Invisible AI

invisibleai

These days, social media plays an integral part in life, influencing how we communicate, obtain information, and share information with each other. Although less than 30 years old [1], we have seen a huge evolution of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn: Facebook is now Meta and owns WhatsApp, Instagram, and Threads; Twitter is X. Both are owned by billionaires who have anticipated technological trends, capitalized on these opportunities and pioneered the way for a rapidly innovative industry. The biggest driving success of social media, from a business point of view, is consumer data. A large majority of social media platforms are free of charge and are able to operate this way because you’re allowing them access to your data in return. With this, companies like Meta have been able to shape social media content and interactions. This is something that can be viewed as beneficial or unethical depending on the intent and use case, with issues like privacy and manipulation far from uncommon now. In this article, we will be delving into the ethics of using and algorithms in social media, examining how they help personalize content, potentially leading to bias and echo chambers, and the future of AI in social media platforms. AI A Brief History of Algorithms and Their Increasing Use Cases in Social Media ‘An algorithm is a series of instructions designed to solve specific problems, perform tasks, or make decisions’ [2]. In social media, these instructions govern user experiences such as content ranking, filtering, and personalization, typically based on trends for different consumer groups. This allows you as the user to find content that will interest you much faster, as it is likely to appear on For You Pages without you having to search for it. Algorithms haven’t always been used in social media. It was in 2009 that Tumblr and Facebook introduced ranking metrics and personalized feeds. In 2012, more followed suit. Facebook upped its algorithmic use in its news feed and introduced sponsored content [3]. began a “semi-structured feed,” and YouTube introduced a ranking algorithm, prioritizing watch time over quantity [4]. Since then, algorithms’ roles in such social media have only continued to increase. By 2015, machine learning was starting to play a role in sorting and filtering algorithms, underpinned by developments in Big Data efforts. 2016’s political events like the Trump election and Brexit referendum (and a pivotal year in the Cambridge Analytica scandal) then brought to public attention some of the ethical dilemmas surrounding such heavy and increasing use of algorithms and user data collection in social media. LinkedIn These days, AI-powered algorithms are built so precisely they recommend content based on your specific previous interactions on the platform, with growing user data allowing social media companies to eliminate a significant majority of any guesswork. Documentaries like The Social Dilemma [5] and The Great Hack [6] give some insight into just how engineered some of these algorithms are, often with the end goal of keeping a user on their platform for longer and driving interaction with the platform. While increased user interaction means more data for social media companies to collect, tweak, and repeat this process, this goal does not take into consideration what’s best for the user and wider society with regard to social media consumption. Ethical Issues Stemming from Algorithmic Bias Algorithms can perpetuate harmful biases, and in the context of social media, this often manifests as the reinforcement of stereotypes and limited exposure to diverse viewpoints. Culminated over time, this can fuel discrimination, polarise electorates, and even contribute to extremism and right-wing/autocratic populism, which exploit societal divisions. At a low level of impact, examples of algorithmic bias could include job postings for certain industries, e.g., LinkedIn being shown more to men than women, because the training data sets the algorithms were modeled on predict that more men are likely to work in those roles. While this doesn’t necessarily have an immediately obvious harmful impact, it creates a negative feedback loop that works against society’s goals to improve equality and representation across workplaces and specific industries. In this way, gender bias is perpetuated as a result of algorithmic bias by limiting opportunities for women to see those ads. Now, to delve deeper into the higher-level implications of algorithmic bias, we will examine the 2016 Trump election as a case study. Case Study: How Algorithms Affected Polarization/Echo Chambers in Trump 2016 Election Throughout the course of the 2016 US presidential election, research has shown that algorithms may have exacerbated political polarization by amplifying echo chambers and limiting the electorate’s exposure to diverse viewpoints. Many think it was this mechanism that allowed Trumpism to run rampant and also why so few people predicted his victory [7], as these dynamics were not fully understood nor visible during the election period. Even on social media, therefore, it seems true that ‘birds of a feather flock together’ [8]. Algorithms tailor content to align with users' preferences, shielding them from opposing views and opinions, and creating ‘filter bubbles’. In turn, some individuals within these filter bubbles continue the positive reinforcement of their views by further isolating themselves within digital environments where their beliefs and opinions are echoed and even more so reinforced. These are called ‘echo chambers’. Essentially, social media fosters an environment in which we all ingest such extremely personalized news and content feeds that we become blind to others’ differing perspectives. Currently, it is not clear from research whether social media only serves as a platform allowing echo chambers to emerge or whether its use of algorithms goes so far as to play a role in creating these echo chambers[8]. The 2016 Trump win shows how social media companies’ agendas can have widespread consequences affecting millions of people, which, while unintended, are still hugely impactful and also unethical. We know that social media algorithms are designed to maximize user engagement and retention by serving content tailored to individual preferences. Now, though, we also see how this applies even to political conversations, leveraging users’ political leanings and vulnerabilities. Who knows how the election would have played out if algorithms weren’t impacting people’s personal political beliefs? And how does this affect democracy and political stability? If people are not aware of these manipulations, can the outcomes be considered fair and valid? The Future of AI in Social Media The role of algorithms and AI in social media is only continuing to evolve alongside our innovations within those fields. From AI-generated content to AI-powered algorithms allowing the precision we touched on earlier, the ethical challenges that come with its integration into social media will similarly need to be increasingly considered. This needs to start with addressing algorithmic biases and promoting algorithmic transparency in social media platforms. Future policy considerations and regulations will play a crucial role in shaping the trajectory of AI use in social media. There is already growing attention being given to the need for algorithmic regulation and protection from the harm these invisible biases can cause, especially in the US. So far, initiatives include[9]: The “Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022” The “Eliminating Bias in Algorithmic Systems Act of 2023” The “AI Bill of Rights” While there are more frameworks currently being drawn up in the proposal stages, there is still insufficient regulation of such powerful technologies when we consider the impact they already have. Striking a delicate balance between innovation and safeguarding user interests will require a collaborative approach involving technology companies, policymakers, and users alike. Social media does have the power to be a force for good, uniting communities and fostering inclusivity; however, without adequate frameworks and regulations protecting user rights, its use of AI and algorithms also has the power to be destructive to individuals and wider society. References [1] . The Evolution of Social Media: How Did It Begin, and Where Could It Go Next? | Maryville Online [2] Everything You Need to Know About Social Media Algorithms [3] Facebook's News Feed is 10 years old. This is how the site has changed | World Economic Forum [4] a history of - social media algorithms [5] Watch The Social Dilemma | Netflix Official Site [6] Watch The Great Hack | Netflix Official Site [7] The 'Filter Bubble' Explains Why Trump Won and You Didn't See It Coming [8] How social media echo chambers emerge (and why all your friends think Trump will lose) [9] Eliminating Bias in Algorithmic Systems Act of 2023

AI in Social Media: Ethical Considerations of AI and Algorithms in Shaping Social Media Interactions

সোশ্যাল মিডিয়াতে এআই: সোশ্যাল মিডিয়া ইন্টারঅ্যাকশন গঠনে এআই এবং অ্যালগরিদমের নৈতিক বিবেচনা

KI in sozialen Medien: Ethische Überlegungen zu KI und Algorithmen bei der Gestaltung von Interaktionen in sozialen Medien

IA en las redes sociales: consideraciones éticas de la IA y los algoritmos para dar forma a las interacciones en las redes sociales

L'IA dans les médias sociaux : considérations éthiques sur l'IA et les algorithmes pour façonner les interactions avec les médias sociaux

सोशल मीडिया में एआई: सोशल मीडिया इंटरैक्शन को आकार देने में एआई और एल्गोरिदम के नैतिक विचार

ソーシャルメディアにおける AI: ソーシャルメディアのインタラクションの形成における AI とアルゴリズムの倫理的考慮

소셜 미디어의 AI: 소셜 미디어 상호 작용 형성 시 AI 및 알고리즘에 대한 윤리적 고려 사항

IA nas mídias sociais: considerações éticas de IA e algoritmos na formação de interações nas mídias sociais

