without developer background. When first launched, the platform provided an easy and quick way to create fungible tokens. Adding the NFT capability means users can now create and mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on TokenMint. 

Rob Viglione, Co-founder of Horizen and CEO of Horizen Labs.

The TokenMint platform’s evolution continues to make tokenization easily accessible to mass users. We see this platform as the fulcrum that will continue to increase innovation in the blockchain space. TokenMint now offers functionality for those seeking NFT support, which is in line with the lofty goals we have set forth increasing user adoption and adding additional elements to the platform as we strive to spark mass adoption and community engagement

TokenMint Alpha New NFT Features

We are excited to announce that NFT capabilities are now live on TokenMint mainnet!  The new NFT functionality is currently in the Alpha version with features as following:

Token/NFT Generator  Generate NFTs by declaring and minting an initial supply and then viewing your NFTs. TokenMint Block Explorer with NFT capabilities Display NFT Transactions Display NFT Transactions Details Display NFT Collections Display NFT Collections Details  Cobalt wallet Display NFT Transactions Display NFTs Display NFT Details Send NFTs

To celebrate this exciting milestone, we are hosting an art competition for our community! Enter the NFT competition now to win ZEN, ends November 22!

Roadmap

We are continuing to improve and expand features, including a mobile app, interoperability, and white labeling capabilities. 

About TokenMint

The TokenMint platform is comprised of four key components and is designed to provide a seamless, simple and intuitive user experience: 

TokenMint Chain – a sidechain built on the Horizen network Token/NFT Generator – a web app that allows a streamlined and easy process for anyone to create and mint a fungible or non-fungible token with custom tokenomics Cobalt Wallet – a web browser extension wallet that stores and manages tokens created on TokenMint TokenMint Block explorer – a block explorer that tracks and displays all transactions on the TokenMint Chain.  User Guides:  Cobalt Wallet User Guide How to Get TestZEN How to Create a Fungible Token on TokenMint How to Load NFT Data Into an IPFS Repository How to create and mint NFT on TokenMint How to create and mint a single-image NFT on TokenMint (Video Tutorial) How to create and mint an NFT collection on TokenMint (Video Tutorial).

The post TokenMint NFT Capabilities is Now Live on Mainnet!  appeared first on Horizen.

Big data’s roots are in the hyperscalers. As a result, most tooling we use for analytics today has been built around a scale-out approach where performance is sacrificed for the ability to handle enormous amounts of data. So although as …

The post Investing in MotherDuck appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

…

The post The American Dynamism 50 appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

It’s Imperative to Provide Real Value to Tokenholders, Not Just Governance Tools

We’re excited to announce that eligible businesses who build with Circle can now help further boost their sales by accepting Apple Pay — an easy, secure, and private way to pay. Customers can quickly checkout using the devices they carry every day. Apple Pay is also a safer and faster way to pay using the Safari browser and in apps because customers will no longer have to create an account or fill out lengthy forms.

FTX Appoints Independent Directors to Ensure ‘Proper Governance’

In this episode, we’ll explore the concept of The Network State with Balaji Srinivasan. As the world becomes more digital, it also becomes more distributed. This is obvious on the individual level – how you order goods, the way you chat with friends, and the news you consume… all from a handheld computer. It’s also becoming more obvious at the company level. The pandemic shook the world into remote work and many companies have decided that maybe work can be done in ways they never imagined. But what about the state – whatever that means? Could the network rival the state? 

In this episode we’ll explore what a nation state even is and how it may be challenged by a new Leviathan: the network. We also cover the difference between a nation and a state, how constants become variables, the cloud continent, digital power, your identity stack, calibrating risk, polycentric law, cloud regulations, building fast with atoms, founding vs inheriting, the powerful vs the powerless, and just about everything in between.

 

Resources: 

Balaji’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/balajis

Balaji’s website: https://balajis.com/

The Network State: https://thenetworkstate.com/

 

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

This is the craziest moment we’ve experienced in crypto. So many things to unpack. But the biggest question remains… where do we go from here?

------  Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------  SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER:          https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  ️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST:                 http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 

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 ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 

 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

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------

Topics Covered: 0:00 Intro 6:30 One Week Later 13:00 Changing Perspective 17:25 Shaking Faith 21:20 Losing Funds 22:25 Sponsorships 27:30 Cronies 30:15 Regulators 34:30 The Content Treadmill 37:30 Richard Heart 39:45 Community Vibes 44:30 Staying Optimistic 50:25 Reflections

----- Resources: Sam’s Weird Twitter Behavior https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1592275869825134593 

Sam’s Penthouse https://www.99.co/singapore/insider/cryptocurrency-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-sbf-bahamas-penthouse-sale-usd40m/ 

FTX Corporate Structure https://twitter.com/Leishman/status/1591800851236282368  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Contagion Begins

Serum DEX Heavily Impacted

DeFi Derivatives Surge as Traders Flee Exchanges

Alameda Owes DeFi Lenders $13M as TVL Drops for Major Players

What we’re looking for at HLTH

“The future is already here – it’s just unevenly distributed,” said science fiction writer William Gibson. As much as we hem and haw about the adoption of value-based care being slow, the fact is …

The post SaaS and Supply Chains (Bio + Health Newsletter November 2022) appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

The post Bringing <span>DeFi Lending</span> Mainstream appeared first on Greylock.

Using cryptocurrency in the real world can be complicated today. Off-ramping crypto usually requires users to transfer on-chain assets from their wallet into a centralized exchange (or first complete swaps on a decentralized exchange), where they can sell their crypto for fiat cash, then finally transfer funds to their bank account. The process can be costly and time consuming, as users often have to pay fees for each transaction they make with their crypto on-chain. If they have to swap their tokens multiple times, the process can become even more costly by triggering multiple taxable events. 

The feature image is taken from a 2017 report, Impact Bonds in Mexico: Opportunities and Challenges, sponsored by Brookings Institution, incubator for the Center for Universal Education, and Ethos, a sustainability think tank based in Mexico City that advances policy innovation.

For awhile now I’ve been encouraging those who follow my work to try out the lens I’ve fashioned and use it to look with compassion around their own communities. Recently, I talked with a few people about writing letters that might illustrate how the research I’ve undertaken relates to developments in their hometowns. The understanding was that these letters could be shared with the wider community as a series of “Letters from Around the Labyrinth.” A secondary goal was to try and practice compassionate examination of these systems of domination without getting entangled with them and allowing these energetic forces to steer our consciousness. My hope is that in developing this skill we can aspire to think clearly, as John Trudell long exhorted, dispel some of the anxiety, and set intentions for healing along the way.

This first letter is from Maria in Mexico. Education is United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4. The children of Mexico and the rest of Latin America are being directly targeted for “human capital improvements” via ed-tech solutions that will groom them to build and defend cybernetic Metaverse “life.” The solutions offered will generate profits for social entrepreneurs while containing and directing the life prospects of millions within the sprawling chains of distributed ledger technology. All of this will of course be framed as economic liberation through skill badge crypto gaming. Poverty continues to be a huge issue in her country. Mexico has been a testbed for conditional cash transfer policies since the 1990s, a fact that deserves attention and wider discussion. If you haven’t read my research on that, you can do so here. It’s important context as is the clip of Jeremey Corbyn speaking of early childhood education finance in Southern Mexico. What Maria and her fellow citizens are facing is structural economic dysfunction engineered from within and without through decades of strategically weaponized debt compounded by ongoing social unrest. In her letter and supporting documents we see how the United Nations is grooming middle school children to take on the Sisyphean task of remedying the harm wrought by inhuman global hedge funds. It’s not right.

Thank you Maria for your sharing your view from where you are on behalf of the children.

“Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. what was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spice they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it…all their ferocity was turned outwards against the enemies of the state against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children.” George Orwell, 1984

Dear Alison,

How are you? I’m attaching the information about the called “cuadernillo” or “textbook” for children of 6th grade of primary school, textbook created by the Mexican Government together with the UN and with the help, as they used to, of NGOs. In the document I include too my opinion, as I consider the language and the instructions are a manipulation, besides that the children of 10-12 years old (6th grade) are kids, not adults and do not have the age to sign letters, to commit, to have the judgement and criteria to decide many things that are mentioned in the cuadernillo.

The aim of the “cuadernillo”, is to teach the children about the Agenda 2030, each of the 17 SDGs, and each one include a practical exercise “forcing” the kids to make a commitment together with their families to “help” reaching the goals in their communities of each SDG. It goes beyond the families, as its mentioned in the attached document I translated into English as the “cuadernillo” document is only in Spanish. This with the help of the teachers of all schools, as in the document it says they were trained to teach properly the Agenda 2030 and SDGs. Other important thing to notice is that coincidentally they printed the textbook / cuadernillo in Mexico in 2020, exactly when the pandemic started. Thus, it was planned in 2019 like many other projects planned exactly before 2020, in 2019 to be ready for the pandemic. It was for the scholar year 2020-2021, and it says too that it was for free distribution, not for sale.

In my opinion, after you’ll see the attachment, it’s more than clear, in my opinion, that this is a complete indoctrination for the children, but more than only about the Agenda 2030. It’s about involving the family, spreading the word, involving and checking that their community is behaving according to the SDGs, with this textbook and exercises, the kids will have clear that if you don’t commit with the Agenda 2030 and if they see other people doing something different vs the SDGs, they have the right to be vigilant, to accuse, to take evidence and inform the authorities. THEY’RE CREATING “AGENTS”, THAT´S THE NAME THEY GIVE THE KIDS, AGENTS. They’re creating spies or kind of Communist / totalitarian monsters to spy their neighbour instead of really helping them by heart.

Thank you for your kind attention. Attached the document and there includes the sources of all the documents.

Greetings from Mexico.

Sincerely,

María

PDF of Maria’s images from the Cuadernillo with translation.

Crypto.com’s Vow to Audit Reserves Spurs Scrutiny From Blockchain Sleuths

Market Manipulators Must be Stopped — Here’s How

✨ DEBRIEF | Unpacking the Episode: https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/debrief-molly-white 

After many episodes, we finally brought on a crypto skeptic, Molly White! We brought Molly on to take us out of our crypto bubble, to challenge our assumptions, and to steelman the anti-crypto argument.

Molly White is an engineer, public goods contributor, and an extremely articulate crypto critic. She also runs the web3 skeptic website: https://web3isgoinggreat.com/

In today’s episode, Molly gives us her central claim on why web3 isn’t actually going so great, why she thinks tokens make everything worse, and why—despite acknowledging some of the good—Molly believes crypto is a net negative to the world…and probably will be in the near future.

P.S. Keep in mind, this episode was recorded on October 7, 2022 — way before any of the FTX meltdown occurred this past week.

------ 📣 Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

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⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

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🔐 LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

----- Topics Covered

0:00 Intro 7:35 How Great is Web3 Really Going? 8:10 Headline Selection & Website Goals 12:50 Molly is Anti-Crypto 13:36 Crypto’s Promises 15:36 Are We Early? 17:35 Crypto’s Successes 20:23 Crypto’s Biggest Failures 21:50 Banks 26:22 Education Problem 28:10 The Future of Crypto 33:34 What’s Wrong with the Internet? 35:27 The Money Side of Crypto 37:38 Web2 to Web3 42:23 Starry-Eyed Optimism 54:04 Public Goods 1:02:00 Hyperfinancialization 1:05:55 Show Me Fix It 1:08:34 Environmental Impact 1:13:31 Crypto Idealists 1:16:52 Surveillance & Changing Business Models 1:20:40 Wikipedia 1:25:17 Decentralization 1:26:23 Advice For Crypto People 1:27:44 Closing, Resources, & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

Molly White https://twitter.com/molly0xFFF 

web3 is going just great https://twitter.com/web3isgreat 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

The flood of news following FTX’s collapse continued apace this weekend

REMOVE YOUR MONEY FROM CEXs

It has been incredible to see the engagement from our community from the October Sprint of the Verida Rewards Program. More than 430 participants took part in the last sprint (+333% compared to last month), with an astonishing 4700 quests completed (+470% compared to last month).

We are thankful to everyone who participated last month and to the hard working Verida Ambassador team who verified the quests and provided feedback to the community. We love seeing all of the content being created by the community, including this explainer video on Verida.

Congratulations to the October Sprint winners

Before we share details for the next sprint, we want to announce the winners from October. The top 15 participants on our leaderboard are:

1. Banditka#8895
2. cblpneok#4844
3. Aramis#9259
4. Polider#7240
5. konpedalnii#0322
Reward: 100 VDAr Reward Tokens, Gold Discord role

6. Vlad_V_333 | Igu Verse#9105
7. kosoga#1978
8. Step78#2363
9. Muxailo#2013
10. alafika#1914
Reward: 50 VDAr Reward Tokens, Silver Discord role

11. Ярик#3160
12. AlexG#8443
13. bashka#4943
14. Alexnest#3744
15. evriktot#4365
Reward: Bronze Discord role

We congratulate those who showed perseverance and made it into the top 15 list. You made an incredible contribution to our community, thank you!

If you made it into the top 10, here’s what you should do next

Send your non-custodial erc-20 wallet to our ambassador with the nickname Mister_Yspeh#5703 in Discord. VDAr reward tokens are not live and will be transferred at a later date.

If you didn’t make the list of winners, get ready for the November sprint. The leaderboard has been reset and you can start your crew3 adventure again now!

November Sprint Details

It’s time to break new records in the November Sprint of the Verida Rewards program!

In the new sprint, the focus will be on social activities and spreading the word on Verida the wider crypto community. Among the new quests are the following:

LinkedIn quests; GM.xyz quest; New Verida quizzes; Secret quests.

Everyone’s favorite classic quests will also be updated and available, namely:

Twitter quests; Reddit quests; Testnet quests; Telegram quests; Medium quests; Youtube quests; Discord quests; Tester quests; Meme king; Builders quests.

The November Sprint will run from the time this article was posted until November 30th 11:59 pm GMT+2.

The rewards for this sprint are as follows:

Top 1–7 leaderboard (200VDAr Reward Tokens); Top 8–20 leaderboard (100VDAr Reward Tokens);

This time around, we have decided to stop dropping Discord roles, increase the number of prize spots and the VDAr rewards available.

How you can get started with Verida Quests Go to the Verida Crew3 dashboard; Login with your Discord, Metamask Wallet or WalletConnect; Make sure to connect your Discord account; Choose the quest you want to complete, follow the instructions and submit your proof; Verida ambassadors will review your submission and award you with XP; Don’t forget to join the new #quests channel in our Discord to hear news about Verida Quests. We will release the of details of new quests, winner announcements and more. About Verida

Verida is a network of personal data owned and controlled by users, incentivizing them to unlock their data stored on centralized platforms. Builders access this data for new exciting use cases such as trusted storage, decentralized messaging, and single sign-on. User’s private data can be used as inputs into smart contracts, enabling connectivity to multiple blockchains.

We believe it’s a fundamental human right that individuals have ownership and control over their personal data. We believe everyone has a right to control their identity through decentralization, giving citizens control over how they interact with the digital world.

Verida is building open source solutions for developers that include; decentralized single sign-on, encrypted off-chain storage, secure messaging, and data payments using crypto tokens.

Connect with us

Verida Rewards Program Winners Announced and New Quests in November was originally published in Verida on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Circle has had no material exposure to FTX, Alameda or any of its affiliates. Our customer response focuses on continued safety and security. 

Regulator Denies Instructing Exchange to Process Bahamian Withdrawals

Last minute call! You can still register for tonight's @inacta Innovation Circle inShed, Zug!

Get yourwith an… https://t.co/GcUoV1ubdI 2022-11-07

One of the largest events of the #crypto industry – the @Cardano Summit 2022 is coming soon!

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The main stage event will be at the SwissTech Convention Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland, with multiple🫂community-… https://t.co/gHIVgFWpen in reply to thecryptovalley 2022-11-07 Do you want to know how institutional-grade crypto infrastructure is built?

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An article by our board member @marcelharmann was recently published on @Cointelegraph!

It discusses #Bitcoin's f… https://t.co/2By15oyIcF 2022-11-09

A thrilling event, The Institutional Digital Assets and Crypto Regulation Symposium by @cfconferences, is taking pl… https://t.co/fsJ7mdynnm 2022-11-11 2/ What is it about?

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The post Weekly Twitter Summary (2022-11-06 – 2022-11-12) appeared first on Crypto Valley Association.

Hackers drained hundreds of millions of dollars from insolvent crypto exchange FTX Friday night, just hours after it declared bankruptcy, in one of the largest heists in crypto history. 

In this live stream we’ll go over the latest updates from the FTX / Alameda collapse and discuss how we ended up here in the first place.

Trapped Users Attempt to Get Assets Out Through Overpriced NFTs

soBTC Is Trading at a 50% Discount

I spent a few days this week doing a close read of Julian Huxley’s 1946 “UNESCO Its Purpose and Philosophy.” It leans heavily on scientific eugenics, social efficiency, and charting individual characteristics as potential contributions to convergent consciousness, Teilhard De Chardin’s Noetic Christogenesis. I’m not sure about you, but I’m pretty skeptical of an “ascension” program that seemed to emerge from a Fabian / DARPA mash-up. I was trying to figure out how to talk about this without it being super dry. I read those sixty pages, so you don’t have to but the compiled highlights were still daunting.

Then, serendipitously, I received an email from Australia about the Capital Territory Health Directorate signing onto a deal with Epic Systems for a new patient record system. Epic, privately held since 1979 with a huge footprint in the digital health space, is headquartered in Verona, a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin. Upon seeing Madison, I had flashback to the days when I was researching widespread adoption of K12 educational technology and realized the timeline stretched back to Department of Defense distance learning in the mid 1990s. Advanced Distributed Learning, the project lead, has four outposts including a K12 education gaming office in Madison formerly led by social game mechanics specialists Constance Steinkuehler and her husband Kurt Squire. I ended up stopping at the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab on a trek I made out to South Dakota in the summer of 2020. In fact, it was one of my very first site visits; the first of many boring office park parking lots.

So, I decided to create a map that showcased how digital health records, prescribed wellness, and pay for success finance in “value-based” medicine would intersect with “sustainable” behavior management, eugenics, radio-isotopes, psychiatry, and gamified badging systems for AI-mediated gig work. Next to each section of the map I organized excerpts from the Huxley paper. I hope it illustrates the outrageous origins of current policies that are chipping away at our creativity and our humanity bit by soul-sucking bit.

Below is a link to the featured map for exploring. Click on any dot to open the source links. The three small dots on the left side (middle) of the page should open the slide-out panel if it’s not visible already. Have fun poking around. I also pulled out links to the Littlesis maps, old blog posts I referenced, and the video clips if you decide you want to revisit or share them.

Reference Links

Epic Systems / Huxley / Madison map link here.

Links to other featured maps: Australia/Singapore here; ADL IoT education here: impact investing In CA health here; and Produce RX here.

Featured videos: Selfish Ledger here; slime mold here; XAPI data analytics here; Yet Analytics for workplace efficiency here; Hoskinson Cardano Atala Prism Ethiopia here; and Soros on New Economic Thinking here.

Plus, two clips I forgot to show are Suzanne Gildert and Synthiam on remote robotic pilot tasks as the future of “work.”

Contextual INET / Soros blog post here.

Contextual education / Department of Defense blog post here.

Two presentations on pay for success finance and health management, including alternative systems, with Sayer Ji from 2021 here and here.

Presentation link here, 3 hours.

 

Pictures from around Madison, WI from May 2020. The first of many site visits looking around the labyrinth.

 

 

Sam Bankman-Fried has resigned from his position as FTX CEO, and the many companies in his crypto empire, will file for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

We talked to some of our favorite DAOs on the issues they consider important for the security of DAOs. Some of the themes that emerged were around governance, smart contracts, and treasury.

The post The State of DAO Security appeared first on ConsenSys.

The Nym mixnet smart contract is having a significant make-over. Most of this will not be very visible on the surface of things, but are essential improvements to the system in the long run. The most noticeable change will be that compounding will happen automatically and gas costs will be reduced due to a new, lighter data structure.

The contract upgrade and migration will happen early next week. There will be a platform release v1.1.0 immediately after (more details and release note on that soon). If you are running any of the Nym infrastructure (mix node, gateway, network requester, etc.) you will have to update your binaries so that they can keep working with the new contract.

NOTE: from this release, if you unbond your mixnode that means you are leaving the mixnet and you will lose all your delegations (permanently). You can join again with the same identity key, however, you will start with no delegations.

This blogpost gives a first overview of the reasons why a new contract is needed and the improvements you can expect from it.

Why a new contract?

There are three major reasons why the mixnet contract needs to be upgraded:

The mixnet contract was storing too much contract state data. This meant that queries about rewards (from a wallet for example) required large amounts of gas, validators needed a custom configuration to support large queries, and eventually no one would be able to query for rewards because the whole thing would simply be too heavy. As a result, any query would always return 0 for rewards and rewards would not be visible until you unbonded (or undelegated). The new contract fixes this. The mixnet directory data structure of the mixnet needed a clean up. The new directory structure will allow mix nodes to change their settings or even upgrade their nodes without the need to unbond. NOTE this also means that when mix nodes DO unbond, they leave the mixnet and therefore they will lose all their delegations. They can rejoin, but will have to attract new delegations. Compounding was costing unnecessary gas fees. Whenever anyone compounded their rewards, this would cost gas. In the new version, compounding will happen automatically and without fees. Redeeming rewards will still incur fees. What can I expect in the new contract?

The first thing to note is that there will be a new mainnet address for the contract, and the data structure will change. More details on this in the coming days.

For delegators:

Compounding will be automatic — you no longer have to keep track of it or click on the compound button for compounding rewards.

For mixnode operators:

Mixnode operators will be able to set their operating costs. Profit margin can be more granular. Operators can update their configurations without unbonding. What this also means is that if you unbond your mixnode that means you are leaving the mixnet and you will lose all your delegations (permanently). Change in saturation level to 730k per node, which means that more stake will be needed to reach full saturation. Why is mixnode stake saturation changing?

The staking supply of NYM has increased due to quarterly vesting. Therefore there are more NYM tokens that can be staked, including all vested tokens and 10% of unvested tokens. Stake saturation depends on the available staking supply, the target level of staking, and the number of rewarded nodes. After the next vest the available staking supply will be around 350 million NYM. With 240 rewarded nodes and a target of 50% of available tokens staked this leads to a saturation stake of around 730k NYM (computed as 0.5*350m/240).

The contract update will also clean up legacy effects of a bug that was fixed a while back, which made some nodes appear to have more delegated stake than they actually had. As result of the update the displayed delegated stake will be correct for all nodes. As a result, some nodes may see slightly lower delegated amounts if they were previously displaying an incorrect delegation amount.

Stay tuned for further updates and the exact timing of the contract migration.

Nym node setup help chat

Change log

Discord

Nym mixnet contract upgrade was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Tron Providing Support to FTX Users with Tron Tokens Trapped on Platform

2nd Week of November

------ 📣 Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

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⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 

🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

💠 NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

🔐 LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

------

Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 4:29 BTC Price 5:50 ETH Price 6:10 ETH/BTC 6:33 Total Crypto Market Cap

7:43 ECONOMY 7:50 Inflation drops to 7.7% from 8.2% in September https://twitter.com/WatcherGuru/status/1590698393260609536  8:15 CPI Chart https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/10/business/inflation-cpi-report  10:08 U.S. Election 12:10 Layoff SZN

14:20 UltraSoundMoney - 5000 ETH Burnt https://ultrasound.money/ 

21:58 Surreal week…. https://twitter.com/RyanSAdams/status/1590474030263730176  https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1590709200665333762  https://unusualwhales.com/news/ftx-faces-liquidity-shortfall-of-up-to-8-billion-sam-bankman-fried-told-investors  https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftx-tapped-into-customer-accounts-to-fund-risky-bets-setting-up-its-downfall-11668093732  https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/09/sam-bankman-fried-no-longer-a-billionaire-after-146b-overnight-wipe-out/  39:30 Tether freezes FTX USDT https://twitter.com/Pentosh1/status/1590711432378621952  40:18 Gensler and the SEC https://twitter.com/colinwilhelm/status/1590694062490734593  41:00 Captain hindsight https://twitter.com/collins_belton/status/1590686389511028737  42:25 Tom Emmer https://twitter.com/RepTomEmmer/status/1590717374801809409  44:25 Brian Armstrong take & ratio’ing sen warren https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1590511022104010753  45:45 Dogetoshi https://twitter.com/Dogetoshi/status/1590736426068766721  46:20 Larry https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1590750976298090496  47:00 Employee chatter https://twitter.com/tackettzane/status/1590541872212357120  52:20 THIS KEEPS HAPPENING https://twitter.com/RichardHeartWin/status/1590689840068448257 

1:04:36 ETH 1:04:40 New Ethereum Roadmap https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1588669782471368704 

1:06:30 NFTs 1:06:35 OpenSea Royalties https://www.theblock.co/post/183518/opensea-creates-tool-to-help-nft-collections-enforce-royalties-on-chain  1:07:50 Peaster take https://metaversal.banklesshq.com/p/the-future-of-nft-royalties  1:08:05 SuperRare RarePass https://twitter.com/SuperRare/status/1588173906241736704  https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ/status/1589641261685915650 

1:08:50 Regulation 1:11:45 SEC subpoena HEX influencers https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-issues-subpoena-to-influencers-promoting-hex-pulsechain-and-pulsex  1:13:18 While all this was happening…LBRY ruling takes https://twitter.com/lbrycom/status/1589645453091827712  https://twitter.com/lex_node/status/1589655558029643777  https://twitter.com/lbrycom/status/1589718365924634624 

1:15:45 Misc Polkadot’s Native Token DOT https://twitter.com/Web3foundation/status/1588593793519210497  1:18:00 UK Bank Santander NGMI https://decrypt.co/113702/uk-bank-santander-will-block-payments-to-crypto-exchanges 

1:18:19 Releases Zerion to take on MetaMask https://www.theblock.co/post/183304/zerion-prepares-to-take-on-metamask-with-in-browser-wallet 

1:19:05 Raises WalletConnect - $12.5M https://twitter.com/WalletConnect/status/1588154492465418240 

1:19:20 JOBS https://pallet.xyz/list/bankless/jobs  Be like Tim https://twitter.com/timgarth/status/1588269857920925705 

1:24:34 TAKES Future of Crypto https://twitter.com/HHorsley/status/1590463556902096897  Worst events in crypto history https://twitter.com/thedefiedge/status/1590131252056756226  No one wants to hear it https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1590760792877862913  Thanks Gary https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1590721196957761537 

1:36:44 MEME of the Week https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ/status/1590447780132450306 

1:37:20 Moment of Zen https://twitter.com/netcapgirl/status/1590431481385857024 

Platform Cites Exposure to FTX

Beleaguered Exchange Allegedly Used Customer Funds to Bail Out Sister Concern

Hero to Zero

After one of the worst weeks in crypto history, Ryan and David join forces with Ledger and Cobie from Up Only to bring the industry some much needed catharsis.

