In our previous article, , i.e. attacks based on minor modifications of the input. we showed that neural networks are vulnerable to carefully crafted adversarial attacks While those perturbations are often invisible to a human observer or perceived as noise that does not influence the recognition, they can fool even the most successful . Thus, it is of great importance to be able to defend against such attacks, especially in safety-critical environments. state-of-the-art neural network based systems Multiple techniques have been proposed over the last years to achieve this, including but not limited to: adversarial training, image preprocessing or transformation, and feature denoising. The most popular defense strategy is adversarial training. In this method, images are adversarially attacked with a chosen approach and perturbed examples are introduced to the model during the training process so that it learns to classify them correctly [1,2]. Another group of methods involves image preprocessing. Since perturbations are often perceived as noise to a human observer, several approaches based on transforming or preprocessing input images before they are fed to the neural network have been introduced [3,4]. Additionally, Xie et al. [5] proposed feature denoising as a method of defense against adversarial attacks based on the observation that perturbations in images cause noise in the feature maps. In today’s article, we will present two state-of-the-art methods of defense against adversarial attacks. Adversarial training Adversarial training was first introduced by Szegedy et al. [1] and it is currently the most popular technique of defense against adversarial attacks. This method involves training a network on a mixture of adversarial and clean examples. Goodfellow et al. [6] followed them and trained a network using adversarial loss Ladv(x): where L(x) is the loss function computed on the original image and L(xperturbed) is the loss function computed on an adversarially perturbed image (using e.g. the fast gradient sign method described in our last post) and ɑ is a hyperparameter assigning weights to the components of the adversarial loss function. Multiple improvements have been proposed to the regular adversarial training. For example, Harini et al. [6] added an adversarial logit pairing component to the loss function, which encourages the logits (outputs from the network before applying softmax normalization function) obtained from two images (original and adversarial) to be similar. The intuition behind this idea is that both clean and perturbed versions of the same example should be assigned to the same class so big differences between their logits are penalized. Feature denoising Xie et al. [5] recently proposed another method of defense against adversarial attacks, namely, feature denoising. Authors showed that while adversarial perturbations are often barely perceptible in the pixel space, they cause a significant noise in the feature maps. As the image is passed through the network, the perturbation increases and not-existing activations of the feature maps arise, which leads to wrong predictions. Below feature maps of original and perturbed images are presented: Feature map calculated for an original image (top) and adversarially perturbed version (bottom). On the adversarial image, activations are present in regions not relevant to the prediction. Adapted from Ref. [5]. Based on this observation, the authors developed a new method of defense against adversarial attacks, namely, they added multiple blocks for feature denoising to the neural network and trained it end-to-end on adversarial examples. The authors utilized ResNet [7] with 4 denoising blocks. Below adversarial images are presented, together with the feature maps before (left) and after (right) applying denoising: Adversarial images are presented, together with the feature maps before (left) and after (right) applying denoising. Adapted from Ref. [5]. As can be seen, noise is substantially reduced as a result of denoising operation. Adding feature denoising during adversarial training improved the accuracy of classification on adversarially attacked images. The method won first place in the Competition of Adversarial Attacks and Defences (CAAD) 2018 [8]. To sum up Neural networks’ vulnerability to adversarial attacks casts doubt on their usability in the real-world environment, especially in safety-critical systems, like, for example, autonomous cars and medicine. Thus finding an effective defense strategy is of great importance. However, there are a few challenges that we have to face when applying the defense method. For example, weak performance on adversarial examples produced with attack approaches that haven’t been used during adversarial training is a common issue. Additionally, drop-in classification accuracy on unperturbed images may happen. Literature [1] Szegedy, Christian, et al. “Intriguing properties of neural networks.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.6199 (2013) [2] Madry, Aleksander, et al. “Towards deep learning models resistant to adversarial attacks.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.06083 (2017) [3] Xie, Cihang, et al. “Mitigating adversarial effects through randomization.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.01991 (2017) [4] Das, Nilaksh, et al. “Keeping the bad guys out: Protecting and vaccinating deep learning with jpeg compression.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.02900 (2017) [5] Xie, Cihang, et al. “Feature denoising for improving adversarial robustness.” Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. 2019 [6] Kannan, Harini, Alexey Kurakin, and Ian Goodfellow. “Adversarial logit pairing.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.06373 (2018) [7] He, Kaiming, et al. “Deep residual learning for image recognition.” Proceedings of the IEEE conference on computer vision and pattern recognition. 2016 [8] http://hof.geekpwn.org/caad/en/index.html Also published on: https://neurosys.com/article/defense-strategies-against-adversarial-attacks/

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An Introduction to Adversarial Attacks and Defense Strategies

Did you know that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are NOT the only innovations that were made possible thanks to Blockchain Technology? In fact, blockchain offers other essential features too that are being increasingly used by countless businesses to harness the power of this technology. The concept of how it works seems complicated, and it undoubtedly can be. Yet, the core concept of is quite simple. Simply put, it is a type of database, which collects information and stores it electronically on a system. By creating a “chain” of data, the previous data which is safely saved in “blocks'' cannot be altered or removed. With the help of blockchain, the need for a third-party to handle risks related to your transactions can be eliminated. blockchain technology Tracking Online Orders Here’s an example. You order a phone online. On receiving the delivery, you realize the box does not include a phone charger that it should have. Now, assuming the online store does not have a refund policy, not much can be done about it. Alternatively, what if there was another way of bypassing this whole problem? Blockchain technology helps you steer clear of such inconveniences, as it enables traceability and ensures the security of transactions across the entire supply chain. One company making use of blockchain technology for exactly this purpose is Walmart. Walmart uses a blockchain distributed ledger to track and connect with all parties involved in delivering pork-related food around China. Here, this technology is assisting Walmart by reducing the likelihood of data inaccuracy and tampering throughout the process Voting Software Let’s move on to the next blockchain application example - Voting. Voters submit their voter ID, which is verified and submitted via EVM (Electronic Voting Machine). Unfortunately, fraudsters can easily hack the electronic voting machine or manipulate the vote count with a . However, a blockchain-enabled decentralized system ensures fair elections and eliminates this vulnerability. centralized system Many financial institutions are also using blockchain technology to improve their back-office systems, reduce their costs and increase efficiency. One example of banks using this technology includes Swiss investment bank UBS Group AG, which plans to make cross-border trades through tokens called “Utility Settlement Coins” for record-keeping. Other blockchain applications that you may want to look into are listed below: : For eliminating forgery and avoiding false claims Insurance companies : Blockchain technology in this industry eliminates the need for exchanging money Real estate : Blockchain is incorruptible, decentralized, and transparent in nature, allowing hospitals to maintain patient data securely. Healthcare Unique Security Characteristics of Blockchain Blockchain Technology assists companies by recording the transactions of digital assets being exchanged between any two parties. some high-level security characteristics of this technology are listed below: The Ledger This is where all the transactions in the blockchain are being recorded. The ledger, which is a chain of blocks including all the information, is immutable. Confidentiality Blockchain enables only users of the ledger to view only the authorized transactions. Digital signature The exchange of transactions involves using unique digital signatures that serve as proof, which in turn leads to accurate record management by avoiding fraud. Privacy in Transactions networks are public databases that imply that the transaction history of the network can be viewed by anyone having an internet connection. It is important to note that users can gain access to transaction details. However, they cannot identify the user of that transaction. Although blockchain networks are confidential, It is a common misperception that they are anonymous as well. That is not the case. Blockchain Consistency All the data within a blockchain is accurate, timely, consistent, and complete. Cryptology Blockchain uses hash-based algorithms that to take place securely by producing content-based fixed hash. enable transactions To Sum It Up Although there are substantial plus-points of using blockchain, a number of challenges also arise from its adoption.  To encounter them, it is essential to establish when making a private blockchain which platform would suit best for deployment. Even though transactions in the blockchain are secure, vulnerabilities within the infrastructure may be used by scammers with ill intent. By having integrated security within the infrastructure, you can: Prevent both, users and admins, from gaining access to sensitive information Reduce chances of data or applications being changed by fraudsters Lessen the risk of encryption keys being misappropriated by using employing the best security standards Thanks to these capabilities, the entire blockchain network can benefit from the added layer of protection that is needed to and attacks. combat cybercrimes After deliberating over this throughout the post, you must have realized that Blockchain Technology is about much more than just Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. With the potential to ensure better security in monetary transactions and bringing a revolution in supply chain management, mastering blockchain could prove to be a game-changer for your industry.

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Online communication is undergoing a tidal shift as various groups and communities seek to relocate to more private and more secure messaging platforms. There are multiple reasons for this, such as simple personal preferences. But the main event triggering this shift was WhatsApp’s decision to alter its Terms of Service in a way that caused privacy concerns. WhatsApp geared to change its rules for data collection, claiming it was mostly for business-oriented features. The chat app does not plan to change the actual privacy characteristics of conversations and messaging. Despite their intentions and the real changes, a user exodus still happened, half-based on rumors and on the fear of an app that could snoop on data. The issue with WhatsApp caused a movement to boycott it and move to other chat apps. The trend may accelerate, as the user agreement changes came in force this February 8. The Facebook-owned app was also tainted by the impression of aggressive data harvesting. Even metadata can threaten security, especially for sensitive persons or information. The issue goes beyond personal privacy concerns. After the new WhatsApp rules came into force, the also united around the need to curb the collection of metadata and ensure privacy as a basic feature. However, the stance of EU governments allows for some forms of tracking, mostly for fraud and crime prevention, as well as for general traffic statistics. European Union Users still have a desire for stronger, more rigid protections than are being offered by EU regulation. Blockchain projects go a step further, centering on personal safety and anonymity, with no centralized entity to demand data. The rationalizations of WhatsApp are still ongoing, and it’s early to know what comes out of the situation. But the rise of subscriptions to alternative services point to a new niche — for neutral, confidential chat apps that are not aggressively attempting to collect data. We looked at three potential alternatives to WhatsApp, all arising from the blockchain space. Session and Oxen Blockchain The opportunity may be just ripe for blockchain-based, decentralized startups to take up the niche. The evidence is just rolling in — the Session private messenger is already counting over 50,000 active users, doubling just during the month of January, and influenced by the WhatsApp debacle. For now, the user count for Session is still in the growth stages, and far from the massive followings on legacy chat systems and social media. But the users joining are making up one of the biggest chat communities for a blockchain startup. is a next-generation private messenger with a fully decentralized infrastructure. The signup process does not require phone number verification, returning to the days of fully anonymous accounts. To route the messages and ensure privacy, the chat app uses the network, a blockchain and token-based project which emerged a few years ago as one of the promising startups dedicated to privacy. Session Oxen Session is straightforward about its goal to “send messages, not metadata”. Unlike big tech firms, Session has no plans to collect, use and analyze the datasets generated inevitably by user behavior. Instead, Session delegates its chats to a decentralized network, onion routing all chats anonymously through a distributed collection of incentivised nodes. Unlike many of its competitors, Session also doesn’t require a phone number to sign-up — instead generating a unique and secure Session ID for all users. But Session and Oxen rely on much more than end-to-end encryption. The Oxen protocol built a network of staked nodes that support the network, relying on distributed machines. To attract node operators, the OXEN digital asset serves as an incentive and reward for securing the network. OXEN uses the well-known CryptoNote technology, the very same used by Monero for veiled, confidential transactions. So beyond the chat encryption, all Oxen communications can remain undercover. Oxen is an open-source project with an invitation to builders, possibly becoming a vector for confidential connectivity. The OXEN asset, used as an incentive to trade, has already climbed to $0.85, following the positive trend of altcoins this year. Session has the advantage of being an early mover with a completed chat app. The idea of Oxen is to make its protocol freely available, so anyone can utilise the libraries and development tools that power Session. Oxen suggests anyone can build  — for example — a corporate chat similar to Slack, while using their best secure technology. Session took this a step further, by already onboarding users as an alternative to established apps. has also developed Lokinet, a well-developed standard for private browsing. Lokinet makes sure the chat data is routed through a system of nodes, where no one node knows the entire path of the message, thus raising its security and confidentiality. Oxen The advantage of Lokinet is that it can carry and route multiple protocols, including TCP, UDP, ICMP. Once Lokinet is fully implemented inSession, it will be able to offer both live calls and chat, but also high-traffic items like video. The network level on Lokinet goes beyond traditional onion routing, and is more capable of carrying demand for media-based communication. DeepOnion is one of the already well-established crypto projects dedicated to confidentiality. DeepOnion (ONION) is a well-known privacy coin with a real use case in both economic transactions and communication. Deep Onion The DeepOnion project combines The Onion Router (TOR) protocol at the native level, combining it with proof-of-work and encryption for sending coins anonymously. The initial goal of DeepOnion was to improve on the idea of Monero and similar coins, creating anonymous addresses and tools to send coins that cannot reveal a user’s identity, not even their pseudonyms. So far, DeepOnion does not have a dedicated chat app. But the project has a basic messaging function, which can send out encrypted messages alongside confidential transactions from its wallet. However, TOR-powered confidential messages are only a basic opportunity. DeepOnion is still not attempting to expand its products and introduce the chat app to replace usual channels of communication. Sylo goes a step further from the ONION crypto coin. The project built a wallet with the aim of creating “smart money”. But alongside the payment system, Sylo envisioned apps, storage solutions and communication. The Sylo network is geared to carry secure chats and calls. Sylo Sylo uses its proprietary system of nodes, incentivized with fees for each transaction similar to other blockchain networks. The decentralized group of nodes also provides computing resources, without known and centrally-controlled data centers and policies. This feature, inherent to blockchain networks, ensures that there are adequate, shared resources provided by a grass-roots organization. The presence of confidential blockchain networks and systems of nodes can be censorship-resistant, especially in the cases where participants provide their own node hardware, instead of relying on cloud services. Sylo uses the Signal protocol to sign its messages, ensuring state of the art end-to-end encryption. The open-source protocol also allows for chats and videos, as well as file transfers. As of 2021, the WhatsApp change of terms triggered multiple chat projects to start offering alternatives. This only adds to the movement to Signal or Telegram subscriptions. The new blockchain-based projects also stand as an alternative to Zoom, where end-to-end encryption is now a paid addition. Despite the initial appeal of WhatsApp for its encryption features, its metadata continued to expose users to potential data leaks or scams. A blockchain will not collect and store those sensitive data. But the app can build an accurate user profile, using simple but sensitive information - location, chat duration, the time of messaging, as well as connections to other easily identifiable users. Encryption and anonymity have always been a central interest and an almost perfect use case for blockchain applications. The exposures of chat systems that gather the data of billions of users will only accelerate the process of building alternative channels and networks.

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It's the age-old question that highschoolers ask after getting their hearts broken for the first time. Does love exist or is Nicolas Sparks full of it? Is it something beyond science and human understanding? Today, we dive into these very questions and see what Hacker Noon contributors have to say about it. This Slack discussion by Linh Smooke, Sidra, Arthur Tkachenko, Rianke Krugel, and I occurred in official #philosophy channel, and has been edited for readability. Slogging's Is Love just a result of evolution and chemical reactions in our bodies to help us prolong our species, or is it something more? Limarc Ambalina Feb 10, 2021, 5:49 PM Long term love is a lot of forgiveness and selflessness, sometimes at the expense of your short term survival Linh Smooke Feb 10, 2021, 5:55 PM I used to think about this alot when I was 17 and heartbroken. But to play Devil's Advocate and keep the conversation going Linh Smooke: what if selflessness is just a part of that evolution? In nature mother lions or bears for example will protect they babies even to their own demise, but again that is an action that helps prolong the species. But you might say what about the selfless actions people take for their spouse? Isn't it possible that this natural instinct to protect your children evolved in humans and expanded to our spouses? Meaning like your desire to protect your significant other is your body saying we need to keep this person alive and healthy so that we can have babies and protect our species. Limarc Ambalina Feb 10, 2021, 6:02 PM I think it depends if you talk about individuals or in the aggregate. My thought is each individual tends to think of themselves as their own persons making decisions based on their unique circumstances (that sometimes makes no evolutionary sense, such as couples who love each other but decide not to have kids). but in the aggregate I think it’s true that as a people we do really contribute to the long-term survival of the entire species Linh Smooke Feb 10, 2021, 6:27 PM I was heartbroken at age 19 too 💔💔💔 Linh Smooke Feb 10, 2021, 6:27 PM I think I would edit your question to read "is sex just a result of evolution and chemical reactions in our bodies to help us prolong our species, or is it something more?", but even then my answer would still probably be no. 😆 Feb 11, 2021, 5:02 AM Love, like self, is what you believe it to be. It’s magic if you experienced it.  But if you confine yourself to the realm of science only and are not willing to probe what lies beyond science, logic, and rationalism, then it is just a bunch of chemical reactions in the brain which may have served some evolutionary purpose. Here is what I believe - Though love might be useful in evolution (in the case of heterosexual couples), and yes it is scientifically proven that you feel high in love (chemical reactions!), however, there is more to it. For me, love is both a subjective and objective reality. It doesn’t have to be in one form, following certain rules. Love can both be selfish and selfless. Love can give you both happiness and pain. Love is magical! and beautiful :) Sidra Feb 11, 2021, 5:37 AM And we cannot discuss love without a touch of poetry. That’s blasphemy 😂 Enjoy this masterpiece from Phil Kaye and Sarah Kay Sidra Feb 11, 2021, 5:47 AM https://m.youtube.com/watch?vl=da&v=cPG6nJRJeWQ I still think that we are just bathing monkeys. interesting reads: Arthur Tkachenko Feb 11, 2021, 7:31 AM https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31168242 https://www.businessinsider.com/mathematicians-claim-to-have-discovered-the-formula-for-love-2014-3 Hahahahaha yes mathematics can explain everything- not to forget the role of golden ratio and WHR in natural selection. Sidra Feb 11, 2021, 8:18 AM I'll just add that in addition to some of the things mentioned above; I truly believe that love is also a conscious decision. Not necessarily only the 'I'm going / want to love this person', but perhaps more 'I'm not going to (fall in) love (with) this person'. That's my lived experience, at least. Being CF by choice has me arguing for the former part of your posed statetion (statement-question, boom!), but also not independently. I do think that we make many micro-decision while rising in love with someone, and these might be consciously or unconsciously. Lastly, I'll add that a friend told me long ago that not all (romantic) love has to be(come) physical love. I mean this beyond the a-sexual / a-romantic sphere; to me it means that sometimes you might end up loving someone, yet, at the same time, accepting that your (collective?) love will remain confined to a certain space in your lives, and that is okay. Love =/= instant gratification. Rianke Krugel Feb 16, 2021, 9:44 PM

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Which ADA stake pools offer highest rewards? The pros and cons of staking ADA, and how to know the best Cardano stake pools. I'll start by explaining why I believe Cardano is one of the frontrunners in the crypto-space. Bitcoin is Too Slow, and its Core Approach was Flawed From the Start. Bitcoin started it all. So it deserves respect. But as with all technology, it became obsolete in no time. The main thing I believe keeping it afloat is its name. Its network is sufficiently large enough to be secure. But it processes a pathetic 6-8 transactions per second. And it uses as much electricity as a small nation. It's a dinosaur. But it was a good start. With the Bitcoin Lightning network, it could theoretically scale to tens of thousands of transactions per second. But it's an unproven approach with serious holes. There are better ways. Cardano currently processes around 300 transactions per second. But after its Hydra upgrade, it may be capable of even 1m transactions per second. This is ample for a global financial system, with all the bells and whistles like smart contracts. However, it may not be sufficient if the "Internet Of Things" becomes as big as some expect. I'm talking about electrical appliances like your toaster or fridge being connected to the Internet. Don't get me wrong. The "Internet Of Things" will no doubt play a part in the future. But I can't imagine the majority of people being compelled to link their toaster to the Internet. It just isn't needed. It's overboard. And if we as a society go that far, it'll be a dystopian nightmare. Count me out. It would be against everything cryptocurrency stands for. Cardano is Secure Cardano uses the Ouroboros protocol. It's a Proof of Stake algorithm. If you understand Cardano's whitepaper, you'll understand it's as secure as anything can be. While nothing is 100% secure, it doesn't realistically need to be. I mean even with Bitcoin, someone could theoretically guess your seed phrase. So it's not 100% secure either. When I say "secure", I mean within reason. Basically for you to lose your funds with a well-designed blockchain algorithm, it would take some rather long odds. Cardano Has a Solid Development Team, With Rapid Development If you half-know your stuff, you'd say Cardano has been slow to develop, and behind the pace. But if you really know your stuff, you'd say their design-work came before the code. And now that the framework is complete, the coding has steamed forward. If you've been keeping an eye on the amount of code they've written, you'll see they're miles ahead of most projects. While it has borrowed some concepts from other projects, it has been designed and coded from the ground up. There's more. And while no doubt other projects will also last into the future, I believe Cardano will certainly be at the forefront. Cardano Is Well-Designed to Properly DECENTRALIZE, But It's Not Without Some Problems Bitcoin is "decentralized", right? Yes, but not very well. The reality is the entire Bitcoin network is run by a few different mining pools, as per the chart below: So an uncomfortable portion of the Bitcoin network is run by the same pools. This means if some of these pools colluded, they could totally fork-up things. I know they probably won't. Because it would then crash Bitcoin's price. But we don't want it to be realistically achievable. I mean let's say super-wealthy Wall Street bankers felt threatened by Bitcoin. So they funded the running of mining pools, purely to attack the network with something like a double-spend. Why would they do this? Perhaps to discredit Bitcoin. It's possible. After all, they'd have trillions at stake in fiat currencies. And they're in it for the long-game. Anyway, my point is that with proper decentralization, a rigged system should not realistically be possible. Now consider Cardano's stake pool decentralization: The left chart shows excellent decentralization. But the right image is much more important, because the larger green area shows operators with ONE POOL ONLY. The other groups have multiple pools, so realistically should only count as one pool. Because there isn't much point to multiple pools if they're run by the same people. Cardano is addressing this issue, although in my view not adequately yet. They initially cut the maximum stake for each pool. But this only resulted in larger pools splitting into many. It's more of a hack than a permanent solution. Still, the decentralization is much better than Bitcoin, and Cardano is still rolling out updates. Why Stake With Cardano? This includes a truckload of ADA, because I believe in Cardano. Again although there are many promising blockchain projects, I believe Cardano is overall best. They first got my attention because Charles Hoskinson said the "right" things. Whereas representatives of other projects tended to say things that either weren't accurate, or made it clear they were more interested in profit - rather than how the technology can improve our quality of life. Firstly I'll disclose I own various coins. So their philosophy led me to learn how their technology worked, and their direction. I'm more a "fundamentals investor", although profit is not my primary aim. I'm more interested in freedom. I believe . When I invest in crypto, I look at the realistic long-term value of technology. And that's where I feel Cardano has other companies beaten. Although it shouldn't be a "competition". In a perfect world, each crypto company should openly collaborate. day-traders are like a cancer for cryptocurrencies Ultimately Cardano is a group I believe in. There are others too, but I'm allowed to have favorites. I believe in their philosophy, their leadership, and technology. Charles needs to get more sun though. All us tech geeks should. I'm not so sure Colorado is warm and sunny. Anyway, although there are staking coins with higher returns than Cardano, I believe the longer-term returns of Cardano will be higher - or at the very least more secure. And don't take this as investment advice. It is just my personal opinion from observation and research. What's The Best Stake Pool? Let's assume I mean the "most profitable" stake pool. Firstly, there are many variables, so the "most profitable" stake pool will change from time to time. Here's what determines a stake pool's returns: Server Uptime If the stake pool's servers aren't online when they're scheduled to mint a block, you'll miss out on rewards. One way to see if a pool has missed blocks by checking their Ophaned blocks on https://pooltool.io/ Low Fees There are two types of fees. First, the "fixed fee" is a pool's reward for every 5 days. The lowest it can be is 340 ADA. Also, there's the pool's "margin". The lowest possible margin is 0%. So ideally choose a pool with the lowest possible fees. There are a few pools that offer this, in order to attract delegators. But be careful of them increasing their fees later, without you knowing. WARNING: Don't base your decision entirely on low fees. Mission-critical hosting is expensive, so low-fee pools are probably on budget servers that will miss blocks, and lose you rewards. Server uptime is as important as low fees. Low Saturation The amount of ADA that can be staked to any pool is limited. When the maximum is reached, the pool is considered "saturated". From this point, delegators receive lower rewards. This encourages delegators to stake with other pools, to promote decentralization. So avoid stake pools that are overly popular. WARNING: I've seen pools at around 95% saturation that seemed stable. Then suddenly they become 105% saturated. If that happens and you don't change pools in time, you lose rewards. It shows not everyone understands what saturation means, because they still delegate to saturated pools! Cardano was designed to favor less-saturated pools to enhance decentralization. But optimal rewards occur with pools that are neither near-saturated, or brand new. The "sweet spot" is somewhere in the middle (around 80-90% saturated). Charity Vs Profit Most pools are run for profit. But some invest back into the Cardano ecosystem, or donate to charity. Especially if you'd like to see Cardano grow, give preference to pools that invest in Cardano projects. There are also a few pools that donate to all kinds of other worthy causes. High Pledge A stake pool's pledge is basically the amount of ADA they lock to their stake pool. It's important because if they pledge a large amount, and make mistakes, then they'll lose significant funds. I suggest focusing on pools pledging over ₳500,000 (ADA), so the stake pool operator risks substantial money if they make mistakes. Put a high pledge together with a single stake pool operator, and you've got a stake pool with operators who do everything possible to maximize both yours and their rewards. Single Stake Pool Operators It's not ideal to have one group of people running multiple pools. Although it's not uncommon, and not presently a problem unless they run 5 or more stake pools. Communication With Delegators It's nice when stake pool operators keep you informed. It isn't essential, but it gives you peace of mind that they're doing their job. Performance Guarantees If your pool fails to mint a block, you lose rewards. This can happen if the server experiences downtime. It's nearly impossible to keep a server online 100% of the time, so every pool will miss some blocks. But if a pool's servers are poorly managed, they'll have more downtime than usual. Few pools provide any guarantee that they wont miss blocks. Mostly because they can't control the Internet. But some pools compensate delegators if blocks are missed. Top Recommended Stake Pools Again the overall best stake pool will change. There currently are only a few pools with 0% fee, and perfect performance history. But only two of them donate back to Cardano projects. These are CNODE and FUND pools. Details of these pools and a few others with low fees are listed below: Cardanode.io (Ticker: CNODE) Website: https://www.cardanode.io/ : ₳500,000 Pledge ₳340 Fixed Fee: : 0.00% Margin : YES Charity stake pool operator : YES Performance guarantee Cardanode.io (Ticker: FUND) Website: https://www.cardanode.io/ : ₳500,000 Pledge ₳340 Fixed Fee: : 0.00% Margin : YES Charity stake pool operator : YES Performance guarantee They run two pools which both donate to charity explained at https://www.cardanode.io/fund This one is much less saturated at the time of writing, so is the better option if you stake a large amount. Cypherpunk (Ticker: CYPHR) Website: http://www.cypherpunk.wtf/ : ₳2.1M Pledge ₳340 Fixed Fee: : 0.00% Margin : NO Charity stake pool operator : NO Performance guarantee What Difference Does the Margin Fee Make? If you staked ₳100,000 with a 0% margin, you can expect annual rewards of around ₳5,000. But if the pool had a 2.5% margin, you'd expect ₳4,875. So it's not a big difference, but still significant. However, there are some pools with even 15% fees. A pool with a 15% margin would pay you only ₳4,250. That's a difference of ₳750 per year. Look at it this way: the margin fee is the stake pool's cut of your rewards. It doesn't mean pools with 0% margin are best. Because if the pool is poorly managed and misses blocks, low fees are pointless. How High Is Too High For Fees? Anything more than 2.5% is excessive. Although 0% fee is "suspiciously low" for new pools, because they may be using cheap hosting. Or they may just be trying to get new delegators. If you're moving to a pool with lower fees, first check if they're missing blocks. Does a Low Saturation Pool Mean Lower or No Rewards? No. A "high saturation" pool only means rewards will be more predictable. But "low-saturation" pools still average the same rewards (assuming they have the same fees). Thinking low saturation pools are less profitable is a common misunderstanding. Let's consider some example pools below. We'll assume you stake the same amount of ADA in each pool: POOL 1 (high saturation, low fee) 0.00% margin fee 99% saturation Your rewards for the last 5 epochs (an epoch is 5 days): ₳10,000 ₳9,900 ₳10,100 ₳9,800 ₳10,200 Average rewards:  ₳10,000 POOL 2 (low saturation, low fee) 0.00% margin fee 1% saturation Your rewards for the last 5 epochs (an epoch is 5 days): ₳0 ₳0 ₳40,000 ₳0 ₳10,000 Average rewards:  ₳10,000 POOL 3 (high saturation, high fee) 5% margin fee 99% saturation Your rewards for the last 5 epochs (an epoch is 5 days): ₳9,500 ₳9,405 ₳9,595 ₳9,310 ₳9,690 Average rewards:  ₳9,500 POOL 4 (low saturation, high fee) 0.00% margin fee 1% saturation Your rewards for the last 5 epochs (an epoch is 5 days): ₳0 ₳0 ₳38,000 ₳0 ₳9,500 Average rewards:  ₳9,500 So low-saturation pools have more "erratic" rewards. But the average rewards are still the same. Cardano was designed this way, to encourage delegation to less-saturated pools. Another thing to keep in mind is you only get rewards if your pool mints a block. So if a pool has virtually no other delegators, and a very low pledge, the probability of it minting a block in an epoch is very small. This means it might not mint a block for years. Although when it finally does mint a block, the rewards can be enormous. The average rewards will still be the same as other pools (in the long-term). It's fine to delegate to new pools. But if a pool is brand new and unsaturated, I suggest only delegating to it if: . A stake pool operator has little to lose with a small pledge. I suggest a bare minimum of ₳100,000 pledge, but more is better. The pledge is sufficiently high . Research their background. If they have other pools, check how they've performed. Past performance is a better indicator of a web site's sales-pitch. The pool is run by reputable admins . You'll make up for it with larger rewards in other epochs. Your average rewards will be the same. You don't mind the occasional epoch with no rewards This is because there are many new pools with a low pledge, that become abandoned. If you delegate to abandoned pools, then you'll never get rewards. Ultimately, low-saturation pools have a lower "ranking", mostly because of fewer delegators. But to maximize your rewards, the most important factors are "low fees and high uptime". Keeping Updated Again the metrics change from time to time. You should keep an eye on: : When pools become saturated, mostly new delegators stop joining. So the rate at which the pool grows will slow. This is how Cardano was designed, to encourage decentralization. But if a pool becomes saturated, you must move to another pool to maximize your rewards. A comfortable level of saturation is around 95%. This better ensures predictable rewards, without being a large risk of full saturation. Pool saturation : If a stake pool isn't run well, it will miss blocks, and you'll lose rewards. The pool's public metrics show missed blocks but you need to understand what you're looking at. This is one of the most overlooked metrics because many delegators tend to look only at low fees. It's like paying for budget web hosting, without considering server reliability. Missed blocks : Too often fees change without warning. I've seen pools go from a 0% to 5% without any notice to delegators. Stake pool operators should keep you informed well before they make any changes. Fee changes Disclaimer: All opinions in this article belong to the author alone. Nothing in this article constitutes professional investment advice. And past performance should not be an indicator of future performance. Please do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. My Thoughts For Cardano's Stake Pools Get rid of the "fixed fee". It was probably designed to keep stake pools from going broke, because of some pools using cheap and unreliable servers. So I understand the need to not incentivize unreliable servers. But now Cardano is big enough for stake pools to survive on the margin fees alone. Instead of a minimum fixed fee, a minimum margin fee might be better. The fixed fee also makes it harder for new stake pools to get delegators. This is because the fixed fee is paid from delegator profits. If there aren't many delegators, the few delegators pay higher fees. For a pool to really "take off" with lots of new delegators, it must pass a threshold which is too difficult for new pools. This is bad for decentralization if you want thousands of stake pools. But if you're only looking for 500-1000 active pools, then existing algorithms work well. A potential problem with not having a fixed fee is new SPOs might go broke paying for hosting, before they get enough delegators. Either way, so far the decentralization algorithms are working well for the size of the network. Changes may be needed later, depending on the optimal amount of stake pools. Agree or disagree with some of the ideas presented in this article? Let us know your thoughts on Digg. Looking for more trading articles? Subscribe to our newsletter in the footer below! Check out our podcast on blockchain.