ИИ в социальных сетях: этические аспекты ИИ и алгоритмы формирования взаимодействия в социальных сетях

Sosyal Medyada Yapay Zeka: Sosyal Medya Etkileşimlerini Şekillendirmede Yapay Zeka ve Algoritmalara İlişkin Etik Hususlar

AI trong truyền thông xã hội: Những cân nhắc về mặt đạo đức đối với AI và thuật toán trong việc định hình các tương tác trên truyền thông xã hội

社交媒体中的人工智能：人工智能和算法在塑造社交媒体互动方面的伦理考量

, a versatile blockchain developer, is the founder and CEO of , a Blockchain-as-a-service for web3 gaming infrastructure and tokenized fundraising. Carlos Rene DEGA (BaaS) platform DEGA gaming ecosystem uses AI-powered chat interfaces to help users deploy layer 2 blockchains, NFT marketplaces, DEXs, sidechains, dynamic NFTs, and other blockchain modules used in Web3 gaming. Founded in 2022, DEGA provides the tools to navigate the complex world of game development in web3 through AI-assisted interfaces, familiar APIs, and web applications. Just like AWS empowered innovators to build large-scale internet businesses, DEGA was created to simplify and scale Web3 gaming technology. Before his foray into blockchain development, Carlos developed enterprise automation for Wells Fargo Bank and Conversational AI solutions for Latam. In this interview, you are going to learn more about Carlos's blockchain career and DEGA, his brainchild. Mr. Rene, how did your journey to blockchain begin, and how did you carve out a niche for yourself as a developer? I’m from Honduras, and I had just moved to Costa Rica when I first learned about Bitcoin circa 2014. I recall thinking, “This sounds really powerful for people in emerging markets.” We can’t access capital and credit as easily as residents of the USA or Europe. Venture capital is borderline non-existent. But it was until the 2017 ICO craze that I said, “Yeah, this is transformational tech!” I told my web application development team at the time that we’d only build blockchain-based systems going forward. Since then, my team and I deployed new layer 1 protocols, EVM sidechains, and cross-chain DEXs. At a personal level, I led the IOHK Sidechains Program for over a year as a Technical Product Manager. Now, we’re focused on the DEGA platform to bring blockchain technology to every single person in emerging markets through gaming. The global Metaverse market is projected to hit $800,000,000 by 2024. Today, blockchain gaming is its key driver with about 23.2% of the market share. What does this mean for the gaming industry? Gaming is undergoing an evolution in which it’s not just about linear story gameplay but also about creating ecosystems for third-party creators. Roblox has been wildly successful with this and Fortnite is pushing the envelope with Creative 2.0. It’s not just about going social. We’re integrating AR, VR, AI, and Web3 to blur the lines between the digital and physical worlds. That’s what Metaverse really means. Can you tell us about DEGA and its place in web3 gaming technology? With DEGA, we are bringing down the barriers of adoption with our One API for all things gaming and Metaverse. A 17-year-old Javascript developer can launch an entire Web3 ecosystem in 5 minutes with everything from a dedicated layer 2 blockchain to an NFT assets store and an in-game currency. This allows game studios to focus on design and gameplay while we handle the complexities of decentralized protocols. You can also access our services through a chatbot with natural language so that even non-technical users can tap into the power that blockchains provide. What inspired you to build DEGA, and was it a collaborative effort? I’m an engineer, so after living through the exponential growth of the internet and smartphone adoption, it became obvious to me that when there’s a convergence of different technologies into a single product, we see a new platform like the iPhone arise and change every single industry around the world. Metaverse is the next frontier and DEGA is going to be one of the infrastructure protocols powering innovation. We definitely can’t do this alone, which is why we’ve partnered with industry leaders like Meld Finance and Cornucopias Games to bring not only technology but also innovative fundraising mechanics to gamers worldwide. Do you think mass adoption is possible through blockchain gaming and how do you position DEGA for a role in it? One company can’t build it all, so we’re focused on the blockchain infrastructure layer. For the mass adoption of blockchain gaming, we’re going to need thousands of well-funded Web3 gaming studios to create engaging experiences. Enter Initial Stake Pool Offerings (ISPO), a fundraising mechanic where the participant stakes their capital, keeps the principle but sends the yield to a new project in exchange for said project's tokens. This is a well-known concept in the Cardano ecosystem that DEGA is bringing to other protocols like Polkadot, Ethereum, Polygon, and more. What is the creative process behind the tokenomics, and is DEGA community-driven? This year, we saw the wildly successful Arbitrum token release proving the market’s appetite for scaling solutions like layer 2 protocols. With DEGA, we’re going a step further by allowing anyone to deploy new layer 2s across multiple blockchains like Ethereum and Cardano. The DEGA token has a unique design inspired by Ethereum’s deflationary fee mechanic. DEGA tokens are burned not only for block transaction fees but also from fees generated by NFT trading, token swaps, file storage, and any decentralized module that’s part of the DEGA ecosystem. Since we’re chain agnostic, our community is composed of members from across the industry, and they will be key in the leadership of the open-source technology we develop. What, in your view, is the biggest challenge facing web3 technology and how do you think it can be solved? The biggest challenge is going mobile first. We need Web3 applications working on $40 smartphones with low bandwidth so that it reaches the people who benefit from said applications the most. That’s why enabling everything through chatbots first is a key strategy for us at DEGA. When billions can tap into the global blockchain economy, they’ll eventually be able to afford AR and VR headsets. Then we’ll see human creativity explode like never before. Do you think gaming brands need to enter web3 gaming to spur mass adoption and do you intend to leverage opportunities outside of it? Yes, the best technology is the invisible one. I remember there was a time when we said “the mobile internet.” Now it’s just the internet. NFTs need to become just “digital assets,” blockchain wallets need to become just “wallets,” and Web3 gaming has to become just “gaming.” At DEGA, we believe that this will take place in emerging markets first. Right now, if an eSports team or a studio making Roblox games went to a bank to ask for funding, they’d be laughed out of the venue. ISPOs are going to be one of the key drivers that bring what we can do today in Web2 gaming into the blockchain space. What’s the key point about building AI on top of your existing infrastructure? Are you inspired by the market trend for its adoption in gaming? In the past, you would say, “I’m building an internet company.” Now all companies are Internet companies, and that label has disappeared. The same will happen with AI: soon every company will be an AI company. Blockchain gaming is particularly well-suited to integrate with this “machine economy” since they’re digitally native and can be iteratively improved every day. At DEGA, we are integrating our One API with large language models (LLMs) that will place the power of the entire blockchain industry in the hands of everyone with a chat application like Telegram, WhatsApp, or Discord. Just ask the AI that you need to target a given set of clients, fundraise with ISPOs, and get paid via crypto and fiat on/off ramp providers. Any parting words? We recently announced our first layer 2 for gaming in partnership with Cornucopias Games and we have another layer 2 announcement in a few weeks with another partner. __ __starts on June 19th - join us in the adventure of building the next generation of blockchain gaming technology! The DEGA ISPO

