latu

Towards the Automation of Book Typesetting: Acknowledgments and References

OF BLADESOVER HOUSE, AND MY MOTHER; AND THE CONSTITUTION OF SOCIETY

The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated: Chapter 16 - A Learned Italian

We found drug ads targeted at users interested in everything from bourbon to therapy By Colin Lecher If you’re a drug manufacturer looking for patients, one company has become a major destination in the past few years: Facebook. The social media giant, through its power to target users based on their interests, is especially attractive to pharmaceutical companies looking to sell drugs to potential patients. The Washington Post that health and pharmaceutical companies spent almost $1 billion on just Facebook mobile ads in 2019. The draw? Unlike a traditional TV or radio ad, Facebook’s ad categories help those companies target their drug ads at users who likely suffer from a specific illness the drug treats. reported last year And data from The Markup’s Citizen Browser project—which collects Facebook data from thousands of users—shows how precise and wide-ranging that targeting is. Though Facebook does not offer advertisers categories that explicitly identify people’s health conditions, The Markup identified dozens of ads for prescription pharmaceuticals targeted at people with “interests” in topics like “bourbon,” “oxygen,” and “Diabetes mellitus awareness.” Indeed, The Markup found, “awareness” of a disease is a frequent proxy for illness in targeting decisions made by advertisers. Zejula, a drug manufactured by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, for example, is prescribed to treat advanced ovarian cancer. We found the drug targeted at users who Facebook determined had shown an interest in “cancer awareness.” Piqray, another cancer treatment, manufactured by Swiss company Novartis, was shown to users with an interest in “National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” Several drugs were targeted at either “Diabetes mellitus awareness” or “Diabetes mellitus type 2 awareness.” “Stroke awareness?” Brilinta, from AstraZeneca. “Multiple sclerosis awareness?” Mayzent and Kesimpta, two other products from Novartis. “Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease awareness?” Trelegy, another GSK product. We also found drugs targeted by close proxies for other health conditions. Ads for Latuda, an antipsychotic from the company Sunovion used in the treatment of bipolar depression, were shown to users with an interest in the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, a nonprofit support group. We also found it targeted at users interested in therapy and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Anoro, a GSK drug also used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an inflammatory lung disease caused by emphysema and chronic bronchitis, was targeted at users interested in cigarettes, or just “oxygen.” Ads for Nurtec, a Biohaven Pharmaceuticals product used for treating migraines, were targeted at users who showed an interest in the “international classification of headache disorders,” a medical scale of headaches. The cancer treatment Keytruda, from Merck, was targeted at an especially wide array of users, including those interested in the chemical industry, Corona beer, and bourbon. In at least one case, we found, the interest targeted was barely even a proxy. Syprine, a Bausch Health drug used to treat a rare genetic condition called Wilson’s disease, was targeted at users who’d signaled an interest in “genetic disorder.” It’s not clear exactly how Facebook decides that a person is interested in topics such as “oxygen” or “genetic disorder.” The company only places some on how users can target health conditions. Advertisers can’t use “sensitive” personal health data to target their ads, meaning a pharmacy, for example, couldn’t upload a list of customers with a specific illness to market to them on Facebook. very specific limits The company has also broadly defended its health privacy practices, that said that “privacy and safety are particularly important for people dealing with health conditions.” releasing a statement in 2019 “We do not use medical history to inform the interest categories we make available to advertisers,” Facebook spokesperson Tom Channick said in a statement to The Markup. “Instead, people are placed into interest categories based on their activity on Facebook, including the pages they like or the ads they click on.” GSK, AstraZeneca, Bausch Health, Merck, Biohaven, and Sunovion, manufacturers of some of the drugs we saw ads for, didn’t respond to requests for comment on their Facebook advertising practices. Jamie Bennett, a spokesperson for Novartis, said the company’s “goal is to reach audiences where it matters” and that it follows all regulations, both legal and those set by services like Facebook. The potential audience size for these ads can be massive. Facebook’s ad-buying system says the number of users who have shown an interest in cancer awareness, for example, is nearly 203 million. Other categories are more narrow. Facebook’s system said the audience for users with an interest in the depression and bipolar support alliance was a relatively slim 250,000 users. Kirsten Ostherr, director of the Medical Futures Lab at Rice University, said there are both practical and moral problems with advertising around such medical conditions. If a work colleague walks by your computer screen and sees a targeted ad for a lung cancer drug, for example, he or she could deduce you have the condition. “Even if the advertiser doesn’t know exactly who you are,” Ostherr said, “if these ads are popping up on your screens everywhere, that potentially exposes information about you.” “If these ads are popping up on your screens everywhere, that potentially exposes information about you.” Kirsten Ostherr, Rice University Beyond that, targeting products by surveilling the sick inherently exploits vulnerable users’ privacy, Ostherr said. “One of the things that is most insidious about this to me is it’s really targeting and exploiting people who are in this vulnerable state and who have found real benefit from online patient communities,” she said. Legally, aside from providing a way for advertisers to disclose side effects, Facebook is under little obligation to shield its users’ health information. The United States’ health privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, only applies to a handful of entities that directly deal with patient health information. Ostherr said the vagueness of Facebook’s targeting could be a “legally defensive maneuver” protecting it from liability in the future by keeping them as distant from protected health data as possible. In 2016, a lawsuit filed against Facebook claimed that the company had unlawfully invaded users’ privacy by tracking their visits to sensitive health-related websites. included a now-outdated list of health targeting options on Facebook, which included options like “cardiac arrest,” “renal failure,” and “West Nile virus.” (Facebook denied the allegations, calling the suit “ ”) The suit an attack on the way the Internet works. Courts have so far in the dispute, saying its users must agree to its advertising practices when they sign up for the service and that health information isn’t necessarily more private than other types of data. sided with Facebook But the data Facebook does have can be enormously sensitive, as some independent researchers have shown. In 2019, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Stony Brook University that they were able to predict whether a Facebook user had any of 21 health conditions through language in status updates alone. reported Many patients may have looked to Facebook for community and help in the past year of pandemic-enforced isolation. When someone finds support for an illness on social media, Ostherr said, it’s unlikely that the health data they’re giving away is at the forefront of their minds. “Their priority really is not being tracked from one website to another,” Ostherr said. “Their priority is surviving.” Originally published as " “ with the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license How Big Pharma Finds Sick Users on Facebook

How Facebook Serves Targeted Ads by Big Pharma

The privacy coin project Horizen team once claimed: "If Satoshi Nakamoto wants to design a sidechain for Bitcoin, then he should design something analogous to Zendoo." Zendoo here is the sidechain protocol designed by the Horizen team. Let's study the Zendoo protocol white paper today. The Zendoo white paper was jointly written by the Horizen team and the IOHK team. The protocol supports a sidechain of any type, including the sidechain of the UTXO model, the sidechain of smart contracts, and even an ordinary centralized application. It is understandable that the Zendoo protocol only supports cross-chain funds because Horizen is a UTXO-model private currency public chain that does not support smart contracts, hence the cross-chain agreement is only cross-chain funds. Zendoo utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to support a decentralized approach to achieve cross-chain purposes. The Cross-Chain Mode There are four cross-chain modes in total: Let's further study: FT (Forward Transfer) FT operates on the main blockchain: it transfers the assets on the main blockchain to the sidechains. The protocol is also quite simple: the main blockchain treats FT as a special transaction, destroying coins on the main blockchain and providing metadata concerning the payment on the sidechains. The side chain needs to monitor the main blockchain in real-time. If the latest block of the main chain does not contain FT transactions, the side chain will only use the hash of the block in the main blockchain as a reference and add it to the side chain; if the latest block of the main blockchain contains FT transactions, the entire block header, all FT transactions, and the Merkle path of all FT transactions will be introduced into the side chain as a reference. In this way, anyone on the side chain is able to verify whether the transaction is legal instead of going to the main blockchain for query verification. BT（Backward Transfer） BT operates on the side chain and transfers the assets on the side chain to the main blockchain. As mentioned before, IOHK is also one of the authors of the Zendoo white paper, so we can see the resemblance of the Ouroboros protocol in the design of BT. Like the Ouroboros protocol, the protocol design of BT also involves the concepts of epoch and slot, as shown in the figure above. A withdrawal epoch is composed of lens and slots, and the len has different parameters for different side chains. If a withdrawal certificate is not submitted to the main chain within this period of time, the side chain will be considered as ceased (for instance, a withdrawal certificate in epoch is not submitted to the main blockchain in the first len blocks in epoch +1), and subsequent withdrawal certificates will not be accepted by the main blockchain, but the funds of the side chain can still be withdrawn. The B in the above figure is a slot. The side chain forger (block producer) will package the slot with BT signature and submit the withdrawal application certificate to the main blockchain within the specified epoch time. Regarding the withdrawal certificate, we will talk about it later. i i The main blockchain does not care about the role of submitting the withdrawal certificate, and the way the withdrawal certificate should be packaged is a consideration for the side chain but not for the main blockchain. BT = (receiverAddr, amount) Among them： receiverAddr-the address of the recipient on the main blockchain amount - transfer amount A Withdrawal Certificate (WCert, Withdrawal Certificate) is a standardized posting that allows the side chain to communicate with the main blockchain. This requires at least 51% of the block producer signatures to prevent fraud, and then send it to the main blockchain. The main functions are: Send BT to the main blockchain As a heartbeat message, the main blockchain can identify the state of the side chain It is defined as below: WCert = (ledgerId, epochId, quality, BTList, proofdata, proof) Among them: ledgerId-sidechain id to create WCert epochld-the id of a withdrawal epoch, generally increasing in order quality-indicates the quality of this withdrawal certificate (actually, it is the block height of the last status update) BTList-an array of multiple withdrawal transactions within a withdrawal period Proofdata-public input parameters used by SNARK verifiers Proof-the proof used by the SNARK verifier The main blockchain contains vk (written when the sidechain is registered), and the certificate generator of the sidechain (can be anyone) contains pk. true/false <- verify (vk, public_input, proof) public_input = (wcert_sysdata, MH (proofdata)) wcert_sysdata = (quality, MH(BTList), H(Bi-1), H(Bi)) proofdata = (H(SB_last), H(state_SB_last [MST]), mst_delta) Among them: Bi-1-the last block hash of i-1 withdrawal epoch in the main blockchain Bi-the last block hash of i withdrawal epoch in the main blockchain H(SB_last)-the last block hash of the i withdrawal epoch sidechain H(state_SB_last[MST])-the Merkle hash after updating the state SB_last mst_delta - bit vector modified by MST. Since MST is a fixed-size tree, mst_delta is also a fixed-size bit vector, and each bit represents a leaf of the tree. This is applied for data visibility. In the UTXO model, withdrawal data can be restored on the main blockchain without the need for sidechain data. Bit vector algorithm As demonstrated in the above figure, an MST is in a depth of 3 leaves and with a node of 2³. The grey leaf node indicates that there is an update, and the white leaf node indicates that there is no update. The bit vector algorithm is used to represent the change of MST, which is: mst_delta = (10111001)` The algorithm can effectively in the Data Availability characteristic expansion scheme, that is, , and the root hash after the MST change can verify the legality of the data. For L1 verifiers, it is not necessary to verify all the data but just the changed state. save the data on the chain every time only the transmission of the changed delta value, the root hash before the MST change Surely, if there are large volumes of data and the MST has a lot of leaves, then the bit vector will also be large and will consume a lot of gas. This is the direction that needs to be optimized in the future. 2. BTR（Backward Transfer Request） It is possible that users cannot perform BT operations on the sidechain. For example, the RPC address on the sidechain refuses to access. At this time, if one wants to retrieve the funds on the sidechain to the main blockchain, one can only initiate a BTR operation on the main blockchain. BTR will not directly transfer funds on the main chain, but synchronize this BTR to the sidechain, and go through the process analogous to BT (excluding the user's active part) on the sidechain. BTR = (ledgerId, receiver, amount, nullifier, proofdata, proof) Among them: ledgerId -sidechain id receiver -the recipient on the main blockchain amount - transfer amount nullifier -the unique identifier of this claimed coin (similar to the nonce in Ethereum, anti-double spending) proofdata - publicly entered parameters, which will be discussed in detail later proof -proof of zero-knowledge proof The vk and pk in a ZKSnark protocol are public, so anyone can employ vk to verify the correctness of the proof. true/false <- verify(vk, public_input, proof) public_input = (btr_sysdata, MH(proofdata)) btr_sysdata = (H(Bw), nullifier, receiver, amount) Among them: Others are the same as the above-mentioned WCert, H(Bw) is the block hash of the main blockchain when this sidechain submits the last withdrawal certificate. 3. CSW（Cessed Sidechain Withdrawal） When the sidechain does not respond, for example, the sidechain is attacked or the heartbeat message is not sent to the main blockchain within the specified time. At this time, the funds on the sidechain need to be withdrawn from the main blockchain. It is defined as follows: CSW = (ledgerId, receiver, amount, nullifier, proofdata, proof) The meaning of the parameters is the same as that of BTR. Unlike BTR, CSW will not go to the sidechain to follow the BT process (because the sidechain has no response at the time), but directly complete the transfer on the main blockchain. Detailed Design Withdrawal Safeguard Set a global variable on the main blockchain, increase the corresponding transfer amount when performing FT, decrease the corresponding amount when performing BT, and when withdrawing, the amount cannot be greater than this amount. (This function is easier to implement in smart contracts.) Main Blockchain Refers to Sidechain In order to synchronize the main blockchain and the sidechain, an extra field is included in the block header of the main blockchain to commit all operations related to the sidechain in the main chain block (except CSW, used when the sidechain is ceased). Introducing is to include the root hash of the Merkle tree that is related to all transactions or output concerning the sidechain. scTxsCommitment (Sidechain Transactions Commitment) For example: type MCBlockHeader { prevBlock: BlockId, height: int, … scTxsCommitment: Hash, } Sidechain Refers to Main Blockchain The sidechain (SC) block contains the high reference (or hash) of the main chain (MC), which has two advantages: The sidechain can be synchronized quickly The main chain is forked, and the sidechain can be referenced as a rollback point based on the final height of the main chain As can be seen from the above figure, the main chain block may contain sidechain-related transactions, and the transactions will also be included in the sidechain block, which will also reference the main chain block. Among them, the sidechain contains a reference to the main chain: type MCBlockRefrence { header: MCBlockHeader, mproof: Option [MerkleProof], proofOfNoData: Option [MerkleProof], forwardTransfers: Option [FTTx], btRequests: Option [BTRTx], wcert: Option [WCert], } header- the header that refers to a certain MC block mproof-optional, if the MC block contains at least one transaction related to this SC, this field is used for the Merkle root of the SC, otherwise, it is empty. proofOFNoData-optional forwardTransfers-MC cross-chain to SC btRequests -Request to redeem funds from SC to MC WCert-withdrawal certificate Proof Combination Composing SNARKs recursively can transfer multiple states and finally generate a proof. The transfer (BT/BTR) form of a single token is fixed, so the basic circuit is universal. For example,  ERC20 is implemented in the form of "transfer". Then, base_proof can be aggregated to finally generate a proof. This form of aggregation is actually MMR (Merkle Mountain Range). Then the MMR will be discussed in detail as below. Merkle Mountain Range (MMR) For the aggregation proof of the ordinary Merkle Tree structure, if one wants to aggregate the proofs of 10 transactions into one proof, one needs to aggregate the leaf nodes in pairs. If the proofs of some of the leaf nodes are not yet ready (for example, we set that 10 transactions can generate a base_proof in the ZK Rollup. At this time, 8 transactions may be ready, but the remaining two have not yet occurred), the entire prove process will wait until the leaf node's proof is ready, and then make the aggregation in pairs, and finally aggregate sequentially to generate a merge_proof. MMR has improved the Merkle tree structure. It can first aggregate the generated base_proofs in pairs to generate merge_proof, and then aggregate merge_proofs in pairs to generate merge_proof. As shown in the figure above, when the transactions Tx9 and Tx10 are not yet ready, the base_proofs of the previous 8 transactions can be aggregated to generate the merge_proof (1->8), and after Tx9 and Tx10 are completed, combine this two base_proof to generate a merge_proof (9->10), and then aggregates the proof with the ready merge_proof (1->8) to generate the final merge_proof (1->10). Compared with the aggregation proof of the Merkle tree, MMR has the following characteristics: The efficiency of generating aggregated proofs is high, and the proof time is greatly reduced The structure is more flexible, and base_proof and merge_proof can be aggregated Certificate Submission When submitting, only the node maintainer (Forger/Slot leader) is eligible to be rewarded after submission, and within a specific submission period. If the submission fails or is not submitted within the time limit, it will be postponed to the next competitor. (Slot leader election uses the smallest block hash of an epoch on the main chain to generate random numbers.) In Latus, both the block producer and the prover are rewarded, and the block producer packs, while the prover generates a certificate. For basic state transitions, prove and verify are: proof^{Base}{a} = Prove(pk^{Base}{a}, (s_i, s_{i+1}), (tx_a)) true/false = Verify(vk^{Base}{a}, (s_i, s{i+1}), proof^{Base}{a}) Among them: a ∈ {pay, FT, BT, BTR} {i+1} are public inputs, si= Hash(State_i), that is, public input is the hash before and after the state transition, for Latus, it is the merkle tree root hash s_i，s For the merged SNARK, prove and verify are: proof^{Merge} = Prove(pk^{Merge}, (s_i, s_{i+k}), (s_{i+j}, proof^b_1, proof^c_2)) true/false = Verify(vk^{Merge}, (s_i, s_{i+k}), proof^{Merge}) Among them: b,c ∈ {Base, Merge} proof^b_1 proves that there is such a transaction, tx_1, …, tx_j, enables State_{i+j} = update ([tx_i, …, tx_j], State_i) proof^c_2 proves that there is such a transaction, tx_{j+1}, …, tx_k, enables State_{i+k} = update([tx_{j+1}, …, tx_k], State_{i+j}) Summary Judging from the white paper, Zendoo and ZK Rollup are quite similar. For Data Availability, the former involves the cross-chain generation of proofs, and sidechain transfers cannot generate. The latter will generate proofs for all L2 transactions and submit them to L1 verification. For withdrawal, Zendoo has BT/BTR/CSW, and ZK Rollup has similar operations such as Withdraw/Exit/Force_exit. For MST data maintenance, the existing ZK Rollup implementation basically applies a single node or a centralized node, while the Zendoo node is decentralized storage. Compared with the current popular Polygon, Zendoo is decentralized in the cross-chain form, and anyone can submit a ZK proof, while Polygon applies authorized multi-signature bridges to control the billing on both sides of the contract to achieve cross-chain. As for the withdrawal time, Zendoo needs to generate a proof and submit it to the chain, the process which is more time-consuming, while Polygon is more centralized and time-controllable. Regarding the difficulty of implementation, Zendoo also needs a prover for generating proof in addition to the node. This requires the realization of a zero-knowledge proof circuit, which is more difficult to develop, while Polygon only needs to implement multi-signature contract control. Reference https://heap.horizen.io/ https://www.horizen.io/assets/files/Horizen-Sidechain-Zendoo-A_zk-SNARK-Verifiable-Cross-Chain-Transfer-Protocol.pdf https://www.horizen.io/assets/files/whitepaper-snarks.pdf https://academy.horizen.io/horizen/expert/sidechains/

Zendoo Protocol: A Deep Dive

I want to say something. Because maybe it will help someone else out there who is just holding on for dear life, wondering if things will ever get better. Or wondering if they are completely alone. And because I am so furious right now, and I just don’t care anymore, I am going to share my story. Maybe someone will read it, and it will give them courage to speak up too. Well, nobody talks about mental health, period. But I don’t know one person in tech who is out about their mental illness. Nobody in tech talks about mental health. So I am coming out. I have bipolar disorder. I have bipolar, type I. I was in the middle of my EECS degree at Berkeley when I had a psychotic break. I had been hallucinating for 6 months when I finally dropped out of school. All of my friends had deserted me at this point. I was too much for them to handle with school and everything else going on in their lives. Recovery was slow. Recovery was really slow. I took antipsychotics, they helped a lot. It only took about a year for all the psychotic stuff to die down. But it took me at least 5 more years before I even started to recover from the trauma of what happened — from the trauma of realizing that my brain had been playing tricks on me the whole time, and that I was foolish enough to believe them. From the trauma of knowing that I voiced these fears, these things that I was so terrified of, out loud to the people that I trusted the most. And not only did my friends not believe me, but instead of telling me to my face, they talked about me behind my back. I felt like such a fool, like such an idiot looking back. Software saved my life. It was the only thing in my life that was giving me any kind of positive feedback — the tests passed! the code compiled! And so I drowned myself in software. I blocked out everything that happened to me and only thought about software, all day every day, for almost 3 years. Then finally, I started to let thoughts of what happened to me surface. I was able to start coming to terms with how I had lost everything to tricks that my own brain had played on me. And so I started to recover. I have tried to go back to school 2 times since I dropped out 7 years ago. Literally, I have enrolled at UC Berkeley 3 times in total. