NFTs are a type of digital asset that use blockchain technology to verify ownership and uniqueness, and they are quickly becoming a hot topic in the tech world. In this article, we will explore the future of daily tech and how NFT technology will be a part of our daily lives.

Introduction

As we move further into the digital age, more and more of our daily lives are taking place online. From shopping to socializing to working, the internet has become an integral part of our daily routine. With the rise of NFTs, we are now seeing a new era of digital ownership and value, and this is set to have a profound impact on how we interact with technology in the future.

What are NFTs?

Before we dive into how NFTs will be used in daily tech, let’s take a moment to define what they are. Non-Fungible Tokens are a type of digital asset that is unique and cannot be replicated. They are created using blockchain technology, which verifies ownership and ensures that they are one-of-a-kind. NFTs can take many forms, including artwork, music, videos, and more. They can be bought, sold, and traded just like physical assets, and their value is determined by supply and demand.

How will NFTs be used in daily life?

The potential uses for NFTs in daily tech are vast and varied. Here are just a few examples of how NFT technology could be integrated into our daily lives:

1. Digital Ownership

One of the most significant ways that NFTs will be used in daily tech is through digital ownership. With NFTs, individuals can prove ownership of digital assets, such as artwork, music, and videos. This will enable creators to sell their work directly to consumers, cutting out middlemen like record labels and art dealers. Consumers will have the assurance that they are purchasing a one-of-a-kind item, and creators will have a new revenue stream.

2. Gaming

Gaming is one area where NFTs are already being used extensively. NFTs can be used to represent in-game items, such as weapons, armor, and skins. This means that players can buy, sell, and trade items with each other, just like physical assets. In addition, NFTs can be used to represent unique in-game achievements, such as completing a difficult quest or reaching a high level. This will give players a new way to show off their accomplishments and could lead to a more competitive gaming landscape.

3. Real Estate

Another area where NFTs could have a significant impact is real estate. With NFTs, individuals can prove ownership of digital assets, such as virtual real estate. This could lead to a new era of virtual property ownership, where individuals can buy and sell virtual real estate just like physical real estate. This could be especially appealing in the world of virtual reality, where individuals can create and own their own digital spaces.

4. Identity Verification

NFTs could also be used for identity verification. With NFTs, individuals can prove ownership of their digital identity, such as social media accounts, email addresses, and more. This could help prevent identity theft and give individuals more control over their online presence.

5. Content/File Verification

Verification is becoming increasingly important in the digital age, especially as we face challenges such as deep fakes and AI-generated content. These technologies make it easier than ever to create content that is indistinguishable from the real thing, which poses a significant threat to our ability to trust the information we consume online. One potential solution to this problem is the use of NFTs. Because NFTs are created using blockchain technology, they are virtually impossible to counterfeit. This means that NFTs could be used to verify the authenticity of digital content, such as photos, videos, and audio recordings.

6. Intellectual Property Protection

NFTs can also be used to protect intellectual property, such as copyrighted works or patented inventions. By using NFTs to establish ownership and authenticity, creators can protect their intellectual property and prevent unauthorized use.

7. Supply Chain Management

NFTs could also be used for supply chain management, which would help ensure the authenticity and traceability of goods. By using NFTs to track the movement of goods from production to consumption, companies could more easily prevent counterfeiting and ensure that goods are ethically sourced.

8. Ticketing and Event Management

NFTs could be used to create verifiable digital tickets for events, such as concerts or sports games. By using NFTs to represent tickets, event organizers could more easily prevent fraud and ensure that attendees have a seamless experience.

9. Education

NFTs could also be used in education, by providing a way to track the authenticity and ownership of digital credentials, such as diplomas or certificates. This would help prevent fraud and make it easier for people to verify their educational achievements.

10. Personal Finance

NFTs could have applications in personal finance, by providing a way to track the ownership and authenticity of assets such as stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrencies. This would help prevent fraud and make it easier for individuals to manage their investments.

11. Healthcare

NFTs could also be used in healthcare, by providing a way to track the ownership and authenticity of medical records and prescriptions. This would help ensure that patients receive the correct treatments and prevent fraud.

12. Social Media

Finally, NFTs could have applications in social media, by providing a way to verify the authenticity and ownership of digital content shared on social platforms. This would help prevent the spread of fake news and misinformation, and make it easier for creators to monetize their content.

Conclusion

The rise of NFT technology is set to have a profound impact on daily tech. From digital ownership to gaming to real estate and identity verification, NFTs are poised to become a ubiquitous part of our digital lives.

Imagine waking up in a smart home that greets you by name, as you get ready for the day with the assistance of wearable technology that tracks your health and wellness. You step out of your home and into a smart city, where self-driving electric cars transport you seamlessly to your destination. As you gaze out the window, you see flying cars soaring through the sky, and railguns zipping past at lightning speed.

In the workplace, automation and AI systems take on complex tasks, freeing up your time to focus on creative and strategic work. You collaborate with colleagues from around the world, using holograms to interact with them as if they were right in front of you. And when you need a break, you slip into cryosleep for a quick recharge, emerging refreshed and ready to take on the world.

In healthcare, biotechnology and nanotechnology have revolutionized the way we approach health and wellness. We can now diagnose and treat diseases with unprecedented accuracy, and even edit our genes to eliminate genetic disorders. We’re able to live longer, healthier lives, thanks to breakthroughs in medical research and technology.

And let’s not forget about entertainment. Augmented reality and holograms have transformed the way we experience movies, games, and other forms of media. We can interact with digital content in a lifelike and immersive way, bringing our favorite stories to life right in front of our eyes.

Of course, this future is not without its challenges. With the increasing interconnectedness of our world, we’ll need to find new ways to protect our personal information and privacy. We’ll also need to ensure that everyone has access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive, even as automation and AI systems take over many manual jobs.

But with careful planning and investment, we can create a future that is both technologically advanced and socially responsible. A world where everyone has access to the tools and resources they need to succeed, and where emerging technologies are harnessed for the greater good. A world where the impossible becomes possible, and the magical becomes real. That’s the future of daily life, and it’s not far off.

As we look towards this future, we can’t help but be excited by the possibilities. Imagine a world where we can travel anywhere in the world in just a matter of hours, thanks to advancements in quantum computing and transportation. Where our homes and cities are designed to be sustainable and eco-friendly, reducing our carbon footprint and creating a healthier planet for generations to come.

We’ll see advancements in agriculture and food production that allow us to feed a growing population sustainably, without harming the environment. We’ll have access to new sources of clean energy, including fusion and hydrogen power, that eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels and reduce our impact on the planet.

And with the help of blockchain technology, we’ll be able to create a more transparent and equitable world, where financial systems are fair and accessible to everyone, and where we can trust that our data and personal information are secure.

In this future, the possibilities are endless. We’ll be able to explore new frontiers, both on Earth and in space, and unlock the mysteries of the universe. We’ll be able to create a world that is more just, more equitable, and more fulfilling than anything we’ve known before.

But to get there, we’ll need to work together. We’ll need to invest in the right areas, and prioritize the needs of our planet and our communities. We’ll need to address the challenges that come with these new technologies, and ensure that everyone has access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.

The future of daily life is a thrilling and awe-inspiring vision of what’s possible. It’s a world where anything is possible, and where we’re empowered to create a future that’s better than anything we’ve known before. So let’s take the first steps toward this future, and work together to make it a reality. The future is waiting for us, and it’s time to embrace it with open arms.

Artificial Intelligence:

• Alphabet Inc. (Google)
• Microsoft Corp.
• NVIDIA Corp.
• Intel Corp.

AI technology is revolutionizing numerous industries including healthcare, finance, and transportation by improving efficiency, accuracy and productivity.

E-Commerce:

• Amazon.com Inc.
• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Shopify Inc.
• JD.com Inc.

E-commerce has disrupted the traditional brick-and-mortar retail industry by providing convenient and accessible online shopping experiences, transforming the way people purchase goods and services.

Clean Energy:

• Tesla Inc.
• NextEra Energy Inc.
• Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P.
• First Solar Inc.

Clean energy is disrupting the traditional fossil fuel-based energy industry by promoting sustainable energy sources such as solar and wind power, reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, and mitigating environmental impact.

Cryptocurrency:

• Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Binance Coin (BNB)
• Ripple (XRP)

Cryptocurrency is disrupting traditional finance by offering decentralized, secure, and transparent financial transactions without the need for intermediaries such as banks.

Automation:

• ABB Ltd.
• Siemens AG
• Rockwell Automation Inc.
• Fanuc Corp.

Automation is disrupting various industries including manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare by automating tasks and processes, increasing efficiency, and reducing the need for manual labor.

Virtual Reality:

• Facebook Inc. (Oculus VR)
• NVIDIA Corp.
• HTC Corp.
• Unity Technologies

Virtual Reality (VR) is disrupting the entertainment and gaming industries by providing immersive and interactive experiences. It also has potential applications in fields such as education, training, and healthcare.

Biotechnology:

• Moderna Inc.
• Amgen Inc.
• Gilead Sciences Inc.
• Biogen Inc.

Biotechnology is disrupting the healthcare industry by developing innovative treatments, therapies, and technologies based on the understanding of biological systems and processes.

Drones:

• DJI Technology Co. Ltd.
• AeroVironment Inc.
• Lockheed Martin Corp.
• Parrot SA

Drones are disrupting various industries including agriculture, delivery, and surveying by providing cost-effective, efficient, and innovative solutions for tasks that were previously performed by humans.

Internet of Things (IoT):

• Cisco Systems Inc.
• International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.
• Intel Corp.
• Alphabet Inc. (Google)

IoT is disrupting various industries including manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare by connecting and automating devices, enabling real-time data collection and analysis.

5G Technology:

• Qualcomm Inc.
• Ericsson AB
• Nokia Oyj
• Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

5G technology is disrupting the telecommunications industry by providing faster, more reliable, and more secure wireless communication, enabling the development of new and innovative products and services.

Blockchain:

• Square Inc. (Cash App)
• Ripple Labs Inc.
• Chain Inc.
• Coinbase Global Inc.

Blockchain is disrupting various industries including finance, supply chain management, and real estate by providing secure and transparent record-keeping, reducing the need for intermediaries, and increasing efficiency.

Cybersecurity:

• CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.
• Palo Alto Networks Inc.
• FireEye Inc.
• Symantec Corp.

Cybersecurity is disrupting various industries including finance, healthcare, and government by providing innovative solutions to protect against cyber-attacks, data breaches, and cyber threats.

Renewable Energy Storage:

• Tesla Inc. (Powerwall)
• LG Chem Ltd.
• Enphase Energy Inc.
• Sunrun Inc.

Renewable Energy Storage is disrupting the energy industry by enabling the efficient storage and distribution of renewable energy, reducing dependence on traditional fossil fuels, and improving energy security.

Space Technology:

• SpaceX
• Blue Origin LLC
• Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.
• Maxar Technologies Inc.

Space Technology is disrupting various industries including telecommunications, earth observation, and space exploration by providing cost-effective and innovative solutions for accessing and utilizing space-based resources and capabilities.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA):

• UiPath Inc.
• Automation Anywhere Inc.
• Blue Prism Group PLC
• WorkFusion Inc.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is disrupting various industries including finance, healthcare, and customer service by automating repetitive and manual tasks, reducing errors, and improving productivity.

Quantum Computing:

• IBM Corp.
• D-Wave Systems Inc.
• Google (Alphabet Inc.)
• Rigetti Computing

Disruptive Industry: healthcare, and cryptography by providing exponential computing power and enabling the solution of complex problems that are beyond the capabilities of classical computers.

Electric Vehicles:

• Tesla Inc.
• General Motors Co.
• Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
• Volkswagen AG

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are disrupting the automotive industry by providing cost-effective, efficient, and environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

Smart Home Technology:

• Amazon.com Inc. (Ring)
• Alphabet Inc. (Google Nest)
• Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Control4 Corp.

Smart Home Technology is disrupting the home automation industry by enabling the integration and control of home appliances and systems through a centralized platform, improving comfort, convenience, and security.

Advanced Manufacturing:

• GE Additive (General Electric)
• 3D Systems Corp.
• Stratasys Ltd.
• Materialise NV

Advanced Manufacturing is disrupting the manufacturing industry by providing new and innovative ways of designing, producing, and delivering products through the use of digital technologies such as 3D printing and computer-aided design.

Understanding the Web 3 Ecosystem:

The Web 3 ecosystem is built on decentralized networks, such as Ethereum, which enable the creation of smart contracts. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement written directly into lines of code. These contracts can be used to automate various processes, from supply chain management to financial transactions. Additionally, the Web 3 ecosystem also includes decentralized storage solutions, such as InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), which allow for the decentralized storage of data.

Developing for the Web 3:

To develop for Web 3, one must have a good understanding of blockchain technology and its underlying protocols. Popular protocols in the Web 3 space include Ethereum, EOS, and TRON. Developers also use various tools such as Solidity (the programming language for Ethereum) and Truffle (a development environment for Ethereum). Additionally, there are various platforms such as OpenZeppelin and Gnosis that provide pre-built smart contract templates and libraries for developers to use.

Web 3 Use Cases:

Web 3 technology is already being used in various industries, from finance to gaming. In finance, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms are being built on Web 3, allowing for peer-to-peer financial transactions without the need for intermediaries.

In gaming, dApps are being created that allow players to own and trade in-game assets, creating a new form of gaming economy. In addition to these examples, Web 3 also has potential in industries such as supply chain management, real estate, and voting systems.

Conclusion: Web 3 represents a significant shift in the way we interact with technology and the digital world. The decentralized infrastructure of Web 3 allows for greater security, transparency, and autonomy. As the technology continues to evolve, we are likely to see an increasing number of dApps and decentralized networks built on the Web 3. With the potential to revolutionize various industries, it is important to stay informed about the developments in the Web 3 space.

Now, what are smart contracts?

A smart contract is a self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement written directly into lines of code. The code and the agreements contained therein exist over a decentralized network and exist as a shared digital infrastructure, enforced by the network of computers that run the blockchain.

An example of a smart contract could be a simple agreement between two parties to buy and sell a piece of property. The contract could be set up with the following terms:

• The buyer will transfer X amount of cryptocurrency to the seller’s digital wallet
• The seller will transfer the title of the property to the buyer
• The transaction will only be completed and the cryptocurrency will be released to the seller once the title has been verified by a neutral third party and transferred to the buyer’s name.