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The Best Cardano Stake Pool To Stake ADA, & The Pros and Cons of Cardano Staking

The Money Printer Go Brrr meme, that surfaced in early 2020, referenced, and was a response to, the Federal Reserve announcing its intent to increase stock market liquidity. The quirky meme that quickly exploded in popularity shows central bankers cranking out a seemingly infinite number of U.S dollars. As with any good meme, there is no one author. The humour on the surface is the vehicle for a diffusion of ideas that take on a life of their own. Memes do exceedingly well on the internet because they are a means of communication that is distributed through subcultures. Forever on the internet, they remain in our memory, often to draw our attention to the failings of individuals, institutions, and in this case, the structural failings of the global financial system. So far, the only response to the broken monetary system, and the overzealous printing efforts of the U.S Federal Reserve, is to stay on the merry-go-round with central bankers, who seem uninclined to let anyone off this cyclical ride. And so, while individuals and enterprises see their liquid reserves trickling away, the U.S. Federal government keeps printing money. A solution to the impact of dollar devaluation As the monetary policy and overall bearish outlook suggest, the impact of the dollar devaluation can only end one way. It isn’t a case of ‘if’ the markets will fail, but ‘when’. With the USD losing value against a number of other major currencies, many forward-thinking enterprises have put part of their treasuries into BTC and other cryptocurrencies. One of the solutions to the Federal Reserve over-eagerly printing money, comes in the form of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was born as a solution to the damage created by money printing. Because of the decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies, money printing becomes a thing of the past, politics takes a back seat, and financial middlemen are cut out. More and more investors have openly announced they have allocated part of their fund into BTC. Corporate Bitcoin are here to stay, and moving ahead it will soon be the corporate standard for institutional investors to include BTC into their main assets. treasuries This foray into digital currency has undoubtedly accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic, where the global crisis sent the Federal Reserve rushing to pump trillions of dollars of emergency liquidity into financial markets. Bitcoin has, so far, outperformed every asset class throughout the crisis, and despite rallies in tech stock and gold, many believe cryptocurrencies to be the best protection against complete financial collapse. Even billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has given his stamp of approval in recent weeks, with a single hashtag-  #bitcoin, and at the time of writing, Tesla has bought $1.5 bn worth of Bitcoin. The recent wave of support, from global companies, influencers, and of course, Elon Musk, has contributed to keen institutional interest. Apart from being a safeguard against financial collapse, one of Bitcoin’s greatest assets (excuse the pun), is that there is a predictable supply of Bitcoin, and under a BTC standard it does not decay over time. The increasing possibility that global reserve currency has an expiration date, means that big players, including high-net-worth individuals, hedge funds, and large institutions, are beginning to make their way into the space. A solution, or another problem? One of the greatest assets for enterprises is the secure way that the blockchain enables them to store, manage, and invest their crypto assets. However, one of the main barriers to enterprise adoption has been its perceived difficulty. Many companies are put off by what is, for many, an unknown and perilous terrain. This is where enterprise platforms come in. While asset management firms may find it difficult to access decentralized finance, and manage their assets due to issues with governance, security, and accessibility, enterprise platforms provide a space for investors to seamlessly manage their assets. Where cryptocurrencies have seen significant adoption from retail participants, the adoption from enterprises has lagged behind. The main reasons have been security, compliance, and user experience. What the Unido Enterprise Platform seeks to achieve, is to provide their users with existing technology, and a suite of familiar tools, that will enable them to manage their crypto assets. Unido already has active pilots with a number of digital banks, and with many large companies already investing in BTC, the demand for enterprise platforms will grow rapidly. With financially savvy enterprises already holding a portion of their treasury in digital currency, the wave will continue to build. What may have once been deemed ‘too risky’, or even ‘foolhardy’, is now being seen as a solution to the never-ending rise and fall of the Dollar. Enterprise platforms have arisen to soften the transition from fiat to crypto. By providing access to crypto banking, and protection for enterprises to safeguard their assets long term, they can step off the Dollar merry-go-round once and for all. : Disclaimer All opinions in this article belong to the author alone. Nothing in this article constitutes professional investment advice. Please do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions.

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Dollar Devaluation Drives Enterprises to Cryptocurrency

Artists create to express themselves. But let's be honest: Not everyone creates art for art’s sake. Yet it isn’t easy making money from art—hence the expression "starving artist." That’s where blockchain can offer a new paradigm, the democratization of art, just as it’s democratizing finance and other industries. Artists across numerous disciplines, such as literature, music, drama, and the visual arts experience varying degrees of financial viability. Film and music tend to be the most commercialized forms of art, considering how prevalent they have become in our culture—whether an evening watching Netflix or a Spotify-powered workout, they are everywhere. Because these categories of art are so commercialized, artists that fall into them tend to struggle less with building sustainable streams of revenue. Thanks to the development of the "creative economy," artists across the spectrum could derive an income of a sort. But while the creative economy has grown in recent years,  allowing many artists to earn a reasonable income, those who sell art pieces are unable to generate revenue easily outside of the established world of industry vendors. A painter selling an art piece, for example, is encouraged to work with a gallery or a platform that sells paintings; a photographer is compelled to either sell her photos herself or work with platforms like Shutterstock, and an author typically works with a publishing house. Vendors, however, take large cuts. Shutterstock, for example, only pays up to of sales to the artist. Authors who publish the traditional way earn only royalties, . On Apple Music, artists typically receive $0.00783 per stream, . 30 percent 10-12 percent according to Self-Publishing School according to Ditto If a song is streamed 1 million times, an artist earns about $7,350. All of these scenarios have one thing in common: The artist sacrifices control of his or her work in return for the hope of profit. Decentralizing these relationships has the potential to revolutionize how artists get paid, which will lead to more art being produced, and the vehicle to do that is blockchain and the tokens that power it. Let's consider the use of tokens, specifically non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as a tool to open a new world of possibilities for artists to turn their work into virtual assets that can easily be purchased and traded. NFTs act like digital certificates providing authenticity and uniqueness to collectibles and other items powered by a blockchain network. They can represent asset classes or collectivized groupings of items and beyond. Regardless of the type of NFT, users are able to fully own these verifiable and unique items directly on the blockchain. The blockchain network itself is a stakeholder system, wherein artists and buyers work together to maintain a strong ecosystem without a central authority. In such an ecosystem, artists are empowered to retain a much larger percentage of the revenues from their sales. It would also enable them to fundraise for art projects via tokenization. Using certain types of tokenization mechanisms outside of NFTs, artists could raise capital for projects and allow buyers to share in its ownership. Before blockchain's creation, this opportunity was too technically complex to undertake. Tokens would also allow artists to have more fan participation into their projects, generating more interest and fostering communities around the artist, a series of works, or individual pieces. Artists would collaborate with developers to build communities of all sizes on the blockchain. And with new developments like Polkadot's hub-and-spoke network, where "parachains" in the community can communicate via a central hub, artists could even create their own small chains and connect to a larger network to sell and transfer all types of tokens. Platforms like Photochain are already making inroads to this new decentralized future, offering about 70 percent of the item revenues to the users. Others, such as Audius and Fenix are following close behind. As artists become increasingly more aware of the market potential of NFTs and blockchain, they will flock to these platforms to sell their work. Some have already started. In January, CoinDesk that NFT art sales reached an all-time high of $8.2 million in December of 2020, a trend that will surely continue and expand across the spectrum of the arts. reported The industries commercializing the arts may be massive in size, but at its foundations are the creativity and talent of the artist that hold the most value. Whether artists are struggling or making millions, the power to generate revenue from their work should be in the hands of the creator, not a middleman. With blockchain technologies, this is not only doable, but inevitable.

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How Blockchain Could Deliver Artists to the Promised Land

The first quarter of 2021 is undeniably one for the history books in the cryptocurrency markets. With increased innovation, institutional adoption, and a friendlier stance from regulators, we've already seen most major cryptocurrencies marking new all-time highs. Not many people expected a $58K BTC all-time-high at this juncture in the journey. Yet, it's already happened. And with institutions adjusting their portfolios to include cryptocurrencies, we need to work on retaining their interest in this asset class. Enhanced risk management capability is a major way to help us do this. Institutional Investors Are Pouring In Now that Bitcoin has passed the $1 trillion market cap for the first time in history, this is only the beginning. More and more investors are recognizing cryptocurrency as a viable alternative asset class and, as the gold-bitcoin ratio hits an all-time low, BTC, as digital gold is now a serious contender as a store of value. With the standing at around $11 trillion, BTC may have some ways to go – although, as the saying goes, the first trillion is always the hardest. market cap of gold Of course, not all these institutional dollars will be allocated to high-risk trading strategies such as margin and derivatives trading. The likes of Tesla and MicroStrategy restructuring their corporate treasuries to include BTC is due to a combination of its undeniable ability for capital appreciation – and an ever-weakening decline in the purchasing power of the dollar. Yet, all these moves from massive corporations and banking institutions, from Mastercard, PayPal, and BNY Mellon to Square and Tesla all serve to further legitimize the space. And, as such, we're seeing a major uptick in professional and institutional traders with a higher appetite for risk. This class of traders needs enhanced risk management tools to execute creative and flexible trading strategies that can successfully cushion losses and amplify rewards. Advanced Risk Management Tools Risk management is the key element of success for any trader in any market. With $8K candles in either direction and 20% corrections in 24 hours, learning to manage risk is essential. But beyond basic stop-losses and limit orders, we're talking about institutional-grade products like Portfolio Margin (PM) that are almost entirely absent from the crypto space right now. If cryptocurrency exchanges are serious about sustainably accommodating the needs of this type of investor, they must be willing to adapt their offering to provide advanced risk management tools that institutional and pro traders require. , otherwise known as Unified Account, gives traders the ability to cross-collateralize positions and effectively manage their risk. They can manage all accounts and trades from within one single interface, which allows them to place all their focus on trading, rather than operational overhead. Portfolio Margin (PM) Even more significantly, they can decide to unify all their assets and trade with any instrument. In other words, use all their purchasing power to amplify potential gains. This also means that traders don't need to own the actual crypto asset in order to be able to trade it. So, for example, say a trader wanted to trade BTC/USD futures but all his assets were spread across USDT and ETH. Through his unified account, he could simply use his ETH and USDT crypto collateral without having to purchase BTC first. This is a far more efficient and convenient way for frequent traders to strike while the iron is hot and act quickly on any trade. They can also avoid the extra payment of fees involved with buying additional crypto assets and have the freedom to take a far larger position (and risk) by substantially improving margin efficiency. Closing Thoughts Unified Account has previously only been available to high-net-worth individuals with more capital and trading experience through select prime brokers. But just as crypto has democratized the world of investing, advanced risk management tools are now allowing all traders to gain access to smarter risk management. Since risk management is the single most important element in success, it's vital that exchanges invest in this type of infrastructure in the future. Not only will we be able to retain the interest of professional and institutional traders but we'll be sustainably growing the crypto space, allowing for maximum flexibility and gains – and propelling the BTC market cap well beyond the first trillion. You can find out more about Unified Account on the OKEx exchange in this helpful explainer here. ( ) Disclaimer : The author of the story is the CEO at OKEx Exchange

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Enhanced Risk Management Will Help Crypto to Grow Sustainably

Exeedme, a DeFi and NFT powered gaming platform that allows gamers to monetise their passion, will be hosting the first Blockchain CS:GO Live Tournament. Following the recent success of their beta testers competition in January, Exeedme have announced that they’ll be rolling out the real thing this Sunday, 28th of February. What is the Exeedme CS:Go Tournament? Eight different Blockchain projects will go head-to-head in a 3-week tournament in front of a live audience on Exeedme’s Twitch and Discord. The teams will be made up of five project and/or community members, and each team will pledge $200 worth of their native token to add to the $2000 prize pool. The event will serve as a springboard for each project – giving them exposure to different communities in the blockchain space, while building synergies with other projects, teams and communities. The audience will also be given the chance to participate by asking questions to the founders of each project in an open mic live AMA session. What’s up for grabs? The winning team will take home a grand prize of $2,000 worth of mixed tokens and 5 exclusive pieces of NFT gaming artwork. The live audience will also get the chance to win tokens and other freebies – just by showing up and watching the matches. Who’s playing? In the arena, there will be eight teams: : The number one decentralised oracle network that provides reliable, tamper-proof inputs and outputs smart contracts. Chainlink : A DeFi ecosystem that interoperates across blockchains and removes barriers to mass adoption. Ferrum Network : A decentralised data exchange that connects consumers and data providers, allowing people to unlock the value of their data. Ocean Protocol : A community-owned, scalable and cost efficient oracle for the DeFi ecosystem and the blockchain community. Umbrella Network : A platform that combines traditional gaming concepts with blockchain technology to enable player-driven economies. The ChainGuardians : A payment gateway that gives e-commerce businesses the power to accept digital currencies at scale. Utrust : A blockchain based entertainment platform providing a variety of games industry services. Ultra : Built for the DeFI ecosystem, aleph.im is a decentralized network that is dedicated to provide secure storage and computing to decentralized applications of all chains. Aleph.im The schedule In total, there will be seven matches, four quarter finals, two semi finals, and one final spread across 3 action-packed weeks. The first game will kick off next Sunday 28th February, with Ferrum Network facing the ChainGuardians, at 9pm GMT on Exeedme Twitch Channel. The final will be held on the 17th March. You can check the full Calendar at . www.exeedme.com/events Each match will be livestreamed on Exeedme’s twitch channel, with further announcements to follow on their Telegram and Twitter page. Why is this Event so important for the community? Exeedme founder, Nuno Fernandes said: “It is an honour to get such a wealth of blockchain projects to be part of this event and allow them to experience our platform first hand. This is a great opportunity for members of the crypto and gaming communities to come together, show off their skills, win NFT and crypto prizes, engage with project founders, and build relationships with the wider community.” Want a bit of the action? Be sure to follow their , and accounts and keep your eyes peeled for updates. Twitch Twitter Telegram