The four chop it up about how big of a deal this really is, how we’re going to move forward as an industry, and general advice to get through this.

Hang in there, anon. We’re in this together.

------ 📣 Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

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💠 NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

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⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Users Can Bridge Up To $10,000 Across Blockchains

Stablecoin Recovers Parity After Slipping Peg

Today we began polling the Zcash Community Advisory Panel to obtain their advisory input regarding who should be appointed to the Zcash Foundation (ZF) board. 

In September, we invited the community to nominate candidates for a seat on the board. Two candidates were nominated: 

Jay Verret, and Kurt Opsahl.

Both possess a wealth of relevant experience and expertise, and we are very lucky to have such well-qualified candidates willing to serve on the ZF board. 

Yesterday, Jay and Kurt took part in a Community Call to introduce themselves, and answer questions from the Zcash community. I encourage you to watch the video to get to know the candidates. 

The ZCAP poll will run until 09:00 UTC on November 21st. The results will be released shortly after the poll closes, and the ZF board will meet with the candidate who receives the most votes. 

The post Consulting the Zcash Community on Appointing a New Zcash Foundation Board Member appeared first on zcash foundation.

In September 2022, the first ZenCon, the conference dedicated to the Horizen ecosystem, took place. It was the first opportunity to gather the whole team and the community around the same event.

If you follow Horizen news, you’ve heard about Zencon0, the first event organized by Horizen Labs for the Horizen ecosystem.

After five years, it was time to celebrate Horizen’s accomplishments surrounded by those who were there to help lay the foundations of the project and all those who, along the way, came to bring their strength to take Horizen’s ecosystem even further.

At this level of expansion, it was essential to exchange thoughts. Horizen’s growth was made in the image of its decentralized blockchain. The team and community members are spread across all continents. To me, that’s what makes the project so strong. It’s a machine that never sleeps, designed with the help of a multitude of different cultures and interests. A successful scalability challenge!

Since its inception, the goal has evolved to reflect the community as it grows and changes.

That’s Horizen: In essence, it provides privacy through zk-SNARKs, and for all, it’s bringing privacy to life. This is an important issue for everyone who goes online and is careful with their digital footprint.

Another facet of Horizen is decentralization. The project started its Secure Nodes and Super Nodes system in 2018, which has since been in the top 3 most extensive networks, surpassing Ethereum and Bitcoin combined: It is unbounded by design.

Since then, Horizen has become the zero-knowledge-enabled network of blockchains, thanks to its impressive team of cryptographers.

That’s Horizen: A project that has brought together enough passion and talent to evolve continually.

This story was told at Zencon0, through panels, presentations, brainstorming sessions, and aperitivos. It was an absolute pleasure and hype machine to work together, or simply to gather with blockchain and technology experts and enthusiasts at the center of all discussions for three days in a row.

Among the guests, I would like to highlight four Zenvangelists who were present. Michael, Guan, Jonghung, Jongchan, and Psyrax are more than Zenvangelists; they are OGs. Without them, the Horizen community would be very different. It was truly fantastic to meet all of them.

Interviewing Horizen’s Zenvangelists Michael

We’ll start with the one from Australia, Telegram, Korea, and/or Discord, our dear Michael. If you’ve interacted with the Horizen community, you’ve probably come across him. He is now a Zenvangelist that cannot be ignored!

Our dear Michael, who had the chance to pose with Rob Viglione

Q: What did you think about Zencon0? 

It was an amazing experience meeting the teams behind Horizen and Horizen Labs. Being able to see firsthand how the companies and teams operate from such a professional standpoint really gave me a lot of confidence in the future success of Horizen. I have walked away inspired and with a lot of ideas to build something great on Horizen. 

Q: What was your favorite moment? 

Meeting everyone in real life! I felt like I knew so many people, even though we had only previously connected online. Being able to meet in person was really special. 

Q: If we do a Zencon next year, will you be there? 

I will definitely be there!

Our marketing team and community brainstorming about the Horizen community Guan

Without Guan, the Horizen community in China would not be the same. It feels like Guan was there when Horizen was founded. So much so that he has become essential. It was great to meet him finally to talk about Horizen, and his cats face to face.

Q: What did you think about Zencon0? 

I think the zencon0 is good because everyone in Horizen’s ecosystem can meet each other in person. 

Q: What was your favorite moment? 

My favorite part was I visited the Horizen Labs’ workplace. I witnessed the huge team expansion. 

Q: If we do a Zencon next year, will you be there?

Yes, it’s an amazing event, and I will be there next year!

The Horizen Labs office is superb! We enjoyed the rooftop and took this amazing picture. Psyrax

Psyrax also joined us. If you have needed support from Horizen, I am sure Psyrax assisted you. He is our node, mining – well – global Horizen expert. Psyrax also protects our Discord and Telegram communities by protecting them from scammers and bots! 

Q: What did you think about Zencon0? 

I thoroughly enjoyed Zencon0. It was a really amazing experience to hear about what has been going on behind the scenes and listening to a great cross-section of society that can use the ecosystem. I really liked Sebastien Micke’s perspective and use case for NFTs and photographers retaining their digital rights to their productions.

Q: What was your favorite moment? 

I can’t say that I had a favorite moment, as the whole experience was great, but if I had to choose, I would say that networking across the conference with the new people that I met and being able to put faces to names I have only known through the computer.

Q: If we do Zencon next year, will you be there?

I will definitely be keen to attend next year. If the team announced dates and locations, I would book our flights in a heartbeat.

Jonghun (Zenvangelist, left) and Jongchan Hong at Zencon0 Jonghun

Last but not least is Jonghun, our Korean OG. He was a long-time community member and has done a fantastic job promoting Horizen in his country. Thanks to him, our Korean community is bustling and passionate about the project!

Q: What did you think about Zencon0? 

It was such an honor for me to be able to attend this gathering of people interested in Horizen from all over the world. Also, I was excited to be able to announce the start of Horizen Korea in Korea for the first time at Zencon0. It was very beneficial because it was a place where people from various fields could share their thoughts on blockchain and Horizen. It was an opportunity for me to broaden my insight personally. 

Q: What was your favorite moment? 

I liked all the moments when I could see everyone in one space regardless of time zone. We communicated, but there were some delay issues due to the time zone, but the moment we communicated with everyone in one place was memorable. The discussion about Horizen Community is also very memorable. 

Q: If we do a Zencon next year, will you be there? 

Absolutely!

Community Spotlights at ZenCon

The community was in the spotlight throughout the conference, with three slots dedicated to the community. We even had the honor of sharing a panel with Lou Kerner to talk about the Horizen community’s presence in Asia, thanks largely to Guan and Jonghun, whom we introduced earlier.

Lou Kerner, Lucy Wang, Guan Yin, and Jonghun and Jongchan Hong talking during the panel.

Even our Marketing team OGs went on stage. Thank you, Lucy and Erica, for shining a light on this beautiful Horizen community.

As you see, we were delighted to share the news!

To conclude, I would say that the Horizen community is terrific. Everything started in 2017 as a cryptocurrency. Five years later, Horizen is an entire blockchain ecosystem, soon to have an EVM-compatible sidechain. Meanwhile, these steps would have been for nothing if we hadn’t done them with the community. Together, we are building the future of blockchain. 

If you want to become a Zenvangelist and support the community and Horizen ecosystem, apply today!

The post Zencon0 – the Opportunity to Meet the Horizen Community appeared first on Horizen.

Embattled Crypto Head to Close Alameda; confirms $5B in Withdrawals on Sunday

For centuries, we have been led to believe that nation states are the only way to organize humankind at scale. But governments all around the world are failing to react swiftly to the severe destruction of our planet from things like war and climate change, and this is endangering our whole species.

Nation3 is ready to overturn this, by building a Web3-powered, tax-free, solarpunk sovereign cloud nation. It is structured as a DAO, meaning there is no legal entity, no gatekeepers, and no influence by trad states. The goal is to gradually build or invest in products and services that allow citizens to be actively involved in economic activity. The $NATION token serves as the gateway to participate in the community Discord, participate in governance decisions, receive an NFT passport, and eventually receive services provided by the new cloud nation.

We were joined by founders Luis and Anastasiya to chat about why they see this is as necessary for humankind, how the legal, governance and economic aspects will work, and the long term visions for the project.

Topics covered in this episode:

Luis and Anastasiya's backgrounds The problem that Nation3 is trying to solve How the legal system works The differences between Nation3 and traditional nations The core services Nation3 will provide Why is the nation tax-free and how will the economy be supported? Issues with selling passports How will democracy work? The biggest learnings from Aragon What is the vision for acquiring land

Episode links:

Nation3 Nation3 Techtree Nation3 on Twitter Anastasiya on Twitter Luis on Twitter

Sponsors:

Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycash

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/469

The market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has had a rough few months alongside this year’s wider drop in asset prices. In this NFT Monthly Market Research report, we distill various metrics to help you understand the industry and decipher various trends through quantifiable data and insightful observation.

The post The State of NFT Markets | October 2022 appeared first on ConsenSys.

Investors Bet Fed May Ease Off Rate Increases

There was a time, not so long ago, when someone would have looked perplexed if you’d asked about their digital identity. Many still would today, perhaps but in the tumultuous world of today, digital identity is one of the hottest trends in technology, particularly across decentralised ledgers, or blockchains.

The 7 benefits of using digital identities

In short, below are 7 benefits of using digital identities:

• Mobile-first solution
• Establishment of a framework of trust
• Smart city access
• Digital economy
• Financial and social inclusivity
• Enhanced portability
• Better understanding of the individual

Each of these benefits will be explained more in-depth below. But before we delve into the actual benefits of implementing and using digital identity frameworks in both the public and private domains, let’s first take a look at the definition of a digital identity.

What is a digital identity?

In essence, a digital identity is the accumulation of information on an entity held online by third parties. 

Whenever you are interacting with a website or application you are always leaving information behind. Broadly speaking, all the data and information involved in someone’s digital identity can be divided into two categories: Digital attributes and digital activities. 

Digital attributes include someone’s date of birth, official documentation (passports, driver license, etc.) serial numbers or other identifiers, a person’s medical records, banking details, etc. The second category -digital activities-, includes a person’s posts on social media, for example, purchase history, ‘Likes’ and comments, etc. The combination of these two categories constitutes someone’s digital identity.

The 7 benefits of using digital identities explained Mobile-first solution

A primitive (but working) handheld mobile phone was unveiled by the now defunct American company Motorola back in 1973. It was a rather bulky and ungainly device that would take around 10 hours to fully charge. Nevertheless, the Motorola device heralded an inevitable shift towards mobile technology that continues today. (Current projections say that, by 2024, there will be around 17.7 billion mobile devices operating in the world.)

Society is going mobile, and as such, today’s society seeks more and more mobile-first solutions.

Digital identity enables this approach by using a digital wallet that enables users to take their credentials anywhere they go, and share them at any time, with whomever they want, and get authenticated by any entity, private or public, to easily access services.

Establishment of a framework of trust

Currently, identity networks and authentication methods are heavily fragmented. Every organisation, every agency, every institution has its own set of rules and guidelines that determine how people receive their credentials, and how they authenticate in their network. Because of this individualised disparity, a set of credentials accepted by one organisation might not necessarily be accepted by another. This issue is exacerbated when dealing with organisations from different countries. (Driving licenses and educational credentials perfectly illustrate this problem).

Establishing a trust framework between all participating organisations means that someone’s credentials can be instantly verified, regardless of geographical location or cross-border limitations.

Smart city access

Current urban enclaves, while modern and relatively safe, are far from smart. There still are many deficiencies and areas of improvement in terms of traffic and waste management, infrastructure, wireless access, etc. The Internet of Things (IoT) will enable several technological advancements that will improve these aspects, but it is a very different story for the individual.

As of today, 54% of the world’s population lives in cities, and the current projection is that this figure will reach 66% in about three decades. Because of this likely rise in urban dwellings, enhanced services and a positive and rewarding citizen experience are key factors for the success of smart cities. Citizens currently engage with urban’s infrastructures in different ways. Paying for parking or at the shop’s till with a smartphone, for example. Or using electronic tickets to speed up access to trains, buses, or other methods of transportation. But each of these services requires its own identification method. Together with an entire network and technical backend to manage access, permissions, and upkeep.

A truly smart city begins with digital identity to drive engagement and efficiency. Individuals need to engage with government, public and private bodies, and other agencies digitally and expeditiously, so the experience is seamless and positive. This will lead to further engagement.

Digital economy

Digital identity truly is at the heart of a paradigm shift in digital engagement. Too much friction in the interaction with governments and service providers holds people back from engaging further, which in turn leads to economic stagnation. In the world of today, people expect fast and immediate digital service, whether it’s from their internet provider or the WiFi service at the airport.

The digital economy is the background for the digital identity scene. Digital identification drives inclusive growth, particularly when considering that around 1.7 billion people worldwide are financially excluded. This is because of lack of provable identity. If all those people were to own digital identities, a great economic value would be unlocked.

Financial and social inclusivity

Banks and other financial institutions would not risk lending to those people who could not effectively prove who they are. If credit or finance is denied, the individual might not be able to access proper education, or housing, or services. Progressively, someone would be left further and further behind. They would be excluded.

The provision of identity is the gateway for both financial and social inclusivity. Digital identity enables frictionless interactions with public and private institutions, including banks, of course. By enabling someone to have equal chances to access financial devices, people become included in society or education.

Enhanced portability

Traditional means of identification (driver licenses, passports, ID cards, etc.) are portable in the sense that people can carry them around. But some of these forms of ID might not be officially recognised in different countries, or even in different states within the same country. Academic credentials have the same issue. And in both cases, the individual depends on third parties to amend, share, or verify some of these documents.

The concept of portability in the context of digital identity applies differently. A digital ID is portable because it can be migrated and used elsewhere without friction, and in a way that is completely up to the individual to make the choices and decisions regarding his personal data.

Better understanding of the individual

People are complex entities with changing needs, attitudes, desires, and interests. In today’s always-connected world, commercial enterprises spend a lot of money researching the market to better streamline their product lines and target the right customer segments and demographics.

A digital identity that maps more accurately to an individual’s real-life identity will enable companies to achieve more personalised promotion and more seamless omni-channel marketing.

Conclusion

When you think about it, identity is in everything we do. From greeting friends or family, to getting a loan from the bank, or purchasing insurance. We take all this for granted. Yet for many millions of people, things aren’t as easy or straightforward when it comes to accessing finance or services. The lack of identity hampers thriving.

A digital identity solution like Zaisan’s my.D empowers the individual and restores all that fairness and equality of opportunities that are beyond reach for so many people out there

The post 7 Benefits of Using Digital Identities appeared first on Zaisan.

Blockchain-based applications are poised to change the way people all over the world interact with money and value. But before we see adoption by millions of users, blockchain infrastructure will need to evolve beyond current capabilities to process far more transactions per second at low cost, without sacrificing security gained through sufficient decentralization. The delicate balance between these competing priorities has become known as the blockchain trilemma. Different approaches to balancing these goals and delivering a blockchain experience ready for global adoption were discussed by an all-star panel in the Scaling for 1B Users and Solving the Blockchain Trilemma main stage session at Converge22. 

2022 and beyond…

The Nym mainnet launch rolled out in Q4 last year, and 2022 has been a year of much progress: Nym now has an active community of mixnodes, gateways and validators operating a global privacy system. We have four more milestones to hit in 2022 before moving into next year where the aim is major partnerships and end-user adoption. Here is what is next…

Rounding off 2022

Launch zk-nyms for bandwidth credentials

We are launching zk-nym, an anonymous credentials system, based on the Coconut protocol, that ensures unlinkability and allows for decentralised issuance of credentials. The first practical use case of zk-nym is bandwidth credentials, enabling privacy preserving paid usage of the Nym mixnet. Decentralised issuance of zk-nyms will be available for other use cases for anyone building on the Nyx CosmWasm blockchain!

2. Launch NYX for blockchain governance and validator rewards

The Nyx blockchain on the Cosmos ecosystem has been operating for months, powering the Nym privacy system. Launching the NYX token will ensure that validators who have been running the chain will finally get rewarded and will boost CosmWasm smart contract development on Nyx for all application developers.

3. Begin Web3 wallet integrations and privacy partnerships

We are in discussions with a number of major web3 wallets on Nym mixnet integrations. We expect to see the practical work on wallet integrations begin before the end of the year, safeguarding network layer privacy for a variety of crypto transactions.

4. Graduate our first cohort from Shipyard Academy!

Meanwhile, the Nym community is growing, maturing. More than 4000 applicants made it through to Shipyard Academy and are currently learning all about the Nym infrastructure, token economics and privacy. By the end of 2022, the Academy will graduate its first cohort who will be ready to educate and promote a future where privacy by design is the norm.

2023 — Nym mixnet for the people

Looking ahead, 2023 will be focused on end-users as we prepare for mainstream adoption. Given the increasing concerns surrounding privacy rights, there is growing awareness among ordinary people on the importance of privacy preserving technologies to protect their digital lives and well-being.

Our priorities will be to ensure that their needs are met and accessibility to our mixnet is as frictionless as possible through:

Enabling users to determine their mixnet latency preferences and security needs Determining optimised mixnet parameters per application type Launching decentralised Nym VPN service with partners Building censorship-resistant gateways Enabling paid mixnet service using ZK-Nyms Securing partnerships with major blockchains, driving mixnet usage

Partnerships with major blockchains and applications are key to Nym’s strategy. Mass adoption at the scale of millions will succeed through the integration of the mixnet into apps and services that people are already using — within and beyond Web3.

2024 — privacy at institutional and enterprise scale

At the heart of our work, we firmly believe that privacy as default is fundamental to how our privacy rights can be respected. It should therefore be integrated into core societal institutions as they become increasingly digitised. This can only be achieved through institutional adoption and enterprise use-cases which will be our focus in 2024.

Enterprise and institutional use cases will be critical for privacy to be integrated at the infrastructure level, with key partners integration across fintech, medical and personal data sectors. These sectors have high exposure to privacy breaches that severely impact ordinary people.

In addition, a push for integration into browsers and operating systems with popular programs in our daily lives like Signal, Google and Brave is on the cards as a natural extension to the success in demand of Nym Connect usage.

Other important pillars of institutional adoption include:

Standardise at Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Secure hardware optimisation and network stack integration

A future with privacy as default

The end game is to scale the Nym mixnet to millions of users as we enter an era where privacy tools are normal. As digitisation spreads, so too does the attack surface, undermining the privacy and security of people and organisations. There is a real and immediate need for privacy to be ensured by design. This is essential for a future where our basic infrastructures respect and secure the fundamental right to privacy — and Nym is here to make it a reality.

Join our community to participate and keep up to date:

Discord

Twitter

Telegram

Essential links

Tokenomics FAQ

Nym on CoinList

The Nym architecture

Nym Whitepaper

Nym Github

Nym Docs

Nym roadmap update was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Contagion Wipes Out $10B of DeFi’s Market Cap in 48 Hours

FTX Desperately Trying to Raise Capital as Investors and Regulators Sift Through Fallout

Robinhood Web3 Walet

Tron Tokenholders Can Redeem Them with Huobi

The craziest 48 hours in crypto history? From the apparent takeover of FTX by Binance to no more takeover to SBF now being probed by U.S. regulators.

As the dust settles, we cover everything that’s unfolded in the last 24 hours and how it’ll reshape crypto moving forward.

If you missed yesterday’s stream where we go over the timeline of how all this happened and got industry leaders Brian Armstrong, Erik Voorhees, & Ryan Selkis to share their thoughts—you can find it here: https://youtu.be/LDtZyMcaaNY 

------ Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------ SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  ️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

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️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 

BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

------ Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 5:05 The Recap https://twitter.com/wassielawyer/status/1590025892994371584  https://twitter.com/RyanSAdams/status/1590150120250966016  14:37 Our Mood 25:00 The Story Continued https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1590351182513729544  29:50 SBF Deleting Tweets https://twitter.com/ledgerstatus/status/1590115753331937281  31:27 Ooof https://twitter.com/ercwl/status/1590165313190260737  https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1590319361863995394  33:35 SBF Letter to Investors https://twitter.com/WClementeIII/status/1590107340317294593  35:20 UPDATE https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/09/binance-is-strongly-leaning-toward-scrapping-ftx-rescue-takeover-after-first-glance-at-books-source/  https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1590441854960820224  37:35 US Probes FTX https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-09/us-probes-ftx-empire-over-handling-of-client-funds-and-lending  39:30 https://twitter.com/tier10k/status/1590444221525278721  https://twitter.com/tier10k/status/1590394410151251968  https://twitter.com/depression2019/status/1590383943358218240  43:26 Alameda Website Dead https://twitter.com/WClementeIII/status/1590406041250181120  https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fbinance-is-said-to-be-likely-to-walk-away-from-deal-to-buy-ftx-11668020963  44:20 How This Happened? https://twitter.com/LucasNuzzi/status/1590122590206824448  1:02:00 Binance Tweets https://twitter.com/binance/status/1590449161069268992  Onchain flows https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/11/09/these-four-key-charts-shed-light-on-the-ftx-exchanges-spectacular-collapse/  https://twitter.com/LucasNuzzi/status/1590122590206824448  1:05:07 Convo Starter https://twitter.com/crypto_condom/status/1590338735606231041 1:08:05 10% of Multicoin on FTX https://twitter.com/TheBlock__/status/1590349978873913350  1:09:39 Galaxy Exposure to Alameda https://www.theblock.co/post/184262/galaxy-digital-reveals-ftx-exposure-in-q3-earnings-report  1:10:00 FTX Investors https://twitter.com/fintechfrank/status/1590145184020328448  1:10:46 Other Chains https://twitter.com/dunleavy89/status/1590056663767449600  1:11:15 FTX.US is Okay https://www.axios.com/2022/11/09/ftx-us-american-subsidiary-impact-liquidity-crunch  1:11:30 Emotions https://twitter.com/0xfoobar/status/1590204552891899907  https://twitter.com/cobie/status/1590188580483497985  https://twitter.com/shaughnessy119/status/1590201528014753792  https://twitter.com/lawmaster/status/1590238771915935744  People Selling their FTX Balances  https://twitter.com/TensaiCapital/status/1590301595237224449  SBF Down Bad ATH https://twitter.com/econoar/status/1590130144815218689  1:20:25 CZ Tweets https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1590313459132305408  1:22:00 Solana Unlocks https://twitter.com/thedata_nerd/status/1590307325650182144  1:27:00 Coinbase Gud https://twitter.com/ViktorBunin/status/1590064600178835457  1:27:16 The Meta Question https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ/status/1590341304172838913  1:27:30 What Happened & Closing Thoughts 1:34:05 Risks & Disclaimers 1:34:35 Leaving you with Larry David https://twitter.com/LilMoonLambo/status/1590145235291893760 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Creator Fees Will Be Optional for New Collections Unless They Ban Fee-Free Marketplaces

Bitcoin Crashes to 2-Year Low Under $16,000

SOL Has Crashed 55% In Rough Week for Crypto

Paradoxically, while most blockchains consist of publicly available, open lists of records, it is extremely complicated to extract useful data from a blockchain. The blockchains most protocols are built on are optimized to be secure and tamper-proof but are sub-optimal (to say the least) for extracting intelligible information as the data is both difficult to access and difficult to decode.

Yet, as is true with traditional, database-backed applications, access and analysis of on-chain data is an essential part of any substantial application. Today developers are forced to build and operate complex infrastructure (running blockchain nodes, setting up a storage and querying system, ETL, etc.) and to develop a deep understanding of the inner workings of smart contracts in order to extract, process, analyze, and display historical on-chain data.

Agnostic is tackling the issue of blockchain data accessibility by providing a platform to help developers access decoded data in real time. The team at Agnostic have developed an automated pipeline to index smart contract calls and events with no manual action needed to add new contracts and, hence, avoid re-indexing the whole chain. Written for developers, the team at Agnostic are building for the real use cases web3 builders are currently facing.

What’s even better than that? All of this happens in a PostgreSQL- and GraphQL-compatible engine so your existing developers can immediately be productive and your existing SQL-enabled tools will work out of the box.

Our Thesis

Web3 is riddled with complexities for users, including incoming developers who want to build new applications. Having programmatic access to decoded data through familiar, industry-standard mechanisms will allow a new swath of developers to easily build apps, and as the number of developers continues to grow exponentially, the Web3 infrastructure and dev tooling market will naturally grow in both breadth and adoption. Rather than making every new Web3 developer essentially start from scratch, Agnostic brings a simple SaaS experience with an interface familiar to essentially every Web developer on the planet.

Converge Dispatch is a blog series focused on exciting updates announced during Converge22, Circle’s inaugural crypto conference. See previous articles here, here and here.

A Step-by-Step Guide to the DeFi Lending App

OFAC Says Sanctions are Part of Effort to Limit Development of Ballistic Missiles

Microsoft Internet Explorer drove a global shift towards digitization, but without a successor, the internet wasn’t ready for true mass adoption – nor was DeFi until Radix.