Once the terms are coded in, the smart contract would exist on the blockchain, and it would be executed automatically when the conditions are met. In this case, the buyer transferred the cryptocurrency, the title of the property was transferred to the buyer, and a neutral third party verified the transfer, the smart contract would automatically release the cryptocurrency to the seller’s digital wallet. This process is secure, and transparent and eliminates the need for intermediaries, reducing the risk of fraud and increasing the efficiency of the transaction.

Here’s an example of a smart contract for the above written in solidity, one of the programming languages smart contracts can be written in.

pragma solidity ^0.8.0;

contract PropertySale {
    address payable public seller;
    address payable public buyer;
    uint256 public price;
    string public propertyTitle;
    bool public isVerified;
    bool public isComplete;

    constructor(address payable _seller, address payable _buyer, uint256 _price, string memory _propertyTitle) public {
        seller = _seller;
        buyer = _buyer;
        price = _price;
        propertyTitle = _propertyTitle;
        isComplete = false;
        isVerified = false;
    }

    event LogPurchase(address indexed buyer, address indexed seller, uint256 price);

    function verifyTitle() public {
        require(msg.sender == seller);
        isVerified = true;
    }

    function complete() public {
        require(isVerified);
        require(msg.sender == buyer);
        require(msg.value == price);
        seller.transfer(price);
        isComplete = true;
        emit LogPurchase(buyer, seller, price);
    }
}

Supply Chain Management

One of the most promising use cases for smart contracts is in supply chain management. Smart contracts can be used to automate the tracking of goods and materials as they move through the supply chain. For example, a smart contract can be set up to automatically release payment to a supplier once a shipment of goods has been verified as delivered. This can help to reduce the risk of fraud and increase transparency in the supply chain.

Example: Walmart has partnered with IBM to use smart contracts to improve traceability in its food supply chain. The system tracks food from farm to store using RFID technology, and smart contracts are used to automatically verify that products have been handled properly and are safe for consumption.

Real Estate

Another area where smart contracts are being used is in the real estate industry. Smart contracts can be used to automate the buying and selling of property, as well as the management of rental agreements. For example, a smart contract can be set up to automatically release payment to a landlord once a tenant has been verified as having moved into a rental property. This can help to reduce the risk of fraud and increase transparency in the real estate market.

Example: The city of South Burlington, Vermont, USA is using smart contracts to automate the property transfer process and eliminate the need for intermediaries. This not only speeds up the process but also saves on costs.

Healthcare

Smart contracts are also being used in the healthcare industry to improve patient care and streamline administrative processes. For example, a smart contract can be used to automatically release medical records to a healthcare provider once a patient has been verified as having given their consent. This can help to increase patient privacy and security. Smart contracts can also be used to automate the tracking of medical equipment and supplies, helping to ensure that the right equipment is in the right place at the right time.

Example: The Medicalchain is using smart contracts to securely store and share patient data across different healthcare providers, with the patient’s consent. This allows for a more coordinated and efficient approach to patient care.

Banking and Finance

Smart contracts are being used in the banking and finance industry to automate financial transactions and reduce the need for intermediaries. For example, a smart contract can be set up to automatically release payment to a borrower once a loan has been verified as being repaid. This can help to reduce the risk of fraud and increase transparency in the financial market.

Example: The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has announced it will replace its current clearing and settlement system with a blockchain-based platform that uses smart contracts to automate the process. This can reduce the settlement time and save on costs.

Insurance

Smart contracts are also being used in the insurance industry to automate the claims process and reduce the need for intermediaries. For example, a smart contract can be set up to automatically release payment to policyholders once a claim has been verified as being valid. This can help to increase efficiency and reduce the risk of fraud in the insurance industry.

Example: The startup firm Aigang Network is using smart contracts to automate the process of buying, managing, and claiming insurance for IoT devices. This allows for a more efficient and transparent process for both the policyholder and the insurer.

Voting

Smart contracts can be used in voting systems to increase transparency and reduce the risk of fraud. For example, a smart contract can be set up to automatically verify voter identities and ensure that each voter can only vote once. This can help to increase the integrity of the voting process.

Example: The West Virginia Secretary of State’s office developed a mobile voting platform that uses blockchain technology and smart contracts to enable military personnel to vote securely via a mobile app during the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. This allows for a more accessible and secure voting process.

Energy and Utilities

Smart contracts can be used in the energy and utilities industry to automate the management and distribution of energy resources. For example, a smart contract can be set up to automatically release payment to a renewable energy producer once their energy has been verified as being delivered to the grid. This can help to increase the efficiency and transparency of the energy market.

Example: LO3 Energy is using smart contracts to enable the trading of locally produced solar energy within neighborhoods. This allows for a more decentralized and efficient energy market, where energy producers and consumers can directly transact with each other. The platform also uses smart meters to track energy usage and automatically execute the smart contract for energy transactions.

Conclusion

Smart contracts have the potential to revolutionize a wide range of industries, from supply chain management to healthcare. By automating processes and increasing transparency, smart contracts can help to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and increase security. As the technology behind smart contracts continues to evolve, we can expect to see more and more innovative use cases emerge in the coming years.

Access keys are used to grant access to digital content or experiences. They can be used to grant access to online courses, webinars, membership sites, and more. NFTs can be used as access keys to grant access to unique digital experiences and assets that can’t be replicated or replicated. For example, a concert promoter could sell NFTs that grant access to a virtual concert and the concert can only be accessed with the NFT.

One of the benefits of using NFTs as access keys is that they can be traded and sold on the open market. This means that access to a digital experience or asset can be sold to the highest bidder, creating a new revenue stream for the creator. Additionally, NFTs can be used to create scarcity and exclusivity, which can help to increase the perceived value of an experience or asset.

Another benefit of using NFTs as access keys is that they can be used to create a sense of community and engagement around a digital experience or asset. For example, a creator could sell a limited number of NFTs that grant access to a unique digital experience, such as a virtual concert. This could create a sense of community and engagement around the concert, as people who own the NFTs will be able to participate in the experience together.

Using NFTs as access keys can also help to protect digital content and experiences from piracy. An NFT can be used to prove ownership of a digital asset, and it can also be used to prove that a person has the right to access a digital experience. This can help to prevent piracy and unauthorized access, which can help to protect the creator’s revenue streams.

Here’s an article from Social Media Examiner that is a good read on the same: Beyond Art: Using NFTs for Access: Social Media Examiner

In conclusion, NFTs are a revolutionary technology that can be used to provide access to unique digital experiences and assets. They can be used to create new revenue streams, increase the perceived value of an experience or asset, create a sense of community and engagement, and protect digital content and experiences from piracy. As the technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative use cases for NFTs in the future. If you are a creator or a business looking for ways to monetize your digital assets, using NFTs as access keys could be a great way to do so.

One of the most exciting use cases for NFTs is in the world of art and collectibles. NFTs allow artists to create one-of-a-kind digital pieces that can be sold and traded just like physical artwork. This opens up new possibilities for artists, as they can now sell their work to a global audience without the need for physical galleries or auction houses. For example, digital artist Beeple sold an NFT of his work for $69 million at Christie’s auction house, making it the most expensive NFT ever sold.

Another industry that has been impacted by NFTs is the world of gaming. NFTs allow developers to create unique, in-game items that players can own and trade. This has led to the emergence of a new type of game, known as “play-to-own” games, where players can purchase NFTs that represent in-game assets such as weapons, vehicles, and even virtual real estate. For example, the game Axie Infinity, is a blockchain-based game, where players can buy, breed, and battle fantasy creatures called Axies, and all the in-game assets are represented as NFTs.

NFTs are also being used to create new opportunities in the world of real estate. Using NFTs, developers can create digital representations of physical properties that can be bought, sold, and traded like traditional real estate. This opens up new possibilities for investors, as they can now invest in real estate without the need for physical property. For example, the company “Propy” is using NFTs to digitize commercial and residential real estate, making it easy to buy, sell and transfer properties on a global scale.

In the music industry, NFTs are being used to create new ways for artists to monetize their music and connect with fans. For example, musicians can create NFTs that represent exclusive access to concerts, merchandise, or behind-the-scenes content. This allows artists to create new revenue streams and foster deeper relationships with their fans. The band Kings of Leon made history by selling their album as NFTs, which were bought by fans for cryptocurrency.

In conclusion, NFTs are a revolutionary technology that is changing the way we think about digital ownership and authenticity. These unique digital assets are being used in a wide variety of industries, from art and entertainment to real estate and gaming. NFTs are opening up new opportunities for artists, developers, musicians, and investors to monetize their work and create new revenue streams. As the technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative use cases for NFTs in the future.

Finance and Banking

One of the most obvious applications of blockchain technology is in the financial and banking sector. Blockchain technology can provide a secure and transparent system for recording financial transactions, reducing the need for intermediaries such as banks. This can lead to faster, cheaper, and more efficient financial transactions. For example, the use of blockchain technology in cross-border payments can reduce the cost and time required for these transactions. Additionally, the use of smart contracts on the blockchain can automate many financial processes, such as the execution of trades.

Supply Chain Management

Another area where blockchain technology has the potential to make a significant impact is supply chain management. Blockchain technology can provide a secure and transparent system for tracking the movement of goods and products through the supply chain. This can lead to improved efficiency, reduced costs, and increased transparency. For example, the use of blockchain technology in the food industry can help to track the movement of food products from farm to consumer, reducing the risk of food fraud and improving food safety.

Healthcare

Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry by providing secure, transparent, and decentralized systems for storing and sharing patient data. This can lead to improved patient outcomes, reduced costs, and increased efficiency. For example, the use of blockchain technology in electronic medical records can provide secure and transparent access to patient data, reducing the need for manual record-keeping and improving the accuracy of patient data.

Governance and Public Services

Blockchain technology can also be used to improve governance and public services. By providing secure, transparent, and decentralized systems for storing and sharing data, blockchain technology can increase transparency and reduce corruption in government and public services. For example, the use of blockchain technology in voting systems can provide a secure and transparent system for conducting elections, reducing the risk of voter fraud.

Challenges

Despite the potential of blockchain technology in various industries, there are still several challenges that must be overcome for its widespread adoption. One of the main challenges is scalability. As the number of transactions on the blockchain increases, it can become increasingly difficult to process and validate these transactions in a timely manner. Additionally, the lack of regulation and standardization of blockchain technology can be a barrier to its adoption.

Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize various industries by providing secure, transparent, and decentralized systems. From finance and banking to healthcare and supply chain management, the applications of blockchain technology are vast and varied. While there are still several challenges that must be overcome for its widespread adoption, the potential benefits of blockchain technology make it worth pursuing.

The web is undergoing dramatic changes. Of the latest changes is Web3, a new version of the internet, which is quickly expanding in size and popularity.

As it’s still a new idea, finding Web3 engineers is a tedious task. It’s mostly cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast developers who are mastering this new form of the web, which is destined to change the internet in ways we have yet to understand.

Before we talk about how to hire Web3 developers, let’s talk about Web3 itself.

What is Web3?

Web3, unlike its predecessors, Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, is based on peer-to-peer (P2P) decentralized networks, such as blockchain.

Blockchain is a hallmark building block of cryptocurrency, and Web3 is a product of both. Web3 developers create apps that aren’t limited to a single cloud server but are instead distributed on a blockchain or decentralized P2P network that isn’t controlled by a central authority.

In simpler words, Web3 is similar to how most cryptocurrencies work based on the blueprint of Bitcoin.

How does this differ from the existing Web 2.0? While Web 2.0 is user-centric (most of the content is user-generated), Web3 has taken this approach to the next level by introducing more autonomy and keeping things more transparent and relatable. In Web3, computers are heavily involved in interpreting information on a human level.

Web3 has many additional attributes that distinguish it from Web 2.0 — it’s verifiable, self-governing, permission-less, distributed, stateless, and has built-in payment systems (cryptocurrency).

This lack of transparency and verification led to Web 2.0 containing too much content and information, most of which isn’t helpful for general users. Its security is also sub-par, which is why there are too many hackers today and a marked increase in identity theft and other cyber-crimes.

Any application built on Web3 would be developed and owned by the users as they help create and maintain the app, earning their stake along the way. This is just how Bitcoin operates, as miners of the currency earn Bitcoins when they facilitate transactions through computing operations.

The apps on Web3 are called “dApps,” which is short for “decentralized applications.” You can expect to hear this term more often in the near future.

An effective Web3 developer is one who is familiar with the concept of Web3, is proficient in the relevant programming languages, and has the right tech stack to back their development work.

What Tech Stack Do Web3 Developers Use: Skills and Tools

The tech stack, or developer stack, refers to the technology or tools the developer uses and excels at. A good example is the MEAN stack, which is comprised of MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS/Angular, and Node.js.

For Web3, there’s a specific tech stack that the developer you’re hiring must use.

Web3 SDKs/dApps

The Web3 SDKs, or libraries, are essential for building any dApp. These libraries support the interaction with a blockchain, such as Ethereum, and conduct transactions.

The most important of these SDKs are web3.js, web3.py, and ethers.js. These are also linked with smart contracts, which are explained further below.

Cryptocurrency Wallets

If you’ve ever dabbled with cryptocurrency, you probably already know what a crypto wallet is. It holds your cryptocurrency and can be either a digital or hardware wallet. For Web3 applications, a wallet is required to facilitate transactions.

There’s a fee for the writing operations on the blockchain, which must be drawn from the wallet. For Web3, the developer can create an ETH (ethers) wallet using any of the common languages, such as Python, JavaScript, or Ruby. Alternatively, developers can use an existing wallet platform like MetaMask.

Nodes

Nodes make up the blockchain and retain a copy of it. These are also called Web3 providers for this reason, as the application’s connectivity with the blockchain hinges on these nodes. Without these nodes, dApp cannot communicate with the smart contracts.

The most commonly used provider is QuickNode, which provides a global network of nodes powered by speedy operations.

Smart Contracts

In the crypto world, smart contracts are pieces of code that live on the blockchain. Written in Solidity, these cannot be altered or mutated. This code runs when the conditions for it to run are met.

This automates the workflow when the participants of the blockchain confirm an outcome. These smart contracts (pioneered by Ethereum) also helped give Ethereum the edge over Bitcoin in terms of transaction speed.

Related: Hire NFT Developers »

Related: What to Look for in a Mobile App Developer

Web3 Developer Salaries

The average yearly salaries for Web3 developers can vary greatly depending on what you’re hiring them for. Here’s an overview of the most popular Web3 expert roles and their salaries.

Blockchain Developer

According to ZipRecruiter, the average yearly salary for a blockchain developer is $154,550 or $74 per hour. Note that this average is mostly drawn from larger companies. If you add smaller companies and startups into the mix, the average yearly salary drops to $80,000 per year.

Since the term “blockchain developer” is a broad descriptor, the associated salaries tend to vary. In general, there are two types of blockchain developers: blockchain software developers and core blockchain developers.

1. Blockchain software developers: Blockchain software developers are responsible for creating applications based on blockchain protocol and architecture. One of their main duties is to create smart contracts, which are programs stored on a blockchain that automatically run when conditions are met. Small contracts are usually used to automate workflows and agreement execution so every participant will immediately know the outcome.

   They also create decentralized applications (dApps) that run on the blockchain, making them comparable with web developers, who use web architects’ design and protocol to create web applications. Additionally, these software developers are responsible for the front-end and back-end development of dApps and supervising the stack that runs them.

2. Core blockchain developers: These blockchain developers are responsible for creating the architecture, design, and security of the blockchain system. They also:

• Design the blockchain protocols
• Design security patterns and consensus protocols for the network
• Supervise the entire blockchain network

Despite their differences, both types of blockchain developers require a similar skill set. Here are the main blockchain developer hard skills you should look for when hiring a blockchain developer for your team:

1. Cryptography: Cryptography is the study of blockchain protocols that prevent unauthorized and unwanted parties from accessing your data. A popular concept in cryptography is public-key cryptography, which forms the backbone of cryptocurrency transactions.

   Another hot topic is cryptographic hashing, which transforms cleartext passwords into enciphered text for storage. This slows down threat actors since they’ll have to decipher these hash values if they want to exploit the passwords.

2. Data structures: Every blockchain developer needs to have extensive knowledge of data structures. This is because blockchain networks consist of data structures.

3. Blockchain architecture: Blockchain developers need to know what ledgers are, how smart contracts work, and what consensus is. They should also be familiar with all four types of blockchain architecture: consortium, private, public, and hybrid.

4. Web development: Blockchain developers should also know how to develop and create web apps, particularly if they’re blockchain software developers.

5. A variety of programming languages: Finally, your blockchain developer should have experience with at three or more of the following programming languages:

• Java
• Python
• C++
• C#
• PHP
• JavaScript
• Go
• Simplicity
• SQL

Like the rest of the roles on this list, blockchain developers need the following soft skills:

• Commitment to and passion for the Web3 landscape
• Interest in learning more about blockchain technologies
• Client and project management skills
• The ability to meet deadlines ahead of time
• The ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams

Solidity Developer

The average base salary for a Solidity developer is $127,500 per year. Remote Solidity developers can earn up to an average of $145,000 per year, depending on which company they’re working for.

Solidity developers use the Solidity language to create and deploy smart contracts on Ethereum-based apps. The syntax of Solidity is similar to C and Javascript, so developers who already know those languages can quickly learn Solidity. Compared to other languages, Solidity offers multiple benefits, such as:

• Statically typed programming
• Accessibility to JavaScript debuggers, infrastructures, and other tools
• Preciseness

With Solidity, developers can craft applications with self-enforcing business logic in smart contracts, creating a non-repeatable record of transactions. Solidity also supports libraries, a complex user-defined type, and inheritance. Thus, it’s a good choice for creating contracts for crowdfunding, voting, multi-signature wallets, and blind auctions.

Solidity developers are usually responsible for:

• Integrating Solidity code across various platforms
• Managing the full lifecycle of blockchain development
• Ensuring blockchain integration with existing applications
• Building smart contracts and ensuring that all timelines and expectations are met for finished smart contracts
• Reviewing smart contracts for security and functionality
• Supervising web services that use blockchain technology
• Collaborating with multidisciplinary teams and product managers to discover new ideas for smart contract development
• Assessing technical reviews of proposed solutions
• Analyzing usage and transaction statistics to pinpoint and prioritize areas for improvement

Besides having a deep knowledge of Solidity and blockchains, Solidity developers should also have the following hard skills:

• Blockchain technology, especially Ethereum blockchain
• Strong background in Javascript, C, C++
• Knowledge of AngularJS, React JS, and Ember JS
• Portfolio experience with Ethereum testnet and mainnet
• CSS/HTML/JS/React for application binary interface (ABI) integration
• Experience with RESTful APIs
• Experience with staking protocol implementation for liquidity pair and single-token staking
• Familiar with different ways to deploy smart contracts, such as Remix, Truffle suite, and Hardhat
• Experienced in staking implementing and test-driven development (TDD)
• Knowledge of libraries, data structures, blockchain architecture, web development, and smart contracts

Smart Contract Developer

According to Glassdoor, the average annual salary of a smart contract developer in San Francisco, CA, is $94,674 with an average additional cash compensation of $20,950.

As their name suggests, smart contract developers are responsible for developing smart contracts for blockchain platforms. They use various programming languages, such as Solidity and Vyper, to create smart contracts, which, as we covered above, are blockchain programs that automatically run when conditions are met.

Unlike blockchain software developers who create dApps as well as smart contracts, smart contract developers are only responsible for designing and building smart contracts architecture and related tasks. As such, they have fewer responsibilities and lower salaries.

Here’s what they’re typically responsible for:

• Designing, building, and deploying smart contracts architecture, yield pools, incentive structures, and strategies
• Working with smart contract auditors and the rest of your IT team to implement fixes
• Create, implement, and test smart contract additions and upgrades
• Explore and research smart contract design implications

Most companies require smart contract developers to have the following hard skills:

• Over four years of full-stack web development (client-facing apps and APIs)
• Programming languages such as Solidity, NodeJS, and JavaScript
• Cryptography
• Experience in creating, developing, deploying, and testing smart contracts for all four blockchain architectural types
• Experience with patterns that will make their Solidity code more readable and improve performance, such as:

1. Oracles
2. Pull over Push
3. Eternal Storage
4. Tight Variable Packing
5. Guard Check
6. Emergency Stop

• The ability to write secure code that prevents threat actors from taking over contracts
• Optimization of smart contracts
• User experience (UX)

Rust Developer

There’s a lot of variation in the salaries of Rust developers.

According to ZipRecruiter, the average Rust developer earns $91,709 per year or $44 per hour. However, in certain major cities, the average salary of Rust developers is higher. For instance, the annual average salary of a rust developer in San Francisco, CA, is $106,131 with an average additional cash compensation of $11,867.

Rust developers are responsible for coding and developing web browsers, blockchain platforms and projects, servers and systems software, and operating systems in the Rust programming language. They may also be responsible for testing, debugging, and ensuring the security and safety of the systems, software, and platforms they develop.

Additional duties may include:

• Collaborating with customers, management, and relevant departments to pinpoint end-user specifications and requirements
• Analyzing user feedback to boost software performance
• Creating technical documentation

Like Solidity, Rust is a popular language that has a wide range of Web3 applications. It’s particularly popular due to its use in the Solana blockchain, a potential competitor to Ethereum as the leading platform for dApps. As of March 2022, Solana is currently ranked ninth in market value on CoinMarketCap, making it the highest-ranked blockchain platform that uses Rust.

Most companies require Rust developers to have the following skills:

• C++, since the Rust language is similar to it
• Other programming languages such as Golang, Python, Java, Node.js, and React.js
• Knowledge and experience with secure coding practices
• Experience with network programming skills and multi-threaded programming
• Familiarity with solana-web3.js, Solana’s official SDK (Rust developers use this SDK to develop Solana dApps)
• The ability to create and launch Programs, which are the Solana equivalent of smart contracts
• Experience with specific operating systems such as Android or Linux
• Experience with certain databases, such as MongoDB and Apache CouchDB

Many organizations also prefer to hire Rust programmers who have at least three to five years of Rust coding experience since it’s a difficult language to master.

According to the Rust Survey of 2019, most Rust programmers rated their expertise as 7 out of 10 or below, even though over 68% of them wrote Rust code weekly. Additionally, 22% of Rust users indicated that they didn’t feel productive while coding Rust and the steep learning curve was the second most common reason for not using Rust on some projects.

As such, it’s important to get a good idea of how familiar and comfortable your potential hire is at Rust. Give them a few test assignments and make sure that they know how to create, test, and debug the programs and apps you want them to create.

Where to Find Web3 Developers

Whether you’re looking to hire Web3 developers for a long-term project or a small gig, knowing where you can find the best talent for this specific set of skills can substantially cut down your search time.

Web3, like cryptocurrency in its early days, is driving impressive innovation. It’s an excellent opportunity to be a part of the blockchain ecosystem and help formulate the future of the web.

Unless you live in a tech hub where you can find talent locally, it’s probably easiest to hire remote developers. Here are the best places to find these developers and Web3 engineers:

Crypto Job Boards

Even while talking about something as cutting edge as Web3, you may find the age-old approach of searching job boards to be quite convenient. However, you’ll want to choose a job board that’s known for harboring blockchain and crypto developers.

There are several recruitment websites that focus solely on crypto-related jobs. You can increase your chances of finding the right person by posting the position on more than one of these platforms.

Some of the most popular online crypto job boards include Crypto Jobs List, CryptoJobs, and Angel. Other more general job sites include Indeed and Remote.co.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is another online job board, but it’s also a social media platform. Many startups begin their talent scouting here.

Not only do you have the opportunity to post Web3 development jobs on LinkedIn, but you can also search for professionals with experience by viewing the profiles of prospective employees. Profiles present workers’ skills, experience, and education, and if you like someone, you can communicate with them directly on the website or app.

While LinkedIn is an excellent place to find a developer, it also provides a great platform for promoting your business, especially if you’re looking for financing. It offers opportunities to show off the talent you hire as well, to make your venture appear even more valuable.

Talent Marketplaces

Online talent marketplaces are another viable option when searching for Web3 developers. These usually have both remote workers and freelancers, so you’ll first need to figure out exactly the kind of worker you need.

Do you want a permanent member of the team? Do you want a contractual freelancer? These are serious considerations. For example, for long-haul collaboration, you’d likely want the developer to be an employee of the company.

There’s nothing wrong with going with a freelance developer, provided this kind of relationship meets your needs and you can find someone suitable. But if you’re looking to embed developers in your team and hire them permanently, Revelo is an excellent place to start. You’ll be connected with top-notch remote talent specializing in Web3 engineering or development, or whatever technology you need to grow your business.

One of the most significant benefits of using Revelo is that the developers are pre-screened, so the skills and experience they list on their profile are what you’ll get. Therefore, there’s no need to confirm their experience — you can just move along with the interviewing process.

How to Hire Web3 Developers

You probably don’t want to spend endless hours reviewing resume after resume and conducting dozens of interviews. At the same time, you also don’t want to miss out on good talent by overlooking their applications.

To help you pick out the best from the rest, here are some examples of job postings and some guidelines for the interviews themselves.

If you find hiring daunting, don’t worry — hiring developers doesn’t require the formal interviews, group discussions, or IQ tests that many big corporations use. If you’re all for decentralization anyway, you might as well do things a little differently than more centralized corporations.

Web3 Developer Job Post Example

The first thing you need to nail is the job post itself. Whether you choose to go with a job board, LinkedIn, or a talent marketplace, you’ll need to define the position you’re offering.

This is important because, believe it or not, many recruiters and contractors end up using the wrong terms in their posts or adding too much detail. This can cause candidates to overlook the most important requirements of the position. In these cases, you’ll end up with irrelevant resumes and often too many of them to sift through.

When you’re looking to hire Web3 developers, the post should be direct. It should address that you’re looking for a blockchain developer who specializes in Web3 development and has the right tech stack to support it.

Ideally, you would want people with experience working with blockchain to apply. So, make a list of the relevant keywords to put in your post. Those keywords will also help the post rank better on search engines, so anyone who types those keywords will see your job posting.

To help you write an immaculate job post to hire Web3 programmer, here is an example:

“We are looking for a passionate and experienced Web3 developer to help us build our project XYZ.

Our ideal candidate is someone with experience developing blockchain-based applications, especially those for Web3 (dApps). They should be aware of and use the latest technologies in crypto, blockchain, and Web3 development. With collaborative energy and willingness to learn, the right candidate will readily communicate with and assist other team members on the project.

Necessary Qualifications:

• Experience with blockchain development
• Experience with Solidity and dApp development
• Basic knowledge of front-end development of dApps to bridge the gap between the complex blockchain and usable Web 2.0–based interface
• Ability to work remotely and collaborate with the team when necessary

Responsibilities

• Help create scalable applications with Ethereum blockchain
• Analyze and solve problems in the development phase
• Communicate and collaborate with back-end and front-end teams
• Develop and optimize smart contracts
• Help document the development process of the blockchain and dApps
• Optimize development and implementation
• Adopt best practices for Web3 and blockchain development”

You can follow this layout or create your own based on this sample structure:

Begin by briefly introducing your company or the idea of the project without giving too much away, especially if you’ve come up with a new idea.

Then, talk about what the ideal candidate should have, including the desired skills and qualifications. Don’t be too general with these but try to be straightforward. Keep in mind that Web3 is relatively new, so asking for 5 or 10 years of specific experience may be unreasonable and limit who applies. This could cause you to miss out on exceptionally qualified candidates.

Consider adding a pay rate or range in the job posting. This transparency will ensure that neither you nor the candidates waste time with interviews or application materials if your expectations are drastically different.

Lastly, list the responsibilities that the developer will have. Include both technical and non-technical responsibilities that you’ll expect of a new hire.

Remember that a clearer job description will attract more relevant applicants.

Web3 Developer Interviews

Once you have shortlisted the candidates, you can begin setting up interviews. You already established during your initial review that they meet the requirements you defined in the job post. Now, it’s time to get to know them a bit better.

You’ll most likely be conducting the interview remotely via a web meeting tool, like Zoom.

It’s always a good idea to formulate your interview questions beforehand. You should write down your most significant concerns with hiring Web3 engineers and keep each candidate’s resume handy either in paper format or on your computer screen.

Ask them how they plan on working remotely, especially if they are located in a different region with a significant time zone difference. Discuss the communication tools and methods of your team and whether they have any experience with those.

Make sure to formulate these discussions and concerns into a set of questions and create a smooth flow. For example, consider dividing the interview into technical and non-technical sections. However, it’s not necessary to stick to your script. If you think of something during the interview, you can go ahead and ask and come back to your pre-written questions after.

Lastly, discuss their salary or pay expectations. Do they prefer to be paid hourly, annually, or by the project?

Here are some sample questions you can use in your interviews:

• How do you think Web3 is different from the previous versions of the web?
• What blockchain projects have you been part of? What was your role?
• What Web3 development tools and technology have you used before?
• What coding languages are you experienced in?
• How do you respond to feedback from other team members?
• What testing methods do you use for your code?
• What is your preferred mode of communication?

Don’t forget to keep the mood light and friendly!

Related: Outsourcing Software Development to Bolivia: Why You Should Hire Bolivian Developers

Web3 Coding Challenges

No matter how well the interview went and how experienced the candidate claims to be, it all comes down to their skill.

To measure and confirm their level of knowledge and experience in Web3 development, you should conduct several small coding challenges. These can be presented to the candidates in written form or as video presentations to explain the purpose of the assignment. The task shouldn’t be longer than an hour unless you plan to pay them for their time.

If you’re hiring a developer to carry out different coding tasks, you should create different coding challenges, each dealing with a specific need of your project — for example, creating nodes, writing smart contracts, or developing the front end of a Web3 application.

Another popular approach to coding challenges is pair programming. In these tests, two developers work together on a problem, either in person or remotely. This is a great way to test their technical skills and their team and communication skills. The code wouldn’t be written by both of the developers, however. One would formulate the code or define the approach, while the other would actually write it. You can reverse the roles for a second test.

Here are some tips for developing coding challenges:

• Utilize problems related to your project. You want to see the developers working in the context of your application. You should take a problem related to your project and present it as a challenge to see how the candidate might benefit your team.
• Focus on the process, not the result. When examining the coding challenge results, don’t just look at whether they solved the problem. Even if they didn’t quite find the solution, their results can help you get to know how they work and whether they have the potential to learn more.
• Use the same challenge. For a single job posting, use the same coding challenge to see how different candidates compare. However, don’t reuse the test once you’ve hired someone successfully.
• Create from scratch. It’s best to create the challenge yourself, using a real problem related to your project. Pre-designed coding tests may not provide the best outcome, and many times the solutions have been published online, which defeats the purpose of testing. If you’re not a developer yourself, consider asking your current developers, especially those responsible for testing, to create these tests for you.

Conclusion

Hiring Web3 developers is not difficult if you search in the right places, conduct the interviews effectively, and design a solid coding test. Even if you believe a candidate is not seasoned, you can always train them. However, they should have the drive to learn more.

Revelo can solve your talent hunting issues by presenting some of the best developers from Latin America to become an integral part of your team and take your Web3 project to the next level. Contact us and get matched with vetted developers within 3 days.

SOURCE: REVELO

A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree). The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was published in order to get into its hash. As blocks each contain information about the block previous to it, they form a chain, with each additional block reinforcing the ones before it. Therefore, blockchains are resistant to modification of their data because once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.

Learn more→

This trust is built on blockchain’s enhanced security, greater transparency, and instant traceability. Beyond matters of trust, blockchain delivers even more business benefits, including cost savings from increased speed, efficiency, and automation. By greatly reducing paperwork and errors, blockchain significantly reduces overhead and transaction costs and reduces or eliminates the need for third parties or middlemen to verify transactions.

Five important blockchain benefits

Enhanced security

Your data is sensitive and crucial, and blockchain can significantly change how your critical information is viewed. By creating a record that can’t be altered and is encrypted end-to-end, blockchain helps prevent fraud and unauthorized activity. Privacy issues can also be addressed on blockchain by anonymizing personal data and using permissions to prevent access. Information is stored across a network of computers rather than a single server, making it difficult for hackers to view data.

Learn more from IBM→

Greater transparency

Without blockchain, each organization has to keep a separate database. Because blockchain uses a distributed ledger, transactions and data are recorded identically in multiple locations. All network participants with permission access see the same information at the same time, providing full transparency. All transactions are immutably recorded, and are time- and date-stamped. This enables members to view the entire history of a transaction and virtually eliminates any opportunity for fraud.

Instant traceability

Blockchain creates an audit trail that documents the provenance of an asset at every step on its journey. In industries where consumers are concerned about environmental or human rights issues surrounding a product — or an industry troubled by counterfeiting and fraud — this helps provide the proof. With blockchain, it is possible to share data about provenance directly with customers. Traceability data can also expose weaknesses in any supply chain — where goods might sit on a loading dock awaiting transit.

Increased efficiency and speed

Traditional paper-heavy processes are time-consuming, prone to human error, and often require third-party mediation. By streamlining these processes with blockchain, transactions can be completed faster and more efficiently. Documentation can be stored on the blockchain along with transaction details, eliminating the need to exchange paper. There’s no need to reconcile multiple ledgers, so clearing and settlement can be much faster.

Automation

Transactions can even be automated with “smart contracts,” which increase your efficiency and speed the process even further. Once pre-specified conditions are met, the next step in the transaction or process is automatically triggered. Smart contracts reduce human intervention as well as reliance on third parties to verify that the terms of a contract have been met. In insurance, for example, once a customer has provided all necessary documentation to file a claim, the claim can automatically be settled and paid.

Learn more about smart contracts→

How industries benefit from blockchain

Blockchain benefits supply chains and food chain

Building trust between trading partners, providing end-to-end visibility, streamlining processes, and resolving issues faster with blockchain all add up to stronger, more resilient supply chains and better business relationships. Plus, participants can act sooner in the event of disruptions. In the food industry, blockchain can help ensure food safety and freshness, and reduce waste. In the event of contamination, food can be traced back to its source in seconds rather than days.

Learn about blockchain for supply chains

Banking and financial industry blockchain benefits

When financial institutions replace old processes and paperwork with blockchain, the benefits include removing friction and delays and increasing operational efficiencies across the industry, including global trade, trade finance, clearing and settlement, consumer banking, lending, and other transactions.

Learn about blockchain for financial services

Healthcare blockchain benefits

In an industry troubled by data breaches, blockchain can help healthcare improve security for patient data while making it easier to share records across providers, payers, and researchers. Control over access remains in the hands of the patient, increasing trust.

Learn about blockchain in healthcare

Pharmaceutical blockchain benefits

As pharmaceutical products move through the supply chain, every action is recorded. The resulting audit trail means an item can be traced from origin to pharmacy or retailer, helping to prevent counterfeiting and enabling manufacturers to locate a recalled product in seconds.

Learn about blockchain in life sciences

Government blockchain benefits

Blockchain can help governments work smarter and innovate faster. Secure sharing of data between citizens and agencies can increase trust while providing an immutable audit trail for regulatory compliance, contract management, identity management, and citizen services.

See blockchain at work for the government

Insurance blockchain benefits

Insurance companies are using blockchain and smart contracts to automate manual and paper-intensive processes such as underwriting and claims settlement, increasing speed and efficiency, and reducing costs. Blockchain’s faster, verifiable data exchanges help reduce fraud and abuse.

Learn more about blockchain and insurance

Cybersecurity blockchain benefits

Cyberattacks are the top threat to our digital world. Look what happened to our data when Equifax announced its gigantic data breach in 2017 that affected 143 billion consumers – we went crazy. Blockchain technology can end such nightmares. It can secure our data against unauthorized access and tampering.

Because blockchain is a decentralized system, it’s ideal for environments where high security is involved. Here, all the information stored on a bitcoin or other blockchain network is verified and encrypted using a cryptographic algorithm – which leads to no SINGLE point of entry for a wide-scale attack. Also, you can easily identify malicious data attacks with blockchain due to peer-to-peer connections, where data cannot be altered or tampered with. And, by eliminating a central authority, blockchain provides a secure and transparent way of recording transactions without disclosing private information to anyone. One example of a company successfully using cybersecurity this way is Guardtime. Because of its success, we expect that many companies will follow, further disrupting this industry, too.

Transportation blockchain benefits

Utilizing blockchain technology enables traceability in the transportation industry, where the shipment of goods can be easily tracked.

Cloud storage blockchain benefits

Storj is a decentralized blockchain cloud storage system. By eliminating servers, Storj uses blockchain to store data in the cloud. With high speed and low cost, users can earn money by sharing their storage space on Storj.

Real estate blockchain benefits

Deploying blockchain technology in real estate increases the speed of the conveyance process and eliminates the need for money exchanges. Let’s not forget that it can revolutionize the title deed systems and procedures. No more land grabbing as once a land has been sold. This data remains permanently on the blockchain and hence can’t be forged or manipulated.

Identity and credential blockchain benefits

Identification and credentials are easier for everyone to work with when they’re digital: vaccination cards, academic qualifications, occupational licenses, employee ID, and more. But this highly personal information must remain private and secure.

Governments, businesses, and educational institutions can turn to the blockchain as a proven way to enable a secure and trusted infrastructure and improve services.

With blockchain technology, information about identity is auditable, traceable, and verifiable — in just seconds. Individuals can curate their own profiles and control data sharing. Issuers easily connect with others and provide nearly instant verification of credentials. All participants are empowered by a platform anchored in trust.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology can power new models for change, advancing knowledge and helping social organizations create shared systems of record. It is already revolutionizing industries and even creating new ones. Individuals, Organizations, and Governments are adopting this new technology because of how it makes processes efficient, secure, immutable, and transparent.

And that’s it for today.

Have a great day or you can continue reading below.

What is blockchain?

A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree). The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was published in order to get into its hash. As blocks each contain information about the block previous to it, they form a chain, with each additional block reinforcing the ones before it. Therefore, blockchains are resistant to modification of their data because once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.

Learn more

What is a cryptocurrency?

A cryptocurrency is any form of currency that exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions. Cryptocurrencies don’t have a central issuing or regulating authority, instead, they use a decentralized system to record transactions and issue new units.

Here is how you can buy your first cryptocurrency

What Are Crypto Tokens?

The term token refers to a special virtual currency token or how cryptocurrencies are denominated. These tokens represent fungible and tradable assets or utilities that reside on their own blockchains. Crypto tokens are often used to fundraise for crowd sales, but they can also serve as a substitute for other things. These tokens are usually created, distributed, sold, and circulated through the standard initial coin offering (ICO) process, which involves a crowdfunding exercise to fund project development.

What is a smart contract?

A smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol that is intended to automatically execute, control, or document legally relevant events and actions according to the terms of a contract or an agreement. The objectives of smart contracts are the reduction of the need for trusted intermediates, arbitrations, and enforcement costs, fraud losses, as well as the reduction of malicious and accidental exceptions.

Learn more.

What is an NFT?

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger (blockchain). NFTs can be associated with reproducible digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. NFTs use a digital ledger to provide a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership, but it does not restrict the sharing or copying of the underlying digital file. The lack of interchangeability (fungibility) distinguishes NFTs from blockchain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

Learn more.

What is Web 3?

Web3, also known as Web 3.0, is an idea for a new iteration of the Internet that is based on public blockchains. The term was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and the idea gained interest in 2020 and 2021 from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, large technology companies, and venture capitalist firms.

Learn more.

What is DeFi?

Decentralized finance (commonly referred to as DeFi) is a blockchain-based form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks to offer traditional financial instruments, and instead utilizes smart contracts on blockchains, the most common being Ethereum.[citation needed] DeFi platforms allow people to lend or borrow funds from others, speculate on price movements on a range of assets using derivatives, trade cryptocurrencies, insure against risks, and earn interest in savings-like accounts. DeFi uses a layered architecture and highly composable building blocks.

Learn more.

What is GameFi?

GameFi also known as Game Finance, is the gamification of financial systems to create profit from playing play-to-earn crypto games.

Learn more.

What is DeIn?

Decentralized Insurance also known as DeIn or DeFi Insurance is where rather than purchasing insurance coverage from one specific individual or company, you can purchase coverage from a decentralized pool of insurance providers. Interestingly, any individual or company can work as an insurance provider by locking up capital in the decentralized capital pool. The individual or company providing capital to the pool can qualify as a liquidity provider.

Learn more.

Conclusion

I am a follower of the above simply because of how much disruption of traditional methods blockchain can create. In one way or the other blockchain technology is the future of processing. Currently, as of writing this post, there are Decentralized Supply Chain Management, Decentralized Full Proof Voting, Decentralized Real Estate, Decentralized Data Protection, and Decentralized Loyalty + Royalty Programs.

Learn more here: The Importance and Benefits of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain increases trust, security, transparency, and the traceability of data shared across a business network — and delivers cost savings with new efficiencies. Blockchain for business uses a shared and immutable ledger that can only be accessed by members with permission.

If we are going, to be honest with each other, and we certainly should be, it is absolutely logical that companies are skeptical to put big money into a decentralized system.

In both the fast-evolving DeFi space and the “Normalverse,” there is always the risk of hacks or exploits. Enter: decentralized insurance.

“There have been innumerable cases of smart-contracts hacking, cyber-attacks on exchange platforms, etc. that have caused huge loss of investor funds,” Blockchain Simplified states on Medium. “Even the magnanimous DAO could not prevent a malware attack on its platform that resulted in the loss of billions. Decentralized Insurance has plenty of use-cases that can help prevent such consequences from occurring.”

DeFi Insurance

We can work together to build these preventative use cases. Let’s rethink the traditional insurance cycle for the DeFi world:

When a policyholder buys decentralized digital asset coverage, they are willingly participating in the protection of their participation on the blockchain. The purchase of insurance comes from a “pool of money” that has been subsidized by what is traditionally known as insurance providers.

In DeFi language, these “insurance providers” are more appropriately liquidity providers (LP), or Insurance Liquidity Providers. These LPs can be any company or individual who locks their capital into a decentralized risk pool with other similar providers. Coverage can range from digital asset and smart contract risk cover to protecting NFTs, DAO governance, and wallets—and as far and wide as you can imagine.

Now, let’s go one step beyond that. This policyholder has purchased coverage for their participation in another DeFi project. They’ve decided to participate in ABC Project by providing collateral, but have purchased insurance coverage in the event there is a hack or vulnerability with ABC’s smart contracts. Not only have they protected their “stake” in that risk, but they have effectively removed that risk from the ABC Project.

What does this mean? It means a risk pool built on community allows the users, project, and LPs to all work toward a common call of safety and security. ABC Project can subsidize the premiums or risk pool to incentivize users to buy insurance. By doing so, the users can purchase cost-effective insurance coverage. This means LPs have a steady stream of premiums. Ultimately, the overall risk of ABC has been diversified – and the entire process is more efficient.

Decentralized Insurance: Efficiency

The efficiency comes from the community approach that decentralized insurance allows for. In the Normalverse, if a business causes you harm, you typically seek damages from its insurance policy.

That means you wait for them to respond, wait for the insurance company to investigate, negotiate with the insurance company, and in some cases the flow of claims payments comes through that business. This causes just a bit of heartburn for the aggrieved party. What we don’t often think about is the heartburn it causes the business as well.

Consider a ridiculously optimistic statement that “most businesses value their customers.” Or, if you are a bit more pessimistic: businesses realize that to drive profit, they need to keep their customers happy.

In the claim scenario outlined above, the pressure to push the insurance company to respond quickly is on the business. The pressure to communicate with their customers takes up hours and hours of time. The loss of income and reputation in the meantime can be unrepairable. All of this feeds a disincentive loop where claimants often fight with businesses who fight with insurance companies who fight with the claimants who fight with … you get it.

Incentive Loop

A decentralized insurance model, instead, feeds an incentive loop. The business can remove the friction and time spent during claims by working with their users (a novel concept) to ensure that claims flow directly to them without the intermediary. This frees up the business’s time for PR and creates a smooth “disaster plan.” On top of that, it transfers much of the risk off their plate. See? An actual incentive loop.

This isn’t the only reason a decentralized community is beneficial for decentralized insurance. The traditional insurance industry is worth more than $5 trillion and often puts profit over people, or at the very least, it has the perception of putting profits over people.

Building the insurance system on-chain means you are working with like-minded individuals. Incentive loop! Traditional, centralized insurers often have efficiency issues stemming from multiple supervisor sign-offs, long processes, etc., that can create delays of days or weeks to process payments and claims.

Days and weeks could mean a dramatic change in the value of your digital asset. Time and efficiency are critical. I’ll leave out the static values of traditional insurance policies, predator claims practices, and opaque propaganda for another time.

Decentralized Insurance Advantages

Research published in SAGE Open talks about the advantages of blockchain-based insurance: “The insurance sector can benefit from the adoption of blockchain technology where the operations span across multiple countries and has many actors including the end user,” the authors wrote.

“The insurance industry can be connected via a decentralized network wherein the transactions are recorded across distributed ledgers. The trust for transactions can be provided by the blockchain members through consensus, thereby eliminating the need for third parties. Contracts and Insurance policies can be recorded electronically as smart contracts with a set of rules for the terms, conditions, duration of the policy, etc.”

Theoretically, decentralized insurance providers such as Nimble on the Algorand network allow for less bias from claims assessors, underwriters, and actuaries, a more efficient business process, and less of a disincentive loop; all while creating cost-effective and profitable risk models.

A decentralized approach to digital asset insurance is about community. Everyone benefits from the actions of others in the community, everyone has a transparent view of the system and process, and everyone works toward profitability because everyone gets a piece of the insurance profit pie.

Moving Forward

Of course, there is risk in the decentralized insurance world. We can’t bubble-wrap ourselves in snappy plastic blockchain protection and ship ourselves off into the metaverse without risk. That isn’t feasible and isn’t how life works.

It’s important that there are enough policyholders buying coverage, enough capital provided by LPs, and enough education to help the community understand how they are working together.

We also need to work with incumbent insurance companies to help them understand that building decentralized insurance processes doesn’t mean a bankrupt insurance industry, but instead a new way forward where all members of the process receive fair and equitable treatment.

You can guess what I’m about to say: “Incentive Loop.”

The reality is that even in a utopian traditional insurance world where insurance companies are empathetic to the needs of their customers, everything goes as planned, and birds are singing throughout the process – legacy technologies in the insurance industry will not work efficiently as we move forward.

A decentralized insurance system with traditional insurance risk models, projections, and underwriting data built on a transparent, blazingly fast, and efficient blockchain with the community in mind – well, that’s a game changer.

Source: BeinCrypto

This article answers these questions, with the goal of educating users about one of the most important aspects of Web3 access infrastructure.

Wallets or keychains?

In the context of blockchain and Web3, a “wallet” is essentially a cryptographic key management system that doubles as a user interface allowing you to interact with network applications and services by reading and/or modifying the state of the blockchain. It is in this sense, therefore, that we will use the term “wallet” from now on.

Although the use of the term is already widespread, it is somewhat misleading, and it is worth dispelling a common misunderstanding right away. Contrary to popular belief, when you make a transaction on the blockchain you are not “sending” tokens from your wallet to someone else’s wallet. In fact, you are using your private key to sign a transaction and transmit it to the entire blockchain network. Only after the network validates your transaction will it be executed, and then this change will be reflected in the updated balances of your address and the recipient’s address.

In this sense, the term “wallet” is misleading because the applications we use to interact with the blockchain do not store money the way physical wallets do. Instead, they store the private keys that allow you to sign and make transactions, and the public keys that allow you to receive assets. A more apt analogy would be to a keychain, with the important difference that in the case of the blockchain this “keychain” not only manages the keys needed to interact with the network but also shows the record of transactions and the balances of the addresses associated with these keys.

But what exactly are the “keys” that digital wallets manage, and what are they used for?

Keys and seed phrases

A “key”, in the sense in which the term is used in cryptography, is the basis of a transformation, usually mathematical, of an ordinary message into an unreadable (encrypted) message.

In public-key cryptography, which is the standard used to implement blockchains, a pair of correlated keys are created for this purpose: the first is called private because it must be kept secret; the second is called public because it can be shared with anyone who wants to receive it. Any participant that has access to your public key can encrypt a message using that key, but only you can read it, using your private key. In addition, you can use your private key to “digitally sign” a message, allowing others to verify that you were the sender; this verification is also done using your public key.

Public-key cryptography — Source: Network Encyclopedia

A wallet stores and allows you to manage this key pair to interact with a blockchain.

• A public key refers to an address that allows you to send and receive transactions.
• A private key proves that you own the assets associated with your address.

You can think of your public key as analogous to your bank account number, and of your private key as analogous to the password you use to access your account and make transactions. As with banking, your public key can be shared with anyone to receive funds, but your private key, like your password, must be kept secret.

Public & Private Keys — Source: Crypto.com

Most modern wallet implementations use a single master key, also known as a seed phrase, to generate the public and private keys. This key generation system is called deterministic because in it the public and private keys are correlated and can always be reproduced from the same seed.

Seed phrases are represented as a list of English words (usually 12, sometimes 24) that you can write down and keep somewhere, and can reuse to retrieve your wallet if for some reason you lose access to it (say, by having a device stolen or damaged).

Example of seed phrases — source: Realt Academy

There are a set of industry standards for wallet implementations that ensure interoperability between different applications. Thanks to these standards, you can easily export and import your keys between wallets from different vendors.

More than keychains — wallets as Web3 identities

The keychain analogy helps, but it doesn’t catch all the functions of wallets. In a blockchain, nodes are constantly synchronizing the state of the network and updating the history of transactions made. As we saw above, wallets connect you to the blockchain nodes and allow you to read this history and also make transactions, registering new data in the network. In this sense, we can also say that wallets work analogously to a traditional web browser, serving as a gateway to access and interact with Web1 / Web2. Wallets, in turn, are your gateway to Web3. But they go further, and can also serve as your identity in this new environment.

In Web3, identity and reputation work very differently from what we are used to today. As a rule, in Web2 our identities are tied to some centralized provider, which almost always requires users to hand over confidential and personal information. Examples of such identities are your Google account, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Web2 Login — Source: Dev.to

In Web3, you simply link your wallet to a decentralized application (dApp) to be able to interact with it. And unlike Web2 authentication methods, wallet addresses are pseudonymous by default. If a user chooses to connect the same wallet with multiple dApps, her (pseudonymous) identity can be easily transferable between those dApps, which means that over time the user can build up a sort of portable reputation, even without having to reveal her personal information.

Web3 Login — Source: Coinbase

As more and more aspects of our lives come to be experienced on Web3 — communication, work, education, entertainment, finance, and so on — all “orchestrated with tokens” (see Dixon and McCormick’s definition of Web3), our very identities will become more and more intertwined with the content of our wallets. For this reason, having a portable, privacy-preserving, and secure digital identity will become of paramount importance in this emerging future.

(I delve deeper into issues involving risks to our identities in Web3 and in the Metaverse in this article.)

Types of wallets

Types of Wallets — Source: Odyssey DAO

The first important distinction for categorizing wallets concerns whether or not they are connected to the Internet. So-called “hot wallets” are connected to the Internet, while so-called “cold wallets” are kept offline.

Hot wallets

In hot wallets, the user’s keys are stored and encrypted in the application itself, which is kept online. Examples of hot wallets include:

• Web-based wallets (websites or browser extensions)
• Wallets for mobile devices (Android or iOS applications)
• Desktop Wallets (applications installed on your OS)

Using a hot wallet, in its different forms, is generally quite convenient, but along with convenience also comes more risk, since computer networks tend to have hidden vulnerabilities that can be targeted by hackers or malware programs, among other forms of a system intrusion.

Hot wallets can be subdivided into two further categories, having to do with the way the keys are controlled in each case.

Custodial hot wallets

These are wallets managed by an exchange (for example, by Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com, etc.), and require you to log in with a username and password to access them, just as you would do to access any traditional web application.

With a custodial wallet, you do not own your keys and therefore are not in full control of the assets they manage. As a popular saying in the crypto community goes, “not your keys, not your coins!”

Because of this, when using custodial wallets you must trust the service provider to securely store your assets and implement strong security measures to prevent unauthorized access. These measures include two-factor authentication (2FA), email confirmation, and biometric authentication, among others. Many exchanges will not allow you to transact until these security measures are properly configured by you.

Non-custodial hot wallets

These are self-managed wallets. The keys and assets these applications manage are fully under the control of the users. But since with great power comes great responsibility, this means that users of non-custodial wallets must take care of their own security regarding key and seed phrase storage. If any of these are lost, recovery may be difficult or even impossible, since they are not usually stored on any third-party server.

Cold wallets

Cold wallets are, by default, offline. This makes them less convenient than hot wallets, but as a rule, also makes them more secure.

Examples of cold wallets include:

• Paper wallets: as the name implies, a paper wallet is a physical location where private keys and/or seed phrases are written or printed. Since hackers cannot access these records remotely, this method is generally more secure than using a hot wallet connected to the internet. On the other hand, it opens up the potential risk that the piece of paper will be destroyed or lost, which could result in unrecoverable funds.
• Stainless steel wallets: To avoid the risk of destroying a paper wallet in case of fire or flooding, you can also engrave your private keys on a stainless steel plate. Some manufacturers even offer ready-made kits for this type of wallet.
• Hardware wallets: A hardware wallet is an external, dedicated device (usually a USB or Bluetooth device) that stores your keys. You can only sign a transaction by pressing a physical button on the device, which malicious actors cannot control.

Wallets with multiple signatures (multisig)

Also known as “multisig”, these are wallets that require two or more private key signatures to authorize transactions. This solution is useful for a number of use cases:

• An individual using a multisig wallet can avoid losing total access to the wallet in a scenario where one key is lost because then there will still be other keys able to sign transactions.
• Multisig wallets can make misuse of funds and fraud more difficult, which makes them a good option for hedge funds, exchanges, and corporations. Since each authorized person will have a key, and a transaction requires the use of most keys, it becomes impossible for any one individual to unilaterally perform unauthorized transactions.

(All the wallet types described above have multisig versions — hot, cold, hardware, and so on.)

How to secure your wallet

If your wallet’s private key or seed phrase gets lost or stolen, you not only risk losing access to your assets but, given what was said before, an integral part of your identity on Web3 will be jeopardized. Therefore, it is crucial that you learn how to secure your wallet to avoid fraud and identity theft.

Here are some tips to ensure the security of your wallet:

1. Store your private keys and your seed phrases in a safe place. Consider copying them to paper or stainless steel and storing them very well, or, if you prefer to have online access, use a password manager (such as 1Password or LastPass).
2. Never share your private keys or seed phrases with anyone. No matter who asks — just don’t share!
3. Protect your password. If your wallet has a separate password, anyone who obtains it can obtain your private key. So choose a secure password, preferably saving it in a password manager, and using 2FA.
4. Don’t leave valuable assets in your everyday hot wallet. Instead, put those assets in a cold wallet or in a separate hot wallet with reinforced security. If you have a lot of assets in your wallet and share your address publicly, sooner or later someone will try to pull a scam using this information and some social engineering techniques.
5. Carefully check any website URL, email address, or social network profile before taking any action involving your wallet. Scammers usually pose as a trusted platform to phish your seed phrase or private key.
6. Turn off private messaging in apps like Discord and Telegram, and never interact with unknown assets (such as NFTs) that appear “out of nowhere” in your wallet. These are two common attack vectors that scammers use.

In addition to these general tips, here are some suggestions of best practices for using cold wallets specifically:

1. Your seed phrase is more important than the device itself. If your cold wallet is damaged, you can always recover your assets by importing your seed phrase into another wallet. Therefore, prioritize the safety of the seed phrase as indicated above.
2. Do not use the seed phrase from a hot wallet in your cold wallet. The purpose of the cold wallet is to store a seed phrase offline. Reusing a hot wallet seed phrase in the cold wallet means bringing back all the problems of online storage.
3. Be very wary of cold wallet phishing attempts. Buy a cold wallet only from the official websites of the manufacturers (such as Ledger and Trezor). Do not respond to “support” emails, letters, or private messages asking for your seed phrase.

Common frauds involving wallets, and tips to avoid them

One of the main goals of scammers regarding the Web3 space is to trick you into sharing your private key or your seed phrase. Here is a list of common scams for this purpose, and tips for avoiding them.

Phishing attacks by fake customer support accounts

Scammers send a message via email, social network, SMS, etc., informing you that there has been some kind of problem with your wallet — for example, “Your Metamask account has been hacked.” The criminals then try to convince you to share your private key or your seed phrase, supposedly to verify that you really own the “hacked” account. If this happens:

• Carefully check the website URL, email address, social profile, or phone number from which the message originated.
• Even if the source seems reliable, remember: no reputable platform will ask for your private key or seed phrase!

MetaMask’s Fake Support Attack — Source: Odyssey DAO

Trust Wallet Fake Support Attack — Source: Rainbow

Airdrops of fake tokens and NFTs

Since wallet addresses are public, literally anyone can send tokens or NFTs to these addresses. This is usually not a big problem, because you can simply choose to ignore them; but some cybercriminals have developed ways to send tokens that can execute transactions on your account as soon as you interact with them. In this sense, one could compare these tokens to a trojan that allows hackers to access your computer as soon as you interact with a malicious file. A more detailed analysis of this type of scam, including an explanatory video, can be found here.

As a precaution, be very careful with “freebies” and “gifts”, usually offered by fake profiles on social networks or by private instant messages on Discord servers or in Telegram groups. Never interact with a token of unknown origin in your wallet!

Blind-signing

Another recent and still little-known type of attack used to steal digital assets from wallets is blind signing. This attack takes advantage of the fact that users who employ their wallets to interact with dApps and NFTs often do not review the code of the smart contracts underlying these applications and therefore may end up signing and authorizing transactions without knowing exactly what they are signing and authorizing.

For example, it is sometimes necessary to grant a third party — say, cryptocurrency exchange or an NFT marketplace — permission to conduct transactions involving tokens within your wallet. Once third-party access is approved, users can exchange tokens or list NFTs for sale without paying additional fees each time. The attackers have found ways to trick victims into giving them third-party approval over the contents of their wallets, which can be transferred to other addresses controlled by the criminals.

Fake hardware wallets

One very ingenious scam involves sending some sort of correspondence — it can be an email or even a physical letter in the mail, “signed” by a CEO of a hardware wallet manufacturer — that tries to convince the user that their wallet has suffered some sort of attack and needs to be replaced. Sometimes a new device is even sent along with the letter. But these new devices have been hacked to provide access to the fraudsters, who then clone the wallet using the previously created seed phrase to gain access to the user’s funds.

If something like this happens, simply throw these devices in the trash and inform the manufacturer of the attempt.

A fake letter signed by “Ledger CEO” — Source: Ledger

Speaking of Web3 Identities, Unstoppable Domains is on a mission to create the best web3 domains and identities on the planet. Their domains fix a lot of issues such as long complex crypto addresses, sign-in with your web3 ID, and more. My Web3 Domain is stephenajulu.crypto. Get your own now at a discounted price. Free minting and no renewal fees: Unstoppable Domains

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Sources and Further Reading

• Wallets as web3 identities By Jônadas Techio — Blockchain Solutions Architect & Web3 Evangelist @ Axur(Medium)
• What is a Crypto Wallet? A Beginner’s Guide (Crypto.com)
• What is a crypto wallet? | Coinbase
• Public Key Cryptography — Network Encyclopedia
• Seed Phrase 101 (Realt Academy)
• How to use a hot wallet? (Odyssey DAO)
• The Anatomy of MetaMask. An X-ray of Web3’s Beloved Fox | by Julia Wu | Jun, 2022
• How to use a cold wallet? (Odyssey DAO)
• What is a Hardware Wallet and How Does it Work? (Crypto.com)
• How to avoid crypto scams (Rainbow)
• How to avoid wallet scams? (Odyssey DAO)
• Digital Risks in Blockchain and Web3 (Axur — Free Ebook)
• Digital risks in the Metaverse (Medium)

NFT domains are domains that live on a public blockchain and give users complete ownership of their stored data. The main benefits to owning one are simplifying crypto transactions by replacing long complicated wallet addresses with the domain name and easily creating and hosting websites on web3.

What is the Ethereum Naming Service?

Ethereum Name Service is a blockchain protocol for users who want to have their own unique and memorable usernames over Web 3.0. Using the service allows you to nail all of your wallet addresses and decentralized websites to a single unique name. For instance, “alice.ETH.” This makes you more recognizable and easier to find across the decentralized space.

The service also allows you to use your domain name to create a decentralized website or to link an existing domain to your Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD) wallet.

How to buy an “.ETH” domain?

How to Register Your First “.ETH” Domain

1. Go to https://app.ens.domains
2. Use the search bar to find a domain you want.
3. Tap on your chosen name to see an estimate of how much it will cost.
4. Get a free Ethereum wallet. I recommend Rainbow or MetaMask
5. Buy enough Ethereum using the wallet to cover the cost of your domain (add a little extra just in case)
6. Go back to the ENS domain website, click the menu in the top right and connect your new wallet.
7. Once connected, you’ll be able to click the blue “Request to Register” button on the domain.
8. Open your wallet & confirm the first transaction request. The transaction may take a few minutes, and then you’ll see a 1-minute countdown begin on the ENS site.
9. After the 1-minute countdown is done, you’ll be able to finalize your registration. Click the register button to initiate a transaction in your wallet.
10. Confirm the transaction in your wallet, then wait for it to complete.
11. You now have your very own ENS name! Congratulations!
12. Lastly, go to your account on the ENS website and set your reverse record to the new name you’ve purchased.

You can now use your “.ETH” address to send/receive Ethereum and other crypto assets. In the future, it’ll be used for more things too!

If you’d like to learn more, go check out the previous article here.

First,

What is an NFT/WEB3 Domain?

NFT domains are domains that live on a public blockchain and give users complete ownership of their stored data. The main benefits to owning one are simplifying crypto transactions by replacing long complicated wallet addresses with the domain name and easily creating and hosting websites on web3.

If you haven’t heard yet, NFT domains are the newest kids on the block(chain) and they have the power to change what we know of as the internet today. But before we dive into all that goodness, let’s take a step back to run through what traditional domains are and define NFTs — that way, you can truly understand the superpowers behind NFT domains.

Typically, you interact with a traditional domain when you type the address (like Twitter.com) into your browser. But did you know traditional domains were originally built to do so much more on the internet? Think of functionalities like email and payments. Hard to believe, right?

But as we can see, traditional domains haven’t progressed much beyond displaying websites. This might be because traditional domains have been controlled by centralized servers since the internet was created. This made it much more difficult for developers to innovate on top of that technology.

Luckily for us, the tech that powers NFT domains (a.k.a. blockchains) opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for us on the web!

What is an NFT?

NFT (non-fungible token): a digital certificate of authenticity used to assign and verify ownership of a unique digital or physical asset. Unlike fungible tokens, NFTs are not interchangeable with one another.

How Do They Work?

Great question! NFT domains are essentially a suite of smart contracts, which is a fancy term to describe software written on a public blockchain. This means that instead of one company controlling your data online, the power is transferred back to you as the user. And by being built on blockchains, anyone can look at the data stored there, creating a level of ultimate openness and transparency.

On top of that, there is the benefit of enhanced security — only you hold the power to make updates to your NFT domain, which minimizes worries about servers getting hacked or domains getting stolen.

All that to say, blockchain superpowers give everyone a safer way to surf the internet while also giving control back to you over what gets shared and where it gets shared.

Cool, I’m starting to get the power of blockchain but am still not 100% sure what I can DO with an NFT domain?

Uses of an NFT Domain?

1. Simplify crypto transactions by replacing all your complicated wallet addresses with your domain name as your username.
2. Use your domain to receive 275+ coins and tokens across multiple blockchain networks.
3. Login to apps with your domain name as your universal web3 username.
4. Unlike traditional domains, fully own and control your domain. You buy it once, you own it for life!
5. Easily create and host websites, ranging from personal websites to NFT galleries.

Reasons to get one?

#1) Zero Renewal Fees

Unlike traditional .com domains, you fully own and control your Unstoppable Domain, so you never have to pay renewal fees. Ever. You buy it once, you own it for life!

#2) Seamless Crypto Payments

No longer fear your payments getting lost in the ether (pun intended). Instead of copy and pasting your wallet address (which is similar to a bank account number and can look like: 0xc6b0562605d35ee710138402b878ffe6f2e23807), use an Unstoppable Domain as your one-stop-shop username to store all of your wallet addresses for sending and receiving crypto.

#3) Multi-Chain Compatibility

Your NFT domain comes with the superpower to receive over 275 supported coins and tokens, with many more on the way! Now you can navigate crypto transactions with ease, regardless of the blockchain network. Browse the complete list of supported cryptocurrencies here.

#4) Decentralized Websites

Want to create a website on the decentralized web? Create one in just a few clicks with our pre-made templates. Own any NFTs? Create a gallery-style website to show off your favorite collectibles as your collection grows. We’ll be adding more features and templates in the future, so stay tuned here.

#5) Own Your Identity on Web3

As the world shifts to web3, it’ll be more important than ever to own your part of the new internet. By owning an Unstoppable Domain, you’ll not only help progress the digital world, you’ll ensure your identity is secured for the next wave of technology.

How to get one?

1. To buy one visit this link and follow the prompts: Register for Unstoppable Domains.

A cryptocurrency is any form of currency that exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions. Cryptocurrencies don’t have a central issuing or regulating authority, instead, they use a decentralized system to record transactions and issue new units.

Here is how you can buy your first cryptocurrency

What is blockchain?

A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree). The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was published in order to get into its hash. As blocks each contain information about the block previous to it, they form a chain, with each additional block reinforcing the ones before it. Therefore, blockchains are resistant to modification of their data because once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.

Learn more.

What is a smart contract?

A smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol that is intended to automatically execute, control, or document legally relevant events and actions according to the terms of a contract or an agreement. The objectives of smart contracts are the reduction of need in trusted intermediates, arbitrations, and enforcement costs, fraud losses, as well as the reduction of malicious and accidental exceptions.

Learn more.

What is an NFT?

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger (blockchain). NFTs can be associated with reproducible digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. NFTs use a digital ledger to provide a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership, but it does not restrict the sharing or copying of the underlying digital file. The lack of interchangeability (fungibility) distinguishes NFTs from blockchain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

Learn more.

What is Web 3?

Web3, also known as Web 3.0, is an idea for a new iteration of the Internet that is based on public blockchains. The term was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and the idea gained interest in 2020 and 2021 from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, large technology companies, and venture capitalist firms.

Learn more.

What is DeFi?

Decentralized finance (commonly referred to as DeFi) is a blockchain-based form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks to offer traditional financial instruments, and instead utilizes smart contracts on blockchains, the most common being Ethereum.[citation needed] DeFi platforms allow people to lend or borrow funds from others, speculate on price movements on a range of assets using derivatives, trade cryptocurrencies, insure against risks, and earn interest in savings-like accounts. DeFi uses a layered architecture and highly composable building blocks.

Learn more.

What is GameFi?

GameFi is also known as Game Finance, is the gamification of financial systems to create profit from playing play-to-earn crypto games.

Learn more.

Unlike many traditional online games, which operate on a “pay-to-win” model and allow players to purchase upgrades in order to gain an advantage over others, GameFi introduces a “play-to-earn” model. This concept involves giving players financial incentives to play and progress through games. In some cases, this has allowed gamers to earn a full-time income by doing so.

How it works

All objects in these types of games are expressed as NFTs – digital tokens used to prove ownership of scarce intangible items. Think of things like plots of land, avatars, costumes, weapons, and gold bars. Once players find and accrue these items through gameplay, many have the option to trade these with others in digital marketplaces for different NFTs or sell them in exchange for cryptocurrency.

Depending on which game is played, users can increase their earning potential by dedicating time leveling up and improving their characters, creating monetized structures on their land that other gamers pay to use, or by competing against others in tournaments.

In order to keep track of what every player owns, all NFTs and cryptocurrency transaction data are stored on a public blockchain. This is a type of distributed, digital record-keeping technology maintained by a global network of computers. Leveraging this technology in gaming provides a number of benefits, including:

• Players can easily prove ownership of their in-game items.
• There is no single point of failure, meaning players will no longer be at risk of losing track of what they own if the underlying gaming company experiences technical issues.
• Items accrued during gameplay cannot be counterfeited, removed, or destroyed.
• Game-native cryptocurrencies can be sent and received without the need for intermediary settlement, clearing, or custody.

Some games also include DeFi elements such as staking, where players can lock away certain tokens in order to earn annual interest, and other rewards they can save to purchase other in-game items or unlock new content.

What you need to play

In order to take part in any of these play-to-earn games, users will need to do the following:

• Create a cryptocurrency wallet: To store their virtual currency and NFTs, and make in-game transactions. Which wallet you need will depend on which blockchain the game was built upon. For example, MetaMask – an Ethereum-based crypto wallet service – will work with any GameFi game built on Ethereum.
• Purchase starter items: All GameFi games are free to download. However, many require players to first purchase characters, native crypto tokens, decks of cards, or upgrades in order to begin.
• Pre-funded crypto wallet: You will need to pre-fund your crypto wallet with a particular cryptocurrency in order to purchase starter items and proceed. Cryptoblades, for example, requires users to download MetaMask, purchase Binance coin (BNB) and exchange it for the game’s native cryptocurrency, SKILL.

Where did GameFi come from?

The emergence of GameFi comes from a combination of factors that dates back to 2017 and the emergence of the NFT phenomenon CryptoKitties. The digital collectibles economy proved a viral success, with CryptoKitties amassing over 14,914 users a day at its peak. CryptoPunks, a collection of 10,000 pixelated NFT characters also built on Ethereum, enjoyed similar success, surpassing $1 billion in sales over 2018.

Unfortunately, the success of these NFTs showed both the good and bad sides of the state of blockchain technology at the time. Games like CryptoKitties caused heavy congestion on the Ethereum network, leading to extreme spikes in transaction fees and much slower than normal transaction confirmation times. These technical issues highlighted a clear gap in the market for more efficient and scalable platforms that could handle the rising demand from online gamers and virtual asset collectors.

Since then, a number of new “Ethereum killer” blockchains have emerged that promise faster transaction speeds, greater scalability, and cheaper fees. These include the likes of Solana and Cardano, both of which have recently set new all-time highs as investors bet big on new dapp competitors.

The proliferation of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms over 2020 was the next critical component enabling GameFi’s growth, introducing a range of blockchain-native financial platforms that run entirely using smart contracts. This provided the infrastructure for decentralized exchanges where in-game cryptocurrencies could be launched from and traded, as well as additional features like lending and staking.

In September 2020, Yearn.finance founder and DeFi developer Andre Conje tweeted about the gamification of monetary policies in a decentralized environment. He recognized the multiple benefits DeFi and NFTs could bring to the online gaming industry, and GameFi applications quickly started to form. Axie Infinity was one of the first play-to-earn games to take off in a big way, surpassing $1 billion in revenue on Aug. 9, 2021.

Coming Soon: Top GameFi Games

Source: CoinDesk

The original concept behind the invention of blockchain technology is still a great application. Money transfers using blockchain can be less expensive and faster than using existing money transfer services. This is especially true of cross-border transactions, which are often slow and expensive. Even in the modern U.S. financial system, money transfers between accounts can take days, while a blockchain transaction takes minutes.

2. Financial exchanges

Many companies have popped up over the past few years offering decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges. Using blockchain for exchanges allows for faster and less expensive transactions. Moreover, a decentralized exchange doesn’t require investors to deposit their assets with the centralized authority, which means they maintain greater control and security. While blockchain-based exchanges primarily deal in cryptocurrency, the concept could be applied to more traditional investments as well.

3. Lending

Lenders can use blockchain to execute collateralized loans through smart contracts. Smart contracts built on the blockchain allow certain events to automatically trigger things like a service payment, a margin call, full repayment of the loan, and release of collateral. As a result, loan processing is faster and less expensive, and lenders can offer better rates.

4. Insurance

Using smart contracts on a blockchain can provide greater transparency for customers and insurance providers. Recording all claims on a blockchain would keep customers from making duplicate claims for the same event. Furthermore, using smart contracts can speed up the process for claimants to receive payments.

5. Real estate

Real estate transactions require a ton of paperwork to verify financial information and ownership and then transfer deeds and titles to new owners. Using blockchain technology to record real estate transactions can provide a more secure and accessible means of verifying and transferring ownership. That can speed up transactions, reduce paperwork, and save money.

6. Secure personal information

Keeping data such as your Social Security number, date of birth, and other identifying information on a public ledger (e.g., a blockchain) may actually be more secure than current systems more susceptible to hacks. Blockchain technology can be used to secure access to identifying information while improving access for those who need it in industries such as travel, healthcare, finance, and education.

7. Voting

If personally identifiable information is held on a blockchain, that puts us just one step away from also being able to vote using blockchain technology. Using blockchain technology can make sure that nobody votes twice, only eligible voters are able to vote, and votes cannot be tampered with. What’s more, it can increase access to voting by making it as simple as pressing a few buttons on your smartphone. At the same time, the cost of running an election would substantially decrease.

8. Government benefits

Another way to use digital identities stored on a blockchain is for the administration of government benefits such as welfare programs, Social Security, and Medicare. Using blockchain technology could reduce fraud and the costs of operations. Meanwhile, beneficiaries can receive funds more quickly through digital disbursement on the blockchain.

9. Securely share medical information

Keeping medical records on a blockchain can allow doctors and medical professionals to obtain accurate and up-to-date information on their patients. That can ensure that patients seeing multiple doctors get the best care possible. It can also speed up the system for pulling medical records, allowing for more timely treatment in some cases. And, if insurance information is held in the database, doctors can easily verify whether a patient is insured and their treatment is covered.

10. Artist royalties

Using blockchain technology to track music and film files distributed over the internet can make sure that artists are paid for their work. Since blockchain technology was invented to ensure the same file doesn’t exist in more than one place, it can be used to help reduce piracy. What’s more, using a blockchain to track playbacks on streaming services and a smart contract to distribute payments can provide greater transparency and the assurance that artists receive the money they’re owed.

11. Non-fungible tokens

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are commonly thought of as ways to own the rights to digital art. Since the blockchain prevents data from existing in two places, putting an NFT on the blockchain guarantees that only a single copy of a piece of digital art exists. That can make it like investing in physical art but without the drawbacks of storage and maintenance.

NFTs can have varied applications, and ultimately they’re a way to convey ownership of anything that can be represented by data. That could be the deed to a house, the broadcast rights to a video, or an event ticket. Anything remotely unique could be an NFT.

12. Logistics and supply chain tracking

Using blockchain technology to track items as they move through a logistics or supply chain network can provide several advantages. First of all, it provides greater ease of communication between partners since data is available on a secure public ledger. Second, it provides greater security and data integrity since the data on the blockchain can’t be altered. That means logistics and supply chain partners can work together more easily with greater trust that the data they’ve provided is accurate and up to date.

13. Secure Internet of Things networks

The Internet of Things (IoT) is making our lives easier, but it’s also opening the door for nefarious actors to access our data or take control of important systems. Blockchain technology can provide greater security by storing passwords and other data on a decentralized network instead of a centralized server. Additionally, it offers protection against data tampering since a blockchain is practically immutable.

14. Data storage

Adding blockchain technology to a data storage solution can provide greater security and integrity. Since data can be stored in a decentralized manner, it will be more difficult to hack into and wipe out all the data on the network, whereas a centralized data storage provider may only have a few points of redundancy. It also means greater access to data since access isn’t necessarily reliant on the operations of a single company. In some cases, using blockchain for data storage may also be less expensive.

15. Gambling

The gambling industry can use blockchain to provide several benefits to players. One of the biggest benefits of operating a casino on the blockchain is the transparency it provides to potential gamblers. Since every transaction is recorded on the blockchain, bettors can see that the games are fair and the casino pays out. Furthermore, by using blockchain, there’s no need to provide personal information, including a bank account, which may be a hurdle for some would-be gamblers. It also provides a workaround for regulatory restrictions since players can gamble anonymously and the decentralized network isn’t susceptible to a government shutdown.

Blockchain is in its infancy

Blockchain technology has only been around for a dozen years, and businesses are still exploring new ways to apply the technology to support their operations. With the growing amount of digital data used in our lives, there’s a growing need for the data security, access, transparency, and integrity blockchain can provide.

Source: The Motley Fool

To put it simply: Proof of stake is basically a process used to validate crypto transactions through staking.

Both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake are what are called “consensus mechanisms,” the method by which a blockchain maintains its integrity. Consensus is what addresses the “double spending” problem of digital money. If there were any way the user of a cryptocurrency could spend their coins more than once, it would undermine the entire system. The currency would be worthless.

This is a tricky problem, especially with online currencies that have no central authority, such as a bank or a government, to keep track of how much money each person has, how they’re spending it, and whom they’re paying.

The Bitcoin network was the first to solve this problem with proof-of-work. Proof-of-stake has emerged as a possible alternative that some researchers think is both more energy-efficient and more secure, though there’s debate about this.

In PoS, the nodes of the network commit “stakes” of tokens for a set period of time in exchange for a chance at being selected to produce the next block of transactions. The node that’s chosen - referred to as the “validator” - will receive the block rewards in the form of the native token of the network.

How does proof of stake work?

To answer the question “what is proof of stake,” we must first define what it means for blockchains to achieve consensus.

Blockchain is a decentralized distributed ledger of transactions. Because there’s no single server controlling the network, there has to be some way for everyone to agree on which transactions are valid. Otherwise, it would be possible for people to create fake transactions.

The servers in a blockchain are called “nodes.” Nodes process transactions. Some nodes have the ability to add blocks of transactions to the chain, maintaining and growing the ledger. In Proof of Work (PoW) networks (which we’ll cover later) like Bitcoin, these nodes are referred to as “miners.”

For PoS, nodes commit funds to the network - a process known as “staking” - for a chance to be chosen as the next block writer instead of nodes competing with each other to be rewarded for solving cryptographic puzzles, as is the case with PoW.

In PoS networks, nodes that can add blocks are called “validators,” which are individuals who are responsible for verifying transactions on a blockchain. Each validator has a chance at being selected to write the next block and receive its rewards.

It’s kind of like a lottery - the larger the stake of tokens committed, the higher odds that node has of being chosen. “The choice of the next block writer, the next validator, is a pseudo-random process that’s determined by the size of the stake that you as the user have dedicated to the network,” says Daniel Gould, CEO, and co-founder of Nodamatics.

PoS can improve upon some of the biggest problems presented by PoW, namely:

Energy consumption: PoS requires less energy than PoW.

Transaction throughput: PoS networks can handle more transactions than PoW.

Scalability: PoS networks can scale more easily than PoW networks.

A quick tip: For a deeper understanding of PoW and how it first made digital currency possible, read the Satoshi Nakamoto white paper.

Which cryptocurrencies use proof of stake?

A growing number of the most popular cryptocurrencies use some variation of the PoS protocol. Here’s a partial list:

• Cosmos (ATOM)
• Cardano (ADA)
• Polkadot (DOT)
• Solana (SOL)
• VeChain (VET)
• Tezos (XTZ)

These networks aim to accomplish a variety of different tasks.

Cardano and Solana are focused on providing smart contract functionality, much like Ethereum.

Cosmos helps different blockchain communicate with each other.

Tezos is designed to allow for the creation and trading of security tokens.

Because there is no “mining” involved in PoS, PoS networks often start with a “pre-mine,” where the entire supply of tokens is brought into existence at once.

SUMMARY

• Proof of Stake (PoS) is a consensus protocol - or a set of rules or system of agreement - that’s used to validate cryptocurrency transactions.
• PoS redefines how blockchain nodes agree on which record of crypto transactions is accurate and improves upon the Proof of Work (PoW) system.
• PoS requires validators to stake tokens to validate transactions, while PoW requires miners to solve a cryptographic puzzle.

The code and the agreements contained therein exist across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network. The code controls the execution, and transactions are trackable and irreversible.

Smart contracts permit trusted transactions and agreements to be carried out among disparate, anonymous parties without the need for a central authority, legal system, or external enforcement mechanism.

Smart contracts are made possible by blockchains, a network of computers that work together to enforce rules on the network without requiring the help of an intermediary.

How smart contracts work

Smart contracts work by following simple “if/when…then…” statements that are written into code on a blockchain. A network of computers executes the actions when predetermined conditions have been met and verified. These actions could include releasing funds to the appropriate parties, registering a vehicle, sending notifications, or issuing a ticket. The blockchain is then updated when the transaction is completed. That means the transaction cannot be changed, and only parties who have been granted permission can see the results.

Within a smart contract, there can be as many stipulations as needed to satisfy the participants that the task will be completed satisfactorily. To establish the terms, participants must determine how transactions and their data are represented on the blockchain, agree on the “if/when…then…” rules that govern those transactions, explore all possible exceptions, and define a framework for resolving disputes.

Then the smart contract can be programmed by a developer – although increasingly, organizations that use blockchain for business provide templates, web interfaces, and other online tools to simplify structuring smart contracts.

With conventional contracts, a document outlines the terms of a relationship between two parties, which is enforceable by law. If one Party A violates the terms, Party B can take Party A to court for not complying with the agreement. A smart contract fortifies such agreements in code so the rules are automatically enforced without courts (or any third party) getting involved.

Benefits of smart contracts

• Speed, efficiency, and accuracy: Once a condition is met, the contract is executed immediately. Because smart contracts are digital and automated, there’s no paperwork to process and no time spent reconciling errors that often result from manually filling in documents.
• Trust and transparency: Because there’s no third party involved, and because encrypted records of transactions are shared across participants, there’s no need to question whether information has been altered for personal benefit.
• Security: Blockchain transaction records are encrypted, which makes them very hard to hack. Moreover, because each record is connected to the previous and subsequent records on a distributed ledger, hackers would have to alter the entire chain to change a single record.
• Savings: Smart contracts remove the need for intermediaries to handle transactions and, by extension, their associated time delays and fees.

What can smart contracts be used for?

Some common ways of using smart contracts are:

• Multisignature accounts: Funds can only be spent when a required percentage of people agree.
• Encoding financial agreements: Manage agreements between users. Say, if one person buys insurance from an insurance company, the rules of when the insurance can be redeemed can be programmed into a smart contract.
• Agreements based on the outside world: Pull in data from the outside world (financial, political, or whatever) with the help of oracles.
• Provide the third party: Similar to how a software library works, smart contracts can work with other smart contracts in a chain.
• Storage: Store information about an application, such as domain registration information or membership records. Storage in a blockchain like Ethereum is unique in that the data is immutable and can’t be erased.

Examples of blockchain platforms supporting smart contracts

• Bitcoin: Provides a Turing-incomplete script language that allows the creation of custom smart contracts on top of Bitcoin like multisignature accounts, payment channels, escrows, time locks, atomic cross-chain trading, oracles, or multi-party lottery with no operator.
• Cardano: A blockchain platform for smart contracts, using proof of stake
• Ethereum: Implements a Turing-complete language on its blockchain, a prominent smart contract framework.
• EOS.IO: A blockchain platform for smart contracts
• Tezos: A blockchain platform modifying its own set of rules with minimal disruption to the network through an on-chain governance model

One key difference between a typical database and a blockchain is how the data is structured. A blockchain collects information together in groups, known as blocks, that hold sets of information. Blocks have certain storage capacities and, when filled, are closed and linked to the previously filled block, forming a chain of data known as the blockchain. All new information that follows that freshly added block is compiled into a newly formed block that will then also be added to the chain once filled.

A database usually structures its data into tables, whereas a blockchain, like its name implies, structures its data into chunks (blocks) that are strung together. This data structure inherently makes an irreversible time line of data when implemented in a decentralized nature. When a block is filled, it is set in stone and becomes a part of this time line. Each block in the chain is given an exact time stamp when it is added to the chain.

How Does a Blockchain Work?

The goal of blockchain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited. In this way, a blockchain is a foundation for immutable ledgers, or records of transactions that cannot be altered, deleted, or destroyed. This is why blockchains are also known as distributed ledger technology (DLT).

First proposed as a research project in 1991,1 the blockchain concept predated its first widespread application in use: Bitcoin, in 2009. In the years since, the use of blockchains has exploded via the creation of various cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and smart contracts.

You’ll find that these blockchains and cryptocurrencies are being used to create more cryptocurrencies and blockchains. Most are also involved in the metaverse and web 3.0 development.

Buy their cryptocurrencies by registering here: BINANCE

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What is an NFT?

An NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items, and videos. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos.

Although they’ve been around since 2014, NFTs are gaining notoriety now because they are becoming an increasingly popular way to buy and sell digital artwork. A staggering $174 million has been spent on NFTs since November 2017.

NFTs are also generally one of a kind, or at least one of a very limited run, and have unique identifying codes. “Essentially, NFTs create digital scarcity,” says Arry Yu, chair of the Washington Technology Industry Association Cascadia Blockchain Council and managing director of Yellow Umbrella Ventures.

This stands in stark contrast to most digital creations, which are almost always infinite in supply. Hypothetically, cutting off the supply should raise the value of a given asset, assuming it’s in demand.

But many NFTs, at least in these early days, have been digital creations that already exist in some form elsewhere, like iconic video clips from NBA games or securitized versions of digital art that’s already floating around on Instagram.

For instance, famous digital artist Mike Winklemann, better known as “Beeple” crafted a composite of 5,000 daily drawings to create perhaps the most famous NFT of the moment, “EVERYDAYS: The First 5000 Days,” which sold at Christie’s for a record-breaking $69.3 million.

Anyone can view the individual images—or even the entire collage of images online for free. So why are people willing to spend millions on something they could easily screenshot or download?

Because an NFT allows the buyer to own the original item. Not only that, it contains built-in authentication, which serves as proof of ownership. Collectors value those “digital bragging rights” almost more than the item itself.

How Is an NFT Different from Cryptocurrency?

NFT stands for non-fungible token. It’s generally built using the same kind of programming as cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but that’s where the similarity ends.

Physical money and cryptocurrencies are “fungible,” meaning they can be traded or exchanged for one another. They’re also equal in value—one dollar is always worth another dollar; one Bitcoin is always equal to another Bitcoin. Crypto’s fungibility makes it a trusted means of conducting transactions on the blockchain.

NFTs are different. Each has a digital signature that makes it impossible for NFTs to be exchanged for or equal to one another (hence, non-fungible). One NBA Top Shot clip, for example, is not equal to EVERYDAYS simply because they’re both NFTs. (One NBA Top Shot clip isn’t even necessarily equal to another NBA Top Shot clip, for that matter.)

How Does an NFT Work?

NFTs exist on a blockchain, which is a distributed public ledger that records transactions. You’re probably most familiar with blockchain as the underlying process that makes cryptocurrencies possible.

Specifically, NFTs are typically held on the Ethereum blockchain, although other blockchains support them as well.

An NFT is created, or “minted” from digital objects that represent both tangible and intangible items, including:

• Art

• GIFs

• Videos and sports highlights

• Collectibles

• Virtual avatars and video game skins

• Designer sneakers

• Music

Even tweets count. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT for more than $2.9 million.

Essentially, NFTs are like physical collector’s items, only digital. So instead of getting an actual oil painting to hang on the wall, the buyer gets a digital file instead.

They also get exclusive ownership rights. That’s right: NFTs can have only one owner at a time. NFTs’ unique data makes it easy to verify their ownership and transfer tokens between owners. The owner or creator can also store specific information inside them. For instance, artists can sign their artwork by including their signature in an NFT’s metadata.

What Are NFTs Used For?

Blockchain technology and NFTs afford artists and content creators a unique opportunity to monetize their wares. For example, artists no longer have to rely on galleries or auction houses to sell their art. Instead, the artist can sell it directly to the consumer as an NFT, which also lets them keep more of the profits. In addition, artists can program in royalties so they’ll receive a percentage of sales whenever their art is sold to a new owner. This is an attractive feature as artists generally do not receive future proceeds after their art is first sold.

Art isn’t the only way to make money with NFTs. Brands like Charmin and Taco Bell have auctioned off themed NFT art to raise funds for charity. Charmin dubbed its offering “NFTP” (non-fungible toilet paper), and Taco Bell’s NFT art sold out in minutes, with the highest bids coming in at 1.5 wrapped ether (WETH)—equal to $3,723.83 at time of writing.

Nyan Cat, a 2011-era GIF of a cat with a pop-tart body, sold for nearly $600,000 in February. And NBA Top Shot generated more than $500 million in sales as of late March. A single LeBron James highlight NFT fetched more than $200,000.

Even celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Lindsay Lohan are jumping on the NFT bandwagon, releasing unique memories, artwork and moments as securitized NFTs.

How to Buy NFTs

If you’re keen to start your own NFT collection, you’ll need to acquire some key items:

First, you’ll need to get a digital wallet that allows you to store NFTs and cryptocurrencies. You’ll likely need to purchase some cryptocurrency, like Ether, depending on what currencies your NFT provider accepts. You can buy crypto using a credit card on platforms like Coinbase, Kraken, eToro and even PayPal and Robinhood now. You’ll then be able to move it from the exchange to your wallet of choice.

You’ll want to keep fees in mind as you research options. Most exchanges charge at least a percentage of your transaction when you buy crypto.

Popular NFT Marketplaces

Once you’ve got your wallet set up and funded, there’s no shortage of NFT sites to shop. Currently, the largest NFT marketplaces are:

• OpenSea.io: This peer-to-peer platform bills itself a purveyor of “rare digital items and collectibles.” To get started, all you need to do is create an account to browse NFT collections. You can also sort pieces by sales volume to discover new artists.

• Rarible: Similar to OpenSea, Rarible is a democratic, open marketplace that allows artists and creators to issue and sell NFTs. RARI tokens issued on the platform enable holders to weigh in on features like fees and community rules.

• Foundation: Here, artists must receive “upvotes” or an invitation from fellow creators to post their art. The community’s exclusivity and cost of entry—artists must also purchase “gas” to mint NFTs—means it may boast higher-caliber artwork. For instance, Nyan Cat creator Chris Torres sold the NFT on the Foundation platform. It may also mean higher prices — not necessarily a bad thing for artists and collectors seeking to capitalize, assuming the demand for NFTs remains at current levels, or even increases over time.

Although these platforms and others are host to thousands of NFT creators and collectors, be sure you do your research carefully before buying. Some artists have fallen victim to impersonators who have listed and sold their work without their permission.

In addition, the verification processes for creators and NFT listings aren’t consistent across platforms — some are more stringent than others. OpenSea and Rarible, for example, do not require owner verification for NFT listings. Buyer protections appear to be sparse at best, so when shopping for NFTs, it may be best to keep the old adage “caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware) in mind.

Source: Forbes

DeFi is short for “decentralized finance,” an umbrella term for a variety of financial applications in cryptocurrency or blockchain geared toward disrupting financial intermediaries.

DeFi draws inspiration from blockchain, the technology behind the digital currency bitcoin, which allows several entities to hold a copy of a history of transactions, meaning it isn’t controlled by a single, central source.

Asset Management

One of the biggest impacts of Defi is that users can now enjoy more control of their own assets. Many of the top DeFi projects are offering solutions that allow the users to manage their assets, including — buying, selling, and transferring digital assets. Thus, the users can even earn interest from their digital assets too.

On contrary to the traditional financial system, DeFi allows users to maintain the privacy of their sensitive data. Think of the private keys or passwords for your financial accounts — you had to share that information with relevant organizations earlier.

Now, different DeFi projects, like Metamask, Argent, or Gnosis Safe are helping the users to encrypt and store those pieces of information on their personal devices. This ensures that only the users have the access to their accounts and can manage their assets. So, asset management is one of the most practical decentralized finance uses cases to the users.

Complying to AML and CFT Measurements through KYT Mechanism

Traditional financial systems focus heavily on Know-Your-Customer (KYC) protocols. KYC guidelines are its biggest compliance tool for implementing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering-the-Financing-of-Terrorism (CFT) measurements.

However, KYC guidelines often contradict the privacy efforts of DeFi. DeFi answers this issue with a newer concept called — Know-Your-Transaction (KYT) mechanism. This mechanism suggests that the decentralized infrastructure would focus on transaction behaviors digital addresses rather than the identity of the users.

So, KYT solves two issues at the same time — monitoring the real-time behavior of the transactions and ensuring the privacy of the users. This makes KYT one of the major scopes for decentralized finance use cases.

Read More: What is DeFi?

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations or DAOs

The DAOs are the counterpart of centralized financial organizations in DeFi — making it one of the pillars of decentralized finance use cases.

In the traditional system, centralized financial organizations play a massive role. These organizations serve as administrative entities that manage the core financial operations, such as — fundraising, managing assets, implementing governance, etc.

The Ethereum blockchain ecosystem introduced decentralized organizations to serve the same goals. However, DAOs are by nature decentralized and don’t adhere to the boundaries imposed by central governments or authorities.

Analytics and Risk Management Tools

Transparency and decentralization paved the way to discover and analyze an unprecedented amount of data for the users. With access to these data, users can make well-informed business decisions, discover new financial opportunities, and adopt better risk management tactics.

A new breed of data analytics with useful blockchain tools and dashboards has emerged from this industry trend. DeFi projects like DeFi Pulse or CoDeFi Data are bringing an impressive amount of value with analytics and risk management tool.

Now, businesses have become more agile as they are enjoying unforeseen competitive advantages. This is surely one of the more impacting decentralized finance use cases.

Derivatives and Synthetic Assets

Smart contracts allow the creation of tokenized derivatives and it has become one of the most unique DeFi use cases. Tokenizing a derivative means setting the value of a contract based on an underlying financial asset or a set of assets. This underlying financial asset works like a traditional security, meaning it could include — bonds, fiat currencies, commodities, market indexes, interest rates, or stock prices.

Now, tokenization of derivatives is secondary securities, and their value changes with the value of the primary securities (bonds or fiat currencies). Thus, derivatives are essentially creating synthetic assets.

Synthetix and dYdX are some of the leading DeFi projects focused on tokenized derivatives.

The Network Effect of Infrastructure Tooling

In the DeFi ecosystem, the components within a system can connect and interoperate. This design feature is known as composability and acts as a core infrastructure development protocol. As a result, DeFi projects are continuously integrated through a network effect.

The infrastructure tools are notable DeFi use cases. Different DeFi projects, such as — TruffleSuite or InfuraAPI, are good examples in this case.

Improved Digital Identity

Blockchain-based digital identity systems are already getting much traction in recent times. Pairing DeFi protocols with these identity systems could help people access the global economic system.

The traditional approach prizes one’s income or accumulated asset as the nominators for creditworthiness. With DeFi-paired digital identity, it’s possible to consider the other practical attributes, such as — financial activities or professional prowess.

This new type of digital identity could help the underprivileged to access the DeFi applications from anywhere with an internet connection. It could surely be one of the potential use cases.

Insurance

Insurance is one of the major financial industries and has already proven to be one of the major DeFi use cases. The current insurance system is bottlenecked with an abundance of paperwork, age-old audit systems, and bureaucratic insurance claiming procedures.

With the successful implementation of smart contracts, all of these issues with the current system could be solved.

Many DeFi projects (Nexus Mutual, Opyn, and VouchForMe) are even offering blockchain for insurance coverage against DeFi or smart contract risks.

P2P Borrowing and Lending

As DeFi is saying goodbye to the traditional banking systems, a vacuum for the borrowing and lending market has emerged. So, borrowing and lending protocol is one of the vital DeFi use cases.

However, the DeFi ecosystem is more suitable for peer-to-peer (P2P) borrowing and lending efforts. Multiple DeFi projects have already entered the market focusing on this particular use case. Among these projects, Compound and PoolTogether are two well-known names. These projects have autonomous interest-based protocols for borrowing and lending assets.

Payment Solutions

One of the core drivers for DeFi was serving the unbanked or underbanked from the get-go. The inherent traits of DeFi make it well-suited for solving the issues of the current global payment systems. DeFi offers faster, safer, and more transparent solutions compared to legacy systems.

As DeFi drops down the need for middlemen, making payments simpler and more transparent, the DeFi-based blockchain in payment solutions could become appealing to the unbanked population.

Gaming and eSports

Long gone are the days, when video games were nothing but a form of entertainment. Most of the new video games have in-app purchases and loot box features in them. These features enable users to use real-life currency to buy new skins for their characters and tools.

With the use of DeFi, game developers can implement the newer incentive or reward models with DeFi coins. In fact, gaming and eSports will likely become one of the major markets as the users are more tech-savvy and open to newer technologies.

Margin Trading

Margin trading is a common feature of the traditional trading system. In simpler terms, it refers to the act of borrowing money from the brokers to invest and gain short-term gain.

With the use of DeFi, traders don’t need to rely on brokers to borrow. Instead, they could smart contracts to enforce decentralized and non-custodial lending protocols. DeFi projects, such as Compound and dYdX have already implemented such lending blockchain protocols. Some are referring to this practice as — the autonomous money markets.

Prediction Platforms

Despite the stigma around the concept, prediction platforms and the market are very large and attract many users. The rise and use of DeFi, has created an opportunity to develop DeFi-based prediction platforms where users could trade value by forecasting or predicting the outcome of future events. These prediction platforms are peer-to-peer, decentralized, and offer global access.

Augur is one of the leaders in the DeFi ecosystem that specialize in the prediction market. This platform allows the users to place bets on events like — sports, world events, economics, election results, and more.

Savings

Due to the high inflation rate of fiat currencies and the low-interest rates, saving money has become a challenge in the current economy. In fact, the risk-averse middle-class citizens around the world are desperately seeking alternate investment/savings solutions.

Different decentralized finance (DeFi) projects have taken the opportunity to introduce new solutions. Projects like PoolTogether, Dharma, or Argent are showing promises with their no-loss savings ideology.

Tokenization

Asset tokenization is one of the core features of the DeFi ecosystem. Tokenization is the process of — creating, issuing, and managing digital assets on a blockchain network. As any kind of asset could be tokenized and stored on a blockchain, it is essentially creating a new form of economy.

For example, the NFTs are tokenizing unique digital assets that hold value based on the rarity and the demand for any particular digital asset. A plethora of decentralized finance projects are working on tokenizing digital assets for creating, storing, or trading value.

Source: 101Blockchains

DeFi is short for “decentralized finance,” an umbrella term for a variety of financial applications in cryptocurrency or blockchain geared toward disrupting financial intermediaries.

DeFi draws inspiration from blockchain, the technology behind the digital currency bitcoin, which allows several entities to hold a copy of a history of transactions, meaning it isn’t controlled by a single, central source.

Applications and Use Cases of DeFi

• Decentralized exchanges (DEXs): Online exchanges help users exchange currencies for other currencies, whether U.S. dollars for bitcoin or ether for DAI. DEXs are a hot type of exchange, which connects users directly so they can trade cryptocurrencies with one another without trusting an intermediary with their money.
• Stablecoins: A cryptocurrency that’s tied to an asset outside of cryptocurrency (the dollar or euro, for example) to stabilize the price.
• Lending platforms: These platforms use smart contracts to replace intermediaries such as banks that manage lending in the middle.
• “Wrapped” bitcoins (WBTC): A way of sending bitcoin to the Ethereum network so the bitcoin can be used directly in Ethereum’s DeFi system. WBTCs allow users to earn interest on the bitcoin they lend out via the decentralized lending platforms described above.
• Prediction markets: Markets for betting on the outcome of future events, such as elections. The goal of DeFi versions of prediction markets is to offer the same functionality but without intermediaries.

There are more applications that I’ll talk about in part 3 of DeFi.

For now:

Have a nice day!

Once a transaction is carried out in a traditional banking system, its details are recorded in a private ledger owned and monitored by a financial institution. However, in DeFi, the financial transactions are stored in a computer code on a decentralized public ledger. All participants using DeFi applications and platforms have an identical copy of the general ledger.

This ledger holds the information of every transaction in encryption code. Since decentralized blockchain platforms and applications are immutable, the records of ownership cannot be modified or deleted by a third party providing security in verifying transactions and storing their data.

Decentralized Finance works on the traditional financial system and replaces the intermediaries or central authorities with smart contracts. A smart contract is an automated merger, enforces agreements without intermediary involvement, and is easily accessible by anyone with an established internet connection. Most of the protocols work on the Ethereum blockchain, and the decentralized applications are often created using Ethereum.

Science Fiction is slowly becoming non-fiction

These are the industries I believe will shape the future. Many in this list are already in use now. I’ll explain each at a later time. For now, have a nice day!