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[Announcement] Exeedme launches the First-Ever Blockchain CS:GO Live Tournament

Hackernoon already contains two articles about the generations of blockchain technology: the and the . First Article Second Article This article attempts to cover the missing things in both articles and the explanations of the 4th and 5th generations of blockchain networks. Before diving into the main matter of discussion, here is a brief description of the root of this ground-breaking technology. The evolution of foundational technologies such as the computer, mobile, and internet was not a rapid process. The first generation of computers (1940–1956) was started from a large size vacuum tube. Over time, the evolution of computers can be systematically studied by classifying them into five generations: Today, computers are far more advanced with features like less expensive, more powerful, high working efficiency, smaller size, etc. According to the pace of technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled powerful machines are coming into the existence to make human lives easier. All the foundational technologies (mentioned earlier) in the digital world, were the backbones to give the birth of blockchain technology i.e.another breakthrough in the digital world. The era of blockchain technology started once Satoshi Nakamoto re-invented this technology to introduce Bitcoin in 2009. The five generations of blockchain technology are classified as below: The Bitcoin blockchain network was the 1st generation of blockchain technology that follows the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm. Bitcoins paved the road to inspire so many altcoins like Ethereum, Litecoin, etc. to evolve in the cryptocurrency world. Basically, the Bitcoin blockchain network was created to make the transactions of Bitcoin by forming immutable data across the distributed ledger but over time, the blockchain technology was not just limited to a financial instrument. Revolutionary technologies like the smart contract, Proof-of-Stake (PoS)-based blockchain, Mixed Bag: BC2BC, and AI-enabled blockchain networks have proved blockchain technology is more than just a financial instrument. The Bitcoin blockchain itself has so many downsides like disputable energy consumption to run the mining equipment, adjusting mining rigs that need expensive hardware setups and notorious scalability problems. Despite some disadvantages of the Bitcoin blockchain network, it has unique advantages too. After Bitcoin, the next generation of blockchain technology was started from the Ethereum blockchain network in  2015. For the first time, developers introduced Smart Contracts (self-executing and fully automated programs) through the Ethereum Blockchain network. Ethereum was the first blockchain network to help the evolution of Decentralized Finance( DeFi) as MakerDAO was the first DeFi application to offer fully smart contract-based financial services which were the next level's practice to give financial freedom to everyone. Image: Ethereum Smart Contract Working Mechanism; Source: ResearchGate Apart from the financial sector, use cases of the Ethereum blockchain network are as follows: Blockchain voting to prevent election fraud Web browsing Gaming Advertising Identity management Supply chain management The Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains are based on the PoW consensus algorithm and both have notorious problems: scalability and overpower consumption to run the mining equipment. Other blockchain networks like ETC suffered from the majority or 51% attack. The third generation of blockchain networks like NANO, Banano, Cardano, etc was capable of solving the persisting problems in second generations of blockchain networks like scalability, 51% attack, high power consumptions, interoperability, sustainability, etc. The most important point is that Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm-based blockchain networks like Cardano fall in this generation. If Cardano is taken as a reference, it has attempted to create a stable blockchain ecosystem. Fourth Generation of Blockchain Technology: The first three generations have helped to increase the use cases and applicability of blockchain technology but still failed to help the mainstream adoption of the technology in the financial, industrial, institutional, and governmental sectors due to the cost and complexity of their implementations. The fourth-generation blockchains have solved the major problems seen in the blockchains of the previous generations to a bigger extent and the things which are done by 4rth generation blockchains are as follows: High efficiency to process the transactions with enhanced scalability and lower costs Highly secured blockchains: SYBIL, DDoS, and 51% attack resistant Easy to use for so many business-related applications Utilization of the Hashgraph Technology that is responsible for creating fairness in the consensus mechanism. For a better understanding of the fourth-generation blockchain technology, here are some references to the game-changing blockchain networks: EOS: EOS blockchain is based on Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) model and DPoS uses real-time voting coming from the EOS holders to determine the validators to add the new block into the blockchain. The latest release of the was in June 2018 which is capable of processing millions of transactions per second. The most remarkable achievement of this blockchain network is that it eliminates the transaction fees for miners. The feeless transaction feature of the EOS blockchain helps to run real-world applications. EOS blockchain Image source: LeewayHertz The following are the key features of the EOS blockchain network which help to distinguish the EOS blockchain from the other blockchains from the previous generations. EOS supports millions of users in the real-time Free usage Easy to upgrade and fix the bugs that persisted in the smart contracts of different applications based on the EOS blockchain Low latency of the transactions to offer the reliable blockchain-based services Sequential and parallel performance Permission Mapping Atomic transactions with multiple accounts by forming the same shard Supports freezing accounts, recovery of stolen keys, and inter-blockchain communications Polkadot: The network protocol is another level blockchain that has made things possible to transfer both tokens and arbitrary data across the blockchain. Polkadot The decent multi-chain supporting features of Polkadot have helped to allow cross-chain computation and cross-chain registries which are genuine features in the blockchain sphere. The blockchain has followed the PoS BFT consensus algorithm and is capable of processing 1000 transactions per second. There are four basic roles: collator, fisherman, nominator, and validator in order to upkeep the blockchain. Image: Polkadot blockchain Here are some unique features of the Polkadot blockchain: The impressive ecosystem of Polkadot allows the creation of private and public blockchains based on the main Polkadot blockchain network. The main Polkadot network remains a unified network to allow the connection of different blockchains and this feature promotes interoperability. Validators can operate and manage the different blockchains with enhanced scalability within the Polkadot ecosystem. The user-friendly Polkadot blockchain allows the implementation of so many real-world applications. Even the government can use this blockchain for various purposes. Polkadot does not allow forks, which means integrating the new features, and fixing the bugs can be done without having the forks. Better security Fifth Generation of Blockchain Technology: Currently, so many experts may deny considering the fifth generation of blockchain technology. They might argue based on the existence of fully AI-enabled blockchain but according to the pace of technology to back the rapidly advancing blockchain, it may not be a problem to raise concerns even for 5th-generation blockchains for a systematic study of the technology. Developers of some blockchain projects like have independently claimed that they have brought the AI-enabled 5th generation blockchain technology into existence, and the crypto community can conduct the discussions on whether they meet so many parameters to be 5th generation blockchain technology or not. Everscale, Propersix, and Relictum Pro Despite the vast improvements in the blockchains of the fourth generation, there were still notable challenges like Interfacing complex data to provide them across the blockchain, back-end full control over the system integrity and security, high scalability based on the sharding, and the tightly-coupled blockchain (Almost all blockchains from 4th generations are not tightly-coupled). The Everscale blockchain attempts to solve the mentioned challenges faced by fourth-generation blockchains. Let's dive into the Everscale blockchain. Everscale: The open-source and Telegram abandoned blockchain project TON is claimed to be the first 5th generation blockchain technology as Dr. Nikolai Durov (Creator of TON blockchain) describes TON as the first fifth-generation blockchain technology. Recently, an independent group of developers, members, and validators introduced the multi-blockchain in 2020 which is based on the original TON blockchain protocol and its ecosystem refers to as DAO. The Everscale uses the BFT PoS consensus algorithm and it is a mixed homogeneous/heterogeneous multichain smart-contract enabled system. Everscale According to the developers, the Everscale is a cluster of supercomputers to offer various services, and virtual machines developed by Telegram are also integrated into the Everscale in order to provide a wide range of real-world applications to millions of people worldwide. Here are some unique features of Everscale that are helpful to distinguish it from the other blockchains from the previous generations: The first blockchain introduces special features like the "self-healing" vertical blockchain mechanism. It supports shardable custom work chain with native sharding support. The first tightly-coupled blockchain to support the forwarding messages between shards almost instantly within the Everscale ecosystem. Arbitrary data sharing across the blockchain is made possible with improved scalability. The first blockchain to support Dynamic Mapping i.e. Automatic data refresh. Truly scalable general-purpose blockchain to allow the integrations of blockchain-based real worlds applications like micropayment channels and off-chain payment supports, multi-currency transfer, blockchain voting, gaming, government registries, energy-related services, property right registrations, and supply chain management. Developers are working to introduce new and advanced blockchain technologies. In the future, the next era of computers is more likely to start with quantum computers having huge computing powers. If quantum computers are the mainstream adopted computers in the future, vast improvements are also required in encryptions and the AI-powered system of the blockchains. So, what are the expected blockchain features in the future? Fully Artificial Intelligence (AI) based consensus algorithms to replace the presence of humans from the different roles in the blockchain like transactions validation, adding new blocks into the blockchain, etc. This sort of consensus algorithm will also help to save time and overconsumption of energy as Bitcoin and Ethereum do. Once the instructions are offered to AI, it cannot be biased to exhibit unequal behaviors to the engaged users of the blockchain for getting the various services. So fair operations can be gained from this sort of blockchain and the blockchain will be the most trusted to go for the mass adoption trend. Use cases of future blockchain technology should not just limit to the services which are currently being offered by the existing blockchains but should be able to accommodate the Internet of Everything (IOX) with the help of an AI-powered cluster of computers. Bugs-free high-tech blockchain architectures. Easy to access the blockchain effectively even by using smartphones. Conclusion: Without being skeptical, blockchain technology is the ground-breaking technology to solve so many business problems, finance-related problems, data security, and many more but still, it has not had a substantial transformational impact on this world as expected no matter how far blockchain technology has gone so far from the first generation blockchain to the present blockchain technology. Cybersecurity has always been a significant challenge to impact the advancement and the mass adoption of blockchain technology. Not to get worried at all, let's see how developers will face all the challenges to invent other advanced technologies in the future.

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Fifth Generation of Blockchain Technology

And so, to begin with, let's go back to grade 8 in social studies and find out what society is, as a complex system: A system is a collection of interacting and interconnected elements that form a single whole. It also includes the following characteristics: self-developing unfinished dynamic open self-regulating self-structured united I can tell you in all seriousness that these characteristics are guaranteed to fit decentralized blockchains. Now I will try to describe what each word means in society, as a system, and I will try to connect them with decentralization in simple words. Go: - this means that the system develops itself at the expense of internal resources. That is, in society there are some elements, people, relationships between people, and people themselves push society towards development. Self-developing How can this be related to decentralized blockchains? Let's take, for example, any blockchain that is actively developing now, for example Free TON: The same characteristic can be rewritten to the blockchain and will fit well: “A self-developing system means it develops at the expense of internal resources, namely, thanks to active community members who popularize the product, thanks to network validators that maintain uninterrupted operation, thanks to programmers creating new applications and updating old. That is, the network participants are developing the system (in this case, the blockchain). Let's move on to the next characteristic - " " unfinished An incomplete system (or, as some say, an alternative one) - this suggests that there is no clear calendar of events that should happen in the future, that is, the system lives and continues to live. There is no such thing that “in 2038 there will be a crisis, the whole system will collapse” How does this relate to a decentralized blockchain? Take Bitcoin for example now. When it was created, was there a clear plan of action, what will happen and when will happen to it? No, it was not) Will such a calendar appear in the future? Of course not. Bitcoin is decentralized and therefore there is no calendar, it appeared and exists. There is no end. The alternative is that anything can happen. We ordinary users have a billion possible solutions. Someone can buy 20% of all bitcoin today and it will grow by 200% tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow all the people will go and sell all their bitcoin and it will depreciate. Nobody knows what the future holds. Let's move on to the third characteristic - " " dynamic A dynamic system is one that moves, does not stand still. does not stagnate. It is constantly developing, improving, constantly changing. In society, this can be explained by the fact that something new appears and the old disappears. Now let's see how this might be related to decentralized blockchains. To be honest, I haven't found any other example other than Free TON. Therefore, let's take a look at this example. This blockchain has controls, thanks to which a variety of tasks are solved. So that's it. Imagine a situation that at the beginning of his journey he needed a management that would be looking for designers for logos, for something else, and after some time, when the blockchain already has all these branded logos, the management of finding designers turned out to be unnecessary. Or an example, when the blockchain is trying to expand, people (elements of the system) create a management to popularize it and begin to promote it on their own. Now let's analyze the word - " " open An open system means that society admits new elements, new individuals, new relationships, and also provides the ability to move through its structure. That is, in fact, it is the same with decentralized blockchains. Anyone can use the blockchain without any obligations, and so on. He can also become a network validator, he can become a manager of any blockchain popularization department if he is new. There is no such thing that you cannot use the blockchain. Well, it remains to analyze 3 more characteristics and smoothly move on to the analysis of the word " " self-regulating A self-regulating system means that the elements of the system, in the case of society, people, have themselves created the rules, laws, police, clinics to regulate what is happening. That is, in other words, the elements of the system regulate the system themselves. I can see such an approach only in one of the blockchains because it is only developing now and therefore all characteristics are suitable for it. I'm talking about Free TON. As I said above, it has controls that regulate certain activities within the blockchain, this can be: network support, product popularization, bug fixes, partnerships, and the like. A system in a society means that the elements of society have themselves created such a structure. Nobody suggested it to them. They invented it themselves. self-structured As in decentralized blockchains. Blockchain didn’t come up with the structure it does. It was invented by its elements, that is, network participants, managers, validators, and others. Well, the final word is “ ”. united Despite the fact that a blockchain can consist of many elements, they still interact with each other and constitute a single system, both in society and in the blockchain. Some element cannot be separate from the system. If he is not in the system, then he does not belong to it. What did I want to say with this article? I wanted to compare society as a complex system and decentralized blockchains and show by this how they are similar. That is, in fact, we can say that a decentralized blockchain is like a small complex system, a copy of society. After all, if you take society as a whole (for example, the whole world), then this is a really very complex system, which is really not controlled by not just one person, but everyone contributes their own part in it, EXACTLY the same as it happens in blockchains ... I hope you found the article interesting, thanks for reading!

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Societies and Decentralized Systems Have A Lot In Common

February 27th is Pokémon day, an anniversary of the Pokémon franchise. This year is unique, with the company celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of Pokémon Red and Blue on the original Gameboy. Throughout the month, The Pokémon Company has been gearing up to celebrate this milestone. Fans and pundits alike have speculated that the next main series Pokémon game will be announced on the 27th. A New Pokémon Game in the Style of Pokémon Let's Go? The Pokémon Company could reveal a new main series Pokémon game as part of its Pokémon Let's Go series. The Pokémon Let's Go series incorporated Pokémon GO style capture mechanics with traditional gameplay mechanics present in its previous games. Players used motion to capture Pokémon, using the Nintendo Switch's Joy-cons, which replaced the conventional battle and capture mechanics present in previous games. The last Pokémon Let's Go games: Pikachu and Eevee were released in 2018, indicating the series is long overdue for a new Pokémon Let's Go. The Pokémon Company could unveil a new Pokémon Let's Go game on the 27th, remastering a more senior Pokémon title such as Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. However, fan reception to the previous Let's Go game was not positive and may prevent the company from releasing a new game in this series. A Fan Favourite: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Remakes The internet has been rife with possible speculation that the next Pokémon games could be Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes. This year marks Diamond and Pearl's 15th anniversary, making Pokémon Day the perfect time to reveal a remake. Traditionally, The Pokémon Company has released remakes after first releasing a brand-new entry into the Pokémon franchise. The latest entry of Pokémon Sword and Shield released two years ago, implying a remake is likely next on the agenda. Likewise, the last remake was of Ruby and Sapphire. Diamond and Pearl are direct sequels to these games, suggesting that a Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remake is imminent. A Brand New Pokémon Game A brand-new addition to the main series is also possible, although it is least likely. Pokémon Sword and Shield 2 is conceivable; however, this seems unlikely with DLC's release for the game last year. If the Pokémon Company were to release new content for Pokémon Sword and Shield, it would make sense to continue with DLC packs rather than a whole new title. A brand new Pokémon game, one with a new region and story, is also unlikely. Traditionally, a new entry into the main series come every three years. Pokémon Sword and Shield were released two years ago, making a new main series entry this year less likely. New DLC New downloadable content (DLC) was released last year for Pokémon Sword and Shield and has had considerable success. The Pokémon Company could unveil new DLC packs as a replacement for its fully-fledged standalone titles. They could reveal new Sword and Shield DLC or Diamond and Pearl DLC. Pokemon DLC -The Crown Tundra (Artwork) Although Pokémon fans might not be happy about more DLC instead of full games, this outcome is plausible. Nevertheless, the company has made unpopular decisions before and has seen success with its DLC packs, making further DLC within the realms of possibility. Final Thoughts On the 27th, the Pokémon Company will likely reveal its next main series Pokémon game; the most probable would be Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes. However, the next game could also be Let's Go inspired. The least likely announcement would be further DLC or an entirely new Pokémon main series game, based on historical trends in the company’s release schedule. This article was written by Jack Boreham

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Please, note that any information provided below is for informational purposes only and should not be treated as investment or financial advice of any kind. Hello everyone and welcome to such a wow interview! I am Olivia Kenney, the Chief Marketing Manager at GetBlock, and today we’re going to have a small talk with Max from the Dogecoin team. Hey Max, we’re super excited to have you here, please, introduce yourself. Hi Olivia, my name is Max Keller, and I’m an Android developer by day, living in Germany. I work on Dogecoin in many ways but could say my focus lies with Dogecoin Core and the Android wallet. I also roam around in the different communities and help out where I can. Nice to meet you, Max! So, can you tell us more about your path, how did you become a Dogecoin Core developer? I got involved pretty early when a friend of mine pointed me towards the Dogecoin subreddit. That was all the way back when Dogecoin wasn’t even traded on any exchanges. Only a few days after its inception. I spent a considerable amount of time in the community and thought it’d be nice to try and give back by using my knowledge as a developer. I got to know the founders and helped out where I could until they withdrew from the project and handed me “the keys” to it. Very interesting! Well, Dogecoin was practically created as a meme telling the world that the whole cryptocurrency concept is a joke. What do you think about Dogecoin now when it has become one of the world's most highly valued cryptocurrencies? Have you or your team changed the opinion about the crypto universe since then? I can only really speak for myself here but I still see issues with cryptocurrency that the community has not managed to fully solve yet. But work towards that is underway from many sides and I enjoy watching its progress as an overall ecosystem. I’m glad Dogecoin can be a part of this movement and hope that the Dogecoin project and community can continue playing a part in making cryptocurrency more fun and accessible. What do you think about cryptocurrency today, is it time to buy Bitcoin or it’s too late? ;) No comment on buying anything from me ;) Crypto as a whole certainly has valid use cases and I also think that the underlying blockchain technology can prove useful in many areas. It is up to the community as a whole to make use of it in a way that creates a safe space for new users too. Have you ever expected while working with Dogecoin that it will be in the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market cap? What did you feel the day when DOGE hit its ATH at the end of January? I’m known to not worry too much about the price. Value is more than just a ranking by market cap. We focus more on the long term and providing a stable foundation for the wider community to build value on top of. I totally agree with you about the value point. You know, the next question was born also in response to the latest events. So, only the lazy would not see the hype raised by Elon Musk around Dogecoin. Have you or anyone from your team had a chance to talk with Elon Musk, what do you think about his latest tweets? Some of his tweets made us laugh, some of his tweets have led to more serious thoughts. I think he is walking a fine line and should consider this with every tweet. Can you send us your favorite DOGE memes, I believe you have a special folder for that? ;) . I’ll just link you to my favorite source of Dogecoin memes: https://twitter.com/dogecoinmemes Nice, thank you! Ok, let’s just put all the hype aside for a while and talk a bit about your goals, what do you plan for Dogecoin in 2021, where are you heading? We are currently working on the next updates to Dogecoin Core, our reference client. Aside from an upcoming bugfix release, we will focus on bringing in the latest updates from Bitcoin Core while re-thinking our approach to keeping Dogecoin Core up to date. We also keep focusing on educational resources for new and existing users. What do you think are going to be trends in the blockchain space in general? I think a lot of technologies that are based on or evolved from blockchain in general are getting ready for use in production in many sectors. Things that many have previously seen as hype have since been refined into useful tech and it’s now on the people to make good use of it. As for new developments, I have always been surprised by some of the ideas that come up and will continue to watch the space for new cool ideas. Dogecoin has a very strong and active community, maybe the most active in the whole crypto world, what would be your message to all Dogecoin lovers today? The Dogecoin community is indeed pretty amazing. It’s to this day one of the main reasons why I spend my time with Dogecoin and I hope that from the influx of new users we have seen in the past weeks we gained quite a few new shibes who’ll stick around with us on our exciting journey ;) And they will do, that’s for sure! Thank you so much for your time! I remind you that today we were joined by Max Keller, the Dogecoin Core developer. It was really pleasant having you here and chatting with you, thanks a lot. Previously published at https://getblock.io/blog/very-interview-with-dogecoin-such-questions-much-answers

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The success of marketplaces (like Airbnb, Etsy, Uber) is booming so rapidly that it’s tempting to forget how difficult it is to get one off the ground. For every successful marketplace, there are a dozen that didn’t make it. Most business owners build one, at best two, marketplaces in their lives. As a team member who builds marketplaces for others, we roll out 5-10 platforms every year. B2B, B2C, peer-to-peer - you name it. Not all of them end up taking off, as everyone expected. At first, the burn of failure was intense. Over time, however, we noticed that there are patterns common for all failed marketplaces. So we decided to put together a list of challenges that cause most teams - and their marketplaces - to fail. This list can help business owners and web developers understand the specifics of dealing with online marketplaces and grasp the responsibilities. Error 1: Ignoring The Entry Barrier Why do buyers and sellers choose marketplaces instead of tread-of-the-mill online stores? They want credibility. Vendors expect the platform to attract interested buyers, while customers want to know that sellers were verified. Both expect that a platform’s team will take precautions and embrace responsibility. This is why you need to define the level of openness of your marketplace. Openness defines the degree of access that customers and clients have to the platform. For instance, is an open marketplace - you can register for a small fee, submit your products, and start selling immediately. , a marketplace for language learning, requires teachers to verify their skills in an interview with a moderator. Etsy iTalki The failure to define the right level of openness for your marketplace will break your target audience’s trust. The right way depends entirely on your niche. In some fields, the entry barrier is a must - healthcare, education, fintech. In others, having little to no verification is a better option - handmade products, accessories, art. Often, teams want to make the user experience as smooth as possible. They prefer having little to no barrier and get, as expected, a quick influx of users. But, the quality keeps dropping, and customers are disappointed. In the worst case, you’ll deal with legal problems and expensive mediation. Solution In our experience, most marketplaces benefit from introducing some entry barrier. It’s a way to determine the quality of the offer, decide what users you want on the platform, and give the feeling of exclusivity. There’s a hidden opportunity there as well. If you allow users to join platforms by recommendations, referral programs get going much faster. We’ve seen this with the - the benefit of premium access helps to get a community rolling. Clubhouse app . It’s a defining point of the user flow, so knowing where to start certainly makes things easier. Discuss the verification barrier early on at the discovery stage . Although there’s a handful of marketplaces that conduct interviews with moderators to verify a vendor's worth, such a system is hard to sustain for many niches. As developers, we think it’s best to consider automation in the long run - to avoid tearing down features later on. Automate as much as possible . Granted, an access barrier can turn off some users. Luckily, you are in control. The app or site itself should contain clear explanations, along with a way to contact support. We also recommend preparing video guides and help materials. Help people to understand how to get through verification Exclusivity is the selling point of most marketplaces. Users like to know that basic vetting has been done for them, at least for vendors. Error 2: Not Engaging Developers Enough Every once in a while, our development team will have a chat with a ready-to-act team. They come to developers with all details laid out - they have wireframes, a full feature list, set-in-stone architecture. All they need is execution - building the codebase. In an ideal world, this would be a perfect collaboration. With everything ready, developers should start working immediately, and the project will wrap up quickly, right? Well, this world is not ideal - so things usually don’t work as expected. If business owners don’t engage developers early on, business models, feature lists, and even positioning end up having fundamental flows. The conversation might go this way. A business owner : we want to build a powerful messenger into a marketplace with the support of audio and video messages. Since we want to help people employ a therapist, it’s a nice add-on. A developer : this sounds great and makes sense. However, what you suggest sounds like a complex messenger, and it’ll take months to build and perfect. Are you sure we need this in the MVP? The problem is, business owners analyze already mature competition and strive to replicate the best features. While it’s certainly possible, such ambitions will take a lot of time and budget - and might not be your priority at the MVP stage. Sometimes, business owners don’t understand the complexity of the tech challenge that is building a marketplace. Even a simple one needs a platform for vendors, customers, and admins. Other essential features take care of logistics, shipping, and help build a community. Since a marketplace team depends on the resources of vendors, your tech is your offer. The marketplace is as good as the technology and community behind it. So, developers should be engaged early on, and development choices often need to be prioritized in the discussion. Solution As developers, we certainly have a solid grasp of this issue. You really do need a long-term partner, if you embark on the journey of marketplace development. Here are some must-know rules about letting developers join the table. : Sometimes business owners think that a single capable developer might be alright. For a simple online shop, that’s often true. But with marketplaces, you are building three platforms. Plus, features for management and mediation, usually absent in regular stores. A single developer, even a senior one, won’t pull all that off. You will need a team Marketplaces aren’t a build-and-ship type of project. You will always fix and change things. Even after the product is released, you can’t just say farewell to the team. When our developers get a marketplace project coming in, it usually means we’ll be cooperating with a business for years. Count on the long-term partnership. . Remote tools help assure enough commitment from the development team for years. Still, we recommend being open to inviting the team over once a year. When we built , a marketplace for finding household help, our team visited the office - and the experience was worth months of remote onboarding. You can outsource, but be prepared to extend cooperation Hlprs Remember that if you are building an online marketplace, your technical decisions will be the most important ones. A lot of things can be handled by vendors, but your technology is what really sets the business apart. Error 3: Underestimating The Vendors When we talk to successful marketplace teams, they always emphasize the importance of vendors. Too often, the focus is shifted to end-customers. You want to offer the best prices and service quality, and the terms of cooperation end up being unfavorable. It’s not unheard of. Back in 2000, , an online marketplace for auto parts’ suppliers and customers, partnered with Ford, GM, Nissan, Daimler-Chrysler, and other acclaimed car manufacturers. Their names and reputation brought customers to the service, and the platform started taking off. However, the auto companies’ business model and functionality favored customers, leaving manufacturers with small profits and fierce competition. So, vendors pulled out, and the marketplace fell apart. Covisint Still, even now, marketplace teams keep making the same mistakes. They have a weak or no onboarding program for vendors, little insurance, and irresponsible support. The conflicts are mediated in favor of a customer. Reputational damage from the vendor’s side is overlooked. Solution Caring for vendors starts with getting to know them. At your discovery stage, research thoroughly the needs of future users, prepare personas, and design user flows. Often, teams tend to allocate more time to analyzing customers, leaving vendor analysis as a last-minute task. . In our experience, allocating the same amount of time and effort for vendors and customers is the best practice. You know both segments well and have thought-out flows for each user on the platform. Think through the functionality of a vendor platform . With marketplaces, neglecting personalization is the worst imaginable practice. Often, teams cut corners and build very similar platforms for buyers and sellers. Both get the stick’s short ends - but especially vendors since their needs are much more complex. Prepare custom features . A marketplace should help vendors to sell more. This is why you need features that will save their time and allow focusing on promotion and order fulfillment. Accounting, time management features, order reports are necessary for an efficient multi-vendor store. Offer tools for inventory management and financial support Vendors are your powerful partners. If you can bring acclaimed businesses on board, getting sellers will be much easier. Starting and maintaining relationships with vendors is a conscious effort that should be reflected on the platform’s features and design. Error 4: Picking The Wrong Battlefield Launching a marketplace can be compared to heading to a battle. You need the right place for events to unfold - good visibility, suitable climate, and safe conditions for your team. When you build a marketplace, you can choose your battlefield, and it’s important to find the right one. Deciding whether to start launching by attracting vendors or sellers is an overlooked dilemma. Many teams only start considering the issue after the platform is fully built, if ever at all. This is what did when launching a service that connected doctors to patients. The strategy was oriented towards patients, with emails and colorful ads. Google Health In this case, however, starting with doctors would be a better idea. Urging health professionals to cooperate would raise the trust of patients. Word of mouth alone would be a powerful promotion tool - as doctors would be the first ones to suggest the service to their patients. Failing to leverage the expertise of providers and insiders, the team tanked the launch. Solution The only way to avoid this failure is to consider all possible launch strategies early on. Focus groups and industry insiders can share their experience and help you decide. Discussing the issue with the team also helps - this is how you get multiple perspectives. : test your concepts and marketing strategies on potential users. Engage focus groups early on . Usually, business owners of future marketplaces don’t experience being on both buyer and seller sides. In Google Health’s case, the team could’ve consulted both doctors and patients as early on as on the discovery stage. Examine the industry opinion . Take a look at launch strategies used by your competitors. If your solution is one of a kind, take a look at similar business models in other niches. Learn from mistakes Luckily, with this problem, the mere fact of considering it is already a win. Too many business owners just start from customers by default. So, just pausing and asking yourself about the best strategy is already the right place to start. Error 5: Missing The Marketplace Potential When our development team started specializing increasingly more on marketplaces, we realized that the niche is unoccupied. The user interest is peaking. The success of and its 40 billion in sales show that people care about multi-vendor stores. Marketplaces are quickly pushing typical e-commerce stores away - and still, end up overlooked by business owners and developers. Facebook Marketplace Often business owners start planning their own online store. They need to invest in products, warehouses, offline infrastructure - even if the market is already full. Instead, they could take advantage of existing providers and build a marketplace for them. This way, there’s no need to establish physical inventories, staff, logistics. Your only focus is building a good platform. Solution Even if you have never built a marketplace, you might want to reevaluate your position. Sure, it’s a serious commitment, but the industry is growing. The number of ready tools for marketplace development that were released in recent years is astonishing. Established e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Magento release extensions for marketplaces, and new platforms like Sharetribe rise to the challenge. According to Statista , marketplaces generated 47% of all sales in 2019. The number is predicted to grow to more than a half in 2020. So, by the time you’ll refine your idea and business model, marketplace development and design will likely become much cheaper. For developers, this niche is a fun challenge and a decent specialization. In our experience, marketplaces have a lot to offer to web and mobile developers - possibly more than traditional e-commerce. Final thoughts The biggest challenge of becoming a player in the marketplace industry is being unaware of the game rules. Marketplaces are not SaaS or e-commerce stores, but they have similarities with both. The focus on users and a clear understanding of business logic are the business model’s defining features. For those who can keep up, is rewarding. It’s a way to make the most out of the industry for business owners - and choose to partner with the competition instead of facing it. marketplace development For development teams, it’s a multi-dimensional challenge and a promising field. Personally, we think marketplaces are awesome because they are built on meaningful teamwork, focused on understanding and responsibility.

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People aspiring to become successful entrepreneurs must try and follow certain tips that can give them their desired success. It is amazing to know and learn about all those different individuals, especially youngsters who strive to be different in their respective industries and try their best to go beyond boundaries for creating a powerful and successful career for themselves. Ever wondered what could be the things or qualities that may have helped all these individuals to achieve the success they desire in their careers and life? Well, there could be a long list of things that can help people in becoming their best versions in the entrepreneurial world. Today, we will dive deeper into tips that can help people get closer to their goals and visions in life according to Lakshay Jain, who owns 'Mevrex' and is one of the youngest web/app developers and entrepreneurs of India. Below are the few tips that he believes can turn an ordinary individual into an extraordinary business personality. 1. Work Passionately If you can't love what you do, how can you go ahead in creating milestones in the same? Loving what individuals do will help them fight the odds, stand strong in the face of adversity, and get motivated to succeed. 2. Never Look Back Once individuals decide and know what they seek in life, they must never look back and keep moving ahead in their quest to achieve greatness in business. People need to see ahead and focus on the future instead of looking back at their setbacks. 3. Network More Getting into the business world may come with many other responsibilities and tasks. Networking is one such thing that people may not find much time for after they enter entrepreneurship; hence, it is advised to start networking before entering the field and also take out time to network more after becoming entrepreneurs. Networking helps entrepreneurs to understand their industry more deeply and learn about many new areas, which can lead to more development and growth of their business. 4. Create a Robust Team It is essential to create a strong team that can become partners for growth for the entrepreneurs. A good and passionate team helps amplify the vision of the business and takes it to newer heights of growth and success. Trusting the team members and having proper communication within the team is also vital in growing a strong business team. 5. Be Around Positive People It is also necessary to surround oneself with positive people as it helps to change the mindsets of entrepreneurs for the better and also broadens their outlook towards the business world. 6. Utilize Every Opportunity Every individual must utilize and maximize the opportunities that may knock their doors on their entrepreneurial journey. This will allow them to explore many new things, improve their business understanding, helping them get nearer their success stories. Following the above-mentioned tips can definitely help aspiring entrepreneurs and other business owners to develop a mindset for winning and achieving great success in their respective fields. Connect with Lakshay Jain, on his , or Website Instagram Facebook

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Chatbots for businesses help them engage their website visitors and convert them into potential customers. The implementation of chatbots transforms the way businesses interact with their users. They can use a chatbot AI for sales, marketing, customer support, and automate many other business tasks. The AI chatbots have revolutionized the customer service experience and enabled businesses to serve their customers in a better way. Chatbots, if created and used right, can help you take your business to all-new levels of success. To make the best AI chatbot for your business, you need an efficient chatbot builder with various advanced features. In this post, we have listed different chatbot builders with their features, pros, and cons. Just go through the post and find the one that best fits your business needs. List of the Best Chatbot Builders Here is the list of best chatbot builders that you can use to make your own AI chatbot for your business. Chatfuel Gupshup Appy Pie Chatbot ChatterOn MobileMonkey ActiveChat.ai Imperson SnatchBot Botsify BotCore Pandorabots 1. Chatfuel The software is a self-serve chatbot-making platform that allows you to make chatbots that help you reduce costs, increase sales, and automate support on Facebook. Features Chatbot templates Keyword auto-responses Multilingual bots Store user data Facebook Messenger platform Integration with other business systems Pros No coding experience required Provides flexibility for custom coding Cons No machine learning Limited integrations and channels Limited to Facebook Messenger Lack of marketing tools 2. Gupshup The software offers an advanced messaging API. These APIs are suitable for different industries including finance, health, travel, automotive, and much more. Features Natural language processing (NLP) Advanced Chatbot templates Workflows Advanced developer tools and cloud-based IDE Chatbot widget Broadcast messaging Drip sequences Bot platform and engagement tools Transactional alerts Audience segmentation and targeted promotions Re-engagement campaigns Works with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger Messaging API platform Pros Provides suitable API for different industries including finance, eCommerce, health, travel, and automotive. API integrated with over 30 channels including voice assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa, and most social media channels Cons No helpline or support provided Lack of guidance on customer insight 3. Appy Pie Chatbot Appy Pie Chatbot is an excellent no-code chatbot development software that allows you to make your own AI chatbot in just a few clicks. It comes with various advanced features to help you make your chatbots more powerful and effective. Features Automated Business Processes Marketing and Analysis Tools Integration with Chatbots Multilingual Chatbots Bot Analytics Contacts and Leads Management Email Tracking Pros Codeless Development Advanced chatbot templates Custom Chatbots Multiple Chatbots for Multiple Functions App Integrations Fulltime Customer Support Better Customer Insights Reduced Operational Costs Cons No Common Widget Code 4. ChatterOn ChatterOn helps you combine user conversation flow with artificial intelligence and rich content elements. The software is great for users who want to use a cheap and easy-to-use tool. Features Uses machine learning Visual chatbot builder Facebook Messenger and website chat Advertising integration Predefined bots with advanced conversation flow Pros Codeless Development platform Free account provides access to all features Intuitive user interface 20 pre-built bots available Easy-to-create modules and connections Unlimited chatbots and up to 15K messages per month Cons No ability to test your bot unless you subscribe after connecting it to Facebook, and then test inside Messenger No helpline or support unless you subscribe for the enterprise plan or you go for custom development 5. MobileMonkey This is one of the best chatbot builders that helps you make multi-channel chatbots that support both web and mobile platforms. It is an all-in-one chatbot-making platform that supports live chat, webchat, omnichannel and SMS marketing, Facebook Messenger bots, etc. Features Advanced live chat features Custom live chat handoff triggers Always mobile-friendly Multilingual platform Unique Chatbot templates Zapier and other integrations AI bots route requests and automate repetitive FAQs Analytics and reporting Pros A wide range of chatbot tools and automation Easy to use user interface Advanced chatbot workflows Supports different channels including web chat, SMS, Messenger, etc. and combines all conversations in one inbox Mobile chat app with advanced support features Unlimited leads and contacts on all plans Huge user community Mobile chat app with advanced support features. Cons Lack of native integrations Limited to Facebook Messenger 6. ActiveChat.ai ActiveChat is a great chatbot building platform that creates the best AI chatbots specifically for eCommerce and customer support. The software works across Twilio SMS, Facebook Messenger, and offers integrations for WooCommerce and Shopify. Features Supports channels: Twilio SMS, Facebook Messenger Ecommerce platform integrations with WooCommerce and Shopify Visual chatbot builder CRM integrations Pros Ability to add timers Advanced eCommerce tools for cart abandonment Cons Pricing is high compared to competitors that offer more robust feature sets 7. Imperson Imperson helps businesses make the best AI chatbot solutions that help businesses make chatbots that deliver better customer service experience. It is an AI chatbot platform that develops enterprise bots for its customers. Features Fully managed bot services AI/machine learning, NLP Full-service creative and implementation SMS, Twitter, Messenger, Slack, Skype integrations Supports audio, video, text, and soon come to AR and VR Chatbot performance monitoring Customization from Imperson team Pros Conversation navigator that uses AI and NLP Lead conversations based on dialogue context End-to-end deployment for bots and integrations Cons Human-like conversations need more time and development 8. SnatchBot SnatchBot is an excellent chatbot builder that helps businesses remove the complexity of adding machine learning/AI to their messaging applications. Features Advanced security features Codeless chatbot development platform Bot templates based on events Robust administrative controls APIs, Webhooks, and plugins Works across messaging channels – Skype, FB Messenger, Viber, Slack, Twilio, Email, Line, Twilio, and others. Sentiment analysis Broadcasting Pros Import to enterprise clients Robust administrative features Enterprise-grade security Custom solutions Cons Complicated and confusing tools to use 9. Botsify Botsify is a chatbot-building platform that helps businesses create AI chatbots without having to code for Slack, Messenger, or a website. The software also offers fully managed plans that are diverse enough to support enterprise-level clients. Features Chatbot templates Visual flow bot builder and editor Multilingual chatbots Store user data Alexa voice bot Keyword auto-responses AI/machine learning Integrate with other business systems Enable bot to send email notifications Pros Basic analytics Basic machine learning features Quick and easy to set up a bot Integrations assist in using data from website to chatbot Cons A limited number of contacts in the pricing model Hardcoded dynamic API-based responses Pricing based on the number of subscribers No multi-channel marketing features. 10. BotCore BotCore is a popular no-code chatbot building platform that helps you deploy and manage AI chatbots for your business. The chatbots created using this platform helps businesses meet the needs of their customers, employees, and vendors. Features Guided conversations IT helpdesk Knowledgebase for Q&A Integration with enterprise apps Alerts and triggers Supply chain and fulfillment bots Sales and marketing bots Security Pros Different technologies integration Focused significant attention on vendors and fulfillment Virtual assistant network Cons Multi-channel chatbot support works within the Microsoft Bot Framework only. 11. Pandorabots The software is an open-source chatbot building platform that allows businesses to build and publish chatbots on the web. Features Voice-enabled for text-to-speech and speech-to-text Mobile support AIML is the main differentiator Context-aware Free documentation and training Multilingual Web hosting and publishing Web-based development tools Integrate with external knowledge sources Conversational logs Pros Deploy to voice channels or messaging Open-source platform to help you download your code Lots of flexibility High-performance bots Cons Pandorabots hosts chatbot creation on some different platforms. Conclusion We hope this article has helped you find the best chatbot builder that fits your business needs. Use your chosen chatbot builder today and create a free AI chatbot for your business. Good Luck!

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11 Of The Best Artificial Intelligence Enterprise Chatbots in 2022

You should care a lot about these basic UX points that affect usability. To , you need to know what the “weak spots” of the interface are. There’re typical “trouble areas” a designer should pay special attention to. Usually, these are the points where you should look for the reasons for bad user experience. improve UX Any changes mean a time and resource investment and must be justified. The sooner a problem is discovered, the easier and cheaper you can fix it. In an ideal scenario, a UX audit should be conducted before UX improvements. However, knowledge of the basic rules of UX testing and tools for improving it is necessary for every designer to grow professionally. For testing, you should involve real users who aren’t designers. So where are the most common problems hiding? 1. User research The basis for interface designing is the results of marketing research. Without knowing the target audience, its tastes, preferences, motives, and goals, any attempt to make a good design will fail. This is the foundation of the house, without which it will collapse. Check if you have collected the full information about the users. Are their portraits and behavioral patterns thought out? Do you have enough information about the product and is there a concept for how to get your audience interested in it? Make sure you fully understand your users and know how to meet their expectations. 2. Design concept Some designers misunderstand the essence of a design concept. This is not about creativity or trendy and custom design. A design concept is an idea behind a design that you use to convey your client’s message to users. The design concept must, first of all, meet the expectations of users and solve the tasks of the website (application). Make sure your design concept meets the main objectives set. 3. User flow Unbethought or ill-conceived user flow is a common problem. It’s important to check the following: Is the user performing the actions in the correct order? Do all scripts and processes have logical ends? How quickly does the user reach the goal? Have you prevented possible mistakes? Are there obstacles on the way and can they be eliminated? People come from different entry points. On their way, there are decision points (moments of interaction). Test if user behavior corresponds to your planned scenario, do they go through key moments of interaction exactly as you intended? How many clicks do they make to the result, is it possible to reduce their number and remove all unnecessary ones? If the flow is not going according to plan or there are obstacles, it’s necessary to change the structure of visual design and information architecture of the website (application), even if you really don’t want to. This is essential. Make sure your user flow is a pleasant and easy journey, oriented to fulfilling the user’s desire. 4. Reasonable visual Good visual manages users’ attention. It makes the road to the goal visible, predictable, and understandable. A bad design can ruin the user flow and lead astray. This happens when the visual hierarchy is broken, accents are missing, or placed incorrectly. Displaced accents lead the user away from the goal, unnecessary animation distracts, visual “overload” diverts attention. If the content isn’t perceived (incomprehensible, too voluminous, unattractive, doesn’t draw attention, etc.) — the reason can be not only bad design but also poor awareness of the tastes of the audience or an unsuccessful concept (clauses 1 and 2). Good visual design means: a clear and understandable path to the goal; attention management; clear visual hierarchy; correct accentuation of points of interaction; competent presentation of content; effective calls to action; contrasts of images and fonts, visual rhythm, balance; responsiveness and communication; emotional impact. Make sure your visual design creates a gaze motion trajectory that corresponds to the user flow. 5. Optimization of interactions Communications and interactions are the means for connection with the user, the most important part of UX. The interface should be a friend and helper for the user, with whom it’s pleasant to communicate. For this, you need to: Provide visual feedback on the state of the system; Prevent the occurrence of errors; Show friendly and encouraging error messages; Separate features that incur lengthy scenarios to reduce the probability of accidental use; Provide the possibility to easily undo actions; Minimize the negative effect of interrupted activities; Save information about the user’s previous actions (so that they don’t enter the data all over again, but could correct it); Create responsive clickable zones (with the help of size, color, animation). Create moments of emotional interaction. Use these and other possible methods to make your interface as smart, caring, responsive, and “human” as possible. Make sure your interface visually “communicates” with the user, helps them avoid mistakes and achieves their goals. 6. Readability from any device To make the site content look good on any device, you can use an adaptive, fluid, or responsive layout, depending on your tasks. However, first of all, you need to orient towards user convenience. is optimal in many cases. It allows you to transform the layout by rearranging elements using breakpoints. Responsive design uses vectors that don’t overload the page and don’t change visually at any stretch. Responsive layout Make sure that you provided a good display of your interface on all devices. Services for testing of adaptability: https://responsivedesignchecker.com/ https://www.browserstack.com/ https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/feature/testmysite/ https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly Accessibility 7. Accessibility means the possibility to use a digital product for people with different physical abilities, in any environment and situation (on different devices, with different scalability and lighting, with different control methods). Provide an option of equal access for all. High accessibility means acquiring as many users as possible and is well worth the effort. Make sure that you took care of accessibility and comfort for all of your users in all circumstances. The user’s goal is not to appreciate the advantages of the interface. Their goal is to get what they came to the page for, and the designer's task is to help them achieve what they want. Also published at https://medium.com/outcrowd/how-to-improve-ux-design-cd5957f98b71

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7 Key Points To Improve UX Design

I’m Andrew Levine, the CEO of Koinos Group. We are the creators of Koinos, the first blockchain that’ll be totally free to use. In this series of articles and videos, we’ll use our unique knowledge and experience to explore how new technologies and cultural movements fit into the Big Picture, so that you can gain a deeper understanding of a phenomenon by learning about where it fits into the arc of history. In this article, I’m going to talk about Dogecoin which I think is probably one of the most misunderstood cryptocurrencies. I’m just trying to help educate people about new technologies that often have a financial component. I’m not telling you to buy or not buy Dogecoin or anything else. I just want to be clear that this isn’t financial advice, As I said in our WallStreetBets video, the most important year for understanding the big picture is 2008, which is when the established economic order ended in the Great Financial Crisis. But essentially, that’s when we learned that our entire economic system is too antiquated, mysterious, and controlled by a tiny number of people. In short, it’s just too CENTRALIZED. Bitcoin While the establishment was busy trying to bandaid their systems, outsiders wanted to see a genuine fix. We wanted a system that was open, transparent and impossible to manipulate. Which is why software engineers released the first truly DEcentralized digital currency; Bitcoin. Because of its decentralization, Bitcoin was a digital currency that no one owned or controlled, that was open and transparent, and was easy to understand too because it had properties similar to an asset that had been around for ages; gold. But it was also slow and you had to pay sizable fees any time you wanted to send a Bitcoin to someone else. Those aren’t the characteristics people expect from an “advanced digital currency.” Whether deserved or not, Bitcoin had also acquired a controversial reputation. Which is where Dogecoin fits in. Since the Bitcoin software is open source, anyone can copy the code and launch their own version of it. This is a big deal because it means that Bitcoin didn’t just deliver a new financial technology to the market, it provided a TEMPLATE that anyone could use to create even more digital currencies. DOGECOIN Dogecoin, which was launched in 2013, was just one such cryptocurrency. One of the most common things that people get wrong about Dogecoin is that it was purely created as a joke. Which isn’t true. While Dogecoin certainly has a comedic component, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t ALSO innovative, or that there wasn’t a very serious REASON behind the use of that joke. The creators of Dogecoin didn’t just copy and paste the Bitcoin code and then slap a meme on it, which is what many seem to believe. The creators, Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, were legitimate software engineers employed at IBM and Adobe. When building Dogecoin they used their software engineering expertise to take advantage of new technologies that had been released after Bitcoin which enabled them to make Dogecoin ten times faster than Bitcoin! They also designed the economics differently in an attempt to maintain a low price so that it could remain accessible and affordable which when combined with its increased speed, made it potentially useful for online transactions. Humor as a Tool Even the use of humor itself can be seen as a noteworthy innovation. Mocking cryptocurrency made it less scary and even more accessible. Dogecoin has earned its place in blockchain history for that reason alone. And this is possibly the most important point of all. Unlike so many in this space, Palmer and Markus were thinking about the big picture. For them, the success of Dogecoin would not be measured by its price, but by its ability to accelerate the adoption of this new technology which had the potential to add value to all of our lives. And just look at how effective Dogecoin has been at attracting attention to the cryptocurrency space and introducing people to the idea that there is more to blockchain than just Bitcoin. After all, you are watching this video that is about Dogecoin. The problem is that blockchain technology still hasn’t managed to break into the mainstream in terms of actual adoption and humor alone is not going to solve that problem. While Elon Musk has taken a shine to Dogecoin, he himself once mocked his competitor, Henrik Fisker, saying, “The reason we don’t have electric cars is not for lack of styling.” Well, the reason we don’t have mass adoption of blockchain technology is not for lack of memes. Bitcoin and Dogecoin have certainly been getting more attention as of late, but very few people wind up using them because for most people they’re still not very, well, useful. They’re slow, difficult to use, and you STILL have to pay fees for every little thing you do. And at the end of the day, the only thing you can do on those blockchains is send and receive those individual cryptocurrencies. Koinos That’s what we’re trying to change with Koinos. Not only will Koinos be fast, easy to use, and totally fee-less, it will also be a decentralized computing PLATFORM that developers will be able to use to create applications with the higher level of security, privacy, and ownership that can only be achieved through the use of blockchain technology. Just like Dogecoin integrated innovations that came after Bitcoin to offer a faster, more user-friendly digital currency, we are taking advantage of even newer technologies and then combining those with our own innovative solutions that we developed based on our experience working on the Steem blockchain and steemit.com. While the potential use cases for Koinos are infinite, to give you just an inkling of the potential, Dogecoin could actually be run on Koinos, and doing so would instantly make it 10 times faster, and totally fee-less, making it far closer to that user-friendly option for online payments that it wanted to be. Not only that but Dogecoin users would immediately gain access to all of the other tokens and applications also running on Koinos, thereby dramatically expanding its utility. If the goal of Dogecoin was to destigmatize cryptocurrencies while also pioneering innovative and useful features, then launching on Koinos would enable Dogecoin to make another evolutionary leap. Owning Your Data I think Dogecoin’s strategy of using humor to spread awareness about digital currencies was brilliant. Like Palmer and Markus, we aren’t measuring the success of Koinos based on its price, but on its ability to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology and give everyone ownership of their data. So we applaud any effort to expand the reach of this technology. But with Koinos we are also trying something different; offering a platform capable of powering decentralized applications that aren’t just functional, but can actually delight users. Thanks to the technical innovations that we have either adopted or built from scratch, Koinos will be a platform that we think developers will love using to build apps that PEOPLE love using thanks to its speed, ease-of-use, and fee-less design. If you’d like to learn more about Koinos, head on over to Koinos.io, and if you liked this article please follow and let us know in the comments of the YouTube video what you’d like to cover in a future episode of the Big Picture. Thanks for your time.

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Is Elon Musk WRONG About Dogecoin?

Some systems are specifically meant to be hacked. The little experiment I describe in this article shows that a system is found quite soon after being connected to the Internet. Security experts tell us that external access to servers (directly connecting them to the Internet) . However, security departments sometimes deliberately set up systems to be targeted by attackers. These so-called are used to uncover possible hacker activity going on in the companies network. Besides this business use, a similar setup can be done out of interest or for fun as well. is insecure honeypots A commonly used protocol used to connect to computer systems is . Whether it is safe to connect it to the open internet, even when taking specific precautions, . But how long will it take before such a system will be compromised? To find out, I deployed the honeypot on an Amazon EC2 instance, with the mocked ssh service on port 2222 directly reachable from the Internet. ssh is disputed Cowrie SSH As nothing on the Internet is referring to this server, it can only be found by scanning IP and port ranges. Using a signed SSL certificate with a domain name would probably make it easier to . However, as the image below shows, it took only a few hours before the first connection attempt arrived at our exposed ssh port. find specific targeted attacks The chart shows the source IP address (unreadable) on the vertical axis and the moment of first connection on the horizontal axis. The size of the dot is relative to the number of connection attempts from that specific source address. The total amount of connection attempts was over 3,600 during these five days, originating from 37 different source addresses. The map below shows the location of the source addresses, according to . Again, the size of the dot corresponds to the number of connection attempts from that location. We see connections are coming in from all over the world. However, chances to find our hacker at that location are small, as VPN and other obfuscation techniques are widely used when misbehaving on the Internet. ipstack The honeypot SSH server is protected by username/password credentials. Several commonly used username/password combinations are granting access. Once logged in a shell is emulated, allowing commands to be entered, imitating the command result. During the testing period, three attackers managed to pass the login prompt by guessing the right password. Once connected the intruders were using the command to check the type of operating system and version. None of the intruders came back for more. uname Considering this, I would think twice before connecting any server directly to the Internet. It doesn't take long before the first automated hacker-operated scanner comes by to knock on your ports. Then you'd better make sure to keep them closed! Lead image by Magda Ehlers@Pexels, other images were created from log analysis using Dataiku.

A Honeypot Experiment Shows How Long It Takes To Get Hacked

With new technological developments, Cybersecurity is turning into one of the biggest concerns of the modern era. To help with the same, some experts have advised about the usage of deep learnings for cybersecurity. Even though techniques like firewalls, antiviruses, intrusion detection systems (IDSs), etc, are existing; only one weakness is enough to make the data vulnerable to security threats. To increase the data protection probability, deep learning supported by Artificial Intelligence came into existence. Deep learning is a small but crucial part of Machine learning. It copies the human brain and follows the exact functionality and connectivity. It is expected that with the help of deep learning techniques, AI will automate the cybersecurity process shortly. Moreover, AI learning can make security protocols easier and much efficient. By feeding it multiple types of data, AI can be used to detect fraud, compromised transactions, unauthorized purchases, etc. Types of Cyber Security Threats Users Might Face Before we proceed further and discuss deep learning techniques to use against cybersecurity, let’s talk about a few types of cybersecurity threats in brief. 1. Phishing Phishing technique is used by expert hackers to make you compromise your sensitive data yourself. It works with the help of spam links sent to you via emails or personal messages. Once clicked, phishing requires you to fill in your sensitive information such as Social Security Number, email or social media credentials, etc. However, an integrated AI system can detect such kinds of spam emails and filter them out for you. Gmail’s AI system is a perfect example of the same. 2. Hacking With the advancement of cybersecurity protocols, hacking techniques are evolving as well. Now, hackers are smart enough to break into your systems, posing as important updates or software to take control of your devices. By installing malicious software, you can make your systems vulnerable to trojans or viruses and compromise system control. Hacking is done for various purposes, like stealing the data, blackmailing, etc. 3. Data Breach Data breaching is one of the most common forms of hacking. Hackers use this technique to steal confidential information and misuse it for various reasons. For example, if you are a , hackers might try to steal your source codes or even the data of patients collected through your app. Data breaching is mainly done to lock your files to ask for the ransom, or in some cases, to steal your customers’ information. However, data breaching can ruin your business if not handled properly. healthcare app development company 4. Malware Malware is used to lock or corrupt system files. In this case, hackers install a virus or malicious software in the system to damage files. In some cases, hackers lock files temporarily to ask for ransom in return for unlocking them back. In short, the purpose is to take control of your devices and the data. Deep Learning Techniques for Cybersecurity Now, after understanding a few types of security threats, I would like to talk about a few DL techniques that can give your cybersecurity policies a boost. 1. Deep Autoencoders Technique Autoencoders use data examples to detect anomalies in the data pattern. With the help of some specific algorithms, deep autoencoders can analyze the input data and compress it to preserve it safely. Moreover, autoencoders are also capable of building new data with different properties. 2. Vulnerability detection and management Deep learning is capable enough to analyze the data and find vulnerabilities to remove them. It can track and keep a record of the data and its behavior. Moreover, it can also detect changes or any unsafe input in the data from any unrecognized sources. The technique can focus on servers and endpoints as well to find any distinguished and suspicious pattern. 3. Network management and security The network makes the data most vulnerable. Deep learning can learn and set-up a few protocols to manage the same. However, if any unsafe or suspicious network activity occurs, the process can disallow it automatically before it’s too late. The deep learning network can analyze the network pattern and warn against unusual behaviors. Moreover, it is also capable of detecting bad gateways and blocking them from extracting the data. 4. AI managed data centers Now, AI is smart enough to make sure that data storage devices are functioning properly. If there are any possible abnormalities in hardware components, AI can inform about it beforehand to protect the data. Moreover, backups stored by AI-supported systems can make sure that data retrieval is easy. 5. Cybersecurity datasets to involve in deep learning Knowledge, Discovery, and Dissemination (KDD) was created with 4 million network traffic records. It is capable of recognizing 22 different types of attacks. Some of these attacks might fall under categories like unauthorized remote machine access, denial of services, etc. 6. Cyber Security Metrics These metrics are classified into different segments with a lot of data like false positive rate, accuracy, precision rates, etc; the deep learning metrics can compare different classes of the data to identify any abnormalities. Cybersecurity Protocols Are Necessary The need for strong cybersecurity protocols is expanding rapidly due to their application in many sectors like IT, finances, banking, defence, etc. With the digital transformation of almost everything, data is more exposed to cyber-attacks. Therefore, AI with the help of deep learning techniques can have a crucial impact to fight against such threats.

6 Deep Learning Techniques for Stronger Cybersecurity

Virtual Private Server, or VPS, is a private server in which the resources are used by one user only. Basically, VPS is the virtualization of the physical server, which is divided into several virtual machines (VM). VPS is the most popular hosting service among the hosting provider. If you own a medium-sized business and quite high traffic, using VPS is the best choice. VPS allows users to own authority like a dedicated server but still pay an affordable price like shared hosting. You can buy your VPS server from any provider, including a big company like Microsoft or Amazon. However, Amazon has a slightly different service. While Microsoft develops Windows VPS, Amazon develops Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). In this article, we will deliver some information about what is Virtual Private Cloud, the benefits of using VPS, and also how to get started with VPC. Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Amazon VPC, or Amazon Virtual Private Cloud, allows you to launch Amazon Web Service (AWS) to a virtual network. If you want to use VPC, all of your resources are available on the cloud, and you can access it anytime as cloud computing is always online. Actually, VPC is similar to Virtual Private Server (VPS). The main difference is that if VPS is located in a single physical location, VPC is situated in a cloud. If you are interested in using Amazon VPC, there are several features that you need to know. The first is that VPC is more flexible. In VPS, you are given specific resources that you can use. When you have reached the limit or have high traffic at a sudden time, your website will have a slower page loading speed, and the other visitor cannot access your page. However, if you use VPC, this will not have happened. VPC will provide you additional resources that are called Elastic Load Balancing. The second feature is using VPC has almost 100% uptime. The other feature is VPC can be switched off and on anytime you want and with no additional charge that is cost-saving. To add this information, there are several components you will get if you want to use these Amazon VPC services. Those are internet gateway, subnet, virtual private gateway, Network Address Translation or NAT, peering connection, egress-only internet gateway, and also VPC endpoint. Benefits of Using Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) After understanding the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud, you need to consider the benefits you will get if you use it. There are three main benefits of using Amazon VPC. The first benefit is VPC has high accuracy and scalability. By using VPC, you can scale up or scale down your resource based on your application’s need anytime you want. This can be very beneficial because it is cost-saving as you no need to pay an upfront fee. The second benefit is accessible setup. Amazon VPC is easy to use with the help of AWS Management Console that can help you to setup your VPC. This software will ease you to manage your VPC and save you more time. Therefore, you will focus more on creating or building your application on VPC. The last benefit of using VPC is the security issues. VPC provides high-security features. Using Amazon S3, you can limit access to your VPC account, and your data will be highly-secured. By using Amazon's virtual private server, you do not need a cloud, VPN, hardware, or datacenters. You can maintain your VPC, including network space, and control your network on Amazon EC2 resources. If you are interested in using the Amazon VPC, you also need to know about the charge method. If you make an additional account and using VPC, you will not be charged for it. However, if you use Amazon EC2, you will get a charge, including the data transfer. If you connect your VPC to the datacenter using a VPN connection, you will be charged based on hourly rates. Basically, if you use Amazon VPC, there will be no package for your service. You will be charged based on the usage, such as the NAT gateway, traffic mirroring pricing, Amazon VPC reachability Analyzer, and so on. Therefore, you will save more your expense by using this service as you do not need to pay what you do not use in Amazon VPC. Get started with Amazon VPC If you have registered to use VPC, your account is ready to use. The VPC account will automatically be created based on the provider’s default setting. If you want to add or remove the subnets, edit the network, change the route table, or edit the ACL network, you can do it independently. You can change the configuration whatever you want, including adding or removing the software. However, if you want to have another or additional account, you can make it by opening the Amazon VPC page on AWS Management Console. The next thing you need to do is clicking “Start VPC Wizard.” After clicking the “Start VPC Wizard” button, you will be shown basic network topologies, four types on it. Choose one of them. You need to identify each of the network backgrounds and which network is most suitable for your need. If you have decided on the web, choose the “Create VPC” button, and finally, your additional Amazon VPC account is done. Now, you can use it to launch the Amazon EC2 to your PC. If you have created the VPC account, you need to understand your subnet information, route tables, and the internet gateway. Once you have made the VPC account, you will have two route tables consisting of main route tables and a custom route table related to your subnet. These route tables will identify and determine the traffic from your subnet flow. After doing those steps, the next thing you can do is launching your EC2 to your VPC and registering your Elastic IP Address to your instance. Once you have done all of those things, you can do additional settings such as enabling IPv6 support to your subnet, adding subnet to your VPC, and enabling instances for your private subnet for accessing the internet.

Everything You Need To Know About The Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

Dear BitMax.io Users, Community Members, Partners, and Supporters, Happy New Year! The year 2020 was a memorable one for all of us at , our community members, and to a large extent, the entire industry. Not only did major digital assets achieve broader adoption globally, but the ever-evolving landscape also saw tremendous progress. BitMax Riding the wave of the recent market boom, BitMax has further accelerated our remarkable growth alongside the development of the broader digital asset ecosystem. In 2020, we continued building on our innovation-focused core strength to catalyze expansion from product design to industry partnership expansion. With a client-centric mindset ingrained, our global teams have worked around the clock to enhance every possible product detail based on your feedback and suggestions to deliver a reliable and seamless customer experience. After three years, we have expanded our global footprint to five operational centers servicing well-diversified users across 196 countries. From a holistic product offering perspective, we have completed the full integration of "Cash –Margin – Futures - Staking – DeFi Mining" that harnesses the growth benefits of a virtuous cycle for both retail users and sophisticated institutions. In 2020, the total number of BitMax.io users increased by 300%. Our platform currently supports five different languages and 11 - enabled deposit services via partnerships with third-party vendors.  2020 marked a major step forward in community engagement with the launch of the "Global Community Captain Program.” fiat Since then, we have engaged many new users through collaboration with over 100 top crypto communities.  On the listing front, BitMax conducted over 20 primary listings, of which 7 auction projects consuming 20 million BTMX. Let us recap our 2020 key accomplishments and milestones and share our thoughts on strategic priorities for 2021. •   Provided immediate support for the areas hit hard by Covid-19 pandemic with the donation of medical supplies. •   Introduced derivatives trading via a bitcoin perpetual contract with up to 100x leverage and a distinctive risk engine. •   Strengthened institutional client penetration with dedicated services of comprehensive product suites and infrastructure upgrades. •   Introduced industry-leading which currently supports staking of 35 tokens with top performance in returns, staking ratio as well as total staked assets. •   Launched Community Captain Program for active engagement with over 100 digital asset communities. Reached out to over 10 million users and laid the cornerstone for BitMax’s continued global expansion. •   Hosted the first DeFi Night in Shanghai, China. The event attracted multiple leading media outlets and hundreds of seasoned professionals in the digital asset space. •   Rolled out , a simple and easy-to-use farming product for users to maximize potential returns on capital. •   Hosted the second DeFi Night in Shenzhen, China. •   Provided multiple-language website support to better serve an increasingly diverse global userbase. •   Launched the support for 25X leverage for of 53 tokens with distinctive features such as one-click unwind, auto borrow/repay via trading, and cross-asset collateral mode designed to enhance user funding efficiency. •   Conducted auction for Terra Virtua (TVK) and Bonfida, following impressive auction results of xDai Chain, Swingby, Serum, Stafi, and Akash earlier this year. In total, 20 million BTMX were consumed with those seven successful auctions in 2020. •   Hosted BitMax 2nd year anniversary celebration in Beijing, China. The event brought together over 200 blockchain investors, traders, users, and entrepreneurs and featured several rounds of in-depth discussion led by our team on key industry thought-leadership topics from the latest trends in digital asset trading to challenges and future development of DeFi. 2020 Jan: Feb: Mar: Apr: Staking Service July: Aug: Sept: DeFi Yield Farming Oct: Nov: margin trading Dec: 2020 was a breakout year for BitMax, driven by our continuous innovative product development and early-mover advantage in strategic alignment with the leading projects from DeFi ecosystem. Currently, the platform lists 156 digital assets from a wide-range of industry-leading blockchain projects and offers trading services across over 200 trading pairs with an average daily trading volume of $300 million across cash, margin, and futures products. Our communities were kind enough to recognize BitMax as “the Trading Platform of the Year. “ Exceptional performance in 2020 laid a strong foundation for 2021. But there is still much work to be done. Looking back on our past three-year journey through the ups and downs of crypto markets, we have all learned the path to sustainable business growth is not only built upon timely seizing the market opportunity, but also supported by relentless execution of client-centric strategy, global operational efficiency, and continuous product and infrastructure enhancement on the longer term. Therefore, in 2021, our strategic priorities will be centered around fine-tuning our operational strategies for accelerated global user acquisition, deepening integration of Trading-Staking-De-Fi product ecosystem, and upgrading our services for better user experience: •   Scale derivatives trading and innovative staking mechanism •   Improve copy trading and fiat on-ramp capabilities •   Optimize platform user functionalities and expand community engagement for more aggressive retail client acquisition and retention •   Enhance VIP offerings and infrastructure solution to further accelerate institutional client penetration •   Broaden and deepen strategic partnership with leading players across the value chain of digital asset industry With digital asset market capitalization and trading volume reaching an all-time high, the competition has also intensified among all the exchanges and trading platforms, which we believe will lead to a new wave of growth opportunities. Looking ahead, we are confident that our tradition of innovation, the spirit of continuous improvement, and the commitment to operational excellence will continue setting us apart from other competitors and help us reaching a top-tier global trading platform. Client-first has always been a core part of our global strategy and execution.  On behalf of our entire BitMax team, we would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all of you. Many of you have been long-time supporters and users of our platform from day one. We are deeply grateful for all your enthusiasm and feedback that helps us improve and excel. In 2021, we see a world of opportunity for digital assets and blockchain technology to power the markets of the future. We are very excited to move forward with you! Wish you and your loved ones a Happy and Healthy Lunar New Year! CEO George Cao, COO Ariel Ling, and the BitMax team Feb 05, 2021

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There's a grand total of zero good reasons to keep old tweets on your Twitter wall. Your tweet history isn't your legacy. It's your personal record, made publicly available to anyone who wants to have a gander. Who would want to do that? Well, your future employers for one. A shows that 90% of employers consider your social media activity when hiring and a whopping 79% of HRs have rejected a candidate because of what they found on their social media. survey What would they find on yours? Error: Context not found Hopefully, you haven't tweeted anything illegal or hateful. But it takes much less than that to get you disqualified in a job search. Have you tweeted things that might be construed as aggressive? Red flag. Have you expressed a super unpopular opinion? Red flag. Have you badmouthed a previous employer or client? Red flag. The problem is a lack of context. You might be fully justified in your beliefs and there are clients and employers who totally deserve to be publicly called out. But, it's very difficult to convey the context of the situation on Twitter - it's nigh-impossible to paint a full picture in 280 characters. So you just end up looking like a bitter employee. Other times, you're simply in the wrong. You might have believed something years ago, which you don't anymore. You might have tweeted something you don't really mean in the heat of an argument. You might have drunkenly broadcasted something you would otherwise never say. Now, why would anyone let these slip-ups just sit there on their Twitter wall? Learn from the mistakes of others Time and time again old tweets have come back to haunt people. Celebrities in particular, since being in the spotlight means everything you do and say is scrutinized. Kevin Hart and James Gunn are some of the biggest names that got caught up in controversy in recent years. For example, 10 years ago, Gunn tweeted edgy, unsavory jokes making light of serious issues. People dug up those tweets, which almost ended up costing him the opportunity to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The . tweets were pretty damning Gunn's resulting perfectly encapsulates why old tweets have got to go: apology “My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don't reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.” TL;DR - Jokes grow old and we grow wiser. After much chagrin, for the project. But, you probably don't have an online legion of fans fighting for your cause, so, unlike Gunn, you won't get a second chance. Gunn got reinstated as director Everybody's deleting tweets Nowadays, it's not just celebrities being extra careful. People are growing conscious of the dangers of leaving old tweets unattended. This is reflected in the increasing number of users for tweet deleting apps and tools such as , which is seeing a 30% year-over-year growth in users. TweetDeleter In 2020, with notable spikes tied to hot topics in April (Lockdowns) and June (Black Lives Matter). People cited such reasons for deletion as: TweetDeleter users erased 205 million tweets “I have bad jokes” “Applying for a job” “I have new opinions” “To move on” And others in a similar vein… The appeal of apps like TweetDeleter is clear: you can automate and customize the deletion process, so you don't get a headache deleting manually tweet by tweet. Plus, you don't have to consider deleting your account (and losing your entire follower-base) just to start with a clean slate. Think of it like Snapchat-izing your Twitter - express yourself without leaving a trail. Newfound digital privacy We're living in a deeply polarized society ripe with misunderstandings, where anyone can twist or misinterpret your words, so why give people the opportunity? At the end of the day, deleting your tweets is a preventive endeavor. You'll never know what disaster you may or may not have avoided. But if a single tweet can cost you a dream job, a career opportunity, a friendship, why take the chance? Let people get to know you based on who you , not who you . are were All that said, I understand the reluctance. After all, your Twitter wall is a tapestry of your opinions, emotions, and ideas and their evolution over the years. Throwing it all out can feel like burning a photo album. But here's the thing - apps like TweetDeleter have , so you can save the tweets you delete to browse privately whenever you feel like it. archiving functionalities So no excuses. Go and take back some of your digital privacy right now by deleting your old tweets!

Tapestry

Clean up your Twitter account

Delete Your Old Tweets: 90% of Employers Consider Your Social Media Activity When Hiring

Planning strategies to succeed in the digital market? Wasting too much time and effort in understanding the target audience? Virtual Assistants are the right solution to every problem. Some experts can handle the marketing requirements, make the content SEO-friendly, and handle your social presence. They are trained to manage your business and save time, which may be applied to business growth. Some tasks that they can take are: Create content and blogging Handling Social Media Manage Email marketing Optimize the website to make it SEO-friendly Organize your meetings Provide customer support Not all Virtual Assistants are similar, which means you need to add conditions while hiring the right Virtual Assitant. Let us give a simple process that will help in getting the best Virtual Assistant for your business: Documenting the requirements It is not easy to explain then and sit in the hope that everything will be right. Making the document for the entire process helps in giving them the proper guidelines without missing any steps. Some various tools and platforms help in monitoring their work and know the progress. Write a detailed Job description You will need an e-commerce Virtual Assistant with the right skills and qualities to match your expectations. Things to include in the job description are: The scale of business The tools that will be used Experience in the market Multiple Language Support Special Tasks if necessary Shortlist a Virtual Assistant Post the job requirement on the traditional job board, social media platforms, or forums to attract skilled professionals. There are various tools available in the market that helps in managing Virtual Assistants more effortless like: Reviews about their work to ensure the quality deliverables Time tracking system to make sure they are working timely Chat system to discuss the progress and share relevant files Easy completion of payments globally Get a non-disclosure agreement with them Interview with them to know their skills and check if they can match your business needs. Manage your account Once you have made the final decision, there is an excellent threat of data loss or online vulnerabilities affecting business reputation. The digital market is full of security tools that will keep your sensitive data safe and Virtual Assistants can work accordingly. As business owners, you should give them specific permissions required to complete the assigned tasks. Virtual Assistants might have to handle multiple clients. Some of them might be approached by your competitors, and it is advisable to get a non-disclosure agreement. Track their Progress Many Virtual Assistant companies have a different system for their clients that displays the tasks handled by VAs. It is essential to track the Virtual Assistant's work to know how well they are working on your requirements and ideal for it. These insights help manage the tasks efficiently and expand their roles if they are too good at their services. What are the Charges of E-commerce Virtual Assistants based on their role? Designer and Developers They work on the design like creating logos, images and deal with the backend of necessary. Their charges range between $9 to $25 (USD) internationally and $25 to $75 (USD) in the US. Product Management These involve tasks like researching the products that will benefit your e-commerce store. Gain potential customers and resolve their queries related to your products and services. They will also ensure that the product quality is maintained to build a good relationship with the customers. You can hire them for $5 - $25 in the international sector and $25-$75 in the US. Product Listing These virtual assistants work on adding high-quality images to make them convincing to visitors. It also involves integrating the best keywords to gain better visibility in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Creating product titles, descriptions, and adding relevant information plays a vital role in conversion rates. They are hired with the price ranging internationally between $6 to $15, and in the US, it lies between $25 to $50. Order and Inventory Management This is essential to ensure that the e-commerce store is running successfully in the market. Things that need to be handled are: Monitor Inventory to make sure products availability Communicate with the customers to fulfil their needs Handle refunds, refunds, exchanges, and cancellation Collect feedback and review for providing better services These services are charged internationally around $5 to $15, and in the US, it ranges between $25 to $50. Summing it up! For any successful e-commerce business that aims to grow sales effortlessly, which is achieved by hiring smart people to support growth. Hiring Virtual Assistant USA will help scale the business by handling the operations related to the e-commerce sector at an affordable price and giving effective solutions. Selecting a Virtual assistant might be a time-consuming task, but after completing the final process, they will make the managing process hassle-free and save a lot of time.

HackerNoon Tech Stories Archive February 24th, 2021

@neurosysNeuroSYS

@nancyreanNancy Rean

@noprofilenoprofile

@limarcLimarc Ambalina

@codiestephensCodie Stephens

@senoritadunnSamantha Dunn

@chrisjdavisChris J. Davis

@jay-haoJay Hao

@exeedmeExeedme

@inductionVision NP

@kronchevskyKonstantin Kronchs

@hackernoongamingHacker Noon Gaming

@getblockioGetBlock

@syndicodedevSyndicode

@mevrexMevrex

@aasif-khanAasif Khan

@MessakiErik

@andrarchyAndrew Levine

@hbvanveenBernie van Veen

@jasoncamayaJason camaya

@cristijetechChristian Agus

@bitmaxBitMax.io

@jekabsendzinsJekabs Endzins

@martha370Martha Andrews

@neurosys
NeuroSYS

@nancyrean
Nancy Rean

@noprofile
noprofile

@limarc
Limarc Ambalina

@codiestephens
Codie Stephens

@senoritadunn
Samantha Dunn

@chrisjdavis
Chris J. Davis

@jay-hao
Jay Hao

@exeedme
Exeedme

@induction
Vision NP

@kronchevsky
Konstantin Kronchs

@hackernoongaming
Hacker Noon Gaming

@getblockio
GetBlock

@syndicodedev
Syndicode

@mevrex
Mevrex

@aasif-khan
Aasif Khan

@Messaki
Erik

@andrarchy
Andrew Levine

@hbvanveen
Bernie van Veen

@jasoncamaya
Jason camaya

@cristijetech
Christian Agus

@bitmax
BitMax.io

@jekabsendzins
Jekabs Endzins

@martha370
Martha Andrews