Alameda and FTX Have Extensive Links with Layer 1 Blockchain Network

With much coverage of technology lined with pessimism, the a16z Podcast returns to highlight the bright side of technology, alongside the founders building it. But before featuring the solutions in progress, we wanted to explore why building the future is still so important.

And who better to traverse this ground than a16z’s own cofounder Marc Andreessen, who has built and invested in the future time and time again, especially when it wasn't the obvious thing to do.

Together with Marc, this episode explores technology through the lens of history – including the three stages of human psychology as we encounter new technologies, how that process often manifests in regulation, when to change your mind, the Cambrian explosion of opportunity coming from distributed work, the importance of founder-led companies, and perhaps most importantly, we examine why there's still much reason for optimism.

 

Resources:

Marc on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmarca

Pessimist’s Archive: https://pessimistsarchive.org/

 

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Many people consider space to be the next frontier and equally an infinite horizon to explore. But the reality is that not all “space” is the same and there are strategic zones that don’t only matter up there – but down here on Earth. Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) is one of those regions – a zone filled with satellites that support life on Earth, from agriculture to climate to navigation to defense. Unfortunately, these live satellites are not alone in our space highways. LEO is getting increasingly clogged with space debris; we’re polluting our skies just like we’re polluting our land. 

In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with all three cofounders of Privateer – Steve Wozniak, Alex Fielding, and Dr. Moriba Jah, as they explore just how much junk is up there, how this challenge is expected to progress with time due to lower launch costs, and ultimately, what infrastructure is missing in this fragile ecosystem – from tracking to global treaties to a sharing economy of satellites.

By the end of the episode, listeners should be more equipped to understand how our infrastructure in space vastly impacts life on Earth, how the preservation of this ecosystem is crucial, and how Privateer is providing the map to better understand and fix the issue.

 

Resources: 

Privateer’s website: https://mission.privateer.com/

Privateer’s Wayfinder tool: https://mission.privateer.com/

Privateer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PrivateerSpace

Steve Wozniak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevewoz

Alex Fielding on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alex__Fielding

Dr. Moriba Jah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/moribajah

 

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Generative AI tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion have taken the world by storm in recent months, wowing the masses with their uncanny ability to produce images via text prompts. 

In this interview, we’ll chat with Karen Cheng about how she’s leveraged these tools among others, with a focus on how this new paradigm is reshaping the creator landscape. You’ll get to hear the behind the scenes of many of her viral works, including a video of her becoming a lawnmower, her AI-generated Cosmo magazine cover, her DALL-E fashion show, her transforming iconic art into 3D museums to explore, and much, much more. By the end of this episode, listeners should have a better understanding of the new tools at their fingertips (literally!), how AI can indeed enhance the creative process, and the second-order effects of these innovations, like how creators are paid.

Since we’re just at the beginning of the AI era, this is just the beginning of our coverage as well.

 

Resources:

Karen’s TED Talk

Karen’s Instagram account

Karen’s website

Cosmo magazine cover and tutorial

DALL-E fashion show and tutorial

DALL-E outpainting announcement

I spent $15 in DALL·E 2 credits creating this AI image

 

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Evidence Emerges FTX Used FTT Token for $4B Bailout of Alameda in September

The fall of one of crypto’s titans

In Part 2, Ryan and David are joined by Brian Armstrong, Erik Voorhees, & Ryan Selkis to discuss what transpired today, how it’ll impact our industry, and what it means moving forward.

In case you missed it, we’ve already released Part 1 where Ryan and David recap everything that happened leading up to today, what’s unfolded thus far, what happens next, and what it means for the crypto space writ large.

------ Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------ SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  ️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 

BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

----- Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 4:04 Ryan Selkis 11:45 Takes & Prices https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1590088673726717952  https://www.coingecko.com/  https://ultrasound.money/  20:32 Erik Voorhees 42:00 Brian Armstrong 1:00:25 New CZ https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1590103159506341888  1:02:45 Ultra Sound Money https://ultrasound.money/  1:04:45 Closing & Disclaimers

-----

Resources:

SBF Announcement https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1590012124864348160 

CZ Announcement https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1590013613586411520 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

On Part 1 of this two-part series, Ryan and David recap everything that happened leading up to today, what’s unfolded thus far, what happens next, and what it means for the crypto space writ large.

In Part 2, Ryan and David are joined by Brian Armstrong, Erik Voorhees, & Ryan Selkis.

Part 2 is out now! Check your feed.

------ Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------ SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  ️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 

BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

----- Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 6:40 Key Players 11:33 SBF 12:45 Binance 14:30 Asset Clarifications 16:25 The Timeline https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/02/divisions-in-sam-bankman-frieds-crypto-empire-blur-on-his-trading-titan-alamedas-balance-sheet/  https://twitter.com/DylanLeClair_/status/1587890966580658177  https://analytics.abracadabra.money/cauldrons  https://twitter.com/carolinecapital/status/1589264375042707458  https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1589283421704290306  https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1589328518609240064  https://twitter.com/carolinecapital/status/1589287457975304193  https://twitter.com/coinmamba/status/1589294435317125120  https://twitter.com/DylanLeClair_/status/1589768406735392768  https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1589374530413215744  https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1589329217874931712  https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1589374530413215744  https://twitter.com/theData_Nerd/status/1589412348476825600  https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1589598284322328579  https://twitter.com/PRHillmann/status/1589653449792421889  https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/battle-of-the-billionaires  https://imgur.com/uWeYrLv  https://twitter.com/TheBlock__/status/1589979338979434497  https://twitter.com/Dogetoshi/status/1589980754964271104  https://twitter.com/Dogetoshi/status/1589983115430473730  https://twitter.com/tier10k/status/1589983701730922496  https://twitter.com/Dogetoshi/status/1589986908272472064  https://twitter.com/sbf_ftx/status/1590012124864348160  https://twitter.com/yuno0Zy/status/1590013905686106113  https://www.semafor.com/article/11/08/2022/before-deal-with-rival-ftx-scoured-wall-street-silicon-valley-billionaires-for-1-billion-lifeline  https://twitter.com/VentureCoinist/status/1590033055246618624  https://twitter.com/VentureCoinist/status/1590044831665258496  https://www.tradingview.com/chart/pabiN1CM/  https://twitter.com/zhusu/status/1590022114882768897  https://twitter.com/stablekwon/status/1590017837758033926  https://twitter.com/santisiri/status/1590031964408786944  https://twitter.com/AlamedaTrabucco/status/1590032437501124609  https://twitter.com/ThetaMentality/status/1590016374608654336  https://twitter.com/_jamiis/status/1590032682272010241  https://twitter.com/DylanLeClair_/status/1590013774735740930  https://twitter.com/CanteringClark/status/1590016032139513857  https://twitter.com/WClementeIII/status/1590018245758963712  https://twitter.com/0xngmi/status/1590026606814572544  https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1590055819416330240  https://twitter.com/DylanLeClair_/status/1590027464054837248 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Spike In Network Activity Sees Nearly 3,000 ETH Burned in the Past Day

TL;DR: Basic Attention Token announces its first Solana NFT collection, BAT x Adam Ape for Brave, expanding BAT utility in NFT marketplaces. Fans can discover the limited collection through Magic Eden’s NFT Launchpad, which brings them to a custom experience landing page powered by Cardinal, where they can connect via their Brave Wallets and buy the NFTs with SPL BAT or SOL.

Today, Basic Attention Token is announcing its inaugural Solana NFT collection, BAT x Adam Ape for Brave, increasing support for BAT / NFT utility within NFT marketplaces. The launch follows Brave’s May 2022 integration with the Solana blockchain to expand Web3 access. That same day, Brave unveiled its partnership with Magic Eden, Solana’s largest NFT-based Web3 ecosystem. 

BAT and Magic Eden have also joined forces with Cardinal Labs to make BAT x Adam Ape one of the first collections on Solana to launch with the new Cardinal Creator Standard, which enforces royalties at the protocol level on all secondary trading. The decision aligns with Brave’s long-standing mission of supporting digital creators and Magic Eden’s commitment to exploring new creator-supporting models, particularly as more marketplaces shift towards making creator royalties optional. 

Fans will discover and access the BAT x Adam Ape collection through Magic Eden’s NFT Launchpad, which redirects them to a custom experience landing page, powered by Cardinal Labs. There, fans can connect via their Brave Wallet (or another Solana DApp wallet) and purchase the NFTs with Solana v2 Wormhole BAT (SPL BAT or “wBAT”) or Solana (SOL). 

BAT x ADAM APE FOR BRAVE 

Basic Attention Token partnered with Adam Ape, a renowned multidisciplinary artist in Web3 and the traditional graphic design and digital animation space, to launch its 2500-piece genesis collection: BAT x Adam Ape for Brave. Together, they created four PFP-style NFTs, modeled after Brave’s logo. Each of the four NFTs—respectively named The Curious, The Dabbler, The Degen, and The Sage—is dynamically animated with facial expressions and sound effects and represents one of four stages of immersion in Web3. Read more about the inspiration behind the NFT designs here.

The first three NFTs in the ordered set, Curious, Dabbler, and Degen, will mint randomly, meaning holders won’t know which piece they’ll receive until after they mint. Holders who collect all three may later have the option to burn the set to obtain the legendary-tier Sage, of which there will only ever be 300 in existence. 

Presently, there are no guarantees of additional utility for BAT x Adam Ape for Brave NFT holders. However, we’re looking forward to engaging with Adam Ape and the BAT Community to explore different utility possibilities for holders of each tier, including Sage holders, over time. 

LAUNCH FAQ Is there a Discord I can join for this project?

Yes, please join our BAT Brigade Discord community to stay up to date with the latest information on the launch.

When does the NFT collection launch?

The BAT x Adam Ape for Brave NFT collection will officially launch on Thursday, November 10th, 2022. 

Where can I buy the NFTs?

On November 10th, 2022, you can buy the NFTs through our custom-branded experience page, powered by Cardinal Labs. 

What time does the mint start?

Sale start times by timezone: 

9:00 a.m. PST (UTC -8) 12:00 p.m. EST (UTC -5) 5:00 p.m. GMT (UTC +0) 1:00 a.m. HKT (UTC +8) 2:00 a.m. KST (UTC +9)

The sale will occur in three consecutive parts:

Bravelist SOL mint for Adam Ape holders (30 minutes) Bravelist mint in BAT (30 minutes) Bravelist mint in SOL (60 minutes) Public mint in SOL (open-ended) What is the total collection supply, and how many NFTs are in each tier? The Curious: 1400 NFTs The Dabbler: 800 NFTs The Degen: 300 NFTs

The 300 legendary-tier Sages are not included in the initial mint supply of 2500 NFTs. However, they will become available at a future date for holders of Curious+Dabbler+Degen sets who want to burn their set to obtain a Sage.

What currencies can I use to buy the NFTs?

The NFTs will be available to purchase with Solana v2 Wormhole BAT (SPL BAT or “wBAT”) or Solana (SOL), and cost 3 SOL each or the BAT equivalent.  

How do I get SPL BAT or “wBAT”?

There are several options for buying or bridging SPL BAT on Solana: 

You can buy wBAT directly in the Brave Wallet with Ramp’s fiat-to-crypto onramp or swap an existing SOL balance for wBAT. 

Use the Wormhole Bridge to bridge $BAT from Ethereum to Solana.  I already own BAT. How do I convert my BAT into SPL BAT?

You can bridge your BAT from Ethereum to Solana through Wormhole’s Portal Bridge.

Where can I buy SOL?

You can buy Solana (SOL) with fiat or crypto directly within the Brave Wallet via Ramp, or from any cryptocurrency exchange that lists Solana. 

What Web3 wallet can I use to mint the NFTs?

You can use your Brave Wallet or another Solana DApp wallet, such as Phantom, Backpack, Solflare, etc. 

Can I mint NFTs with the Brave Wallet in my Brave mobile app?

Brave on mobile does not yet offer support for Solana DApps. We recommend using the Brave Wallet in a desktop version of Brave to mint your NFTs. 

I am registered for Bravelist. Does that mean I get priority minting?

Yes. If you’re on the Bravelist and have registered your Solana wallet address and Discord ID, then you get priority minting. The Cardinal-powered minting DApp will detect your Bravelisted wallet upon connection and permit you to mint within the first two hours of the sale.

How many mints does Bravelist get me?

Bravelist permits you to mint 1 NFT per registered wallet. You will need to return during the public mint to mint additional NFTs.

I am not registered for Bravelist but I want to take part in the sale. How do I participate?

Once priority minting ends after two hours, minting will open up to the general public. At that time, anyone using a Web3 DApp wallet could connect and purchase NFTs with SOL. 

How do I view my NFTs in the Brave Wallet?

NFT gallery view in Brave Wallet is still in development. We recommend viewing your NFTs in the NFT marketplace UI (e.g., Coral Cube) if purchased on the Brave Wallet.

I want to sell, trade, or transfer my NFTs. Where can I do this?

You can sell, transfer, or trade your NFT from within Coral Cube’s marketplace user dashboard with your Brave Wallet or Solana DApp wallet connected. 

You can also access Coral Cube directly from the minting page. 

I own a Curious, Dabbler, and Degen NFT. When can I burn them to get a Sage?

After the conclusion of the mint, we will publish a follow-up announcement detailing how to burn your Curious, Dabbler, and Degen NFT set to obtain a legendary-tier Sage. 

Remember, there will only ever be 300 Sages in existence, so not everyone can get one. Join our Discord and follow us to Twitter to get project updates first.

When will you reveal utility for each of the tiers?

There are no guarantees of additional utility for BAT x Adam Ape NFT holders at the time of the mint. However, we’re looking forward to engaging with Adam Ape and the BAT Community to explore different utility possibilities for holders of NFTs from each of the four tiers.

How does Cardinal’s royalty-enforcement mechanism work?

Cardinal’s Creator Standard solution involves (1) a token-manager protocol and (2) a corresponding marketplace integration UI.

Coral Cube (secondary NFT marketplace) has integrated Cardinal’s marketplace manager UI and supports trading for tokens that use the token-manager protocol, including BAT x Adam Ape NFTs.

Here, you can read more about Cardinal’s Creator Standard, including the technical implementation details.

Feds seized 50,000 stolen Bitcoin

Solana Ecosystem Battered as FTT Crashes 85%

A Step-by-Step Guide to the High-Capacity Blockchain Network

The post Building <span>Cybersecurity</span> Confidence appeared first on Greylock.

Binance Agrees to Bail Out Rival After FTT Token Collapses

The Zcash Foundation is committed to transparency and openness with the Zcash community and our other stakeholders. Today, we are releasing our Q3 2022 report, which provides an overview of the work undertaken by the Zcash Foundation’s engineering team, as well as an overview of other activities the Foundation undertook during this period.

The report also provides a financial update, describing our income and expenditure, with a detailed breakdown of our expenses, and a snapshot of the Foundation’s financial position, in terms of liquid assets and liabilities that must be met using those assets.

You can download the Q3 2022 report here.

Our previous quarterly reports can be found here.

The post The Zcash Foundation’s Q3 2022 Report appeared first on zcash foundation.

Bebop Hopes to Win Share With No Slippage Feature

WX Network is kicking off their official rebrand with a massive WX token giveaway event!

David brings on his old co-host, Christian Keroles of POV Crypto. Long-time Bankless listeners know of POV Crypto, but if you’re unaware, it’s the podcast that David started with Christian before Bankless!

Christian is currently the General Manager of BTC Inc (Bitcoin Magazine & The Bitcoin Conference).

On this episode, David and Christian go back to their POV Crypto roots and debate many different sub-topics of the overall Ethereum vs. Bitcoin debate.

------ 📣 Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 

🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

💠 NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

🔐 LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

----- Topics Covered

0:00 Intro 5:03 Who is Christian Keroles? 5:58 POV Crypto Pod 9:52 The BTC vs. ETH Community 11:07 Metrics of the Winner 14:20 Ideological Backgrounds 18:00 The 2020-2021 Bull Market 20:44 Cantillon Effect 22:55 ETH to $0 24:40 Ethereum Won the 2020-2021 Bull Market? 30:34 Is Bitcoin the Underdog? 32:00 Tornado Cash 33:47 Ethereum is Inside the Bitcoin Ecosystem 36:46 How Bitcoin is Changing the World? 39:15 Bitcoin & Energy 46:19 Distribution & Decentralization 48:44 Energy System Integration 54:47 Does Bitcoin Work If It Isn’t #1 55:39 HyperBitcoinization 56:25 Paradigm Shifts 1:02:20 Recreating the Financial System 1:04:57 Core Philosophical Differences 1:07:17 Disrupting Incumbents 1:08:26 Acceleration

------ Resources:

POV Crypto Pod https://twitter.com/povcryptopod 

Christian Keroles https://twitter.com/ck_SNARKs 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Binance’s Move to Sell FTT Position Triggers 22% Plunge as FTX Scrambles to Shore Up Liquidity

Bitcoin Keys Were Stashed in Underground Safe and Devices

Ready. Set. Secure! Game of Chains kicks off! Cosmos Validators, Let’s Go! Are you ready?

Starting November 7 2022, over the next 2–4 weeks, 150+ validators will participate in Game of Chains — the latest public incentivized testnet in the history of the Cosmos Hub!

Game of Chains will help validators develop confidence around running Interchain Security — a highly anticipated feature coming to the Cosmos Hub in January 2023. Interchain Security will allow blockchains to leverage the high security of the Cosmos Hub (currently at a market capitalization of ~USD $4B). Because the security of a proof of stake network is closely tied to the value of the blockchain itself, a relatively strong market cap ensures reliable security for blockchains looking to maximize their security!

In the short term, and before permissionless deployment is available, consumer chains (those “consuming” security from the Cosmos Hub) will be required to go through governance to get their chain admitted by the validator set. This “governance gated” process will make it such that validators have ample time to vote, accept and ultimately run the node of the consumer chain.

Game of Chains will give validators a flavor of what to expect once the feature is live! Through the various GoC phases, validators are expected to build an understanding of ICS and help us discover interesting attack vectors.

The testnet infrastructure will include:

Provider chain Multiple consumer chains IBC relayers Support services

Over the 3 phases of Game of Chains, validators will complete a series of predetermined tasks that prove their proficiency at running the ICS protocol. In each phase, points will be awarded to participants who complete certain tasks. Validators at the end of the testnet who have completed the most amount of tasks will be eligible for awards. Please see a detailed breakdown of the phases and tasks here!

Last, but not least, please remember that:

Only Cosmos Hub validators in the active set are eligible to earn rewards in the Game of Chains testnet program. Validators operated by employees of Informal Systems, Hypha, and Interchain Foundation are eligible to participate, but ineligible for rewards. Good luck validators! 🎉⚛️🎉 Ready. Set. SECURE! 💪💪💪

About the Author:
Jelena Djuric works at Informal Systems as product Marketing Manager.
Jelena is on Twitter.

Ready. Set. Secure! Game of Chains kicks off! 🎉 was originally published in Cosmos Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The long-standing (and chart-topping) a16z Podcast returns to cover the most important topics within the world of technology. Brought to you by the minds at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and hosted by Steph Smith, each episode goes beyond headlines, giving listeners insider access to the edge of innovation.

Subscribe to be the first to receive upcoming episodes featuring industry leaders like Steve Wozniak, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Neal Stephenson, and covering a range of topics, from AI to space to the metaverse to genomics, and beyond.

 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

The evolution of computing resources of the past decade enabled the high-fidelity simulation of the complex systems found in molecular biology. Such novel chemicals are vital for solving the world’s most urgent problems, from transforming drug discovery to faster adoption of zero carbon materials.

To help foster a discussion on the advances in programmable chemistry that promise to unlock a new wave of innovation by creating more standardized and automated platforms for delivering chemistry, BlueYard is co-hosting a roundtable and panel discussion as part of the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin. The panelists will include:

Lee Cronin, Founder & CEO, Chemify Profesor Sophia Yaliraki, Imperial College London Marwin Segler, Senior Researcher, Microsoft Djork-Arne Clevert, Vice President, Head of Machine Learning Research, Pfizer

Among other topics, we will discuss the impact that computational or programmable chemistry might have on helping to accelerate the decarbonization of the petrochemical industry, parallels in recent breakthrough science areas including in synthetic biology, and strategies for establishing common standards and data sharing to overcome potential high barriers to entry in this emerging industry.

We look forward to a lively discussion and hope to see you there.

✨ DEBRIEF | Unpacking the Episode: https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/debrief-unichain-is-inevitable 

Dan Elitzer is the co-founder of Nascent, a VC firm working on the frontier of crypto Previously, he was previously leading IDEO CoLab Ventures, and has been on the frontier of crypto innovations for as long as we can remember.

Dan helps us unpack The AppChain Thesis, a possible outcome where every big DeFi app is going to have its own chain. How will this reshape crypto? Where do we find opportunities? Does this thesis even make sense?

Further, Dan, Ryan, and David cover the case for why Uniswap is going to have its own chain, why Dan thinks there’s an inevitable economic incentive for large DeFi apps to start their own chains, the main objections to The AppChain Thesis, and so much more.

------ 📣 Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 

🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

💠 NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

🔐 LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

----- Topics Covered

0:00 Intro 6:45 Dan's Predictive Track Record 9:52 Roll-Apps 14:00 The App Chain Prediction 17:46 UNIChain 23:30 MEV 29:22 Summarizing the Costs 33:50 Who Gets the Money? 36:07 Are the Taxes Worth the Services? 43:48 Why DeFi Apps Haven't Launched App Chains Yet 48:40 Uniswap Nation State 55:33 Uniswap's App Chain Model Sovereignty 1:00:04 Uniswap's Control & Ethereum's Alignment 1:03:38 Uniswap's Composability 1:08:56 What Does This Mean For L1s 1:16:50 Investing in the Apps? 1:20:57 Aggregation Theory 1:23:22 Censorship 1:27:21 Final Takes 1:29:37 Closing & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

Dan Elitzer https://twitter.com/delitzer 

The inevitably of Unichain https://medium.com/nascent-xyz/the-inevitability-of-unichain-bc600c92c5c4 

Aggregation Theory - Stratechery https://stratechery.com/aggregation-theory/ 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Announcement highlights Circle’s commitment to expanding native support of Euro Coin on additional chains and developer access to permissionless cross-chain infrastructure

Are you curious how to build best in class, institutional-grade crypto infrastructure?
You're in luck because y… https://t.co/upaX1XlqBe 2022-11-02 The next @inacta Innovation Circle inShed, Zug is here!

Listen to an exciting panel discussion about technology… https://t.co/dN01uKkdyH 2022-11-03

RT @Aplo_crypto: How do we build ‘Institutional-Grade’ crypto infrastructure?

Oliver will join experts from @ledger_business, @KaikoData… 2022-11-04

On Nov. 9, you have an amazing opportunity to attend #CVAVirtualSeries eventdiscussing institutional-grade cryp… https://t.co/djNHZ9HBXb 2022-11-04 RT @talostrading: Next week Talos Head of Sales & Business Development Alfonse Mandese joins @Aplo_crypto, @Ledger and @KaikoData for the 1… 2022-11-04 RT @ledger_business: How to build an institutional-grade #crypto infrastructure?

On November 9th, our Global Head of Customer Success Lila… 2022-11-04

The post Weekly Twitter Summary (2022-10-30 – 2022-11-05) appeared first on Crypto Valley Association.

1st Week of November, 2022

------ 📣 Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER:          https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST:                 http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 

⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 

🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

💠 NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

🔐 LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

------ Topics Covered:

0:00 Intro

3:45 MARKETS 5:25 Fed https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/stocks-market-fed-rate-hike/index.html  8:20 Political Will https://twitter.com/PauloMacro/status/1587899658038562821  11:30 US Savings https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=VtLo  13:37 Layer 2 Transactions https://twitter.com/l2beat/status/1585981268348768257  16:55 Arbitrum Flippens Solana https://twitter.com/theempirepod/status/1587151305742594048 

19:40 Elon Twitter Takeover https://twitter.com/davidfaber/status/1585785519933472771  22:00 The Bird is Freed https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585841080431321088  22:45 Binance x Twitter https://archive.ph/3rfZB  24:00 Lords and Peasants https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587498907336118274  28:20 Vitalik’s Take https://twitter.com/vitalikbuterin/status/1587593917197062145  29:50 Erik Voorhees Take https://twitter.com/ErikVoorhees/status/1587564882177585152  30:30 Entitled Elite https://twitter.com/DavidSacks/status/1588025594897346560  31:00 AOC Ratio https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587911540770222081  31:45 Digital Identity https://twitter.com/owocki/status/1587602426106089472 

34:55 Instagram NFTs https://twitter.com/Meta/status/1587929277864910849  37:55 Polygon https://twitter.com/sandeepnailwal/status/1587949120031006721  40:20 Arweave https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/arweave 

41:25 Art Gobblers https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2022/10/31/rick-and-morty-co-creators-nft-collection-sees-14m-in-trade-volume-hours-after-mint/  42:55 Gobblers Analysis https://dune.com/pandajackson42/art-gobblershttps://dune.com/pandajackson42/art-gobblers  44:00 How it Works https://twitter.com/_Dave__White_/status/1569715399356485634 

49:30 NEWS 50:50 zkSync Baby Alpha https://twitter.com/zksync/thread/1586053698672656384  52:40 Google Cloud Node https://decrypt.co/112954/google-launches-cloud-node-engine-for-ethereum-developers  54:05 RIP Nikolai https://cointelegraph.com/news/makerdao-co-founder-nikolai-mushegian-dies-at-29-in-puerto-rico  55:50 JPMorgan Using Crypto https://twitter.com/TyLobban/status/1587679344792829954 

NFTs 1:01:20 Gamestop x Immutable https://twitter.com/0xferg/status/1587174624701255682  1:02:00 NFT Tweet Tiles https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1585707921433923585  1:03:15 RTFKT Phygital Luggage https://thedefiant.io/rtfkt-vuitton-nfts  1:04:55 Budweiser FIFA NFTs https://nft.budweiser.com/  1:06:25 OPJ in Puerto Rico

1:07:35 Bitcoin 14 Year Anniversary https://twitter.com/snowden/status/1587107723472211972  1:08:45 Thanks Gary https://twitter.com/GaryGensler/status/1587171919664746503  1:09:43 Miners Blowing Up https://twitter.com/cobie/status/1587087075752480768 

1:10:45 Nifty Apes https://www.niftyapes.money/  1:11:22 Zora Nouns Builder https://metaversal.banklesshq.com/p/zora-launches-nouns-builder 

1:12:45 Jobs https://pallet.xyz/list/bankless/jobs 

1:14:30 TAKES 1:15:30 Talk of the Town https://twitter.com/RonwHammond/status/1587443194945470465  1:20:40 Vitalik on Regulation https://twitter.com/vitalikbuterin/status/1586557896351186944  1:24:18 Verified Accounts https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1587553632660201472 

1:24:45 What David’s Bullish On 1:27:30 What Ryan’s Bullish On https://www.sound.xyz/user/0x3c2027f90b087ec509e533762a917e76e09b1d0c?tab=collection 

1:32:35 MEME of the Week https://twitter.com/lopp/status/1583795567343243264 

----- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures 

Tech and Product Advanced Staking

Week after week, we’ve published updates on the state of Advanced Staking development and testing. Currently, we’re defining the remaining operational steps for its release, a topic we’ll touch on in our upcoming AMA.