Exclusive Interview With DEGA Founder and CEO Carlos Rene

Isha Varshney with Rosette Belesi, Product Marketing Director at Opera, at OpenFi discussing "Building, Scaling & Enhancing MiniPay to Onboard African Users to Web3." Photo by Benjamin Arthur, courtesy of IdOS. During EthCC, I had a chance to catch up with Isha Varshney, Head of Ecosystem at the Celo Foundation, who has extensive experience in decentralized finance and global financial inclusion initiatives. Given the main criticism around EthCC that “there are more side events than dApps,” we focused our conversation on building for the real world and MiniPay, a Celo-based app that has seen significant success in Africa with over 3 million wallet activations across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Isha, how are you enjoying EthCC? Any key themes you’re noticing? EthCC has been incredible. Some of the major themes revolve around Layer 2 solutions. Last Sunday, core contributors cLabs launched the Celo Layer 2testnet, Dango. It's exciting to see the momentum as Celo migrates to join the OP Stack, a modular blockchain architecture. We also participated in several events with Superchain and the OP Stack team, bringing together incredible builders. It's thrilling to see so many talented teams and individuals joining this ecosystem. What are the biggest challenges in bringing Web3 to the mainstream? Is there still a big gap? Yes and no. We're still in the early stages of Web3 and crypto. Much of the technology is highly technical and not immediately relevant to the everyday person—like my mom or friends who might not understand concepts like intents. However, these building blocks are crucial for the technology's development and interoperability. The work we're doing now is laying the foundation for the future. In about five years, we hope to abstract crypto away from everyday users, making it seamlessly integrated into their lives. We're at an exciting juncture where we're building the infrastructure that will soon bring Web3 to the mainstream. Building for users’ current needs and behaviors is a crucial component of this—and that means building for mobile devices. With roughly ¾ of the world’s population owning smartphones, far more than the population that has access to a computer, and financial activity increasingly being conducted by mobile devices, it’s necessary that we build mobile-first. This is what excites me about so many projects in the Celo ecosystem that are developing solutions to everyday challenges that users can incorporate into their daily lives. What are the key elements needed to build the next great decentralized application (dApp)? We're not thinking enough about everyday usability in this space. Interacting with crypto can be complicated and intimidating. For example, using most crypto wallets involves signing transactions and dealing with private keys, public keys, and wallet addresses, which are not exactly user-friendly. One solution to address this is SocialConnect, a primitive developed for Celo that allows users to leverage their phone numbers as their wallet addresses. This kind of simplicity is crucial. We need more technology like that to onboard the next billion users. For crypto and Web3 to go mainstream, it has to be easy and intuitive for users. When you talk to people who aren't in Web3, they often find it speculative and scary. What we need next is to remove these frictions and make it easy to understand. We're working on it and making progress in this space. MiniPay has seen amazing growth. Can you share its journey and what it does? The collaboration between Celo and Opera is fascinating. Opera, a browser with 100 million users across Africa, is pre-installed on every Android device. In Africa, Android devices are ubiquitous, and people primarily interact with technology through their phones. Opera initially gained popularity by providing some free data, which is costly in many African regions, enabling anyone to browse the internet for one or two hours daily, opening up access for many users. Celo’s ecosystem has always focused on real-world applications in these markets, so partnering with Opera was a natural fit. With their extensive distribution network, we integrated a wallet into the existing mobile Android browser used by millions, making it simple and accessible. We launched this wallet in September last year, rolling it out country by country. Starting in Nigeria, we now operate in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. We now have over 3 million users, onboarding a massive number of new users daily. The wallet is designed with a stablecoin-only interface and a user-friendly UI/UX, allowing users to sign in with their Google account, making it incredibly easy to use. Why is the stablecoin aspect important? Are stablecoins the perfect gateway to Web3? Absolutely. Stablecoins are vital because they offer a consistent value in contrast to the often volatile nature of other cryptocurrencies. In emerging economies, where local currencies can be deflationary, people are familiar with and trust the value of the US dollar. Stablecoins provide this reliability, making them an ideal entry point into Web3. They give users confidence that their money will hold its value, which is crucial in markets where per-wallet volumes aren't large and financial security is paramount. We started with the Celo Dollar (cUSD) in the wallet and recently expanded to include USDC from Circle and Tether’s USDT. The wallet's Pockets feature displays USDC, USDT, and cUSD in a simple, clean interface. Users can easily swap between these stablecoins by dragging and swapping from asset to asset—one of the only 1:1 stablecoin swap features on the market. The ease of use enhances accessibility while also bringing the experience of transacting with multiple stables to users who might be unfamiliar. What advice do you have for builders trying to create for the people? My experience with the Opera team has been incredible. They execute like no other team. They have over 1,000 ambassadors on the ground across all these markets and are constantly engaging with their ambassador network. This network helps onboard and troubleshoot with users, ensuring a smooth experience. Opera takes feedback and builds on it really well. For example, we started with only cUSD, and the feedback was that users were familiar with other stablecoins and wanted to be able to use them in MiniPay. So, we added those to the product, meeting users where they are. That's my message to builders: meet people where they are. If they're familiar with something, leverage that. It's already challenging enough, so let's not reinvent the wheel. With Celo, from day one, we've built for real-world use cases. Every step of the way, we've focused on building for practical applications, like microcredit in emerging markets with EthicHub or Haraka. We're committed to meeting users where they are and will continue to do so with MiniPay and all other projects. What’s one app you’d really like to see built next? Hmm, that’s a good one! I would love to see an all-in-one app similar to WeChat in China, which covers everything from payments to utilities. MiniPay is moving towards that vision for Africa with the inclusion of a Discover Page for the growing roster of integrated dApps. Imagine a single platform where you can handle all your needs using stablecoins or a corporate-backed currency. For instance, as frequent travelers, we constantly switch SIM cards. What if we could abstract that concept, not just for SIM cards but for all forms of payment? It would be fantastic to have a seamless payment experience, no matter where you are. If I’m in Brussels and from New York, I should be able to pay for everything with the same app. It would make managing finances and daily activities so much simpler and more convenient. Isha Varshney with Rosette Belesi, Product Marketing Director at Opera, at OpenFi discussing "Building, Scaling & Enhancing MiniPay to Onboard African Users to Web3." Photo by Benjamin Arthur, courtesy of IdOS. Isha Varshney with Rosette Belesi, Product Marketing Director at Opera, at OpenFi discussing "Building, Scaling & Enhancing MiniPay to Onboard African Users to Web3." Photo by Benjamin Arthur , courtesy of IdOS. Benjamin Arthur During EthCC, I had a chance to catch up with Isha Varshney, Head of Ecosystem at the Celo Foundation, who has extensive experience in decentralized finance and global financial inclusion initiatives. Given the main criticism around EthCC that “there are more side events than dApps,” we focused our conversation on building for the real world and MiniPay, a Celo-based app that has seen significant success in Africa with over 3 million wallet activations across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. During EthCC, I had a chance to catch up with Isha Varshney, Head of Ecosystem at the Celo Foundation, who has extensive experience in decentralized finance and global financial inclusion initiatives. Given the main criticism around EthCC that “there are more side events than dApps,” we focused our conversation on building for the real world and MiniPay, a Celo-based app that has seen significant success in Africa with over 3 million wallet activations across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. During EthCC, I had a chance to catch up with Isha Varshney , Head of Ecosystem at the Celo Foundation , who has extensive experience in decentralized finance and global financial inclusion initiatives. Given the main criticism around EthCC that “there are more side events than dApps,” we focused our conversation on building for the real world and MiniPay , a Celo-based app that has seen significant success in Africa with over 3 million wallet activations across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Isha Varshney Isha Varshney Celo Foundation Celo Foundation MiniPay MiniPay over 3 million wallet activations over 3 million wallet activations Isha, how are you enjoying EthCC? Any key themes you’re noticing? Isha, how are you enjoying EthCC? Any key themes you’re noticing? EthCC has been incredible. Some of the major themes revolve around Layer 2 solutions. Last Sunday, core contributors cLabs launched the Celo Layer 2testnet, Dango. It's exciting to see the momentum as Celo migrates to join the OP Stack, a modular blockchain architecture. We also participated in several events with Superchain and the OP Stack team, bringing together incredible builders. It's thrilling to see so many talented teams and individuals joining this ecosystem. What are the biggest challenges in bringing Web3 to the mainstream? Is there still a big gap? Yes and no. We're still in the early stages of Web3 and crypto. Much of the technology is highly technical and not immediately relevant to the everyday person—like my mom or friends who might not understand concepts like intents. However, these building blocks are crucial for the technology's development and interoperability. The work we're doing now is laying the foundation for the future. In about five years, we hope to abstract crypto away from everyday users, making it seamlessly integrated into their lives. We're at an exciting juncture where we're building the infrastructure that will soon bring Web3 to the mainstream. Building for users’ current needs and behaviors is a crucial component of this—and that means building for mobile devices. With roughly ¾ of the world’s population owning smartphones, far more than the population that has access to a computer, and financial activity increasingly being conducted by mobile devices, it’s necessary that we build mobile-first. This is what excites me about so many projects in the Celo ecosystem that are developing solutions to everyday challenges that users can incorporate into their daily lives. What are the key elements needed to build the next great decentralized application (dApp)? We're not thinking enough about everyday usability in this space. Interacting with crypto can be complicated and intimidating. For example, using most crypto wallets involves signing transactions and dealing with private keys, public keys, and wallet addresses, which are not exactly user-friendly. One solution to address this is SocialConnect, a primitive developed for Celo that allows users to leverage their phone numbers as their wallet addresses. This kind of simplicity is crucial. We need more technology like that to onboard the next billion users. For crypto and Web3 to go mainstream, it has to be easy and intuitive for users. When you talk to people who aren't in Web3, they often find it speculative and scary. What we need next is to remove these frictions and make it easy to understand. We're working on it and making progress in this space. MiniPay has seen amazing growth. Can you share its journey and what it does? The collaboration between Celo and Opera is fascinating. Opera, a browser with 100 million users across Africa, is pre-installed on every Android device. In Africa, Android devices are ubiquitous, and people primarily interact with technology through their phones. Opera initially gained popularity by providing some free data, which is costly in many African regions, enabling anyone to browse the internet for one or two hours daily, opening up access for many users. Celo’s ecosystem has always focused on real-world applications in these markets, so partnering with Opera was a natural fit. With their extensive distribution network, we integrated a wallet into the existing mobile Android browser used by millions, making it simple and accessible. We launched this wallet in September last year, rolling it out country by country. Starting in Nigeria, we now operate in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. We now have over 3 million users, onboarding a massive number of new users daily. The wallet is designed with a stablecoin-only interface and a user-friendly UI/UX, allowing users to sign in with their Google account, making it incredibly easy to use. Why is the stablecoin aspect important? Are stablecoins the perfect gateway to Web3? Absolutely. Stablecoins are vital because they offer a consistent value in contrast to the often volatile nature of other cryptocurrencies. In emerging economies, where local currencies can be deflationary, people are familiar with and trust the value of the US dollar. Stablecoins provide this reliability, making them an ideal entry point into Web3. They give users confidence that their money will hold its value, which is crucial in markets where per-wallet volumes aren't large and financial security is paramount. We started with the Celo Dollar (cUSD) in the wallet and recently expanded to include USDC from Circle and Tether’s USDT. The wallet's Pockets feature displays USDC, USDT, and cUSD in a simple, clean interface. Users can easily swap between these stablecoins by dragging and swapping from asset to asset—one of the only 1:1 stablecoin swap features on the market. The ease of use enhances accessibility while also bringing the experience of transacting with multiple stables to users who might be unfamiliar. Pockets feature Pockets feature What advice do you have for builders trying to create for the people? My experience with the Opera team has been incredible. They execute like no other team. They have over 1,000 ambassadors on the ground across all these markets and are constantly engaging with their ambassador network. This network helps onboard and troubleshoot with users, ensuring a smooth experience. Opera takes feedback and builds on it really well. For example, we started with only cUSD, and the feedback was that users were familiar with other stablecoins and wanted to be able to use them in MiniPay. So, we added those to the product, meeting users where they are. That's my message to builders: meet people where they are. If they're familiar with something, leverage that. It's already challenging enough, so let's not reinvent the wheel. With Celo, from day one, we've built for real-world use cases. Every step of the way, we've focused on building for practical applications, like microcredit in emerging markets with EthicHub or Haraka . We're committed to meeting users where they are and will continue to do so with MiniPay and all other projects. EthicHub EthicHub Haraka Haraka What’s one app you’d really like to see built next? Hmm, that’s a good one! I would love to see an all-in-one app similar to WeChat in China, which covers everything from payments to utilities. MiniPay is moving towards that vision for Africa with the inclusion of a Discover Page for the growing roster of integrated dApps. Imagine a single platform where you can handle all your needs using stablecoins or a corporate-backed currency. For instance, as frequent travelers, we constantly switch SIM cards. What if we could abstract that concept, not just for SIM cards but for all forms of payment? It would be fantastic to have a seamless payment experience, no matter where you are. If I’m in Brussels and from New York, I should be able to pay for everything with the same app. It would make managing finances and daily activities so much simpler and more convenient.

