Tag: bitcoin

Artificial Intelligence, blockchain association, Blockchains, China

WHAT ARE BLOCKCHAIN ASSOCIATIONS?

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered.   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question was submitted by Kandy, and she wants to know what are blockchain associations?

Kandy, you came to the right place.  Although the definition may vary depending on the country, an association is generally defined as an organization comprised of businesses or individuals in a specific industry or trade collaborating to address common issues, set standards, and advocate for their shared interests and goals.  Members pay dues, and the association’s professional staff work on their behalf.  On to the blockchain association located in Washington, D.C.

Washington D.C. is not only the USA capital, it’s also the headquarters of associations.  Government capitals and associations are congenital twins.  Where one goes, so does the other.  As of 2022, over 3,400 associations were registered in Washington, including an association of associations.  Lol!  That is not a joke! 

The Blockchain Association in Washington has 100+ members.  Membership is restricted.  Individuals cannot join, only organizations.  Their mission is “… to advance the future of crypto in the United States, promoting potential of blockchain technology and shaping policy that ensures its success. We work with our members to educate policymakers about blockchain technology and its ability to pave the way for a more secure, competitive, and consumer-friendly digital marketplace.”  Holy shared interest, Batman! Let’s discuss blockchain associations around the world. 

As noted above blockchain associations basically function in a universal manner—they all advocate, educate, promote, hold events, etc.  Hence, I will only highlight one or two unique facts for a select few blockchain associations.

Canada—Blockchain Association of Canada.  Two fun facts about BAC.  First, BAC sponsors innovation challenges.  Second, BAC is headquartered in Vancouver not Ottawa (Canada’s capital).

Cayman Islands.  The Cayman Islands is an international banking center.  Therefore, we should not be shocked to discover the country is embracing blockchain technology.

China.  Several years ago, China declared blockchain a national priority technology and not surprisingly there are numerous national and international blockchain associations, including the UK-China Blockchain Association, the Hong Kong Blockchain Society, French-Chinese Blockchain Association.

Germany—Blockchain Bundersverband.  The German blockchain association has a working group focused on decentralized autonomous organizations. 

Mexico—Blockchain Association of Mexico.  We Latinos are known for coming late.  Lol. The Mexican Blockchain Association arrived early!  Lol!

Singapore–Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS).  The BAS has six working groups including one dedicated to stable coins and central bank digital currency.  If you know Singapore, you are not surprised.

Swiss Blockchain Federation.  Located in Bern (the capital) the SBF works across a range of topics, including bringing blockchain technology to the public sector.

United Arab Emirates—Government Blockchain Association of UAE. 

United Arab Emirates–Middle East, Africa & Asia Crypto & Blockchain Association (MEAACBA).  This is an international blockchain association.  Members hail from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia and the headquartered is in Dubai, UAE.  

United Kingdom–International Blockchain Association (IBA).  The IBA has offices in London, New York, and Dubai. 

Kandy, the research reveals an emerging picture.  First, blockchain adoption is growing fast.  Second adoption is increasingly international.  Third, beyond the USA, Dubai, China, and Singapore are blockchain hot spots. Fourth, crypto does not equal blockchain.  Blockchain is a technology with countless use cases that extends far beyond just crypto.  Five, policy makers are being educated around the world and that portends a brighter future.

I end with a proverb from Tunisia:  Like salt, he doesn’t miss any meal.

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson

Blockchains

ARE BLOCKCHAINS AND CHARITIES A PERFECT MATCH?

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered, mostly correct!   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question, comes from Lisa in Naperville, and she wants to know if blockchain technology and charity are a perfect match?

Lisa, you came to the right place.  Prior to your question, I hadn’t considered a possible marriage between blockchain technology and charity work.  That’s my fault.  The answer is … read this article and decide for yourself!