Besides this, deployment scripts and readme are being reviewed. Minor reviews of the UI are also underway. We’ll soon publish a detailed guide about this milestone for our protocol!

Panther’s v1 release

This month, the development contributors have outlined and estimated resources for the remaining tasks involved in this release. This will help us better project and prepare for this milestone. A crucial ongoing step is finalizing all the zero-knowledge circuits needed, based on the possible user flows.

Work has also started on a project preliminarily called zTrade. This functionality will enable v1 users to swap assets within Multi-Asset Shielded Pools.

Our DeFi integration project is moving forwards as well. We have completed our DeFi Adaptor product definition, with its implementation to begin this month. A new Blockchain Architect will also join in early November to lead the cross-chain project.

Community Panther Discussion Forum

On October 4th, we released Panther’s Official Discussion Forum, a space for all of our community to engage in the discussions that will decide Panther’s future.

Access it now and play your part in steering our trajectory!

Progressive decentralization at work!

To facilitate community-led decision-making for the Panther ecosystem, independent moderators manage the Discussion Forum. Please fill out the application form if you are up for the task.

Leading Privacy Alliance

The Leading Privacy Alliance (LPA) is an initiative that brings together Web3 firms and organizations with the common objective of increasing privacy in crypto and beyond.

"Our ultimate goal is to raise awareness about the current state of privacy, implement solutions to these problems, and educate users and projects about the fundamental role of privacy in the technology we build and use.”

The initiative was launched on October 9th, just before Devcon Bogota, where Panther became one of its very first members. Adam Spiers, our Senior Architect, spoke on the stage during the inaugural event, outlining why Panther decided to join this movement.

“As a project that aims to enable trust and privacy in the DeFi space, it is a natural fit for Panther to join the LPA. We strongly believe that the sector's stakeholders need to form a coalition to defend the right to privacy.” Events Devcon Bogotá

This October 11th-14th, contributors of Panther attended DEVCON Bogotá, in Colombia! DEVCON always involves attracts the very best in the industry, and there were lots of discussions about partnerships, protocol-building, and the future of Ethereum with other blockchain developers.

We also got the opportunity to chat with Panther backers and believers and distribute some Panther swag!

Our farewell picture. See you at the next event! World Ethical Data Forum

Panther also participated in and sponsored the World Ethical Data Forum. The WEDF is an event spanning multiple industries in tech, with discussions around the numerous outstanding issues surrounding the future of data.

Anish Mohammed, Co-Founder, was featured in the WEDF’s flyers.Co-Founder Oliver Gale gave a talk on the opportunities and risks in the DeFi space. Panther in the media

In his first standalone article for Forbes Business Council, Oliver Gale points out how the Web is changing towards a new open paradigm, the impact of these changes in users, and how businesses can adapt.

Oliver also authored a guest post for VentureBeat on how zk-proofs will guarantee compliance for DeFi adoption. Oliver says,

“More than ever, protocols need to implement a rigorous approach to compliance. Regulators, on the other hand, must keep the focus on the appropriate actors in the Web3 space, as overreaching destroys the economic value otherwise available.”

For a change of pace, the Bloomberg Crypto podcast invited Oliver to talk about the crypto nomad lifestyle. Is it feasible to be a crypto nomad during a bear market? You can listen to this cheerful episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Hirings

Several positions remain open on our Angel.co page. If you believe that you or someone you know might be a good fit for these, make sure to apply! Here’s the full list:

Applied Mathematician Blockchain Architect Cryptographic Engineer Cryptography Researcher (Zero-Knowledge Proofs) Full-Stack Developer Lead Front-end Developer Product Manager Panther Academy

We’ve published two Panther Academy articles in October. On Threshold Cryptography: An Overview, we look closely at one of the most secure cryptographic techniques recently making waves on blockchain applications. Understanding Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) puts one of threshold cryptography’s most compelling uses in the spotlight.

Our “What is a zkEVM?” piece published on August 30th was featured in CoinMarketCap Community Spotlight earlier this month. Our work educating the public on zero-knowledge and blockchain continues to pay off and receive recognition everywhere!

November Calendar

We’re having a good old Telegram AMA on Wednesday, November 9th, featuring Panther’s Co-Founders Oliver Gale and Anish Mohammed, along with Head of Product Saif Akhtar. You’re all invited to tune in at 3 PM CET to talk about the latest developments in the Panther ecosystem!

About Panther

Panther is a decentralized protocol that enables interoperable privacy in DeFi using zero-knowledge proofs.

Users can mint fully-collateralized, composable tokens called zAssets, which can be used to execute private, trusted DeFi transactions across multiple blockchains.

Panther helps investors protect their personal financial data and trading strategies, and provides financial institutions with a clear path to compliantly participate in DeFi.

Stay connected: Telegram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

This is part of Circle’s ongoing Trust & Transparency series. 

Recently the Anoma team posted benchmarks of zero-knowledge proofs. Zcash Halo is one of the zero-knowledge proofs being benchmarked, and we wanted to take an opportunity to share why Halo is even better than these initial benchmarks indicate.

Halo, if you’re not familiar, is a trustless, recursive zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) discovered by Sean Bowe at Electric Coin Co. and was implemented in Zcash earlier this year. It eliminates the trusted setup (that’s huge!) and allows greater scalability (also huge!).

Within the Anoma evaluation, a small task was posed for the proof: proving and verifying a 3×3 Sudoku puzzle solution. The results showed that Halo was very efficient. It generated proofs within this program in less than 1/10th of a second and verified proofs in around 3 milliseconds. 

But when compared to other attributes of Halo, this efficiency might not even be what devs find most important when building out a ZKP tool. Halo stands out for three additional reasons:

Trustlessness — no “trusted setup” Recursive — more about that superpower below Extremely well-engineered for security and performance

Let’s dive into what each of these mean:

Halo is Trustless

When Zcash launched in 2016, its zero-knowledge proofs required a setup phase to produce public parameters that allowed users to construct and verify private transactions.

As our friend Vitalik Buterin explains, “A trusted setup ceremony is a procedure that is done once to generate a piece of data that must then be used every time some cryptographic protocol is run. Generating this data requires some secret information; the ‘trust’ comes from the fact that some person or some group of people has to generate these secrets, use them to generate the data, and then publish the data and forget the secrets.” 

After the setup phase, these secrets had to be destroyed to prevent counterfeiting of Zcash. (There’s a great Radiolab episode about the first Zcash trusted setup ceremony.)

But Halo has no trusted setup. Halo eliminates the risk of ceremony compromise, increasing confidence in the soundness of the entire system.

Eliminating trusted setup also allows for greater protocol agility. New zero-knowledge protocols can be designed and deployed without requiring another run of the complex and dangerous trusted setup ceremony.

Most of the current generation of zero-knowledge projects rely on trusted setup, because trusted-setup ZKPs are super efficient, and because efficient-enough trustless ZKPs (like Halo) hadn’t been developed yet when those projects started a few years ago.

We’re betting that eventually most of the world will switch to trustless ZKPs and trusted setups will become a footnote of history.

Halo is Recursive

Halo is recursive. That’s a technical term, but what it basically means is that it is scalable — you can use Halo to prove facts about arbitrarily complex programs and arbitrarily big data sets.

Halo’s recursive attributes allow for more scalable ZKP applications, and it’s also general purpose. This means that you can use Halo for any and all ZKP applications.

Halo supporting recursion also means that independent, mutually distrusting parties can cooperate to prove facts about their whole combined data set without sharing their private data with each other and without being vulnerable to the other participants cheating. That is a really interesting and never-before-seen capability. We’re  looking forward to seeing what people do with it!

Historical note: Halo was the first zero-knowledge proof system ever discovered that is both trustless and recursive.

Halo is Secure and Efficient

We engineered Halo for industry-leading security and performance. Unlike other next-generation zero-knowledge proof systems, Halo 2 comes with a proof of its security. Writing a proof of security is a difficult and time-consuming process that most cryptographic engineers skip, but it gives greater assurance that the cryptography works as intended.

The flagship implementation of the Halo algorithm is maintained by the legendary cryptographic engineering team at The Electric Coin Co — the team whose pioneering work is the basis of more or less all zero-knowledge proof technology in use today.

Our Halo implementation has been audited by multiple independent experts, and it is live on Zcash mainnet, protecting Zcash users and ZEC holders. 

Our Halo 2 implementation (an improved edition of Halo) is open-sourced under Apache/MIT, and is free to use. This means anyone can use it for any purpose without requiring our — or anyone’s — permission.

Here’s a list of the projects that are already using Halo:

Scroll ZK-EVM: Filecoin (and they are giving out millions of dollars worth of grants to dev teams!) The Ethereum Foundation’s Privacy & Scaling Explorations Group Dark-Fi Orbis Zero-knowledge proofs of artificial intelligence (also see here) Learn more

Thanks for reading this short piece on Halo! If you’re a developer looking to use zero-knowledge proofs, you should consider using Zcash Halo as your first choice. Have any questions around Halo’s advantages? Join the conversation here.

The post Halo’s contribution goes beyond efficiency appeared first on Electric Coin Company.

As part of President Biden’s Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, the U.S. Department of the Treasury solicited wide-ranging responses from the public on digital-asset-related illicit finance and national security risks, as well as on the Treasury Department’s recently released action plan to mitigate those risks. On November 3, Circle submitted its response, which highlighted the complex intersection of policy priorities in balancing the continuous development of industry-wide market integrity and compliance tools, technologies, and standards while keeping blockchain-based finance open, secure, and universally accessible. Innovations in compliance technology are paving the way for more effective risk management that safeguards user privacy and dispels the notion of a tradeoff between innovation, inclusion, and integrity.

Wormhole is a decentralized cross chain messaging protocol powering the transfer of value and information across high value chains. A network of Guardian nodes secure the protocol by observing and attesting to events and data on its connected chains. These attestations are gossiped around the open Wormhole peer-to-peer network, allowing anyone connected to the network to observe the flow of information. Portal is a bridging app built on top of Wormhole where users can seamlessly bridge tokens and NFTs across supported chains and easily enter the network’s ecosystem.

We were joined by Dev Bharel, Developer Relations for Wormhole. He gave us great insight into how the protocol works, security assumptions and incidents, the concept of generalized messaging passaging, and the Portal Bridge as a first adopter of the Wormhole protocol. We also chatted about what else is being built on Wormhole, and how you can get involved.

Topics covered in this episode:

Dev's background and how he got into crypto An overview of Wormhole The different network ecosystems in Wormhole and challenges with adding new networks The Wormhole guardian network and its plans for expansion The user experience on Portal Bridge Relayers on the network Using Wormhole bridge assets directly with non-native tokens The Wormhole hack and the changes that have been made Using zero knowledge proof on bridges

Episode links:

Portal Bridge Wormhole hack Bug bounty program Developer docs Wormchain xHack hackathon Wormhole on Twitter Dev on Twitter

Sponsors:

Omni: Access all of Web3 in one easy-to-use wallet! Earn and manage assets at once with Omni's built-in staking, yield vaults, bridges, swaps and NFT support.
https://omni.app/ -

This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/468

The word anarchy stems from the Greek word “anarchos”, which means “without ruler.” For some, the term “anarchy” draws associations with lawless states of chaos from the past. However, the term in its contemporary sense is used to refer to a vision of society that is absent of unjust hierarchy and coercion. One of the key concepts within the contemporary anarchist vision is that people are, by nature, equal to one another, and should be free to live in ways that reflect this equality. Anarchists respect all individuals who develop skills and knowledge bases that have beneficial applications.

In the internet’s early days, it was structured more in accordance with anarchist ideals, offering users privacy and a less hierarchical experience. Today, the internet is dominated by government and Big Tech players that have eroded personal autonomy and transparency.

Everyone has a fundamental right to privacy. These days, pushing back against the tide of insidious data collection and online privacy infringements requires the deployment of anarchist-inspired notions of self-determination and privacy as freedom. Wrenching some sovereignty back from overreaching companies, organizations, and government agencies is feasible with the help of privacy-minded tools and strategies. Let’s take a closer look at how digital initiatives that promote greater freedom and autonomy are embracing anarchist principles.

What is Crypto-Anarchy?

The internet is at the root of how many people organize their lives. For this reason, most contemporary discussion of personal freedoms tends to be centered around the right to digital privacy.

The prefix “crypto” is often used negatively to refer to groups who have hidden motives or views. For instance, the term “crypto-fascist” refers to those with fascist views who hide their fascism in order to avoid stigma or consequences. On the other hand, the “crypto” prefix used in the term “crypto-anarchy” refers to strategies for cultivating autonomy that make use of cryptography tools.

As such, while crypto-anarchy is rooted in strategies that foster privacy and anonymity, these goals themselves are not obscured by crypto-anarchists. In fact, many crypto-anarchists are actively involved in promoting the importance and value of digital cryptography tools.

Historically, anarchism itself has been associated with left-wing thought, and anarchy’s aversion to hierarchical structures draws associations to communalism and libertarian socialism. However, crypto-anarchy today has links to anarcho-capitalism, too—a right-libertarian political philosophy centered around ownership of private property absent of centralized control.

Anarcho-capitalism calls for a voluntary society that individuals design themselves with the help of private agencies; in an ideal anarcho-capitalist society, individuals would voluntarily opt into contracts of participation designed to fulfill the will of the people.

Anarchy and Privacy

Anarchist thought is largely centered around skepticism towards coercion from intrusive governing forces. Personal privacy is widely regarded as an inalienable right. For instance, the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights states: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence.”

Freedom of thought, freedom of association, freedom of expression, and freedom from discrimination are all rooted in the individual’s right to create boundaries and to choose what to reveal and what to hide from others. Actions as simple and intuitive as putting on clothing or closing the bathroom door are rooted in our implicit understanding that there are aspects of ourselves we prefer not to share with others, for a number of reasons.

As individuals, we make countless decisions about our privacy every day. Insisting that our privacy is not violated without consent is an important way we protect ourselves from abuses of power. However, the ever-increasing role of technology in our lives has blurred our relationship to privacy. While we would naturally feel skeptical of anyone eavesdropping on our conversations, going through our mail, or searching our homes without a warrant, digital surveillance has created a panopticon effect in which it’s nearly impossible to tell who is collecting information about us, and for what purpose.

Crypto-anarchist tools offer users renewed awareness and control over what information they are sharing with external parties, which is an important step in eradicating privacy intrusions.

A History of Bitcoin’s Relationship to Anarchy

The principles that led to the development of Bitcoin are the result of a deep and sustained engagement with anarchist ideals. The original development of this technology can be traced to the Cyperpunks’ mailing list from the early 1990s—a virtual meeting place of early digital privacy enthusiasts.

The Cypherpunks are an example of a digital voluntary society. Many Cypherpunks communicated anonymously by way of aliases, and used cryptographic tools both as a matter of principle—believing in online anonymity as a path towards greater online freedom—and to seize the potential of the power of cryptography as a path towards decentralized and uncoerced economic transactions, for instance.

Challenges Facing Bitcoin’s Role as a Privacy Tool

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency. All transactions are permanently recorded and stored on the blockchain without the need for regulatory forces or third-party verification. These are essential aspects of its potential as an empowering and privacy-minded digital currency. However, these characteristics also require additional tools and strategies to ensure its capacity to maximize privacy and personal freedom.

Many newcomers to Bitcoin see it as a short-term investment vehicle, primarily focused on fluctuations in the price of bitcoin rather than the revolutionary potential behind decentralized money. Novice users may leave their bitcoin exchanges, which essentially negates the freedom-related benefits of Bitcoin.

Most popular cryptocurrency exchanges are centralized (CEXs), meaning third parties have control and oversight over users’ funds. The well-known expression “not your keys, not your coins” refers to the fact that those who have access to bitcoin assets’ private keys (CEXs) ultimately have control over the assets.

When users put their private keys in the hands of others, this is an aspect of their privacy (and freedom) that they are giving away in exchange for convenience.

The pitfalls of CEXs go beyond the privacy-related issue of private key ownership, too. Major crypto exchange hacks have occurred in the past, resulting in users losing their bitcoin. Some bitcoin exchanges, including Quadriga, have been outright scams, defrauding users of their money.

One of Bitcoin’s most integral features is how it offers users the ability to have custody of their own assets, without fear of outside interference. An understanding of the fundamental principles of Bitcoin and the history of its development is an important aspect of learning how to use it as a defensive privacy tool.

Defensive Tools to Establish Personal Privacy

Those with limited familiarity with Bitcoin often presume it to be an anonymous currency, but the opposite is true. Bitcoin operates under principles of transparency, which allow all transactions on the blockchain to be publicly viewed and verified.

Users’ public keys can be linked to past transactions, which can be linked to users’ personal identities through Know Your Customer (KYC) policies. KYC requires that merchants collect data about their customers. For instance, if you use Bitcoin to purchase an item from a website, that website may collect your address and other information, creating a link between that information and your Bitcoin address. Users’ IP addresses can also be linked to Bitcoin transactions, leading some users to enlist services that hide their IP addresses.

Anonymizing Strategies

New tools have been emerging that seek to improve Bitcoin’s privacy in order to give users more control over how personal data is shared. Coinjoin is one popular anonymizing strategy for Bitcoin. Coinjoin works by allowing users to temporarily join their funds together, acting as a kind of opaque wall between previous and future transactions.

Additionally, privacy experts tend to recommend privacy-minded internet browsers to make bitcoin-related activity less publicly viewable. Tor’s browser is a well-established anonymizing tool. Its free browser gives users the ability to mask their web activity from outside parties using multi-layered encryption. When it comes to communicating about cryptocurrency transactions, experts recommend end-to-end encrypted messaging services like Signal.

Wasabi Wallet

Privacy-minded digital wallets are an effective way to maintain control over your bitcoin and to address the privacy concerns inherent to Bitcoin. Wasabi Wallet 2.0 is a privacy-focused bitcoin wallet that is user-friendly and offers a shortcut to the privacy-enhancing benefits of Bitcoin as a tool for crypto-anarchists.

Wasabi Wallet is a zero-knowledge tool, which means its developers collect no information about users. Making use of the Tor network, block filtering, and coinjoin technology, Wasabi Wallet 2.0 is trust free. It is also a non-custodial wallet, giving users control over their own private keys, offering the full self-determining potential of Bitcoin.

Wasabi Wallet as a Defensive Technology

Without access to the right tools, protecting oneself from insidious surveillance and data collection can feel overwhelming. Across the internet, privacy and security issues are widespread, and many web-based services are oppressively hierarchical, offering little to no independence and freedom for users.

According to one study from the Pew Research Centre, four in five Americans feel they have little to no control over how their data is viewed and collected online, and around the same number believe the pitfalls of this digital surveillance outweigh any benefits. The same study shows that well over half of Americans are concerned about digital surveillance.

Those interested in preserving their privacy online have rightfully gravitated towards Bitcoin and the crypto sphere, which has a history rooted in strong-willed individualism in the face of intrusion from overbearing institutions. While some people associate the term “anarchy” with the avoidance of rules or consequences, the opposite is true—crypto-anarchist ideals are centered around transparency, equality, and fairness for all. Privacy is a key component of personal freedom, and tools like Wasabi Wallet help users defend their individual online property rights as part of a path toward a more liberated life.

Have you ever dreamed of opening your own hotel? Did you ever harbour aspirations to transform an old and dilapidated building into an alluring art-deco establishment where literary types gather to sip tea and compare notes about their latest masterpiece? Maybe you have, at some point in your life, imagined an opulent opening day, when the Grand Crypto Hotel welcomes its first set of guests through its revolving doors.

Back in the day, you would have to be a millionaire, or a real estate tycoon to be able to open such a hotel and partake in hotel ownership. But what if I explained that there is a way that you can own a part of that hotel without great wealth? Is your interest piqued yet? Sit down there beside the fire and listen while I tell you about tokenisation. It won’t take long, I promise.

A brief history of tokenisation

In today’s technology-savvy world, we understand tokenisation as the process of turning sensitive data into non-sensitive data tokens. That then can be shared or traded without compromising the underlying information. Banks use tokens to transmit banking details to a payment processor, for example, to prevent data breaches.

But tokenisation itself is a concept as old as mankind itself. Clay tokens used to count, store, and communicate financial data are known to have been used circa 4,000 BC in regions today known as the Middle East. Early tokens were individual pieces made in different sizes to represent quantity. Later, the tokens would be etched with lines or dots to denote the quality of whatever they represented.

These early tokens were used for administrative purposes, in local economies. Much later, they led to the advent of writing. So from the very beginning, tokenisation has been used to convey information. Data.

This trend of representing data continues today, albeit in a more sophisticated fashion, more in accordance with modern technology.

Tokenising the hotel industry

If you ask any hotelier what their main business goal is, you’re likely to hear that their focus is to increase occupancy rates, and maximise revenue per room, commonly known as RevPAR. Millions of hotel rooms worldwide lie unoccupied, i.e., they’re not producing revenue. And as the pandemic made evident, being able to fill your hotel is never certain. So, in light of this economic quandary, hotel managers have been forced to reinvent the business and find alternative ways to make their establishments profitable again. Tokenising their hotels is one of these new ventures.

But how does tokenising a hotel actually work, and what benefits does it bring? Tokenisation opens up two interesting avenues: Fast access to monetary resources (capital, in other words), and tokenisation-as-as-service.

Releasing capital, fast

Hotels range from small, family-run establishments, to larger, franchise-owned mega buildings. The plot of land where they stand might be worth millions, and when considering the furnishings, equipment, ornaments, furniture, etc., the value of a hotel site might run into the billions. The problem is if the hotel has no guests, all that value is locked unto itself. In fact, it costs a lot of money just to have the place open, in terms of staff, energy consumption, water, etc.

During COVID-19, millions of hotel rooms remained dormant for the better part of two years, with many hotels looking for different ways to unlock all this locked capital. In this situation, the hotel owner could just sell the property, but this would mean finding a buyer, which is easier said than done, particularly in times of uncertainty. And if the property is sold, the hotel would obviously be in the hands of somebody else. This might not be in the seller’s best interest.

Tokenisation would enable the hotel owner to sell part of the hotel, by digitising the hotel’s assets through blockchain technology. Once the digital version of the hotel is uploaded to the chain in the form of tokens, the owner can begin selling these assets to different buyers. People would effectively own part of a hotel. The blockchain would keep all the information transparent and secure. So, the hotelier can track which tokens are sold, to whom, and at what price.

In this scenario, tokenisation enables the fragmentation of the sale (rather than selling the entire hotel to one person). This means that every investor retains what is called fractional ownership. In other words, you no longer need to be an eccentric billionaire to own a hotel. Or part of it, anyway.

Tokenisation-as-a-service

Tokenising a hotel opens up brand new possibilities for turning a profit via blockchain, including tokenisation-as-a-service.
The digitisation process creates a perfect replica of the hotel on the blockchain, a ‘digital twin’, if you will. Using smart contracts, several specialised platforms now enable this virtual representation of your establishment to manage daily tasks.

These include maintenance, supplies, etc. through third-party contractors, for example. This has an immediate and obvious benefit: cost reduction, by a great margin. The hotel manager (the human one) can delegate all these tasks to the digital twin, and focus on more pressing matters. Tokenisation-as-a-service saves a whole lot of money and frees up a great deal of time.

How to tokenise your hotel: NFTs or FTs?

In the hotel industry, these differences can be explained through the example of tokenising a hotel. Let’s say you want to tokenise ownership of the hotel with fungible tokens, you can, for example, create a 100.000 hotel tokens, and each token represents ownership of 1/100.000 of the hotel. Every hotel token is the same and can be easily traded as each token has the same value.

As described above, tokenisation (in blockchain) is essentially the process of representing a certain item with one or more tokens, and it can be done in two ways, namely through fungible tokens and non-fungible tokens. Fungible tokens are interchangeable, for example every euro is the same as every other euro. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are all unique and can have different values, such as different art pieces or different car parts, etc.

But you can also tokenise ownership of a hotel with non-fungible tokens. In this case you could tokenise the hotel rooms, the hotel restaurant, the hotel ground, etc. Each of these assets has a different value and people could then buy these individual assets rather than a fraction of the whole hotel. To make things even more interesting, you could then also tokenise high-value assets such as the ground of the hotel for example, using fungible tokens.

In this example both ways of tokenisation are used to fractionalise ownership, just in different ways. But they can coexist and work together.

Conclusion

Whether it’s a relatively small family-owned hotel, or a location of a major hotel franchise, tokenising hotels, or hotel rooms, creates real investment opportunities for small to medium investors. And from the hotelier’s perspective, it’s a win-win situation.

The post Tokenisation in the Hotel Industry appeared first on Zaisan.

Bitboy -- aka Ben Armstrong -- is the notorious crypto influencer with one of the largest audiences in the space. After some jabs back and forth on twitter, we're bringing him on Bankless to clear the air.

What's up with Ryan's glasses? Is Bitboy changing his approach?

------  Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

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----- Topics Covered

0:00 Intro 6:00 Bitboy's Glasses 8:00 The Rant 14:50 RSA's Perspective 19:30 Bitboy's Bill 24:20 Ethical Platforms 28:05 Beef with SBF 34:24 Changing in Crypto 41:00 Two Different Worlds 44:55 Shortcuts 50:45 Disclosures 52:20 Heavy is the Head 59:41 Man of the People 1:03:03 Best Practices 1:05:50 Closing Thoughts

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Diardi Election — Instructions

Hey guys, we hope you’re all doing well.

This article will go over how anyone can participate in the upcoming Diardi elections using the web application we created for it.

The application is available at https://election.scalaproject.io

Instructions Create Account

You can create an account on the app just like you would on any other platform and log in with your credentials.

Click the “Register Now” button to fill in the information.

Note that you can use any name you want, but remember that this name will be displayed on the Elections dashboard, and everyone will be able to see it.

We recommend using your Discord username if you have one. For example, MasterMind#2808.

Dashboard

After the registration, you will be redirected to the Elections dashboard.

How does the election work?

Let’s introduce the mechanisms behind the Diardi elections.

vXLA

vXLA “voting tokens” are simply the same XLA coins you had in your wallet before the snapshot on October 31, 2022.

You don’t have to do anything on your side to swap your XLA coins to vXLA. This has already been done on-chain at the snapshot time.

Those tokens are worth nothing and are only used to vote for applications on the election app.

Elections Process

The elections will end on November 18, 2022.

During this period, you will be able to send your vXLA tokens to the election app to apply to become a Diardi node operator and also vote for the applications.

Obviously, you can vote for yourself!

Remember that 1 vote = 1 vXLA.

After the election period is over, the candidates with the most votes will be elected to become node operators.

XLA Balance

Your current XLA coins always remain in your wallet. You can check by connecting to your favourite remote node or by syncing locally.

The vXLA voting tokens are only available when you are connected to the Diardi remote nodes.

Snapshot

After October 31st, you can send your coins back to any exchange if you want.

Number of node operators

Depending on the number of applications, we are looking for 32 or 64 Diardi node operators.

The Scala team will reserve some nodes for the core team members for testing and development purposes: 4 spots if 32 operators are elected and 8 spots if 64 are elected.

How to apply?

This section will explain how you can apply to become a Diardi node operator.

Requirements

Anyone can apply to become a node operator, but all candidates must be able to own and operate a server with a public IP address.

The server specifications would be similar to running a Scala node since the proof-of-algorithm is much faster than that of regular blocks.

Thus, even a dual-core server will be plenty, but it will give you the upper hand if you have a faster server with a very stable/fast network. What’s given below will be recommended specifications for a Diardi node:

8 cores 8 GB RAM Minimum of 64 GB of storage

Note: It is strongly suggested to use a VPS for better performance and stability!

If you believe you have all the requirements to become a node operator and you can commit to it, follow the steps below.

1. Retrieve your Deposit Address

Once logged in, you can click on the “Copy Deposit Address” button in the Dashboard to copy your deposit address.

This is the address you will deposit your vXLA tokens to.

2. Deposit your vXLA tokens

-> From the GUI/CLI wallet
Open your GUI or CLI Scala wallet, ensure it is synced and then connect to the remote elections node.

http://election-node.scalaproject.io:11812

⚠️ IMPORTANT: You must use the election remote node to be able to access your vXLA tokens; if you use a regular remote node and send your real balance to the election wallet, it will be lost forever.

-> From the Telegram wallet
You also can use the Telegram wallet to send vXLA tokens to the election application, and those who have an XLA account will be auto-generated to vXLA. You can verify this by running /balance which will show your vXLA balance

Simply use the following command to the Wallet Bot in Telegram:

/withdraw vxla your_election_deposit_address all

If you want to send only a portion of your balance use the command

/withdraw vxla your_election_deposit_address <amount>

Where amount is the number of vXLA you want to send

3. Vote

Once you have deposited all your vXLA tokens on the application, you can vote for yourself (or someone else if you don’t want to apply to become a node operator) by clicking on the vote button next to your name.

You can click on the “View Votes” button to see all the votes you have cast, and you can click on the “View Transactions” button to see all the transactions that have happened on your deposit address.

You can verify all the vote counts by using the following address, view key, and the remote node above.

Address — SvkGTcFJj6u9qh4Gs6T9QCcvLLh1KV5qhba35fReeC8VDhDzbeSkDySQPVJgKSh6fxH7UNNtLbr6UF9RDSURiE2u2vTDjb9g5

View key — 92c064be19242b8a9f839a10eee2b581a219c859c06111238b8af05399edc208

Candidates Presentation

We want to allow all Diardi Node Operator candidates to introduce themselves and explain why they think they can be significant assets for the Scala project and community.

If you have submitted your application to become a node operator, you can now introduce yourself and provide more information to support your application.

Comment under this Trello card: https://trello.com/c/LclsOxJB/106-diardi-elections-candidates-presentations.

Don’t forget to provide the username you are using in the Elections app!

Conclusion

The candidates with the most votes will be selected to become Diardi node operators. The Scala team will contact the elected operators on Discord or by email.

The details of the following steps will be announced on Discord and Twitter, for example, how to configure the Diardi node.

Happy voting!

Community 👋

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact us:

Website: https://scalaproject.io/ Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/djAFVvy Telegram: https://t.me/scalaofficial Twitter: https://twitter.com/scalahq Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ScalaNetwork/ Scala Mining Stats: https://scalastats.com/ Email: hello@scalaproject.io

Diardi Elections — Instructions was originally published in Scala on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

TokenMint is an easy-to-use platform for anyone to launch a token using custom tokenomics without having to know a single line of code. It streamlines and simplifies the tokenization process, making creating a fungible token and non-fungible token (NFT) easy and quick.

TokenMint’s NFT creation and minting feature is going live on mainnet soon but is available on testnet and is free for everyone to use!

The TokenMint platform is designed to provide a seamless, simple, and intuitive user experience. There are four components available to launch your NFT:

TokenMint Chain – a sidechain built on the Horizen network Token/NFT Generator – a web app that allows a streamlined and easy process for anyone to create and mint a token with custom tokenomics. Cobalt wallet – a web browser extension wallet that stores and manages tokens created on TokenMint TokenMint Block explorer – a block explorer that tracks and displays all transactions on the TokenMint Chain.  Step-by-Step Guide for Creating an NFT on TokenMint

Before starting the process, please download and install the latest version of Cobalt wallet.

If you need additional TestZEN for this process, please reference our How to Get TestZEN tutorial. 

Step 1 Load NFT Data Into An IPFS Repository Copy the CID from the metadata folder on Pinata and that will be used for the Base URI on the TokenMint NFT generator.

Step 2 – Use the TokenMint NFT Generator Go to https://testnet.tokenmint.global/ and click on “Launch App”. Connect your Cobalt Wallet by clicking “Connect Wallet” on the top right corner Click on the NFTs tab in the top menu, then on Create Collection Fill in the Relevant Fields:  Collection Name – which is the full name of your collection Collection Symbol – 3 to 6 characters long, only including letters and numbers.  Base URI – The URI where the collection is stored (CID link from Metadata folder on Pinata) Item Supply – The amount of NFTs in the collection Unlimited Suppy – this can be toggled on or off Collection creation fee – the fee for creating an NFT on TokenMint is 0.25 ZEN Agree to the terms and conditions and hit confirm

Wait for the token collection to finish generating. This can take a few minutes. Progress can be monitored on the Block Explorer

  Step-by-Step Guide for Minting an NFT on TokenMint

Please ensure that the “TokenMint testnet” is chosen on your Cobalt Wallet. 

Once your NFT is generated, mint your NFT to your Cobalt wallet (NFT Mint Fee of 0.25 ZEN)

Sign the transaction in your Cobalt Wallet

Wait for the UUID to be generated, once confirmed, the NFT will be minted to your Cobalt Wallet

Click the “NFTs” tab in your Cobalt Wallet and you should see your minted NFT with the following details:  Collection Name Collection UUID Token ID IPFS Link (Where your image & metadata are stored) Attributes Ability to Send and View on the Explorer

More User Guides:  Cobalt Wallet User Guide How To Get TestZEN How to Create a Fungible Token on TokenMint How to Load NFT Data Into An IPFS Repository How to create and mint an NFT collection on TokenMint (Video Tutorial) How to create and mint a single image NFT on TokenMint (Video Tutorial)

The post How to Create and Mint an NFT on TokenMint appeared first on Horizen.

SINGAPORE & BOSTON - November 2, 2022 - Circle Internet Financial, a global digital financial technology firm and the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin (EUROC), has received In-Principle Approval as a Major Payments Institution License holder from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This allows Circle to offer digital payment token products, cross-border and domestic transfer services in the city state, giving rise to a new generation of financial services and commerce applications.

Findora made important progress in October and reached key milestones. Engineers made major EVM upgrades, one billion FRA have been staked, and the Grants program is almost ready to be relaunched! 🪴 Ecosystem Updates Findora at EthSF Register at: https://sf.ethglobal.com/

This year, Findora is sponsoring EthSF and holding a privacy-focused hackathon. The individual or team that submits the best use of Findora’s privacy SDKs will receive a prize of $5,000 USDT. Submissions should revolve around either private transfers or selective data disclosure through Zk-DID. Learn more here.

Register By Nov. 1>

Over 1 Billion FRA Staked!

Findora hit a major milestone in October with over one billion FRA staked. We’re grateful for a vibrant and growing validator community, and all the delegators who have contributed to securing the network.

Grants Program Nearing Relaunch 🚀

The Findora Foundation grants program was paused, revised, and after much work, is nearing its official relaunch! The updated program includes an easier application process, co-marketing support from Findora, and clearer criteria and information for developer teams.

Read More on Discord >

🛠 Engineering Updates Update v0.3.30 Brings Many Enhancements to Findora’s EVM

Engineers at Discreet Labs have been busy making major updates to Findora’s EVM layer. These updates include making the EVM more decentralized, efficient, and powerful. Engineers expect this enhancement-rich update to deploy on mainnet in the coming weeks.

Increased Decentralization

The number of validators participating in consensus will almost double from 58 to 100. With help from our amazing validator community, this change is being tested on Anvil Testnet. Read More

Updates to Findora Full Nodes

In a feature called EVM tracing, Findora full nodes will be updated to allow smart contract calls on specific block heights. It will bring added accessibility to the Findora Network, making it easier for developers to be onboarded. Read More

Front-end Development Complete for EVM Staking

Soon, users will be able to stake $FRA right from their MetaMask wallet. Front-end development for this feature is complete, and engineers are working on back-end compatibility.

Read More >

Making EVM Privacy Easy

Integrating zk-privacy to EVM dApps on Findora will soon become easier for developers. An upcoming enhancement will provide a way to add privacy functions using simple API calls without the need to deploy on the UTXO native chain.

Read More >

Prism Transfer will Support NFTs

Prism, which links Findora’s EVM layer to the UTXO ledger, will soon support FRC-721 and FRC-1155 tokens. This update will open the door to privacy features for NFTs, a necessary function for NFT games and applications that use NFT credentials. Read More

✨ Community Highlights Team Interview with Cheeky Crypto

Watch an interview with Discreet Labs’ Giv Parvaneh, VP of Developer Relations, and Mike Lin, Director of Product Management, discussing all things Findora. They talk about the fundamentals of the project, and Mike describes how Web3 games can use Zk-DID and private NFTs for unique gameplay.

Watch Now >

Staking Rewards During Unbonding — Community Discussion

Validators and delegators are discussing Findora’s stake rewards during the unbonding period on Discord. Currently, unbonding takes 21 days without rewards, but other systems have been suggested. Check out and contribute to the conversation on Discord!

Sam Harrison Joins Discreet Labs

Sam Harrison has joined Discreet Labs as the VP of Growth, and will soon launch the new Findora Podcast. Stay tuned for some killer content from Sam on Twitter and Reddit.

Welcome, Sam!

💡 Validator Spotlight: Octeka

Meet Patrick, who runs the Octeka validator. Octeka runs servers in Canada, the United States, and Europe to ensure reliability and uptime. After spending almost 20 years in the gaming industry, he has shifted into Web3, and believes privacy will be key to the industry’s future.

Read More >

Discreet Labs is Hiring!

Findora is always looking for top-notch talent, whether developers, engineers, community managers, or marketers. Please, if you’re interested in Findora or think you’d be a good fit, see what’s available, or reach out via Twitter DM to start a discussion!

About Findora

Findora builds privacy through advanced zero-knowledge proof cryptography. An innovative layer-1, it combines a native UTXO ledger optimized for privacy with an EVM extension for programmability and interoperability. Developers can leverage either model as they build dApps with auditable privacy.

We appreciate our developers and would love to onboard you to the Findora ecosystem. Please reach out, and join our social channels for more.

Discord | Twitter | Telegram | Medium | LinkedIn | Facebook | Reddit

The Monthly Rollup: October ‘22 was originally published in Findora Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

With spring here in Australia, there’s no better sentiment for announcing the full decentralization of the Verida Testnet — a globally distributed project founded with Aussie roots. Our testnet name pays homage to the wattle, the Acacia — the largest genus of vascular plants in Australia.

Over the last few months, the Verida team has been quietly preparing for an upgrade of the Verida Acacia testnet to provide a fully decentralized identity layer. In the early stages of the Verida network, it was much faster to create a centralized identity server. This allowed us to have a working network sooner rather than later. We’re entering the next phase of the network where we can provide a 100% decentralized network. Decentralizing identities is a critical step in that pathway.

Starting November 2022, we’ll progressively open the network to the public. This is a milestone step to seek valuable feedback and iterate, on our way to Mainnet launch.

The Verida Network comprises the underlying protocol, technology and documentation built by Verida. Developers can leverage the Verida SDKs to use and contribute to the code to improve the network. Service providers can deliver infrastructure to the network by running nodes that users can select to use.

1. What do I need to do?

Developers will be required to update to the latest SDK. There are breaking changes as the protocol will now be looking up identities and data storage infrastructure from the blockchain. More details will be provided to developers closer to the testnet upgrade. Join our #acacia-testnet channel on Discord to stay up to date with the latest information.

End users will be required to update to the latest Verida Vault. This allows and empowers users to create new identities that are now decentralized. It’s a huge paradigm shift from the current Web2 model that collects troves of personal data.

Note: Due to the nature of this upgrade, the existing identities (DID’s) and data on the current Testnet will be reset. All data and identities will be lost unless you backup.

2. What’s included in this Testnet upgrade?

We have a number of updates going live across the Verida network, Verida Vault and SDKs as part of the Acacia decentralized Testnet upgrade.

This will include the following high-level updates:

Decentralized DID Registry: The current DID registry is currently stored on a centralized server and accessed by the protocol via an API. This DID registry will be moved to live on-chain, giving anyone the ability to register their own identity on the network. This upgrade also includes a built-in “proof” mechanism that unlocks the ability to create a generic “data bridge” to prove verified off-chain data on any Verida supported blockchain. Verida SDK: Updates to the Verida SDK to leverage the new blockchain based DID Registry. Verida DbStore: Improvements to provide more access controls, an enhanced authorization token based security model and the ability to enforce remote deletion of databases. Verida Vault: Updates to use the latest protocol SDK and to sponsor gas fees for verified mobile users. Verida Connect: Enhancements to support the new token based authorization model and remote device access revocation.

Our Developer Portal will be updated to reflect the changes as the Testnet becomes fully decentralized.

3. What are the Acacia Testnet limitations?

With the public upgrade of the decentralized Acacia Testnet, it’s important for users and developers to keep in mind current constraints.

The Acacia Testnet should only be used for prototyping, development, and testing purposes. It’s great for getting your application ready for Mainnet. Data stored and accounts created on Acacia will not be transferable to Mainnet. These are separate networks, similar to Ethereum’s Testnets and Mainnet. Verida is currently running the encrypted storage nodes for the Acacia Testnet. We will progressively open up the network to be operated by trusted node operators in the coming months. The Acacia Testnet will continue to exist as a test network once the Verida Mainnet launches later this year. We’ll keep you updated on important dates. You may encounter a few bugs and/or performance issues. We’ve done our best to make things work as smoothly as possible, but please remember, this is still a Testnet.

Please report any issues by opening a ticket on Github or let us know in Discord, so we can fix them as soon as possible.

4. How can I keep updated?

For any questions, issues or feedback relating to our Testnet launch, please join our community on Discord and join the #acacia-testnet channel.

Stay up to date with our latest announcements, news, ideas and inspirations, join and engage on our community channels. We’re glad you’re here, creating a safer, self-sovereign internet for all.

Follow us on Twitter Join the conversation on Discord View our code on GitHub View our Developer Documentation Reach out to us on Telegram Subscribe on YouTube Check out our Community Site Start discussions on Reddit Earn Rewards from Verida with Quests on Crew3

We’re Decentralizing the Internet, Starting with the Verida Acacia Testnet. was originally published in Verida on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

TokenMint is designed to provide a streamlined tokenization process for all users, with or without developer background. When first launched, the platform provided an easy and quick way to create fungible tokens. We are adding the NFT capability to TokenMint, which will enable the creation and minting of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on TokenMint. The NFT capabilities are now live on the TokenMint testnet for anyone to try.   

To welcome this exciting milestone, we are hosting an art competition for our community!

To enter, simply turn your art into an NFT on TokenMint testnet and submit it by November 22nd to enter! The community voting will start as soon as submissions are added, so it helps to join the competition early!

How to Participate:  Requirements:  Latest Version of Cobalt Wallet Pinata Account 0.5 TZEN (0.25 TZEN to create an NFT collection, 0.25 TZEN to mint) Design your NFT art. AI generated art is accepted  Create your NFT on testnet. Follow the tutorials for instructions: How To Get TestZEN How to Load NFT Data Into an IPFS Repository How to create and mint NFT on TokenMint  How to create and mint single-image NFT on TokenMint (Video Tutorial) How to create and mint an NFT collection on TokenMint (Video Tutorial). Submit the Explorer link of your minted NFT and share a screenshot of your NFT in your Cobalt wallet via # 》tokenmint-nft-competition under the TokenMint Alpha section in our Discord server Vote on your favorite submission using the Horizen logo emoji:

If you have questions or need support, please join the #tokenmint-chat on Discord.

Prize 

All valid entries will be voted on by the community 

Top 25 entries will receive fee reimbursement in ZEN for creating their winning NFT collections on mainnet.  Top 3 will receive additional prizes in ZEN and PKZ The most voted on submission will receive 10 ZEN + 1000 PKZ The 2nd most voted on submission will receive 5 ZEN + 500 PKZ The 3rd most voted on submission will receive 2.5 ZEN + 250 PKZ About TokenMint

The TokenMint platform is comprised of four key components and is designed to provide a seamless, simple and intuitive user experience: 

TokenMint Chain – a sidechain built on the Horizen network Token/NFT Generator – a web app that allows a streamlined and easy process for anyone to create and mint a token with custom tokenomics Cobalt Wallet – a web browser extension wallet that stores and manages tokens created on TokenMint TokenMint Block explorer – a block explorer that tracks and displays all transactions on the TokenMint Chain.  More User Guides:  Cobalt Wallet User Guide How To Get TestZEN How to Create a Fungible Token on TokenMint

The post TokenMint NFT Competition – Enter Now! appeared first on Horizen.

The post When <span>Women</span> Lead appeared first on Greylock.

Amman (Jordan), San Francisco (United States), November 1st, 2022 – A new hope for Human Rights in the Metaverse emerges as the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) adopts Metaverse Safety Week, an annual global awareness campaign led by XR Safety Initiative (XRSI) that brings the world together to safeguard the Metaverse. XRSI’s Global Digital Policy Advisor, Kristina Podnar, made the announcement at the Arab SME Summit in the presence of global regulators and members of the Jordanian Royal Family.

UN-ESCWA is one of five regional commissions under the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s jurisdiction and promotes Western Asia’s economic and social development through regional and subregional cooperation and integration. XRSI is a San Francisco-based nonprofit Standard Development Organization (SDO) focused on helping build safe and inclusive emerging technology ecosystems.

Kristina Podnar, XRSI’s Global Digital Policy Advisor, noted that “the Metaverse is one of the most talked about modern technology concepts. As we look forward to activities that range from leisure and gaming to professional and commercial interactions, financial transactions, or even health interventions, we cannot shy away from the corresponding tough conversations around data protection and cybersecurity, ownership, misuse, interoperability, and portability. I am delighted that XRSI is facilitating conversations across sectors which will move all of us beyond talk and into action.” 

With the focus on bringing the world together and proactively addressing the Metaverse-related risk impacting humans and societies, XRSI celebrates the third annual awareness campaign between Dec 10th and Dec 15th. The Metaverse Safety Week is created and promoted by XRSI with these key focus agendas:

Encourage the Metaverse stakeholders, such as organizations, governments, academics, creators, and global citizens, to adopt the intervention for safety awareness by organizing conferences, meetups, and webinars, conducting internal employee awareness training, issuing transparency reports, digital asset distribution for promoting safety or making pledges related to safeguarding the Metaverse. Help Governments, Big Tech, Academia, Think Tanks, Civic Organizations, and Communities worldwide understand how they can combine resources and play leadership roles to stay ahead of the challenges that the Metaverse brings along. Create a better and safer Metaverse for all by spreading awareness and promoting policies, guidelines, safety frameworks, and research.

Kavya Pearlman, the XRSI CEO, notes that “Metaverse brings new economic opportunities and enables several profound innovations to life but also brings along safety, privacy, and ethical risks. Each year before the holidays, the world must come together to ensure that we engage with the Metaverse technologies with safety, security, and human rights at the forefront. By dedicating an entire week to various themes, XRSI intends to create a reflection point on the safety and trust aspects of Metaverse technologies.”

Metaverse Safety Week 2022 – December 10th-15th, 2022

The 2022 virtual event is a week-long event that commences on the 74th Human Rights Day, 10th December, at a unique virtual venue, with rich and immersive experiences crafted explicitly for the occasion. Metaverse Safety Week features a global agenda with sessions, social moments, panels, and live interviews this year. 

The Metaverse Safety Week focuses on building an open, inclusive, safe Metaverse by inviting the ecosystem stakeholders to connect, collaborate, and share their research, knowledge, and passion. Any organization can adopt the awareness campaign to create their own programming or support the XRSI-led campaign by submitting requests to speak, conduct a panel or create a parallel event altogether. The Metaverse Safety Week awareness campaign is a community-driven global movement for responsible innovation, better regulations, and more profound knowledge of the world we are immersing in. 

READ MORE

About XRSI

About Metaverse Safety Week 

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Website
www.xrsi.org | www.metaversesafetyweek.org 

Twitter
XRSI: @XRSIdotorg | Metaverse Safety Week: @MetaSafetyWeek | UN-ESCWA: @UNESCWA 

#MetaverseSafety #MSW2022 #XRSI #XR #Metaverse

Marco Magnano | Communication Director
XR Safety Initiative – XRSI
marco@xrsi.org

The post UN-ESCWA becomes the first UN agency to adopt Metaverse Safety Week Global Awareness Campaign: Announced during Arab SME Summit in Amman, Jordan appeared first on XRSI – XR Safety Initiative.

Alf is the former head of a $20B investment portfolio, a passionate global macro investor, and the author of a free newsletter called, “The Macro Compass," available on Substack.

On this episode, Alf helps us understand macro in a digestible way. What’s in our potential future? How bad will it hurt? How long will it last? Answers to these questions and much more in the interview.

------ 📣 Earnifi | Check For Your Unclaimed Airdrops, POAPs, & NFTs https://bankless.cc/earnifi 

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

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🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

💠 NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 

🔐 LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

----- Topics Covered

0:00 Intro 8:00 What to Know About Macro 11:03 Tiers of Money 13:07 Deflationary Timeline 15:20 The Housing Market 17:33 The Inflation Remedy 19:54 Indicators 23:10 Global Credit Impulse Cycle 30:25 Can We Have a Soft Landing? 34:50 How Bad Will This Hurt? 39:29 Volatility in the Bond Market 52:18 Switching to Crypto Assets? 55:57 DXY 1:02:09 Bond/Crypto Market Cycles 1:05:30 What Will Make the Fed Pivot? 1:09:36 The Long-Term 1:15:45 Probability & Adapting 1:19:08 Generating Productivity 1:22:27 The Internet’s Unlock 1:23:40 Why Macro is Important 1:25:40 Action Items & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

MacroAlf https://twitter.com/MacroAlf 

The Macro Compass https://themacrocompass.substack.com/ 

Is It 2021 Again? https://themacrocompass.substack.com/p/back-to-2001#details 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

DERO dARCH hackathon Event 1 10,000 DERO Prize Pool Winners of each round receive exclusive dARCH NFA Trophies Categories and Challenges DERO dARCH Prize Pool and Structure eSports Games

The purpose of this challenge is to make a game that is not only fun but also utilize the DERO blockchain as part of it’s core functionality. Must use Unreal 5 or Unity game engines. Entries must use at least 2 of the below functions on the DERO blockchain. Among the functions utilized for the game, at least one must use DERO Services via websockets.

In Game Items/Assets Player/Character Information Player Authentication

Deliverable : Functional game using Unreal 5/Unity and the DERO blockchain as part of core functionality.

Private Competition System

The purpose of this challenge it to create a way for gamers to create Private P2P competitions while utilizing smart contracts/services to manage them. The competition system does not need to interact directly with the game, only public API information. Users should not be required to be in the same match in order to participate. This approach should allow users to create competitions for any game without installing additional software.

Must allow users to create custom competitions with a GUI Competitions must be able to have at least 2 options for a “win” scenario. (IE. most/least XYZ) Must be able to create public and private competitions Must be able to specify a time frame for length of competition Must track winnings of all participating users and payout prize pool when competition is complete. Must interact with at least 2 third party game APIs and games must include at least 2 of the following platforms:

Playstation Games

XboX Games

Steam Games

Deliverable : Functioning smart contract or service running on the DERO blockchain.

DeFi NFA Set

The purpose of this challenge is simply to encourage and reward great artists and their creativity.

Sets must be at least 20 unique items and must be registered assets on the DERO blockchain Can be in game assets, 2d/3d art or any other type of asset you can dream of Winner picked based on quality and use case, not quantity of assets

Deliverable : NFA Set registered on the DERO Blockchain

On-Chain Options and Futures

The purpose of this challenge is to create a defi system using on-chain data only. This creates a more secure way for people to speculate on something without using a bridge or oracle as a point of failure.

Must provide at least 4 different types of options contracts or futures contracts. Must be derived from on-chain data (I.E. hashrate, difficulty, blocknumbers, TX numbers, etc.) no oracles or bridges

Deliverable : Functional futures/options contracts running on DERO Blockchain Smart Contracts

Education and Development Tools Visual Scripting

The purpose of this challenge is to create a way for people to build basic smart contracts using a GUI/visual scripting based editor.

Must include templates for at least 2 basic smart contract types Must support all DVMBASIC functions Must also include a built-in sandbox for basic testing on localhost

Deliverable : A visual scripting interface with a functional sandbox written in any language.

Customizable BBS Service

The purpose of this challenge is to create a guided setup for a BBS service that users can easily launch themselves to create their own communities on the blockchain.

Must have a guided setup to enter service name, welcome message and other options as required. Must include at least 2 multi-user plug-in services that add to the functionality of the BBS. Example Plug-Ins : MUDs, Chess, Auction System, etc. Must include Integrated Address and QR code generator that can be used to interact with/join BBS

Deliverable : A functional BBS service with guided setup and plug-ins written in golang.

Hardware and IoT Hardware Wallets

The purpose of this challenge is to integrate DERO wallet support on a hardware wallet.

Option 1 Must support Ledger and Trezor Must also support DERO native assets

Deliverable : DERO wallet working on Trezor and Ledger.

Option 2 Must be open source Must work on minimal hardware such as a Raspberry Pi Zero/Arduino Must support DERO native assets

Deliverable : Working POC of an open source hardware wallet.

OpenSource Nodes

The purpose of this challenge is to create a guided setup for lightweight and easy to setup nodes as well as a firewall appliance with an integrated node.

Must provide 3 options, 2 light nodes and 1 firewall based node

Raspberry Pi (Raspbian or similar)

Android (GrapheneOS)

PFsense on BSD (NetBSD/FreeBSD)

Must have guided/scripted setup with the following options : fast-sync : (yes/no) Node Pruning : (yes/no) Node type : (public/private) Wallet creation : (register/restore/none) Daemon/Wallet RPC : (enabled/disabled localnetwork/public) DNS options : Yes/No LAN_node_hostname Mining

Deliverable : Standalone setup scripts and a bootable ISO/IMG file for each OS type

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

All entries must be have open source code available for review and previous dARCH entries are not eligible. Any categories or challenges that do not have any qualifying entries will be frozen along with their prizes. The frozen DERO and challenges will become a bounty after the dARCH competition has ended. On winner per challenge in Round 1 and one winner per category in Round 2. All entries considered for Round 1 however only Round 1 winners can progress to Round 2. All Round 2 winners will progress to Round 3 to compete the Grand Prize. Winners will be selected by the DERO team with heavy consideration from the community and votes. Payouts for round winners will be paid within ten days of round winner finalizations. All entries must provide a DERO wallet address in order to receive payouts. Any submissions for bounties should be preceded by a proposal before beginning work. These bounties will not be available until after dARCH competition has completed.

DERO dARCH Event 1 was originally published in DERO on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Stake natively on Polkadot easier than ever and with as little as 1 DOT thanks to this new scalability feature for Polkadot’s staking system.

Nomination pools are a new feature for Polkadot’s staking system that allows users to pool their DOT tokens together on-chain to nominate validators and receive rewards, significantly improving the system’s scalability. Now, anyone with as little as 1 DOT can receive rewards for staking natively on Polkadot.

Coupled with the recently launched Polkadot Staking Dashboard, the new user-friendly staking app that recently came out of beta, nomination pools lower the barrier to entry for participation in staking directly on the network and simplify the staking process. Now, users with less DOT and those looking for a more passive staking experience can stake directly on the network.

Crucially, these updates also reduce the incentive to stake through third-party services and intermediaries. By cutting out the middleman and staking natively (directly on the Relay Chain) DOT holders can help keep Polkadot secure and decentralized while receiving competitive rewards of up to 18%*.

Native, protocol-level nomination pools also represent a major innovation in the broader blockchain industry, where stakers with less tokens are often disadvantaged and staking pools typically necessitate relying on intermediary services.

The need for nomination pools

From the beginning, Polkadot’s Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS) system was designed for maximum security, decentralization, energy efficiency, and fair representation, efficiently balancing the interests of smaller and larger DOT holders alike. It has always been a goal for Polkadot to provide inclusive access to staking participation and lower the barrier to entry as much as possible for nominators.

But following the launch of Polkadot’s Relay Chain in 2020, rapid scaling of the network in 2021 and an increase in demand for staking participation put a strain on this innovative staking system. To ensure the network's security, a maximum number of 22,500 nominators was introduced and governance passed a series of motions that gradually increased the minimum nomination amount to 160 DOT. This limit was eventually lowered back down to 10 DOT, but the minimum amount needed to be part of the top 22,500 nominators and earn rewards is now dynamically determined and is still somewhere around 170 DOT at the time of writing.

To remedy the system’s scalability issues and remove the limitations introduced on participating as a nominator, several improvements to Polkadot’s staking system were developed over the past year. The most significant and exciting of these is the nomination pools feature, which launched first on Kusama and is now live on Polkadot.

Before nomination pools, the only way to participate in the nomination process and receive rewards natively was for users to directly nominate validators, using their stake of DOT tokens to select up to 16 trustworthy validators.

However, not only does direct nomination require users to have a significant stake in DOT tokens to participate, it also requires playing a more active role in researching, selecting, monitoring, and periodically reevaluating their choice of validators.

With nomination pools, the creator of a pool manages nominations on behalf of pool members, reducing the time and overhead necessary to participate in nomination. Of course, pool members should still conduct their own due diligence when determining which pool to join. In contrast to direct nomination, pools also do not require users to create both a stash and controller account, further reducing the complexity of native staking.

Alternatively, before nomination pools DOT holders could stake indirectly via third-party services and liquid staking providers, but at the expense of network decentralization and security. Indirect staking also meant that DOT holders had to give away their economic voting power to third parties, often handing over a percentage of their rewards in the process.

Beyond making native staking more accessible for those with less DOT, nomination pools also remove the theoretical limit on the number of users the system can handle, allowing it to continue to scale as demand for staking participation continues into the future.

How nomination pools work

With nomination pools, multiple DOT holders can pool their tokens together and act as a single nominator, collectively backing a set of validators chosen by the pool creator with their combined stake.

Rewards are automatically split pro-rata among the members of the pool, and nomination pools do not currently take a commission. This means that pool members can currently expect the same rate of rewards for their stake as they would if participating in the system as a direct nominator.

To ensure economic incentives are aligned and network security is maintained, slashes are also applied proportionally to pool members who are actively bonded.

Joining a nomination pool

The simplest way to participate in nomination pools is through the Polkadot Staking Dashboard, the network’s new, user-friendly web application for staking. More advanced users can also participate via Polkadot-JS Apps.

Joining a nomination pool through the Staking Dashboard is as easy as connecting your account, selecting a pool, and signing a transaction to contribute your DOT to the pool. For a complete walkthrough on how to join a pool through the Polkadot Staking Dashboard, see the tutorial video walkthrough.

Note that you can only participate in a pool with a transferable balance and the amount you participate with is transferred from your account to the nomination pool. Those who have already bonded funds can bond additional funds or re-stake rewards. Currently, you can only belong to one pool at a time. Because the member funds are transferred from your account to the pool's account, any funds you nominate to a pool will not appear in your balance.

Additionally, voting for governance with pooled funds is not currently possible. In order to unstake, or simply switch from one pool to another, you’ll need to wait the 28-day unbonding period on Polkadot.

The stakes are infinitely better on Polkadot

Polkadot's native nomination pools are an important and valuable addition to the network. As a result of this update, NPoS becomes more scalable and provides a more user-friendly and inclusive way to stake on Polkadot, opening up staking to many more DOT holders.

Pools also offer new opportunities for validators. With nomination pools deployed, the number of DOT entering the staking system is likely to increase, and validators will have an incentive to ensure the inflow of tokens is directed towards them.

Join or open a nomination pool today via the Polkadot Staking Dashboard, or via Polkadot-JS Apps.

Read more about staking on the Polkadot website, or visit the Polkadot Wiki for a more technical deep-dive on nomination pools. To keep up to date on the latest updates to Polkadot’s staking system, follow the staking system updates on the Polkadot blog.

*Staking rewards fluctuate based on network conditions. Historical rewards rates are not indicative of future rewards.

Interested in developing for or building on Polkadot? Get in touch for hands-on support.

Hackers will compete for a $5,000 grand prize for the best use of Findora’s SDKs REGISTER: https://sf.ethglobal.com/

Come and build using privacy at Findora’s Eth SF Hackathon!

Findora is an innovative L1 that combines EVM programmability with zero-knowledge privacy. Consequently, Findora is looking for hackathon submissions that showcase confidential transfers or selective disclosure of personal data using Findora’s SDKs.

$5,000 will be awarded to the team or individual with the best submission. Also, feel free to swing by and learn more about zero-knowledge cryptography and how to apply it to your project.

Documentation for the Privacy Routing SDK and ZK-DID SDK.

Findora’s Hackathon Challenges and Details

There is a grand prize of $5,000 for the individual or team that creates the best privacy dApp.

Findora’s hackathon follows two tracks:

Best use of the Privacy Routing SDK for confidential transfers. Best use of the ZK-DID SDK for selective disclosure of personal data.

Challenge #1: Use the Privacy Routing SDK for private transfers between wallets on the Findora EVM chain. Get creative by combining your private transfer on Findora with another project’s hackathon challenge.

Challenge #2: Use Findora’s ZK-DID solution to allow selective disclosure of personal data. Provide users with the ability to issue proofs of their credentials to third-party dApps (e.g. proof of age, GPA, credit score, or other).

Read FIP-3 or learn more about Zk-DID.

The grand prize of $5,000 in USDT will be rewarded to the team or individual with the best use of the SDKs. Submissions will be judged by a panel from Discreet Labs, a contributor to the Findora protocol.

Click here to register before November 1st.

Why Privacy?

Findora believes privacy is a necessary component of any financial system, and the lack of privacy is holding Web3 back from mainstream adoption.

Users would be troubled to discover that others have the ability to see their bank account balances and transactions. Companies would avoid issuing payroll or costs for fear of exposing sensitive information to competitors. Yet that is the current experience on Web3.

Web3 must provide a comparable level of privacy as Web2 before mass adoption is possible. This is the mission of Findora.

Findora is using zero-knowledge proofs to create a privacy platform that can solve these problems. By combining privacy and auditability, by prioritizing compliance and personal ownership of data, Findora prepares Web3 for real-world application and lays the foundation for a free and decentralized digital future.

ZK-DID

ZK-DID has the ability to restore ownership of personal data to users.

For example, you could prove your credit score is above a certain number, or your GPA is above a certain level, without revealing the specific numbers or other data. You could prove your age without disclosing your birth date.

Using zero-knowledge proofs, ZK-DID lets users choose what information they reveal to third parties while preserving the information they wish not to disclose.

What Is Findora

Findora combines the programmability of Ethereum with advanced privacy-providing ZK-technology. It allows developers to build innovative privacy dApps using Solidity, SDKs, and the functions they are familiar with.

An innovative L1, Findora is a leader in zero-knowledge cryptography. Its ZK-technology will allow developers to combine privacy and auditability for compliance purposes. Through SDKs, Findora is a plug-n-play privacy tool for all of Web3.

Findora makes Web3 viable for mass adoption through privacy and zero-knowledge innovation.

Discord | Twitter | Telegram | Medium | LinkedIn | Facebook | Reddit

Build Privacy at Findora’s 2022 EthSF Hackathon was originally published in Findora Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A debate between two crypto titans on how to regulate crypto. Whether to regulate crypto? Where do we draw the line?

Study and remember this one anon.

------ Push | Try the Communication Protocol of Web3 https://bankless.cc/Push 

------ SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  ️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 

------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

DESO | DECENTRALIZED SOCIAL BLOCKCHAIN https://bankless.cc/Deso 

BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 

TRUEFI | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/TrueFi 

SEQUENCE | ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM https://bankless.cc/Sequence 

️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod 

------ Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 7:36 Should Crypto Be Regulated? 23:50 Transparency 25:55 Showing Up & BitLicense 36:50 Erik's Issues with Sam's Post 52:12 The DeFi Regulation Debate 1:24:27 Why Regulation Now? 1:40:10 DCCPA 1:53:04 Stealmanning Eachother's Points 2:01:55 Closing Arguments 2:06:17 Closing & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

SBF https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX 

Erik Voorhees https://twitter.com/ErikVoorhees 

SBF Proposal https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1582835426116575235 

Erik Voorhees's Rebuttal https://www.moneyandstate.com/blog/response-to-sbf 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

A short writeup for the Polkadot ecosystem on implementing the newly released nomination pools feature.

What?

Nomination pools are a new type of scaling solution that's being added to Polkadot staking. It mainly targets the stakers who do not have enough DOT to participate actively in the normal staking process, i.e. as a “nominator”. Learn more about pools at the following links:

Nomination Pools and The Story of The Polkadot's NPoS. Nomination Pools | Polkadot Wiki. How?

Pool members have a much simpler API compared to nominators: They join a pool, they can increase or decrease their stake in that pool, and they can claim their rewards whenever they want.

On the other hand, the process of creating and managing a pool is entirely new and we expect that to be the most work heavy part for our ecosystem, wanting to support pools. Nonetheless, you can focus on the “Pool member experience” at first, since most of those who want to manage a pool will be “power users” who can find their way in Polkadot JS Apps or other UIs with rough edges.

Here are some resources to help you with implementation:

pallet-nomination-pools documentation. https://polkadot.network/blog/staking-update-march-2022/ https://matrix.to/#/#nompools-support:matrix.parity.io https://github.com/orgs/paritytech/projects/33/views/3 Why?

Polkadot’s complicated taking system has been the subject of a lot of community feedback over the last year. A portion of these stakers have already migrated to other staking services. A number of them are nominating on Polkadot, but are not always earning rewards. Therefore, we expect a large number of end users to wish to move back to staking directly on the Relay Chain (as opposed to more centralized services) and pools are exactly the tool for that. This is a great opportunity for the entire ecosystem to help these users achieve this goal, while attracting more users.

We encourage all wallets in our ecosystem to identify nominators who are not earning rewards, and invite them to join nomination pools. See this issue as further information around this.

Common Mistakes / Notes

Here are a few mistakes that we realized over the last few months UI implementers should keep an eye on.

Pool Members In general, whenever a pool member changes their total point, the chain will automatically claim all their pending rewards for them. This is not optional, and MUST happen for the reward calculation to remain correct (see the documentation of `bond` as an example). So, make sure you are warning your users about it. They might be surprised if they see that they bonded an extra 100 DOT, and now suddenly their 5.23 DOT in pending reward is gone. It is not gone, it has been paid out to you! Joining a pool implies transferring funds to the pool account. So it might be (based on which wallet that you are using) that you no longer see the funds that are moved to the pool in your “free balance” section. Make sure the user is aware of this, and not surprised by seeing this. Also, the transfer that happens here is configured to to never accidentally destroy the sender account. So to join a pool, your sender account must remain alive with 1 DOT left in it. This means, with 1 DOT as existential deposit, and 1 DOT as minimum to join a pool, you need at least 2 DOT to join a pool. Consequently, if you are suggesting members to join a pool with “Maximum possible value”, you must subtract 1 DOT to remain in the sender account to not accidentally kill it. Points and balance are not the same! Any pool member, at any point in time, can have points in either the bonded pool or any of the unbonding pools. The crucial fact is that in any of these pools, the ratio of point to balance is different and might not be 1. Each pool starts with a ratio of 1, but as time goes on, for reasons such as slashing, the ratio gets broken. Over time, 100 points in a bonded pool can be worth 90 DOT. Make sure you are either representing points as points (not as DOT), or even better, always display both: “You have x points in pool y which is worth z DOT”. See here and here for examples of how to calculate point to balance ratio of each pool (it is almost trivial ;)) Pool Management

The pool will be seen from the perspective of the rest of the system as a single nominator. Ergo, this nominator must always respect the `staking.minNominatorBond` limit. Similar to a normal nominator, who has to first `chill` before fully unbonding, the pool must also do the same. The pool’s bonded account will be fully unbonded only when the depositor wants to leave and dismantle the pool. All that said, the message is: the depositor can only leave the chain when they chill the pool first.

On Fridaythe brightest minds of the #BTC community are coming to@LuganoPlanB!

Make sure to get yourself a tic… https://t.co/mt6rWwnvQw 2022-10-24

Please give a big welcome to our new corporate member! Zürichbased @swissQuantAG is a world class provider of con… https://t.co/TBKAuzCNhq 2022-10-25 Our board member @EkaterinaAntho1 is going to be speaking at the @V20_summit taking place in Bali between 15-16th… https://t.co/SN0q242TVl 2022-10-26 Tomorrow, the Plan ₿ Forum begins inLugano, one of the most $BTC friendly places on

You have the last chance… https://t.co/EYcp4jLtkn 2022-10-27

CVA in the house at @LuganoPlanB today and tomorrow! Find our Board members @Ilya_YouHodler @EkaterinaAntho1… https://t.co/qr2FqsbZmW 2022-10-28 Please give a big welcome to our new corporate member @bbva, a customer-centric global financial services group fou… https://t.co/1iukbUQw3h 2022-10-28

The post Weekly Twitter Summary (2022-10-23 – 2022-10-29) appeared first on Crypto Valley Association.

In the future, thanks to a revolutionary set of technologies — built on the principles of fair access and decentralization — humanity will experience greater freedom and security than at any point in history. Each individual will enjoy self-sovereignty, and collaboration and creativity will be at an all-time high.

In 30 years, there will be fewer centralized gatekeepers to decide who can participate in society. There will be fewer king makers to determine who wins and who loses.

In this era — the Golden Age of freedom and self-expression — education and opportunity will be accessible to everyone, innovation will thrive, privacy will be normal and expected, and the people (and governments) of the world will agree that a vibrant society depends on respecting and upholding human dignity, security, and consent.

This is ECC’s vision for the future; and for our part, we will empower economic freedom for billions with a fair, open currency, accessible to every person on the Internet.

Zcash today

Today is Zcash’s birthday. Launched on Oct. 28, 2016, Zcash was the first project of any kind to successfully use zero-knowledge proofs. Earlier this year, Electric Coin Co. (ECC) implemented Halo — a new and improved zero-knowledge proving system — to remove reliance on complex setup ceremonies. 

The efficiencies built into this upgrade made possible — for the first time ever — private, trustless digital cash payments on mobile phones. Halo is now being tested in other projects for its privacy and scalability benefits; and in a partnership with Protocol Labs, Filecoin Foundation, and Ethereum Foundation, ECC is collaborating with these teams to unlock recursion in Halo and explore how the technology might be used in the respective ecosystems. (Also, there’s a multi-million-dollar pool for developers and teams who are interested in adding utility for the Filecoin and Zcash chains.)

Next year, in 2023, ECC will release a fully-supported commercial mobile wallet in the iOS and Android app stores with the rationale that Zcash adoption will grow when (1) the user experience is excellent — easy and fast — and (2) users are given compelling features and capabilities that support a growing number of use cases. This is aligned with our North Star, a commitment to help build a world-class user experience for ZEC, the Zcash token.

In 2023, we’ll also make a formal recommendation to move Zcash from proof of work to proof of stake. This is ultimately a Zcash community decision, but we believe the benefits far outweigh the risks, and we are looking forward to the discussion. 

There’s so much more to be excited about, such as a posterity fund proposal, ongoing third-party work on Zcash shielded assets, a Rust-language Zcash node being built by the Zcash Foundation, continuing decentralization and development funding with the recent formation and momentum of the Zcash Community Grants organization, and some impressive Zcash partnership announcements on the horizon. 

We’ve only just begun.

ECC’s 30-year plan

Empowering billions of people around the world with economic freedom is a monumental task, and it will require many mission-aligned people and teams to commit to it. Starting with a 30-year goal in mind, ECC has worked backwards to conceive a path for our contribution toward achieving it. There are increasingly more strategies and contributions to Zcash from across the ecosystem, and we look forward to collaborating to realize our collective vision of the future.  

For obvious reasons, the roadmap is more detailed in the near future.

2052: Zcash for billions

In the year 2052, every person on the Internet will have the ability to obtain and use Zcash according to their own preferences. Economic freedom requires private digital cash that is equitable, available, permissionless, privacy protecting, and resilient; and we (not just ECC, but many Zcash community contributors) are laser-focused on building the absolute best solution. We’ve come a long way since 2016, but the technology will have to evolve, starting today, to scale to billions of users.

This, of course, is not the end goal. It’s a milestone. We envision Zcash as a critical component to economic freedom for generations to come. 

2032: Deliver a world-class UX for ZEC

Goal

ECC will have delivered a world-class user experience for ZEC (the Zcash token) — a fair and open currency within a framework that protects freedom, dignity, consent, and security.

Success criteria for 2032

Using ZEC across ECC and third-party applications is so easy users don’t have to think about it. It is at least as easy to use ZEC as it was to share photos and videos in 2022 world-class apps, such as Tik Tok or WhatsApp. ZEC users: The number of actual human users — people who have purchased, sold, sent or received ZEC in the previous 24 months  — is 1 billion across the globe. Zcash is a top-five cryptocurrency by market cap. Sentiment: Zcash users are likely to recommend Zcash to a friend or colleague. This is measured in a Net Promoter Score (NPS). For Zcash, the NPS is ≥ 50 every year. Decentralization: Because decentralization is important to user security, censorship-resistance, and project longevity, at least 10 long-term, viable organizations are now focused on Zcash. 2025: Proof of stake and interoperability

Three years from now, we will have delivered an ECC-built and -supported mobile wallet on top of an interoperable Zcash protocol that leverages a proof-of-stake consensus. Features in incremental wallet releases will be based on Zcash user feedback, industry feedback, and market research. The wallet will support core PoS and interop use cases.

Goal

Zcash will have transitioned from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. There will be strong support for Zcash interoperability and broad access to ZEC across DeFi and CeFi. At this point, we expect strong demand for Zcash/ZEC among the “early majority.” 

Success criteria for 2025

ZEC users: The number of users has doubled from the previous 16-month period, and the ECC wallet is seeing 1 million monthly active users. Zcash is a top-10 cryptocurrency by market cap. Sentiment: The Zcash Net Promoter Score (NPS) is ≥ 50 every year. Decentralization: At least five long-term, viable organizations are focused on Zcash. Late 2023: UX foundations

By the close of 2023, the ECC mobile wallet will be available in the iOS and Android app stores  with network-level privacy and instant sync — providing speed, convenience, and greater access. This is critical for a world-class UX for ZEC and lays the foundation for growing ZEC users. 

Goal

Deliver an open-source wallet that is available on Apple and Android stores and well supported by ECC; improve the ZEC UX including network privacy and instant sync; improve the Zcash tech stack (wallet, SDK, lightwalletd, protocol) sufficient to double users by the end of 2025.

Success criteria for 2023

Users: The number of users has doubled from the previous year. Sentiment: The Zcash Net Promoter Score (NPS) has been ≥ 50 for the last 12 months. Decentralization: At least four long-term, viable organizations are focused on Zcash. The next four months: Establish new baseline

ECC’s No. 1 priority at the moment is updating the Zcash protocol and our wallet SDKs to help third-party providers fix wallet syncing issues. An increased on-chain transaction load has resulted in unacceptable sync times for many everyday users, and ecosystem partners are also affected. We are focused — across teams — on alleviating these issues as soon as possible, so Zcash users have an experience they expect and deserve. Our immediate objectives are centered on working with third-party wallets that are built on the ECC SDKs (Edge, Nighthawk, and Unstoppable) to:

Ensure users can spend their funds (funds that are already synced when they open their wallet) Ensure users can receive and spend new incoming funds at a rate of a month’s worth of transactions in one hour Implement updates which provide users clarity on syncing progress Ensure none of those wallets are impacted by frequent crashes or inconsistent behavior (such as failing to display some already synced transactions), nor do they require work-around behaviors due to the ECC SDK

Other success criteria for this period

ECC teams agree on the definition or proxy for global ZEC user counts. Research and engineering have defined and communicated a revised three-year roadmap inclusive of user growth objectives, proof of stake, and interoperability. Prioritization and achieving objectives

To deliver on all this important work, ECC has laid out a process that mandates our leadership meets every four months to revisit strategy and roadmap, evaluating data for the current period and reviewing waypoints. Functional owners (for example Steven Smith in Engineering) will be responsible for functional roadmaps that are aligned with the strategic roadmap and for determining where they need cross-team support. Each success criteria will be owned by an assigned functional owner to track and determine how we (all of ECC) can align to best meet the objective.

Empowering economic freedom

“Zcash for billions” is a change-the-world vision. Maybe that’s cliché, but today, too many people are forced to use discriminatory, poorly managed, and insecure centralized entities to store and transfer money digitally. Too many people are forced to live within fiat systems that are managed by governments that don’t have their constituents’ best interests at heart. Most cryptocurrencies do not provide adequate privacy and security protections for most use cases, and they expose users to surveillance which can lead to exploitation, manipulation, and seizure.

Today, billions of people in the world do not have access to a fair and open currency or supporting financial services. We build and support Zcash to drive greater economic freedom and opportunity for everyone.

The post Electric Coin Co. strategy: A 30-year vision appeared first on Electric Coin Company.

4th Week of October, 2022

 

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📣 Push | Try the Communication Protocol of Web3

https://bankless.cc/Push

 

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🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER:          https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  

🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST:                 http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  

 

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BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 

 

⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM

https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum

 

❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2

https://bankless.cc/Across

 

🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET

https://bankless.cc/Brave

 

💠 NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB

https://bankless.cc/Nexo

 

🔐 LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS

https://bankless.cc/Ledger

 

⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER

https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod

 

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Topics Covered

 

0:00 Intro

1:50 Costume Reveal!

 

4:22Push

https://bankless.cc/Push

 

6:15 MARKETS

7:50 Short Liquidations

https://twitter.com/HsakaTrades/status/1585041254814916610

10:20 Aptos

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/aptos

11:25 Doge

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dogecoin

12:15 ETH

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum 

12:55 Meta Down

https://twitter.com/RampCapitalLLC/status/1585627143740047360 

Worth less than Home Depot 

14:45 Have We Bottomed?

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/druckenmiller-decade-no-returns 

17:20 Run for Your Life

https://twitter.com/pythianism/status/1584664284294176768 

19:15 BUSD Supply is on a Tear

https://twitter.com/fintechfrank/status/1583914189315510272 

20:00 a16z Fund Down

https://www.wsj.com/articles/andreessen-horowitz-went-all-in-on-crypto-at-the-worst-possible-time-11666769270 

 

24:20 Almost Ultra Sound

https://ultrasound.money/ 

26:10 Security Spend Over Last 40 Days

https://twitter.com/trustlessstate/status/1584934954256908294  

28:00 Wartime Economies

https://twitter.com/trustlessstate/status/1585079956241256448 

 

30:54 Apple War on NFTs

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/24/apple-refuses-to-exempt-nfts-from-app-stores-30-fee 

33:30 Insane New Rules

https://twitter.com/Kantrowitz/status/1584670644419133441

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1584664679590539265

 

35:15 PayPal being shady again

https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ/status/1585423779949604864 

 

39:00 NEWS

40:00 Bankless Devcon 6 Videos

https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1584907028908089344 

42:00 MakerDAO

https://twitter.com/coingecko/status/1584593323552960513

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/10/24/makerdao-members-support-founders-endgame-plan-to-break-up-into-metadaos-21b-of-transfers/  

https://twitter.com/SebVentures/status/1584875892555268096 

https://twitter.com/hasufl/status/1584879485748678656

44:30 EF L2 Grants are open

https://esp.ethereum.foundation/layer-2-grants

 

45:30 Reddit NFTs!

https://twitter.com/_khanhamzah/status/1584650888731557888

https://twitter.com/MihailoBjelic/status/1584536046477651969

47:05 Dune Analytics

https://metaversal.banklesshq.com/p/the-reddit-nft-surge

47:40 Lord of the Rings

https://twitter.com/WarnerBrosNFT/status/1583095703173156864

https://www.theblock.co/post/178690/warner-bros-to-release-10999-lord-of-the-rings-nfts-as-part-of-web3-movie-push

51:55 Will Wright: Sims Creator Pioneer Making Blockchain Game

https://www.axios.com/2022/10/20/will-wright-voxverse-gala-gallium-blockchain

53:45 Bitcoin Salvador

https://cointelegraph.com/news/77-1-of-salvadorans-surveyed-think-the-gov-t-should-stop-spending-public-money-on-bitcoin 

 

54:55 FTX Stablecoin

https://www.theblock.co/post/180344/ftx-could-launch-its-own-stablecoin-via-a-partnership-says-bankman-fried

56:20 Twitter Crypto Wallet? 

https://twitter.com/wongmjane/status/1584616567530483712

 

57:20 Regulators Leaving 

https://blockworks.co/cryptos-revolving-door-hires-are-raising-eyebrows-among-us-lawmakers/

https://twitter.com/RyanSAdams/status/1585357855049191424

 

1:00:00 Kyle Roche

https://www.theblock.co/post/178768/roche-freedman-rebrands-and-parts-ways-with-kyle-roche-after-scandal

 

RELEASES

1:01:00 Sound Market

https://twitter.com/soundxyz_/status/1584560442235531266

1:01:25 Socketscan

https://twitter.com/socketdottech/status/1583140972523028481

 

1:03:00 JOBS

https://pallet.xyz/list/bankless/jobs

 

1:07:40 Questions from the Nation

https://twitter.com/KristinaKlaudy1/status/1585303486606233600

https://twitter.com/TadziuMusic/status/1585307882873966607

https://twitter.com/Brlggs/status/1585382307888005120

 

1:14:00 TAKES

1:15:05 TradFi Dangers

https://twitter.com/jchervinsky/status/1582755519571165185

1:16:12 Who Pays for Bitcoin Security? 

https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1585253069868392448 

1:23:03 Internet is Changing

https://twitter.com/GiancarloChaux/status/1585305734916362242 

 

1:24:00 What David’s Bullish On

1:26:00 What Ryan’s Bullish On

https://beacons.ai/banklessbr

https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/10/25/turkey-cryptocurrency-explained/

 

1:31:00 MEME of the Week

https://tweethunter.io/generate-tweets

https://imgur.com/JdgEjTv

https://imgur.com/a/CtnbOxQ

 

Closing & Disclosures

 

Moment of Zen

https://twitter.com/songadaymann/status/1583512268012412928 

 

———

Not financial or tax advice. Do your own research.

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Academy will accelerate global education on privacy and action that can be taken to combat issues found on commonly-used communications tools.

Neuchâtel, Switzerland — Friday, 28 October 2022: Today, Nym, the leader in network layer privacy, announced the launch of Shipyard Academy, a privacy learning program for anyone who wants to play a role in transforming the internet from a massive vehicle of surveillance and control into a secure digital realm where privacy is the default.

Privacy is not baked into the core internet infrastructure and today, surveillance is the norm as individuals are subjected to unwanted targeting and manipulation. The purpose of Shipyard Academy is to accelerate the awareness and understanding of what individuals can do to preserve their privacy rights and take back control of their personal data.

Nym Chief Strategy Officer Jaya Brekke says, “Web3 was supposed to do things differently to the surveillance capitalism of Web2 by introducing new design principles and a different economics. But so many online communities in Web3 nevertheless use surveillance-prone platforms like Discord and Telegram. Shipyard Academy aims to reach people on those very community platforms and elsewhere and begin onboarding people to the world of privacy, Nym and our privacy allies across the stack.”

The six-week program will commence on 5 November 2022 and will cover topics including:

How mass surveillance that happens at the network layer How Nym solves this issue The privacy problems with many of today’s most popular community apps Full stack privacy awareness and why privacy is a core principle of Web3

The program comprises three stages over six weeks, which are self-paced for learning. A learn-and-earn aspect will be set at the end of each stage through tasks and quizzes for participants to progress through to the next stage. A total prize pool of up to 100K NYM tokens will be distributed to top participants across three stages.

At the end of the program, participants will have the opportunity to apply to be a Nym ambassador, a “Nymja”, after being fully equipped to participate in and contribute to the Nym community and mission. Nymjas are champions of a future where privacy is the default. As a Nymja, successful participants will work closely with the Core team to develop Nym and the privacy agenda in their local contexts, earning a stake and partaking in the further decentralisation of the project.

The Academy is the first step for anyone new to Nym and the privacy space regardless of experience. Registrations to join are opened now until Friday, 4 November 17h00 CEST: https://bit.ly/nymsyform.

- END -

About Nym:

Nym is an open-source, incentivized, and decentralized platform that protects privacy at the network level of any application, wallet or digital service. Nym protects against traffic pattern analysis and metadata surveillance.

Media Contact

Candice Teo, candice@nymtech.net

Press release: Nym launches Shipyard Academy to onboard privacy and offboard surveillance was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

#PrivacyLovesCompany

Nym is a global, decentralised privacy system that protects privacy at the network layer of the internet. One of the ways that we achieve this in Nym is by being decentralised — operated, sustained and supported by people all over the world!

Our Nym community is incredibly varied — we have activists and hacktivists, privacy experts who have been around for decades and token enthusiasts entirely new to privacy but keen to get in on the next big thing to shape our digital future.

With this wonderful and varied community it is important to have a clear path for people to learn and get involved in making this decentralised global privacy system a reality.

Which is why we are launching Shipyard Academy!

Shipyard Academy will take you through what you need to know to go from Nymster to Nymja and contribute to the project in meaningful ways.

You will learn and test your knowledge about surveillance, mixnets, network layer privacy, and cypherpunks, about privacy as a core principle of Web3, the privacy problems of many of today’s most popular apps as well as the Nym lore and more…

There is a max prize pool of 100K NYMs which will be distributed to top participants across three stages. Tests and tasks will become increasingly advanced at each stage. By the end of the six weeks you will be fully equipped to participate in and contribute to the Nym community and mission.

What will I do and how much time will it take?

Shipyard Academy starts on the 5th of November and is divided into 3 stages: Nymster, Navigator and Sailmaker. Each will have a set of tasks, quizzes and tests that will get increasingly more difficult.

The tasks are not expected to take more than a couple of hours. Keep an eye on Nym socials channels for all the information you will need to be able to complete the weekly quizzes and progress to the next stages…

Sounds great — sign me up!

Details

Stage 1 “Nymster” will start on the 5th of November, so you will need to sign up before then! You will learn the basics of the problems of privacy online, what a mixnet is and how the Nym infrastructure contributes to defeating surveillance capitalism!

Learning and tasks will be short and simple and can be done in your own time. But the two quizzes for the first round will take place at a fixed time on Saturday the 5th and 12th of November.

Run time: 5th — 19th Nov

Tasks

Sign up, join our socials and say hello to the community! Invite a friend to the community channels Learn about the privacy problems of popular apps Learn about Nym, mixnets and how it all began… Retweet or share Nym content Take two quizzes and test your knowledge

Reward Pool

Stage 1 reward pool will be announced on the 5th of November. The amount will scale linearly throughout stage 1 as collective goals are achieved.

Collective goals

80% correct collective answers on the first quizz! 1500 NymConnect downloads 1000 NymConnect Daily Active Users

The learnings, tasks and tests for stages 2 and 3 will be revealed as the program progresses.

Read more: https://shipyard.nymtech.net/academy

We are always looking for new community members to run nodes and create privacy-enhanced applications on top of Nym. Join our community to participate and keep up to date:

Discord

Twitter

Telegram

Welcome to Nym Shipyard Academy was originally published in nymtech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In this special episode from a16z’s Bio Eats World podcast, general partners Vijay Pande and Jon Lai join bio editorial lead Olivia Webb to discuss the intersection of games and health, including:  what constitutes a game, the “healthy dessert” problem, and the challenge of building a game that’s both fun and therapeutic.

You can subscribe to Bio Eats World wherever you get your podcasts. 

Tor Optimization for Better Coinjoins

It is, unfortunately, no surprise to anyone that the privacy network Tor has been under Distributed Denial of Service attack for the last few months, and as a result, has been suffering from severe latency and reliability issues in routing traffic. Many bitcoin projects, including Wasabi Wallet, depend on Tor as a mission-critical infrastructure to protect the privacy of their users. In light of the attack, this resulted in infrequent coinjoins for Wasabi Wallet users. As a countermeasure to address this reliability issue, the Wasabi client switched from connecting with the backend onion server to using Tor exit nodes and routing traffic to the clearnet domain of the coinjoin coordinator. All traffic is still anonymized to prevent the client from leaking its IP address to the coinjoin coordinator server and protect user privacy. After performing testing and scenario analysis, the Wasabi contributors realized it would vastly improve the reliability and frequency of coinjoin rounds, preventing inputs from being blocked by the coordinator. Inputs are usually blocked if they repeatedly fail to sign the coinjoin transaction, to protect against DDoS attacks on the coordinator itself. Users downloading the latest release should now expect much more reliable and frequent coinjoins, vastly improving their experience. As this doesn’t directly address the Tor hidden identity registry DDoS attack but routes around it, zkSNACKs is also extending its fundraising support to help the Tor team fund developers to work towards resolving this ongoing issue.  

Tor is a critically important project for privacy on bitcoin and the internet that millions of people rely upon on a daily basis. Wasabi Wallet is grateful that such a tool exists and will do as much as possible to support Tor by promoting it and helping with its fundraising. Tor reliability is directly impacting the user experience of Wasabi Wallet users, so we care about this issue a lot. ~ Max Hillebrand, Wasabi Contributor and CEO at zkSNACKs.

A New Privacy Progress Feature

Privacy is often an abstract concept that is hard to relate to for most users. Making privacy more understandable by providing elegant visuals is taking one step closer to bringing privacy to millions of bitcoiners around the world.

On the home screen of the Wasabi desktop app, a privacy progress bar is now available, showing the size of each coin and their privacy levels within a colour scheme. Users now have a complete view of their wallet privacy with the existing wallet privacy score (that remains unchanged). The privacy bars can be expanded into a privacy ring viewed in a pop-up dialog, which provides additional information about each coin, its size and its privacy level. This gives optional insight into the wallet's status, allowing users to have a better understanding of how much privacy they’ve achieved at any given time.

There is something satisfying with checklists and loading bars, especially when completed. It feels like progress is made and work gets done. While we believe privacy is a habit rather than a fixed goal, we hope that bringing privacy progress visuals will help more users take the leap and reclaim their privacy. ~ Max Hillebrand, Wasabi Contributor and CEO at zkSNACKs.

Announcing Game of Chains — Open for Registration! ✨ Do you see the sun rising over Gaia in the background? ☀️

Dearest Cosmos Validators

The 3rd Public Incentivized Testnet in the history of Cosmos, following Game of Stakes & Game of Zones, is open for registration! 🎉🎉🎉

Announcing — “Game of Chains”!

Game of Chains is an incentivized testnet program that will help validators develop confidence around Interchain Security (ICS) and provide a public platform where this new technology can be thoroughly tested.

What is Interchain Security?

Interchain Security is a feature which will allow the Cosmos Hub to share security with other blockchains. On a technical level, this means that the Cosmos Hub validator set will gain the ability to validate other blockchains alongside the Cosmos Hub. These blockchains are called “consumer chains”, and will be secured by the Cosmos Hub’s billions of dollars of staked ATOMs.

In August, Informal Systems published v0.1 pre-release of Interchain Security, which, at a high-level, is an implementation of the Interchain Security protocol that is set to go live in January 2023. This protocol implements: validator set change packets and confirmations; slashing packets; distribution packets; Cosmos-SDK modifications. You can check out the full specification here.

For this testnet, we will work together to test out features of the protocol that validators will be running! Further, validators will have an opportunity to test “real world” consumer chain software that will be adopting Interchain Security in 2023! These projects include: Neutron, Duality and Stride!

20 000 ATOMs will go to Game of Chains winners!

Cosmos Hub validators will compete for rewards throughout this public testnet which is funded by the community pool via Prop 77! Thank you to the entire Cosmos community for supporting this initiative. ✨

Rewards will be distributed to winning validators based on a points system (more details to come!). These rewards will be allocated to validators that complete certain tasks, and submit an entry for Testnet awards.

👉Please note that only active Cosmos Hub validators are eligible for rewards! Further, if you win, your validator will be required to provide KYC information in order to receive ATOM rewards.

What are the next steps?

First, any interested validator needs tosign up to participate in Game of Chains! https://interchainsecurity.dev/game-of-chains-2022

To start coordinating your participation in Game of Chains, you will be added to the Cosmos Network discord channel with the information provided in the registration form. Make sure you are in the discord here. Channel: #game-of-chains

Game of Chains is scheduled to launch on November 7, 2022. The testnet will run for 2–4 weeks!

Good luck Cosmos validators, and let’s make Interchain Security secure! 💪

Announcing Game of Chains — Open for Registration! ✨ was originally published in Cosmos Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Elena Nadolinski: Privacy for the People

By Nicole Zakheim

Photography: CAYCE CLIFFFORD

Published October 27, 2022

Driven by a passion for computers and community, a cryptocurrency founder creates a solution for all.

One night in 2017, Iron Fish founder Elena Nadolinski attended a birthday party at the Palo Alto home of Protocol Labs founder and CEO Juan Benet. Her then-boyfriend, now-husband and Figma co-founder, Dylan Field, had been roommates with Benet, and they were part of a close group of friends. The party was filled with talk about cryptocurrency generally, and Ethereum specifically. Benet’s company had started Filecoin, a cryptocurrency-operated file storage network, and he was about to roll out the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a decentralized storage and file referencing system that can operate on Ethereum.

Something about the conversation struck her as particularly urgent—all these “incredibly brilliant people, being all very excited about this piece of technology”—cryptocurrency, but it was still too complicated for most people to widely adopt it. It required hours of setup, some technical knowhow and access to powerful computers. To Nadolinski, who had had immigrated to America from Russia when she was 8, it seemed like two ideas in opposition: cryptocurrency promised to be a currency for the people, by the people, but it was still limited to those with the resources and ability to immerse themselves in technology to participate. What about the rest of the world? On the way home, Nadolinski sat shotgun, phone in hand, scrolling down an internet wormhole as Field drove across the dark city. 

Nadolinski had been recognized as a teen by the White House as an up-and-coming computer science superstar, interned at Microsoft and had been recruited as an engineer by the buzzy startup Tilt, and then worked at Airbnb, but she admits that by the time of this party, she didn’t really get the technology that powers the second-most-valuable cryptocurrency. “It’s inaccessible for even a smart, technically savvy person,” she says. She Googled: “What is Ethereum?” and flicked through the results. When she remembers this moment now, she laughs at herself trying to get to the bottom of a set of wildly complex questions while driving home from a party. 

“Ethereum is this world computer, right? So, okay, that’s a really big phrase. What does that mean? Ethereum does distributed computations. Again, what is that? That seems confusing. And so the first kind of use case that I read about it was something to do with decentralized voting. How do you make voting more fair? And I thought, okay, that’s interesting, but that doesn’t seem like such a breakthrough. And so I kept kind of digging and digging and digging into it. And the first use case that actually made the most sense to me was non-fungible tokens.” She saw the non-fungible tokens, or NFTs—digital files whose proof of ownership can be stored on the blockchain, so a person can show they own the “original”—as a compelling use of the blockchain because they introduced scarcity to something that was previously considered endlessly replicable. Within several months, Nadolinski went from thinking about scarcity to charting a path to a more accessible cryptocurrency.

This is how Nadolinski, now 30, talks—moving from one massive idea to the next, toggling between tech lingo and business jargon in a rapid conversation style that makes concepts like “world computer” or “non-fungible token” easier to understand. After her Ethereum-Google in 2017, Nadolinski researched cryptocurrency ecosystems, reading white papers and speaking with founders, protocol developers and engineers. As a curious computer scientist, she was drawn to the complexity. But as a person, she was drawn to cryptocurrency’s close-knit community and its members’ enthusiasm for its possibilities. She started attending hackathons and meetups, asking questions, offering solutions, making friends and contributing in such a meaningful way that she started receiving invitations to present. Soon, she stepped away from her job at Airbnb to pursue cryptocurrency full-time.

Today, Nadolinski and her team are close to launching Iron Fish as a layer 1 blockchain to support a new cryptocurrency as well as a privacy layer for other existing cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are the least private way of transacting; the transparency of crypto transactions is the pillar of trustless verification. It means anyone could track an individual’s crypto transactions in real time using data-mining techniques. Since crypto digital wallets have unique addresses, their transactions can be traced by cross-referencing with personal data. And even while some cryptocurrencies are private, and others can be made private, the processes are cumbersome, confusing and still may be vulnerable to deanonymization. All transactions on Iron Fish are encrypted, protecting the user by hiding transaction information through a cryptographic technique called zero-knowledge proofs. Eventually, as Iron Fish becomes more mature and integrates with more existing blockchains, any cryptocurrency transaction can be made private in a compliant way. This means that, some day, users could have all the advantages of any cryptocurrency without the privacy issues that currently plague it.  

The name Iron Fish alludes to the protective power of cryptography. During World War II, the United States used codes to communicate with allies that were based on Native American languages, spoken by Native American enlisted men called Code Talkers. The code, never broken, was declassified in 1968. Nadolinski chose the word Iron Fish, meaning submarine—“besh-lo” in the code derived from the Diné (also known as Navajo)  language—because the idea of a submarine was strong, protective and something secret, or in this case, private. 

***

Issuing currency is a primary function of modern governments, which enact policies to keep it stable so a nation’s economy can function. Cryptocurrency can be a way to hedge against the inflation or deflation that comes with traditional currencies. “For people in the United States, it’s like, well, ‘I think maybe it’s nice in a moral, philosophical way for me to hedge my bet in terms of which currency I keep my wealth in,’” Nadolinski says, “but for other people in Venezuela, Turkey, Argentina, Russia, Ukraine, all those countries are experiencing inflation … if they could have a way out …” Beyond that practical application, Nadolinski’s company is part of a rapidly growing cohort of encryption and privacy tools—messaging, browsers and VPNs—designed to protect users from the threat of data scraping, surveillance and hacking. “Freedom is synonymous in many ways with privacy,” Nadolinski says. “So even though Americans have forgotten how good they have it, there are so many arguments for them to still care about private cryptocurrencies.” Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire understood the promise of Iron Fish the moment he heard about it, and Sequoia invested in November 2021. With a deep technical background, Maguire had heard about the promise of blockchain technologies since at least 2007. So when he met Nadolinski more than a decade later, he was intrigued by her vision for realizing blockchains’ potential for usability and privacy. 

Maguire imagines a scenario where Iron Fish would be even more necessary—a hypothetical future in which cryptocurrencies are used for everyday transactions, in which it would be possible for scammers to see people’s anonymous-but-public transactions and trace them back to a wallet and know where that person is, what they’re doing, and even what they’re planning to do. “Imagine you’re buying an airline ticket to fly from L.A. to Europe,” Maguire says. “So someone can guess you’re going to be out of town for the next week and they can go rob your house.” Nadolinski also tells a story about speaking to a good friend who said they wanted a private cryptocurrency to spend at Burger King, because they didn’t want their health insurance provider to know about their diet habits and raise their rates. This is only partially hypothetical. At the moment, cryptocurrencies cannot be spent at Burger King, but can be spent at McDonald’s, and retailers like Amazon, Overstock, Microsoft and AT&T, among others.

***

Nadolinski and her parents immigrated to America when she was in elementary school. They lived in several places but eventually settled in Virginia. She spoke little English and her parents held her back a year so she’d be in the same grade as another student who spoke Russian and English. This was a disaster; Nadolinski remembers her as a bully who intentionally mistranslated things. So Nadolinski pushed herself to learn English rapidly at school, and as she grew up, she found a cohort of “supersmart, badass” girlfriends who “all wanted to change the status quo.” Her parents worked as software engineers, and she’d page through their books at home. In high school, she took her school’s AP computer science class and taught herself everything else she’d need to know to become vice president of the computer science club and president of its robotics club. She loved her teammates, the kind of kids who liked to tinker and code, and who, she jokes self-awarely, “liked to stay after school for hours to make sure that the robot goes straight.” The robots went straight enough that the team earned a second-place finish at a global competition. She was honored at the White House with the Aspirations in Computing Award from the National Center for Women in Information Technology, and the Central Intelligence Agency gave her an award, recognizing a program she designed to compress images. The irony doesn’t escape her today, pointing out that image compression is related to encryption, which the CIA knows something about. 

Nadolinski first heard about cryptocurrency in 2011. During a fundraising brainstorm for the robotics team, a teammate suggested they use the school’s computer lab to mine Bitcoin. The currency was still new, and worth between $1-$30 each. Nadolinski shut the idea down, saying, “That’s silly. It’s never going to work.” And just as her opinion of cryptocurrency from 2011 has evolved, the rest of the world is catching up. Larry David starred in a 2022 Super Bowl commercial, playing a character who scoffs at the wheel, ridicules the light bulb and mocks the indoor toilet. The commercial was for FTX, a notably accessible cryptocurrency exchange. Today Nadolinski laughs, ruefully describing how if she’d been game for the idea, the team would, in all likelihood, be perpetually endowed. As of this writing Bitcoin trades at about $20,000, and has been as high as $68,000.

After graduating high school, Nadolinski studied computer science at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. During the school year, she interned at the cloud computing services company Rackspace for engineer Dave King, who is still a mentor and friend. For up to 10 hours a week, she tackled a backlog/wishlist of “tiny tickets,” but King remembers one of Nadolinski’s projects that was “not that tiny.” He says she handled the moment gracefully when managers suddenly realized that some code she’d been updating impacted several other pieces. “We thought it was scoped, and it was clearly not scoped,” he says with a chuckle. It launched Nadolinski into a nine month project, “She was in rooms seeing how implementation might happen and seeing how to make the decision,” King says. “I think Elena was quite fastidious in attention to detail … which is something that brought her success. She was good in collaborative situations, as the intern, understanding how people made things work and fixed things.” 

King says great engineers are distinguished by their ability to figure out ways to get around problems, something he saw in Nadolinski immediately. “Like, there are five little hurdles. Which ones are the ones we invest in to fix? And which ones do we just let go? Knowing how to manage your time, making choices for today and the future. Some people are like, ‘We have to fix everything all the time.’ And that is not as productive.” Nadolinski spent summers interning for Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, and after graduating in 2015, she took a full-time job there. Nadolinski realized she loved collaborative building but hated bureaucracy. After a year, she moved to San Francisco to immerse herself in the more collaborative startup world. She got a job working again for King, this time at the new crowdfunding company Tilt, but it was acquired by Airbnb about seven months after she started. “She was asking me about the user acquisition strategy,” says King, remembering Nadolinski as being particularly savvy about business even as she was working on the engineering side. “Tilt went international to grow our customer base, and signups were very high, but you can only go into so many new markets,” he continues. “And we had a conversation like, ‘Is this really going to work?’ And she didn’t get the answers she really wanted … and when we took the acquisition, I was like, ‘Oh, Elena figured this out six or seven months ago.’ She had a healthy skepticism about the information she was getting, and really getting into the details of things to understand what was going on.” 

She Googled: “What is Ethereum?”

“And so I kept kind of digging and digging and digging into it. And the first use case that actually made the most sense to me was non-fungible tokens.”

elena Nadolinski

Nadolinski chose Iron Fish, meaning submarine—“besh-lo” in the code derived from the Diné (also known as Navajo)  language—because the idea of a submarine was strong, protective and something secret, or in this case, private.

“She had a healthy skepticism about the information she was getting, and really getting into the details of things to understand what was going on.”

dave king

***

Now at Airbnb, several months after the Ethereum epiphany at the birthday party, she attended EthWaterloo, a 36-hour Ethereum hackathon in the Canadian computer science hub of Waterloo, Ontario, which attracted hundreds in October 2017. There, she worked on the problem of how to enable decentralized video streaming on the IPFS. She talks about how problem solving in one area unlocked insights in other areas: “And that got me to ask, ‘What is decentralized computing,’ and ‘How do you prove an honest computation?’” That thinking led her to zero-knowledge proofs, which use cryptographic techniques to verify transactions without exposing user data, which is now a big part of how Iron Fish works. But it was more than the thinking and problem solving that made EthWaterloo a turning point for Nadolinski. She tells a story about how at 3:30 a.m., Dan Finley, the man who wrote MetaMask, a cryptocurrency wallet for Ethereum, helped her debug her own MetaMask integration. “And that was a very special feeling. It was like, ‘Wow. This community is so welcoming and so encouraging and is so available to help.’ And so, from that hackathon in particular, it’s like, ‘Wow, I want to be part of this.’” She went on to attend and present at more hackathons, giving talks while live-coding non-fungible smart contracts onstage in about 30 minutes. She says she wanted to encourage more people to experiment with Ethereum, to see this emerging technology as approachable. And it started to work. Focused on being relentlessly pragmatic and approachable as opposed to theoretical, Nadolinski became an in-demand speaker and collaborator. When she gave a talk called “Demystifying Zero-Knowledge Proofs” in 2018 at Devcon IV in Prague, tracing the history of cryptography through to its involvement in cryptocurrency today, people reached out on Twitter and Telegram, thanking her for making such a complex topic so understandable and asking how they could start learning more themselves. 

After that talk, she was invited to speak at EthBuenosAires in 2018, the first event of its kind in Latin America. At the same time, Airbnb wanted her to go to Barcelona for a user-research study, a rare, exciting opportunity. She was torn. She was constantly learning from her colleagues at Airbnb, and appreciated the company’s focus on aesthetics, but she’d already booked the trip to Argentina. “That was the turning point of, like, ‘Okay, I feel like I have two jobs, and I’m sucking at both of them, and I need to choose one,’” she remembers. “And I obviously chose crypto.”

“So, I was looking into NFTs already,” she continues. “I was looking into zero-knowledge proofs, and I worked backward. I said, ‘Okay, let’s just assume that in whatever time horizon, crypto payments are going to be ubiquitous, whatever that means. What do we need to get there?’” Privacy seemed like the obvious answer. She explains that today’s levels of transparency are unsafe for users, as in Maguire’s hypothetical plane ticket-buying scenario, but also unsafe for nations. “Everything that you do on any kind of most known blockchains is fully transparent to the world,” she says. “If you use Ethereum or Bitcoin today, your wallet information is available to anyone in the world to see what exchanges you use, what items you have, what protocols or smart contracts you’ve ever interacted with.”

By 2018, ZCash rolled out an open-source protocol called Sapling to try to solve for privacy with zero-knowledge proofs. All forms of currency, whether cash, credit or digital, face the challenge of making a transaction private enough so people feel free to use it in everyday life, while enabling regulators to ensure all transactions are legal. And this balance makes cryptocurrency innovation especially tricky. But this was Nadolinski’s passion, and, after raising funding in 2021 to start hiring a team, it would become her business model: users would move their cryptocurrencies to Iron Fish’s blockchain, which would cloak their assets by anonymizing and encrypting their data, and the miners who add to the blockchain would receive a fee paid in the Iron Fish token, $IRON. This incentivizes use of $IRON for everyone who wants to move their currency to the Iron Fish blockchain. The cryptocurrency community is still figuring out a balance between privacy and minimizing crime committed with cryptocurrency. A crypto wallet typically has a private key, which is analogous to a password, to allow the user to spend their funds, and a public key, to allow the user to request funds. Most privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies, including Iron Fish, also support view keys, in addition to private and public keys, at the wallet level. Initially, only the creator of the wallet has access to that wallet’s private, public and view key. The holder of a view key can see all associated transactions with that wallet, even in a fully private system. This allows regulated entities, like exchanges, to be compliant and provide audits. Nadolinski says her team is also working on adding controls on how a cryptocurrency can move in and out of the Iron Fish layer, a kind of monitoring capacity on the bridges between blockchains to limit hackers from taking advantage of the Iron Fish privacy platform. Nadolinski explains, “Crypto can’t go forward without privacy. But the future is going to be privacy-with-compliance. That’s what we are working on at Iron Fish.”

Nadolinski is also working to make Iron Fish especially user-friendly. The Iron Fish core team has a mantra to make Iron Fish “the Apple of blockchains”—inuitive, easy to use and something that works right out of the box. “And it’s actually very difficult to make it work out of the box, because it’s really complicated tech, but we’re trying our best,” Nadolinski says with a self-aware laugh. To get there, she and her team consistently survey early users for feedback about the blockchain implementation and the wallet. And she’s been inspired by Airbnb’s use of design, she says, to make an otherwise unusual experience—“You go into someone else’s house and you sleep on their bed,” or using cryptocurrency—cool. She points to how several private currencies feature black websites, with code-style text or pirate motifs, aesthetics that speak to secrecy, but which are not universally appealing. Her site has inviting language and features bright colors and sea creatures rendered in a woodblock aesthetic. One fish wears sunglasses. But her biggest point of user-design pride is the installation process. Instead of a typical cryptocurrency setup, a multi-step ordeal that can take up to three hours, anyone can run an Iron Fish node using just one command line in the terminal.

elena nadolinski at an undisclosed location

***

In May, Nadolinski launched Iron Fish’s second incentivized testnet, a standard way to ensure a new blockchain is stable and bug-free, in which a working version of the blockchain is used by a limited cohort who spot problems in the code and try to stress-test the system. Phase two is wrapping and Phase 3 will launch in the first quarter of 2023, aiming for a mainnet launch in the third quarter. Participants earn $IRON tokens in exchange for certain kinds of participation. At its peak so far, the second testnet has hosted 11,000 concurrent nodes. Bitcoin, the most-used cryptocurrency, for comparison, typically hosts about 15,000 concurrent nodes. “I think that is a testament to how easy it is to run Iron Fish,” says Nadolinski. 

This testnet is the last one before the team pushes the blockchain live. Stakes are high. This phase is so critical because, unlike traditional software that can be updated to fix bugs or add features, big changes can break the blockchains themselves. “These testing phases are very stressful because it’s like, if you miss one thing in mainnet, you’re really screwed,” says Maguire. While small updates can be rolled out without breaking the chain, to make a big update, a coordinated effort has to occur in the community of exchanges, miners and users to accept the change, a difficult proposition for a technology spread across a global community. Maguire observes that big code changes where the currency survived the disruption have only happened a handful of times, notably with Ethereum and Bitcoin. “These things were catastrophically painful conversations in these communities and took years to settle,” Maguire says. “So once you ship crypto code, it’s basically final.” And bad code can be a disaster. Estimates of how much cryptocurrencies hackers are stealing vary widely, but the numbers are notable. The Federal Trade Commission reports that Americans lost $1 billion in 2021, but the FTC acknowledges that its reports represent a fraction of the likely total. The blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which doesn’t guarantee its data, estimates that $14 billion worth of cryptocurrencies has been stolen because of weaknesses in code.

***

Nadolinski says the Iron Fish testnet is now processing more zero-knowledge proof transactions than any other chain. But she is balancing development and optimization with the pressure to launch. Iron Fish’s value depends on getting people to want to use it, and testnets create the kind of buzz that leads to adoption. Maguire speaks to the pressure from the community: “They’re like, ‘We’re desperate. Get this thing out. We want to use Iron Fish in production.’” Nadolinski is sensitive to that sense of urgency. After all, she’s doing all this because of the cryptocurrency community, which she got introduced to through her husband, Field. “He is one of the most connected people I’ve ever met,” she says. When she was at Microsoft, Tilt started recruiting her, so she Googled its co-founders, James Beshara and Khaled Hussein. She spotted Beshara in the 2015 Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for Consumer Tech. Also in that year’s cohort was Field, pictured with a tremendous grin, one that makes him stand out on the page, still searchable today. “And I scrolled past this face, and it was like, ‘Wow. This person’s my age, was an intern at Microsoft, started a company, raised $3 million.’ I was like, ‘Whoa. I thought I had to have years of experience to do this. And here’s a person who just did it.’” 

Shortly thereafter, she accepted the job at Tilt, moved to San Francisco, broke up with her boyfriend and gave in to her friends’ prodding to join a dating app. One day, she chose OKCupid and started scrolling. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, where did I move?’ There was that phrase: the odds are good, but the goods are odd. Yeah. And I kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, and getting kind of depressed. Then I see a face, and I thought, ‘Whoa, I recognize that face.’”

She says she assumed Field was out of her league, but she wanted to start her own company and hoped he’d agree to meet to talk shop. He was the first and only person she messaged, asking him either to coffee or lunch, and dropping in a link to her LinkedIn profile. Field responded enthusiastically, but said that the LinkedIn link was a first for him on the dating site. Nadolinski laughs telling the story now: “I was privacy-conscious and my OKCupid account had almost no information. It had a picture, but you couldn’t tell it was me.” She’d posted only one image, a picture taken from far away. In it, she wears glasses, which she typically doesn’t. “It had my age and my height, because I thought that was important. I’m very short. And my Facebook wasn’t publicly accessible. So I wanted to show him that I’m a real person. The only way I thought of doing that was my LinkedIn profile. It was a very logical decision.”

He replied that lunches were hard, but he could do dinner. It’s not lost on Nadolinski that she had to design her own privacy-protecting solution for interacting authentically on a dating app. They’ve been together ever since. When Nadolinski talks about founding Iron Fish, she focuses on how the tech community, and the cryptocurrency community specifically, rewarded her curiosity and generosity with help and encouragement. Her appreciation for how that community has been uniquely accessible in spirit, even if not in technology, is what she’s built Iron Fish around. Now she’s poised to make the community she loves so much even larger, sharing it through greater accessibility—with most anyone with a computer, or two, and internet access. “A lot of people around the world are excited about blockchain. They’re excited to participate in a new layer 1 project,” Nadolinski says. And with her focus on pragmatic solutions and that user-friendliness, she’s excited to help them as a member of a community that has helped her so many times. 

“And that was a very special feeling. It was like, ‘Wow. This community is so welcoming and so encouraging and is so available to help.’ And so, from that hackathon in particular, it’s like, ‘Wow, I want to be part of this.’

elena nadolinski on her experience at EthWaterloo in 2017

“That was the turning point of, like, ‘Okay, I feel like I have two jobs, and I’m sucking at both of them, and I need to choose one. And I obviously chose crypto.”

elena nadolinski on leaving airbnb

“These testing phases are very stressful because it’s like, if you miss one thing in mainnet, you’re really screwed.”

shaun maguire

“And I scrolled past this face, and it was like, ‘Wow. This person’s my age, was an intern at Microsoft, started a company, raised $3 million.’ I was like, ‘Whoa. I thought I had to have years of experience to do this. And here’s a person who just did it.’”

elena nadolinski on her first encounter with dylan field

“A lot of people around the world are excited about blockchain. They’re excited to participate in a new layer 1 project.”

elena nadolinski

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Nicole Zakheim is a writer, director, and Story Hunter at Epic based in Berkeley by way of Chicago.

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Photo background by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Data security is one the most pressing issues of modern times. In our digital society, companies continue to request personal user information in exchange for their services — without individuals fully comprehending what they’re agreeing to. What’s worse, these companies fail to secure this data from outside attacks, which have become all too common.

The current regulatory model is broken. It requires companies (large and small) to capture private information about individuals to “verify” them. This creates large honeypots of personal information in corporate data centres and creates a huge attack vector for hackers.

Despite these challenges, we’re at a sliding-door moment in history. New technologies for the safe storage and sharing of personal data now exist. This is important as data growth on the internet isn’t slowing down. In 2020, every person generated 1.7 megabytes per second. Yet US Mckinsey research suggests only around 33% of people believe companies are using their personal data responsibly.

With data hacks and leaks on the increase, it raises questions about the fundamental design decisions for securing personal data. Can alternate models that put the user first really offer stronger protections for individuals? I believe so.

Web3 aims to protect personal information as digital property rights through users owning and controlling their data. By putting data back in the originator’s hands it means there are fewer large repositories of data controlled by companies that can be hacked and leaked. By not having to hold that personal data, companies can also reduce their risk exposure.

Notable hacks and broken trust

The frightening list of hacks of personal data is long. Here are some of the largest leaks in recent years:

Facebook: 533,000,000 users from 106 countries had their phone numbers, full names, locations, birthday and in some cases emails leaked. This data is from a vulnerability that was patched in 2019 but the data was released publicly in 2021.

Microsoft: 250,000,000 users worth of customer service and support logs spanning 14 years were found to be accessible through unprotected servers with public access. Containing IP addresses, emails, geographic locations, confidential case notes and case numbers.

LinkedIn: 700,000,000 users’ phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data and inferred salaries were stolen in 2021.

In the first half of 2022, Flashpoint reported 1,980 data breaches, 60% the result of hacking. And these are only the reported breaches. Common data leaks reveal email addresses, names, addresses, credit card numbers, health and financial information.

Source: Flashpoint (2022)

These are public companies with vast resources that can hire the best and brightest minds in security. It’s commonplace to store passwords as hashes for security but the rest of your data is plain text. So, why is the rest of user personal data, like phone numbers and postal addresses, stored less securely?

Lepide found in their 2020 global survey that 57% of companies have two or more open data shares and 77% have over 5,000 ‘stale’ sensitive files. Businesses struggle to know where their data resides, why it has been collected, who has access to it and how it is actually being used. Additional copies of data increases a company’s attack exposure, creating more data sources that can be exploited by hackers.

Why does personal user data have to exist in duplicate across different companies in centralised databases? Uploading your drivers licence to a company to be verified in exchange for services is an example of this.

We are “duplicating” our personal data for each of these companies. The duplication of these personal identifiers increases our individual risk if there’s a future leak. This is particularly a concern when we repeatedly see company failure to keep data safe, time and time again. These databases shouldn’t exist in the first place. Instead an individual should control their own data in their own database.

End-to-end encryption and personal data ownership and control can change this.

Individuals can own their personal information and share it “on demand” with companies who can verify, then delete, eliminating the huge systematic security risks created by current regulatory requirements.

No one cares about privacy until they need it

Before the internet, it was commonplace for people to print births, deaths and marriages in the paper. As old newspapers get digitised, it becomes possible for scammers to search for ‘your mothers maiden name’ and birthday. This is an example of an unintended consequence. It was impossible to predict the impact of printing a birth in the newspaper before the digital era.

Scientist, Carl Sagan, captured this sentiment:

“It was easy to predict mass car ownership but hard to predict Walmart.”

In much the same way, it’s impossible to predict the long-term consequences of troves of stolen personal data. It’s not a far stretch to imagine the worst-case scenarios as governments seek to streamline processes.

Take personal health data, for example. With a large enough pool of stolen health data, it would be possible to build risk assessment models with it. These models with their opaque algorithms are licensed by health insurers to deny cover to your childrens’ children because of risk factors in your data.

Personal data security isn’t just an issue now.

Zero-party data management is a step forward

Many companies are shifting from legacy data collection methods through the use of third-party cookies and data acquisition with data brokers and assessing alternative options. This is being hastened by the phasing out of third-party cookies which will affect brands and advertisers. Third-party cookies are now being blocked by default in web browsers. 21% of users in the US are searching with cookie-blocking add-ons to prevent cross-site tracking.

Users are waking up to being ‘the product’

This shift is prompting most companies to uplift their first-party data approaches. That is data collected directly from user in-app and website behaviours and not shared elsewhere. This data is still generally captured as a requirement for interacting with the company.

An approach that honours the user is adopting zero-party data strategies. Zero-party data is shared intentionally by a user with a company. Intentionally being the operative word. This could be their purchase preferences, likes or other personal data that they’re comfortable having the company recognise them by. This data can play a valuable role for companies in personalising its experience for users.

Zero-party data is the user consenting what they wish to share about themselves. It establishes a stronger trust relationship between the company and user, through transparency and data minimisation around value exchange. Zero-party data is higher quality data, compared to other forms of data, as it comes straight from the user.

Source: FiO

Whilst zero-party data establishes principles for a stronger consent model for sharing personal information, that data still is typically stored with the company it’s shared with.

This brings us back to the problem and the solution — how data is stored. Web3 data models and personal data vaults truly give users privacy-preserving tools with strong consent workflows for how this information is shared and engaged with.

So, how do we achieve this?

If the top companies we interact with everyday are getting hacked, what does this mean for the rest of us? What’s the solution?

Shift data ownership and control to the user and encrypt it.

Encrypting personal data when it’s not in use makes it harder for hackers to get access to the human readable data. So the question then becomes, where should the encryption occur?

If the encryption happens on the server then the UX for the user is simple. The trade off is there’s no way for the user to know that it’s actually happening. It’s kind of like buying a car from a used car salesman who says: “Trust me, this is a great car. Just take my word for it. There’s no need for a vehicle inspection, it’s a total waste of money.” Would you just take them at their word? Or would you feel better if those claims could be verified? You’d need more than a stranger’s word.

If the encryption is done on the user’s device, the individual has control over their keys and can verify that their data is being encrypted. However, this means that the user is responsible for their key management. If they don’t take this seriously or fully understand it, they can get locked out of their accounts with no way to reset access.

End-to-end encryption enables private and secure data sharing for all. This is a key capability that should be built into data communications to ensure user privacy. Data is encrypted from sender to recipient, remains encrypted during transit and cannot be decrypted by anyone but the intended recipient. We’ve seen Zoom and Whatsapp recently implement this in their apps.

It’s possible for users to own their personal data, store it in a secured encrypted decentralised database network and consent to share it when seen appropriate.

This is a core primitive for Web3 that Verida has brought to market for user-controlled data storage solutions.

Secure data web3 storage for personal data

One of the challenges in today’s digital ecosystem is the lack of secure private data storage for user-owned personal data. This is one very critical component for data privacy.

File storage networks in web3 are a growing sector. The top four protocols have a combined market cap of $2.4 billion (Filecoin, Arweave, Storj & Sia) as of Oct 24th 2022. They remain unsuitable for the most sensitive personal information, which is generally structured in databases, as they are open public storage networks most suitable for blob storage like media, audio and video. By design they are not able to provide compliance required by regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, and CCPA.

There have been attempts to store encrypted data on these protocols, but the encrypted data still remains public. It’s susceptible to (and highly likely) that improvements in technology will be capable of breaking the encryption, making everyone’s private information public for the world to see.

“Encrypted Data Vaults” are an emergent storage solution that help preserve data privacy and ensure trusted data access. They provide users with access to data storage they control with their own private keys, similarly to how users control private keys to access their crypto tokens. They can be managed by a user through a self-custody digital wallet and available in web browsers and on mobile devices.

Source: Verida Self-Sovereign Data Storage (2021)

At Verida, we’ve implemented encrypted data vaults that store data on Verida storage nodes, which is open source software and can be self-hosted. The nodes provide end-to-end encrypted database storage. This means that the operator of the data node cannot read the data stored in the node they’re running. This data is synchronised in real-time with the Verida Vault for easy interaction with applications.

Access to the data on the storage nodes are protected with authentication and authorisation protocols that ensure access is tightly controlled, unlike existing public storage protocols. Users can move their data to different, private nodes, at any time. Data can be guaranteed to be stored in a particular country or region, to ensure compliance with “cross-border” data regulatory requirements common in most countries.

Users can choose what personal information they share with companies and revoke that access at any time. This brings forward a future web where users can safely control personal data, without duplication. It’s a win-win.

Managing personal data needs to be easy

MetaMask is one of the most popular crypto wallets. It had 545,000 monthly active users in July 2020, hit over 10M by August 2021 and was 21M by November 2021. Usage of crypto wallets is growing, their ease of use is improving. A growing number of people are taking control of crypto assets and becoming familiar with this new technology. We see this same trend extending beyond crypto to personal data, too.

In the future users will have a digital wallet on their phone, only accessible to them. This digital wallet holds and protects their private encrypted data. The user can grant outside access on an “as needs” basis, for trusted service providers to deliver personalized offerings. This enables end-to-end encrypted zero-party data sharing between users and companies.

Once given access, third parties can validate data, provide a digitally signed verification certificate, then delete it. This verification certificate can be shared with companies so a user no longer has to provide the actual data to any company to access the service.

Verida Vault: Data and Credentials

All personal data is portable and doesn’t have to be duplicated. Our digital wallets will become the home interface for our data, that is owned and managed by the user. This is what Verida is building with the Verida Vault mobile application.

Building a safer future for personal data

Web3 brings a fundamental change to the ownership and control of user data. Sensitive personal data doesn’t have to stay concentrated in closed platforms and duplicated across different company databases where it’s at risk of security breaches.

User-owned data can be shared cryptographically with companies and applications when needed. New open data markets and associated business models can also form based around user consent and zero-party data.

Digital wallets are key to personal data control

Challenges with implementing these new web3 data models do exist. The problem of personal data duplication across corporate databases is partly driven by regulatory requirements to store and retain data. But regulation and data architectures are shifting. We are seeing innovation occurring particularly in Europe that are user-centric initiatives giving control of data back to users.

The unbundling of data ownership from applications in Web3 shifts personal data control from companies to individuals. This ultimately can reduce data security risks for companies, as they don’t need to store the data themselves.

Verida is building open source technologies that makes implementing data encryption and personal data storage solutions easier. The Verida open source libraries have a package for managing the user’s keys. Verida simplifies the process for developers to implement good encryption practices. Verida has built the Verida Vault to handle the key management for users in the Verida Network.

Verida is working closely with partners for ecosystem growth, health, and success. If you’re a company looking to make privacy a priority, check out our github and Developer Portal. Or reach out to me direct on LinkedIn to continue the conversation.

Together, let’s build a new privacy-preserving baseline for the internet.

The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered legal or financial advice. A warm thank you to Ben Longstaff, Nick Lothian, Chris Were, Aurel Ticot, Yolanda Sam and Amanda Smith for their input and assistance on this article.

How Personal Data Ownership Protects Individuals and Reduces Company Data Risk was originally published in Verida on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The proposal would give far more Web3 users access to Findora’s privacy network.

The new proposal on Synapse offers to deploy a bridge to the Findora Network. Findora would become the first privacy-focused chain on Synapse and gain exposure to many new communities if the proposal passes.

TL;DR

❗️Between October 26th and October 29th, Synapse Bridge will vote to integrate the Findora Network.

❗️Synapse is a major cross-chain bridge linking over 16 ecosystems, exposing Findora to new communities.

❗️If the proposal passes, the Findora Foundation and Synapse will create high-yield liquidity pools to promote $FRA, $SYN, and $nUSD, Synapse’s stablecoin.

A cross-chain bridge featuring a DEX and liquidity pools, Synapse connects over 16 EVM and non-EVM chains, including Arbitrum, Fantom, Avalanche, Cronos, BNB Chain, and Polygon. Synapse is a battle-tested project that has handled over $11.45 billion in total bridge transfers. It currently stands at #14 by TVL on Avalanche and #17 on Polygon, according to DefiLlama.

Mutual Benefits

The proposal holds many potential benefits for Findora and Synapse.

For Findora, users on the 16+ ecosystems integrated into Synapse could access Findora and its $FRA tokens with ease, allowing users to exchange their assets for $FRA and experiment with Findora’s confidential transaction functions.

As an example, users on Arbitrum or Fantom could quickly swap nUSD (Synapse’s stablecoin) for FRA to pay gas fees or for staking. Currently, users can only transfer assets from Ethereum and BNB Chain using the Rialto Bridge. By promoting new tokens like $FRA in their Pools section, Synapse would make it easier to discover Findora, helping it attract more users.

For Synapse, it will get to add a unique L1, the first in its network to be privacy-focused with extensive zero-knowledge cryptography research. High-yield pools featuring Synapse’s native token, $SYN, and nUSD tokens will be set up on FairySwap, giving their users more options for yield farming.

Moving Forward

The voting will go live on October 27th, and stay open for three days. If the proposal passes, Synapse and the Findora Foundation will both contribute $13,000 to promote their respective $SYN and $FRA tokens through yield farming rewards.

On the Findora side, Synapse would contribute to FRA/nUSD and FRA/SYN liquidity pools on FairySwap. Synapse would also promote a high-yield FRA liquidity pool on its platform.

About Synapse

Synapse Bridge is a secure cross-chain communication platform connecting over 16 different EVM and non-EVM blockchains. Employing an Optimistic security model, Synapse allows any arbitrary data to be exchanged between chains, including contract calls, NFTs, and snapshots. With Synapse’s AMM liquidity pool model, developers can easily integrate native cross-chain token bridging into their dApp.

Synapse’s total bridge volume currently stands at $11.45 billion, with a cumulative pool volume of $25.39 billion.

Learn more on Twitter, Discord, and their website.

About Findora

Scaling privacy for the future of Web3.

Findora builds privacy through advanced zero-knowledge proof cryptography. An innovative Layer-1, it combines a native UTXO ledger optimized for privacy with an EVM extension for programmability and interoperability. Developers can leverage either model as they build dApps with auditable privacy.

We appreciate our developers and would love to onboard you to the Findora ecosystem. Please reach out, and join our social channels for more.

Discord | Twitter | Telegram | Medium | LinkedIn | Facebook | Reddit

Proposal to Integrate Findora on Synapse Bridge was originally published in Findora Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.