Successful dApps Make Web3 Invisible to Users, Says Celo’s Isha Varshney

সফল dApps Web3 ব্যবহারকারীদের কাছে অদৃশ্য করে তোলে, সেলোর ইশা ভার্শনি বলেছেন

Erfolgreiche dApps machen Web3 für Benutzer unsichtbar, sagt Isha Varshney von Celo

Las dApps exitosas hacen que Web3 sea invisible para los usuarios, dice Isha Varshney de Celo

Les dApps réussies rendent le Web3 invisible pour les utilisateurs, déclare Isha Varshney de Celo

सेलो की ईशा वार्ष्णेय का कहना है कि सफल dApps वेब3 को उपयोगकर्ताओं के लिए अदृश्य बना देते हैं

CeloのIsha Varshney氏は、成功したdAppsはWeb3をユーザーから見えなくする、と語る

Celo의 Isha Varshney는 성공적인 dApp으로 인해 Web3가 사용자에게 보이지 않게 된다고 말합니다.

DApps bem-sucedidos tornam a Web3 invisível para os usuários, afirma Isha Varshney da Celo

Успешные dApps делают Web3 невидимым для пользователей, говорит Иша Варшни из Celo

Celo'dan Isha Varshney, Başarılı dApp'lerin Web3'ü Kullanıcılara Görünmez Hale Getirdiğini Söyledi

Isha Varshney của Celo cho biết các dApp thành công khiến Web3 trở nên vô hình đối với người dùng

Celo 的 Isha Varshney 表示，成功的 dApp 让 Web3 对用户来说变得不可见

Data plays a crucial role in crypto, serving as a tool to monitor real-time changes in prices, markets, and various other information. For many crypto professionals, data is the lifeblood of their work. Before we explore the different types of crypto APIs available, let's first break down what an API is and how it works. What Are APIs? API stands for Application Programming Interface, and it's a software intermediary that allows applications to communicate seamlessly with each other, It serves as the messenger between two applications. You as the engineer will send a request, and the API will take your request to the provider and deliver back a response. API communication could be two servers going back and forth, or an application communicating with an operating system. Users interact with APIs almost every day, through social media, email, and more. APIs serve a broad purpose, it all depends on use cases. Some companies' whole business models are based on providing APIs for developers to build products with; companies as Twilio, Sendbird, Stripe, PayStack, and Anchor. These services created the "API Economy" which allows developers to easily integrate the features these services offer into their products, often for profit. Stripe for payment integration, Sendbird for email integration, Anchor for Financial systems, and more. Other providers can use APIs for tasks as basic as interacting with databases. Developers on the other hand often don't have to create from scratch, the reusability of APIs enables developers to make complex code reusable, cutting out repetition and up-ing development time for more efficient processes. Thanks to APIs, developers don't have to reinvent the wheel, and can easily get complex processes done with fewer lines of code each time they want to create a project. How Exactly Do APIs Work? APIs typically sit between the application and the server. When the developer or user tells the API to perform an action, the application uses the API to send a request that carries specific instructions for the intended action. Assume you're in a restaurant to make an order for food or drink. You tell the waiter (the API) what you want. The waiter relays that order(API call) to the kitchen or chefs at the back(server). You save a lot of time by getting your meal without having to cook it, you are less concerned with the inner workings of the kitchen (server), all you need to know is how to order it, and in the process, you are saving a boat load of time. This is a simple analogy to help you understand just what is going on with APIs. The application knows little about the server, and its inner workings, it just understands how to work with the data it receives from the server. It is important to know that APIs aren't limited to the web alone, practically every machine out there makes use of one API or the other, either commercially or internally within companies. Exploring Crypto APIs Crypto APIs allow developers to access market data, transactions, and blockchains. These APIs enable the creation of applications with tightly integrated features, providing seamless access to vital information and functionality. Cryptocurrency APIs are also extremely important because they save the developers a lot of time, without them, developers would have to manually gather the data which is hard work. These APIs have led to a new wave of crypto-related services that has helped increase adoption globally. Types of Cryptocurrency APIs Of course, there is a wide variety of crypto APIs, each with unique features. However, these are the most common types of crypto APIs. Price APIs: This is the most common type of API, as they provide real-time data on cryptocurrency prices. These APIs can be used by developers for regular users to keep their eyes glued to the market movements of their favorite crypto projects.


Transaction APIs: The whole essence of blockchain is openness and trust, this is why transactions need to be documented. Transaction APIs make it easy to keep a record of every transaction that occurs on a specific blockchain for record purposes.


Blockchain APIs: These APIs provide access to the blockchain itself for developers to build upon. Basic functionality of Crypto Data APIs When we talk about data APIs, we are primarily talking about price. Now that we've explored the basics of crypto APIs and the types. We can elaborate on the functionalities of these crypto data APIs. Data APIs provide real-time price updates and historical data, allowing users to make informed decisions about buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrencies. The APIs are designed to be fast, reliable, and easy to use with a variety of endpoints and parameters to customize the data returned. It would include support for multiple exchanges, coins, tokens, and most importantly trading data. Features of Crypto Data APIs These are the features that a proper data API needs to have: Real-Time Price Update: This is the most critical feature, real-time price update has to be available. The crypto market is extremely volatile, so the price changes have to happen in real-time to allow users to make important decisions on the fly. Historical Data: Historical data is extremely important for analysis purposes. Each coin requires historical data from its launch till data for so many patterns and trends to be drawn. Data Aggregation: A crypto data API often aggregates data from multiple exchanges, making sure users have comprehensive data to study the market progression. Traders especially value this feature for study and comparison purposes. Popular Crypto Data APIs CoinGecko: The CoinGecko data market APIs are a set of robust APIs that deliver several data such as price, volume, market cap, and exchange data. CoinMarketCap: The CoinMarketCap API is an enterprise-grade cryptocurrency API for all crypto data use cases. The API architecture implements RESTful JSON endpoints that allow data scientists, and enterprise business platforms. CoinAPI: Similar to the above two it offers market data through unified data APIs, although less robust. Who is the king of the (Crypto Data API) hill? For me, CoinGecko edges it mainly due to its extensive coverage and trusted reputation. Tracking over 2.4 million cryptocurrencies across 140 networks and 1,000 DEXes, CoinGecko provides comprehensive data that meets the needs of any developer. It’s no wonder industry leaders like Metamask, Etherscan, Chainlink, and many others rely on CoinGecko for accurate and reliable market data. Conclusion The crypto APIs are pivotal to the whole Web3 ecosystem, they allow developers to create applications that interact with different blockchain networks. However, it is important to consider security, pricing, and the available features if you're planning to use any of these APIs in your crypto project. Data plays a crucial role in crypto , serving as a tool to monitor real-time changes in prices, markets, and various other information. For many crypto professionals, data is the lifeblood of their work. crypto Before we explore the different types of crypto APIs available, let's first break down what an API is and how it works. What Are APIs? API stands for Application Programming Interface, and it's a software intermediary that allows applications to communicate seamlessly with each other, It serves as the messenger between two applications. You as the engineer will send a request, and the API will take your request to the provider and deliver back a response. API API communication could be two servers going back and forth, or an application communicating with an operating system. Users interact with APIs almost every day, through social media, email, and more. APIs serve a broad purpose, it all depends on use cases. Some companies' whole business models are based on providing APIs for developers to build products with; companies as Twilio , Sendbird , Stripe , PayStack , and Anchor . These services created the "API Economy" which allows developers to easily integrate the features these services offer into their products, often for profit. Stripe for payment integration, Sendbird for email integration, Anchor for Financial systems, and more. Twilio Sendbird Stripe PayStack Anchor Other providers can use APIs for tasks as basic as interacting with databases. Other providers can use APIs for tasks as basic as interacting with databases. Developers on the other hand often don't have to create from scratch, the reusability of APIs enables developers to make complex code reusable, cutting out repetition and up-ing development time for more efficient processes. Thanks to APIs, developers don't have to reinvent the wheel, and can easily get complex processes done with fewer lines of code each time they want to create a project. How Exactly Do APIs Work? APIs typically sit between the application and the server. When the developer or user tells the API to perform an action, the application uses the API to send a request that carries specific instructions for the intended action. Assume you're in a restaurant to make an order for food or drink. You tell the waiter (the API) what you want. The waiter relays that order(API call) to the kitchen or chefs at the back(server). You save a lot of time by getting your meal without having to cook it, you are less concerned with the inner workings of the kitchen (server), all you need to know is how to order it, and in the process, you are saving a boat load of time. This is a simple analogy to help you understand just what is going on with APIs. The application knows little about the server, and its inner workings, it just understands how to work with the data it receives from the server. It is important to know that APIs aren't limited to the web alone, practically every machine out there makes use of one API or the other, either commercially or internally within companies. It is important to know that APIs aren't limited to the web alone, practically every machine out there makes use of one API or the other, either commercially or internally within companies. Exploring Crypto APIs Crypto APIs allow developers to access market data, transactions, and blockchains. These APIs enable the creation of applications with tightly integrated features, providing seamless access to vital information and functionality. Cryptocurrency APIs are also extremely important because they save the developers a lot of time, without them, developers would have to manually gather the data which is hard work. These APIs have led to a new wave of crypto-related services that has helped increase adoption globally. Types of Cryptocurrency APIs Of course, there is a wide variety of crypto APIs, each with unique features. However, these are the most common types of crypto APIs. Price APIs: This is the most common type of API, as they provide real-time data on cryptocurrency prices. These APIs can be used by developers for regular users to keep their eyes glued to the market movements of their favorite crypto projects. Transaction APIs: The whole essence of blockchain is openness and trust, this is why transactions need to be documented. Transaction APIs make it easy to keep a record of every transaction that occurs on a specific blockchain for record purposes. Blockchain APIs: These APIs provide access to the blockchain itself for developers to build upon. Price APIs: This is the most common type of API, as they provide real-time data on cryptocurrency prices. These APIs can be used by developers for regular users to keep their eyes glued to the market movements of their favorite crypto projects. Price APIs : This is the most common type of API, as they provide real-time data on cryptocurrency prices. These APIs can be used by developers for regular users to keep their eyes glued to the market movements of their favorite crypto projects. Price APIs Transaction APIs: The whole essence of blockchain is openness and trust, this is why transactions need to be documented. Transaction APIs make it easy to keep a record of every transaction that occurs on a specific blockchain for record purposes. Transaction APIs : The whole essence of blockchain is openness and trust, this is why transactions need to be documented. Transaction APIs make it easy to keep a record of every transaction that occurs on a specific blockchain for record purposes. Transaction APIs Blockchain APIs: These APIs provide access to the blockchain itself for developers to build upon. Blockchain APIs : These APIs provide access to the blockchain itself for developers to build upon. Blockchain APIs Basic functionality of Crypto Data APIs When we talk about data APIs, we are primarily talking about price. Now that we've explored the basics of crypto APIs and the types. We can elaborate on the functionalities of these crypto data APIs. Data APIs provide real-time price updates and historical data, allowing users to make informed decisions about buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrencies. The APIs are designed to be fast, reliable, and easy to use with a variety of endpoints and parameters to customize the data returned. It would include support for multiple exchanges, coins, tokens, and most importantly trading data. Features of Crypto Data APIs These are the features that a proper data API needs to have: These are the features that a proper data API needs to have: Real-Time Price Update: This is the most critical feature, real-time price update has to be available. The crypto market is extremely volatile, so the price changes have to happen in real-time to allow users to make important decisions on the fly. Real-Time Price Update : This is the most critical feature, real-time price update has to be available. The crypto market is extremely volatile, so the price changes have to happen in real-time to allow users to make important decisions on the fly. Real-Time Price Update Historical Data: Historical data is extremely important for analysis purposes. Each coin requires historical data from its launch till data for so many patterns and trends to be drawn. Historical Data : Historical data is extremely important for analysis purposes. Each coin requires historical data from its launch till data for so many patterns and trends to be drawn. Historical Data Data Aggregation: A crypto data API often aggregates data from multiple exchanges, making sure users have comprehensive data to study the market progression. Traders especially value this feature for study and comparison purposes. Data Aggregation : A crypto data API often aggregates data from multiple exchanges, making sure users have comprehensive data to study the market progression. Traders especially value this feature for study and comparison purposes. Data Aggregation Popular Crypto Data APIs CoinGecko: The CoinGecko data market APIs are a set of robust APIs that deliver several data such as price, volume, market cap, and exchange data. CoinGecko : The CoinGecko data market APIs are a set of robust APIs that deliver several data such as price, volume, market cap, and exchange data. CoinGecko CoinMarketCap: The CoinMarketCap API is an enterprise-grade cryptocurrency API for all crypto data use cases. The API architecture implements RESTful JSON endpoints that allow data scientists, and enterprise business platforms. CoinMarketCap : The CoinMarketCap API is an enterprise-grade cryptocurrency API for all crypto data use cases. The API architecture implements RESTful JSON endpoints that allow data scientists, and enterprise business platforms. CoinMarketCap CoinAPI: Similar to the above two it offers market data through unified data APIs, although less robust. CoinAPI : Similar to the above two it offers market data through unified data APIs, although less robust. CoinAPI Who is the king of the (Crypto Data API) hill? For me, CoinGecko edges it mainly due to its extensive coverage and trusted reputation. Tracking over 2.4 million cryptocurrencies across 140 networks and 1,000 DEXes, CoinGecko provides comprehensive data that meets the needs of any developer. It’s no wonder industry leaders like Metamask, Etherscan, Chainlink, and many others rely on CoinGecko for accurate and reliable market data. Conclusion The crypto APIs are pivotal to the whole Web3 ecosystem, they allow developers to create applications that interact with different blockchain networks. However, it is important to consider security, pricing, and the available features if you're planning to use any of these APIs in your crypto project.

Crypto Data APIs: The Invisible Force Driving Market Intelligence 

Invisible Online: A Family Guide to Private and Secure Online Living

by Jeff Garzik and Ralph Benko We agree with the recently published Techno-Optimist Manifesto We agree with the recently published , hailing, among other things, the importance to civilization of energy and, thus, of good, practical energy policy. Abundant, reliable, readily affordable power is what unlocks a nation's dynamism, builds factories, creates jobs, enhances national security, and reduces poverty and famine. Techno-Optimist Manifesto A specter is now haunting those of us (including us) who believe that equitable prosperity is a great thing for people and the planet both. This specter is the shade of those who are anti-technology and anti-prosperity. Pro-prosperity goes under the rubric of e/acc, shorthand for “ .” As an aside, that might be a coinage derived from “ .” The latter had its day, although now is tarnished by the spectacular fall of its most enthusiastic and flamboyant promoter, . effective accelerationism effective altruism Sam Bankman-Fried The opponents of tech, and of its attendant general prosperity, have been dubbed the “decels.” Possibly a sly allusion to “incels.” e/acc also goes by the term “techno-optimism.” Many prominent center-leftists are at least as enthusiastic about the promise of technology to improve the lives of people and the planet as are the card-carrying members of the vast right-wing conspiracy. Techno-optimists tend to lean libertarian, whether left or right. Prominent among the leading proponents are masters of the universe , , , (with stated reservations about AI), and . Also notable are economist, blogger, and journalist ( ), public intellectual Peter Zeihan, who refers to the process of deindustrialization now underway as “decivilization,” and , who presents at a16z with exceptional clarity on matters such as . Marc Andreessen Ben Horowitz Bill Gates Vitalik Buterin Peter Thiel Noah Smith an incisive self-professed political southpaw Ryan McEntush how to scale nuclear power The villains in this drama are those who committed to “degrowth,” or shrinking the economy, perhaps by the “spectre of degrowth communism” of “Kohei Saito, the rising star of contemporary Marxist thought….” best exemplified Marxists Never Cease To Delight in Spectral Haunting Marxists just never cease to delight in spectral haunting. Some people just have to learn the hard way. We’ve written about the tussle between us techno-optimists and the luddites at ; ; at ; and at . Let’s up the ante. Toward a Pragmatic American Energy Policy To Build or Not to Build Washington? Just Face Facts Yankee Ingenuity The sweet spot of Washington Power and Light, our policy institute, is good energy policy, the foundation of equitable prosperity. In that, we are not alone. Marc Andreessen recently, in his . wrote: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto “Energy is life. We take it for granted, but without it, we have darkness, starvation, and pain. With it, we have light, safety, and warmth. We believe energy in an upward spiral. Energy is the foundational engine of our civilization. … We believe we should place intelligence and energy in a positive feedback loop, and drive them both to infinity. We believe we should use the feedback loop of intelligence and energy to make everything we want and need abundant.” should be And as Noah Smith observes in : Don’t be a Decel “Energy technology is arguably the most important kind of technology that humans create, since everything else we do is downstream of our ability to harness energy.” It isn’t very romantic of us, but … our mission is to encourage policy based on real-world data to produce great results, rather than relying on faith-based dreams we call “hopium.” We consider ourselves proud pragmatists. Pretty much everyone, including the innumerate, has heard of Einstein’s E = mc2, energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. the world’s most famous equation. PBS calls it While it is profound to prove that energy and matter are interchangeable, in day-to-day terms it’s not the most important equation around. We nominate, instead, e2/acc: effective energy accelerationism. Capitalism’s monster Those advocating economic “shrinkage” (to steal ) are an odd lot. Consider the frailty of the romantics, like Saito. He was critiqued by Thomas Fazi at , as “capitalism’s monster.” a phrase from Seinfeld Unherd To wit: “It is no coincidence that Saito comes from Japan, which enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world. But for most people on the planet, especially those living in poorer countries, climate change among the lowest policy priorities — well below more pressing material concerns such as hunger and poverty, access to water and sanitation, and education. systematically ranks “To the billions of people who still live in extreme poverty, and the millions who don’t even have access to electricity, Saito’s vision of degrowth communism, and his plea to scale back production and consumption, is unlikely to be very appealing. In fact, Saito’s insistence that countries in the Global South should refrain from pursuing growth — even ‘green growth’ — might very well be seen as a form of Western eco-imperialism. … “In this sense, degrowth communism suffers from the same drawback of old-school communism: it’s an intrinsically universalist worldview, one that purports to offer a one-size-fits-all solution for all human societies, regardless of local cultural and civilisational specificities. This globalist outlook is typical of post-Nineties leftism, which Saito harks back to in several respects. This is also evident in his rejection of the nation-state, viewed as a reactionary, quasi-fascist construct, rather than the framework through which virtually all the major social, economic and political advancements of the past centuries were achieved. “It’s a view that is completely at odds with global realities. Capitalism’s monster? At odds with reality? Yeah, that’s our poster child villain, all right! Curtis Yarvin: the greatest living Hobbesian philosopher, formidable poet, and classic antihero, declares Trotsky at Burning Man Among others in the techno-pessimistic camp is the always interesting contrarian Curtis Yarvin – the greatest living Hobbesian philosopher and poet, a classic antihero rather than villain, and possibly simply being arch – recently published “ .” Therein, he wrote: a techno-pessimist manifesto “Where did this ideology come from? While the connection is obviously a coincidence, techno-optimism is a curious historical match for another deeply American ideology from the 20th century: Trotskyism. “In (1924), Trotsky wrote: Literature and Revolution “Through the machine, man in Socialist society will command nature in its entirety, with its grouse and its sturgeons. He will change the course of the rivers, and he will lay down rules for the oceans. This does not mean that the entire globe will be marked off into boxes, that the forests will be turned into parks and gardens. Thickets and forests and grouse and tigers will remain, but only where man commands them to remain. And man will do it so well that the tiger won’t even notice the machine, or feel the change, but will live as he lived in primeval times. The machine is not in opposition to the earth. The machine is the instrument of modern man in every field of life… “Man, who will learn how to move rivers and mountains, how to build people’s palaces on the peaks of the Mont Blanc and at the bottom of the Atlantic, will not only be able to add to his own life richness, brilliancy and intensity, but also a dynamic quality of the highest degree. The shell of life will hardly have time to form before it will burst open again under the pressure of new technical and cultural inventions and achievements. Life in the future will not be monotonous! “Narrator: nor was it. “More than that. Man at last will begin to harmonize himself in earnest. He will make it his business to achieve beauty by giving the movement of his own limbs the utmost precision, purposefulness and economy in his work, his walk and his play. He will try to master first the semiconscious and then the subconscious processes in his own organism, such as breathing, the circulation of the blood, digestion, reproduction, and, within necessary limits, he will try to subordinate them to the control of reason and will. Even purely physiologic life will become subject to collective experiments. The human species, the coagulated Homo sapiens, will once more enter into a state of radical transformation, and, in his own hands, will become an object of the most complicated methods of artificial selection and psycho-physical training. “One can easily see Trotsky at Burning Man…. “Here again the ‘scientists, technologists, artists, and visionaries beyond our wildest dreams.’ Was Trotsky the first ‘effective accelerationist?’ Life takes you funny places.” “Life takes you funny places.” True! Washington Power and Light Last year, we constituted a new, tech-savvy think tank in Metro DC, Washington Power and Light, to advocate for, to quote Bastiat (see below), a “real, serious and pragmatic” energy policy, a policy rooted in technological reality rather than “pretty to think so” romantic dreams. Thus, we heartily welcome a recent big reveal at Ben Horowitz’s blog, “ ,” that a16z has desired to engage politically, seriously, to conduct a savvy “revenge of the nerds” political crusade to make the pro-techno worldview stick: Politics and the Future “We believe that advancing technology is critical for humanity’s future, so we will, for the first time, get involved with politics by supporting candidates who align with our vision and values specifically for technology. “While “Big Tech” is well represented in Washington D.C., their interests are often at odds with a positive technological future as they are more interested in regulatory capture and preserving their monopolies. As a result, technology startups need a voice. “We are non-partisan, one issue voters: If a candidate supports an optimistic technology-enabled future, we are for them. If they want to choke off important technologies, we are against them.” Badly needed! Politicians have mostly taken their eye off the ball and turned Congress mostly into a slapstick pie-fight over mostly trivial matters. Consider the daily political news. Much of it covers the struggle between the Democrats (the Donks) and the GOP (Pachyderms, thank you, Thomas Nast!). And, implicit therein, the forever war between the left and right. And much of the news now is devoted to the internecine intraparty struggles, such as within the administration, between the privileged progressives and the rank-and-file workers of the labor-and-ethnic left. And the marquee battles between the MAGAs (“the Chaos Caucus”) and the Regular Republicans in the House. “A full phase-out of fossil fuels would take the world back into caves.” Meanwhile, note the recently convened and concluded CAP28, whose presiding officer rocked the world by observing candidly, as reported by : Reason “ Al Jaber also that a full phase-out of fossil fuels would ‘take the world back into caves.’ Into the caves we go: said Some scientists and activists have not welcomed Al Jaber's blunt realism, but have said his are ‘verging on climate denial.’ comments “To be sure, Al Jaber has been properly criticized for a possible conflict of interest, as he is also the CEO of the Emirati state-owned oil and gas company, ADNOC. But he's correct to weigh tradeoffs and to point to the fact that world leaders need a more concrete plan, since toothless U.N. agreements don't really cut it.” “What Is Seen and What is Not Seen” We confidently submit that, in the spirit of Bastiat’s final work, – “What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen” – that which is invisible is often more consequential than what is visible. CE QUON VOIT ET CE QUON NE VOIT PAS And the previously almost invisible war between the techno-optimists (“the squares”) and the techno-pessimists (“the hippies”) is, we believe, the truly important political, social, and cultural battle now going on. As the fox confided to the , “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Thus, let us look with our hearts. Little Prince Why is the war between the techno-optimists and the techno-pessimists of existential importance? Bastiat, courtesy of : Mises.org In the department of economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect, but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause — . The others unfold in succession — : it is well for us if they are . Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference — the one takes account of the effect; the other takes account both of the effects which are and also of those which it is necessary to . Now this difference is enormous, for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the ultimate consequences are fatal, . Hence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil. it is seen they are not seen foreseen visible seen foresee and the converse “In fact, it is the same in the science of health, arts, and in that of morals. If often happens, that the sweeter the first fruit of a habit is, the more bitter are the consequences. Take, for example, debauchery, idleness, prodigality. When, therefore, a man, absorbed in the effect which , has not yet learned to discern those which are not seen, he gives way to fatal habits, not only by inclination, but by calculation. is seen “This explains the fatally grievous condition of mankind. Ignorance surrounds its cradle: then its actions are determined by their first consequences, the only ones which, in its first stage, it can see. It is only in the long run that it learns to take account of the others. It has to learn this lesson from two very different masters — experience and foresight. Experience teaches effectually, but brutally. It makes us acquainted with all the effects of an action, by causing us to feel them; and we cannot fail to finish by knowing that fire burns, if we have burned ourselves. For this rough teacher, I should like, if possible, to substitute a more gentle one. I mean Foresight. For this purpose I shall examine the consequences of certain economical phenomena, by placing in opposition to each other those , and those .” which are seen which are not seen The struggle over tech is crucial because it is, at base, a struggle between prosperity and austerity. Prosperity affords us agency. Poverty is a vice, not a virtue. The Soviet bloc, exponentially poorer than the capitalist running dogs of the West, experienced far worse environmental degradation than did the capitalist world. It is better that we fight over what to do with our discretionary income than scrap for subsistence. Shall we use our surplus wealth to clean up our rivers and air? Plant forests? Invent new tech? Buy more aircraft carriers? Pay down the national debt? These are much worthier fights to have than those available while struggling for survival in a condition of great scarcity. Sorry, Luddites. Few indeed wish to return to the caves. Bad policy.  Bad politics. As Churchill, on the floor of the House of Commons, , ‘The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.’ observed Misery loves company. That said, misery makes for bad policy. So, let’s accelerate our technology and, with it, our prosperity. Then… watch the Congress. Those fights will be merry indeed but much more productive than what we are now witnessing. Bravo to the : “We believe we should place intelligence and energy in a positive feedback loop and drive them both to infinity. We believe we should use the feedback loop of intelligence and energy to make everything we want and need abundant.” Techno-Optimist Manifesto To remain great or regain greatness, America can and must have abundant, reliable, readily affordable energy from practical, reality-driven sources. Abundant, reliable, affordable power unlocks a nation's dynamism, builds factories, creates jobs, enhances national security, and reduces poverty and famine. Accept no substitutes. Jeff Garzik serves as the founder and chairman of the policy institute Washington Power and Light.  Before co-founding Bloq, he spent five years as a Bitcoin core developer and ten years at Red Hat. His work with the Linux kernel is now found in every Android phone and data center running Linux today. Ralph Benko serves as co-founder and general counsel to Washington Power and Light. He is also the co-founder and general counsel for F1R3FLY.io and has worked in or with 3 White Houses, two executive branch agencies, and the Congress, as well as many political and policy institutes. He is an award-winning columnist.

“What is Essential is Invisible;” Enter Energy/Acceleration

Have you ever wondered why your Ethereum transactions or ? The answer lies in two mysterious terms: ' ' and ' '. Unpack the secrets behind these crucial blockchain elements and discover how they influence every transaction you make. take time cost more than expected mempool MEV Ethereum What is a Mempool? The , short for ' '’ is like the transaction waiting room. When you send a transaction, it joins a queue. All transactions are visible to the network's previously known as . These validators choose which transactions to verify and add to the next block in the blockchain, making them crucial gatekeepers in the process. mempool memory pool validators, miners The competition for , or , begins in this selection arena. MEV Maximal Extractable Value Think of it as a bus station where each transaction is a passenger waiting to board. The blockchain block is the bus, ready to depart on its travel, and the validators are the drivers deciding who gets on. Your transaction is patiently waiting its turn. For a fun and interactive way to understand the concept of mempools, I highly recommend visiting the . It visualizes it in a way that's both engaging and easy to understand. TxStreet How Does MEV Work? Originally, stood for , could earn. MEV Miner Extractable Value highlighting the extra profits miners in a Proof-of-Work (PoW) However, with Ethereum's transition to , this concept evolved to . This change reflects the shift in responsibility from to for confirming transactions. Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in the Merge Maximal Extractable Value miners validators and have several strategies for MEV: Miners validators : They buy a cryptocurrency at a lower price on one exchange and sell it at a higher price on another. DEX Arbitrage Anecdote: A trader once made $20,000 in a day by exploiting price differences in Ethereum across exchanges! : Miners can liquidate collateral from unpaid crypto loans. Liquidation Opportunities : Seeing a large incoming order, miners can place their own order first, benefiting from the anticipated price change. Front Running Example: It’s akin to buying apples before someone else in the market does to sell back at a higher price. : This involves placing orders before and after a large trade to profit from the resultant price shift. Sandwich Attack Fact: Sandwich attacks are frequent; one platform recorded about 25,000 such trades in a single month. The Double-Edged Sword of MEV MEV, or Maximal Extractable Value, has its ups and downs. On one side, it motivates miners and validators to work harder, which helps keep the Ethereum blockchain running smoothly. But on the flip side, MEV can lead to unfair situations for average users. It can also slow down the entire system and make transactions more costly. Did you know? There was a time when so many miners were busy with MEV strategies that it made Ethereum painfully slow for regular users. Tackling MEV Risks To combat MEV risks, many users turn to tools like . This service helps hide transactions from the public mempool, making them less visible to those seeking to exploit MEV. It's like choosing a hidden path to avoid the crowded main roads of transaction traffic. Flashbots Interesting Fact: MEV Blocker detected validators exploiting DEX users through front-running, affecting about $1.3 billion in transactions. The Future of MEV Ethereum's evolution, with updates like ' ' and the shift to Proof of Stake, aims to curb MEV's negative aspects. These changes are designed to make the system fairer and more secure. One proposed method for MEV Smoothing suggests that committees confirm new blocks, distributing rewards more evenly among members, including the block proposer. EIP-1559 Conclusion In summary, the and are pivotal elements of Ethereum. While presents , ongoing innovations and updates like and the move to Proof of Stake are steps towards addressing its complexities. As Ethereum continues to evolve, understanding these concepts remains crucial for anyone navigating the cryptocurrency landscape. mempool MEV MEV opportunities and challenges EIP-1559 Explore More: smart-contracts-developer.com solichain.com Connect with me on: Twitter LinkedIn GitHub

MEV Explained: The Invisible Force Driving Ethereum!

THE INVISIBLE GIRL.

Data Brokers and You: The Invisible Trade of Personal Information

Everything is a key-value store if you try hard enough. 🤓 We're excited to announce that the beta is now available. In this blog post, we will explain how we built Open Previews and how we use divs in GitHub discussions as a key-value store. The . Open Previews source code is available on Github What is Open Previews? Open Previews allows you to add commenting functionality to your previews/staging environments or any other website that you want to collect feedback on, like documentation pages. It's a great way to collect feedback from your nontechnical team members, customers, or other stakeholders. Preview comments are not a novel idea, services like Vercel and Netlify have supported this for a while now, but we wanted to build something that is open source and can be self-hosted. How we built Open Previews Before building Open Previews, we had a few requirements: No database The backend had to be stateless Utilize WunderGraph as much as possible Embeddable using a single script tag The solution we came up with is inspired by , which uses GitHub discussions to store comments. This is a great solution and allows us to build Open Previews without a database. Giscus The Problem of Storing Metadata in Github Discussions There was one problem, though, we had to store additional information with the comments, like the position, selection, and other metadata. How do we store this information in Github discussions? But not only that, but the metadata should also not be visible to the user to not distract them, and we need to be able to retrieve it from the discussion when we render the comments. The Solution: Using divs in HTML comments as a key-value store GitHub comments , so what if we can simply embed JSON inside a data attribute in an empty DIV? After a simple experiment, we found out that this works great. support basic HTML Adding JSON directly in a data attribute didn't work, though, because of the quotes and some other escaping issues, so we encoded the JSON using . Now we had a functional key-value store using divs and could store all the information that we needed. 🥳 encodeURIComponent Here's what it looks like in the code: export const constructComment = ({
  body,
  meta,
}: {
  meta: {
    timestamp: number
    x: number
    y: number
    path: string
    href: string
    resolved?: boolean
    selection?: string
  }
  body: string
}) => {
  const jsonMeta = JSON.stringify(meta)

  const encodedJsonMeta = encodeURIComponent(jsonMeta)

  return `${body}

  <div data-comment-meta="${encodedJsonMeta}" />`
} Now when we retrieve the comments, we can simply get the encoded data from the div, decode it, parse the JSON and render the comments on the page. The possibilities are endless 😎 Why GitHub Discussions is a great key-value store GitHub Discussions as a key-value store is amazing because it comes with a lot of powerful features out of the box: Our application is stateless GitHub Discussions are virtually free and scale infinitely built-in authentication: We can use GitHub’s authentication to authenticate users build-in authorization: You can only comment on a discussion if you have access to the repository built-in notifications: Users get notified when someone replies to their comment built-in versioning: You can see the history of a discussion built-in spam protection: GitHub Discussions has spam protection built-in Stateless authentication The next challenge was building stateless authentication. Adding authentication with WunderGraph is easy using the , but we had to store the access tokens somewhere safely. Since previews are typically hosted on a different domain than the WunderGraph server, we can't use secure cookies either. built-in Github Oauth provider You might think that we could store the access tokens in our new GitHub Discussions KV, but that would be a very bad idea. Instead, we came up with a solution that uses to store the access tokens in the browser. The JWT is encrypted using a secret that is only known to the backend. This allows us to verify the JWT and extract the access token from the JWT payload. The access token is then used to authenticate the user with Github. JSON Web Encryption After logging in, the encrypted JWT is exchanged between the WunderGraph server and the preview. We do this by starting the authentication flow in a popup that allows us to pass the JWT to the preview using the . Alternatively, a compact token could also be appended to the redirect URI. The JWT is stored in the browser using the . postMessage API localStorage API The only limitation of this approach is that the JWT is only valid for a limited time, and the user needs to log in again after the JWT has expired. What's next? We're still working on Open Previews, and we have a lot of ideas for new features. Some features we'd love to add: Support PR reviews and GitHub Checks Optimistic updates (make the UI snappier) Like & reply to comments Markdown /Emoji support Upload images If you have any ideas or feedback or want to contribute, please let us know on , , or . Twitter Github Discord Also published . here

How We Built Open Previews and Used Invisible Divs in GitHub Discussions as a Key-Value Store

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