In traditional charity, benefactors expect their donations will be accepted and deployed congruent with their intent by the charity administrator.  In other words, based on trusting intermediaries.  What if there was a technology that would remove the need for trusted intermediaries? Suppose that technology allowed a peer-to-peer exchange of value, without permission, and need for trust because all transactions are subject to verification on a digital distributed ledger for anyone to confirm, at any time, from anywhere?  That would be incredible! Breaking news, the technology exist–its blockchain combined with crypto currency!  Holy obvious, Batman! Hold on, the tsunami of reasons for pairing blockchain with charity are only beginning to flood in. 

Blockchain technology removes unnecessary intermediaries, making the donation process faster.  For example, donations can be sent and received directly on-chain, making transactions quick.  What perhaps previously took 8 steps, and several middlemen, can be reduced to maybe 4 using blockchain technology.  However, this pairing goes beyond the removal of intermediaries.

With blockchain technology benefactors can verify transactions independently.   In other words, matching blockchain and charity flows beyond eliminating middlemen.  The point is there is no need to trust because the proof is in the blockchain.  Sweet! 

A third reason is efficiency.  Charities that utilize smart contracts, via blockchains, have a tremendous advantage over their competitors.  With smart contracts, charities can automate transactions when predetermined criteria are satisfied.  Thus far we have faster, more efficient, and trustless reasons.  Let’s talk about international charities. 

Speaking from personal experience, sending money overseas is expen$$$ive and s-l-o-w—but not with blockchain technology.  With a couple of mouse clicks money is sent instantly and for just pennies.  Moreover, with blockchain and smart contracts the potential pool of donors is worldwide, making it reason number five!  You are on a roll now Batman, please mention NFTs.

Charities need to raise awareness to succeed and issuing NFTs could be a means to draw attention.  NFT stands for non-fungible token, therefore each NFT is unique.  A charity could raise funds by selling a series of NFTs or an NFT collection set in a raffle, for example.  Holy storytelling, Batman! 

Using blockchain technology for charitable purposes is not worry free.  For example, crypto currencies fluctuate in value; hence, a benefactor may exceed their intended donation, or under deliver.  Either way, it complicates budgeting for the charity.  Sending stable coins is a possible solution because they are pegged to specific assets, i.e., U.S. Dollar, Euro, Yen, etc. but that too could be a hurdle. 

What hurdle?  The challenge of the digital divide.  Not every charity organization has the technical skills to handle crypto currencies.  Cyber security may be a challenge.  For instance, transactions can be hacked or compromised.  Send out the Bat signal! 

Government regulations are always a consideration.  Some nations permit charities to accept crypto donations; others might incarcerate in the BIG house for doing so! 

I end with this Panamanian proverb: If you want no disappointments, don’t indulge in illusion

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson

Blockchains, China, cryptography, Patents, Yogi Nelson

WHY ALL THE FUSS ABOUT 3924 3924, 3924, 3924, 3924, 3924, 3924

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered, mostly correct!   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question, submitted by Albert from Iowa and his question is, why the number 3924?

Albert, you came to the right place.  Let’s talk about this number, 3,924.  According to the Blockchain Global Patent Authorization, as of December 2020, there were 3,924 patents granted for blockchain technology worldwide.  For a new technology, 3,924 is a staggering number and as I said previously the number reflects 2020 statistics.  Holy worldwide adoption, Batman!

This naturally leads to the next question.  What countries lead in blockchain patents?  According to Lexology, U.S. companies accounted for 39% of all patents granted, South Korea comes in second with 21%, and China was a close third at 19%.  In other words, the US, South Korea, and China accounted for 79% of all blockchain patents globally up to year 2020.  But that is backward looking data.  If we want to understand the next wave, we must examine pending patent applications as that tells a forward-looking story. Okay, let’s do it.

In Digital Finance by Baxter Hines, he cites The Block as the source for pending patents.  According to that source, Chinese companies should dominate the next wave of blockchain patents.  In fact, the top five companies with blockchain patents pending are all Chinese.  Tencent, Alibaba, and Ant Financial alone have 1,263 patents pending whereas the top three American companies (Walmart, IBM, and Microsoft) have only 123.  Is there more to the story?  I think so.  Read on. 

Let’s go back to 2019.  In 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping identified the advancement of blockchain technology as a national priority and declared China will “lead the next wave of digital transformation” and called for greater study, investment, and regulation.  What happened next?

Well, in typical top-down authoritarian fashion, more than 35,000 firms responded to Xi’s appeal by registering their companies as “blockchain related” and expanding the use of blockchain technology into their businesses’ operations.  Holy jumping right on the task, Batman! But hold on there is more to the story.

Of the 35,000 that responded only 730 qualified for the Chinese government’s blockchain certification (2%).  Nevertheless, more than 10,000 blockchain patent applications were filed!  But quantity and quality are not always synonymous, and the Chinese government approved only a small fraction of the applications.  Perhaps, Xi needed to be more explicit in his order.  I suggest he try this next time: “Listen up comrades.  We need lots of high-quality world class blockchain patents.”  Lol!

Research and development into blockchain technology is big business.  There is a battle for blockchain technology supremacy between the US and China, with South Korea in the hunt also.  The winner of this battle will have an advantage across many developing technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI).  Many technology analysts are forecasting a fuse of blockchain, AI, and the internet of things (IOT) converging into a tsunami of tech advancements in the next decade.  Hold on to your safety belts, Batman!

I close today with a proverb from Denmark, where people say:  Never advise anyone to go to war or to marry.  Wise words indeed!

Until next time.

Yogi Nelson

Blockchains

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL FINANCE ADOPTION ACCORDING TO MOODY’S?

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered, mostly correct!   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question, comes from Oswaldo, in New York, and he wants to know what does Moody’s Investor Service (Moody’s) forecast for digital finance adoption in 2024 and beyond?

Oswaldo, you came to the right place.  On December 14, the Decentralized Finance office of Moody’s released a report, titled: 2024 Outlook: Digital Finance Slowly, Steadily Moves Towards Interoperability and Standardization.  The research was led by Christiano Ventricelli; here is the link:  https://www.moodys.com/research/Decentralized-Finance-and-Digital-Assets-Global-2024-Outlook-Digital-finance-Outlook–PBC_1386273?cid=web-ntrnlbnnr-16640  Before jumping into their forecast, first let’s understand who is Moody’s?

Moody’s has been around since 1908 and it offers credit ratings, macro-economic forecasting, and several other services, including Investor Service.   Moody’s produces research papers across numerous financial topics, including digital finance.  With that short introduction, let’s examine Moody’s four findings.

Mass Adoption Will Need More Interoperability and Standardization.  According to Moody’s, blockchain technology has numerous potential benefits, including greater efficiency and potential cost savings.  Blockchain enthusiasts agree.  I concur with Moody’s that until and unless blockchains reach interoperability the benefits of blockchain may not materialize.  What Moody’s did not say, but I will, is blockchains need a “Wi-Fi moment”.  Imagine if Wi-Fi was not seamless and users had to switch constantly to maintain a connection?  What a mess!  This is the state of public blockchains today. There are bridges under construction to connect blockchains, but most are too tiny, weak, and not suitable at enterprise scale.

Asset tokenization will keep growing, but reliable digital cash options remain elusive. Yes, asset tokenization will result in convergence between traditional and digital finance.  Agreed. And, yes, it’s true there are tech and regulatory risk considerations.  However, I part ways with Moody’s regarding digital cash adoption options.  Moody’s believes Central Bank Digital Currencies are better positioned to be a secure form of digital cash over stable coins.  In the USA probably true. However, across the globe government creditability on matters of monetary policy is at rock-bottom; hence, let’s withhold judgment.

Cryptocurrency market’s revival hinges on monetary policy and service operators’ regulatory compliance. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of industries whose viability hinge on monetary policy.  Cheap money is positive for crypto, and all assets. What drives crypto goes beyond interest rates and monetary policy.  Crypto is also an ideological movement.  Crypto enthusiasts want a new monetary policy–an alternative that Jerome can’t control.  Hence, suggesting the crypto market hinges on traditional finance is missing the point. 

As former federal bank regulatory compliance officer, I am unaware of any industry that can operate at scale outside regulatory compliance other than organized crime!  Holy criminal enterprise, Batman! Hence, the findings are not surprising.  And yes, crypto needs clarity.  Is it a security?  Is it a commodity?  Etc.

Digital asset regulatory frameworks advance, though regional differences will persist. Bingo, Moody’s is on target.  Europe, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates are all establishing regulatory clarity.  Therefore, regional differences will arise in crypto as they do in traditional securities regulations.  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF soon.  An Ethereum spot EFT is on the horizon. The SEC recently sued Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the USA, for selling unregistered securities.  Between the Coinbase case, and the 2024 Presidential Election, clarity maybe on the horizon.

I close with a proverb from Moldova: Wine is a traitor.  It starts as a friend and ends as an enemy.

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson

Uncategorized

WHAT DID VITALIK BUTERIN RECENTLY SAY ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis. Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where questions are answered, mostly correct! Here no question is too mundane. As a bonus, a proverb is also included. Today’s question comes from Art in San Francisco, CA. Art asks what does Vitalik Buterin think of artificial intelligence?

Art, you came to the right place. Before I explain Vitalik’s thoughts, let’s know Buterin first. Vitalik is a 29-year-old Russian Canadian computer programmer and a co-founder of Ethereum. Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain network, known for pioneering smart contracts, among other advancements in computation. From an early age Vitalik demonstrated an amazing ability to grasp mathematics and computer science. That’s not a surprise given his father was a computer scientist. Holy, like father, like son, Batman! Given his genius with computers, it makes sense you would ask what Vitalik makes of AI.

On November 23, Vitalik published his “My Techno Optimism” paper.
https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/11/27/techno_optimism.html?ref=bankless.ghost.io Vitalik’s summary perspective is below followed by highlights from across the major points of his paper.

“I believe in a future that is vastly brighter than the present thanks to radically transformative technology, and I believe in humans and humanity. I reject the mentality that the best we should try to do is to keep the world roughly the same as today but with less greed and more public healthcare. However, I think that not just magnitude but also direction matters. There are certain types of technology that much more reliably make the world better than other types of technology. There are certain types of technology that could, if developed, mitigate the negative impacts of other types of technology. The world over-indexes on some directions of tech development, and under-indexes on others. We need active human intention to choose the directions that we want, as the formula of “maximize profit” will not arrive at them automatically.”

Vitalik Buterin, My Techno-Optisium

Buterin argues there are very high costs to delaying technological progress. He cites life expectancy improvements and the internet, as evidence for not holding back technological advancements. Vitalik makes the case for using advancements in AI to solve environmental challenges, including climate change.

Vitalik believes AI is fundamentally different from previous advancements in technology and therefore requires significantly more consideration. Vitalik says AI is the creation of a new and powerful brain whereas previous inventions were contraptions. “AI is a new type of mind that is rapidly gaining in intelligence, and it stands a serious chance of overtaking humans’ mental faculties and becoming the new apex species on the planet”, says Buterin. Vitalik cites scientists that are worried AI could wipe out humanity! Holy doomsday, Batman!

Buterin, is equally concerned with “digital authoritarianism”. Vitalik points out Open AI, with a mere 500 employees, services 100,000,000 customers with immensely powerful machines! Power could be centralized by just a handful of people one day, is Vitalik’s worry.

Vitalik pens a lengthy narrative regarding the e/acc movement. According to Vitalik, e/acc is “… fundamentally about an appreciation of the truly massive benefits of technological progress, and a desire to accelerate this trend to bring those benefits sooner.” Jeff Bezos is the most prominent advocate. In a point-by-point fashion, Buterin shares what he believes are the implications of e/acc across a range of topics, including: military technology, decentralized governance, cyber security, multi-planetary living, world government, to name a few topics.

We conclude today with this proverb from the Dominican Republic: With patience and calm, a donkey can climb a palm tree. Well said my Caribbean brethren!

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson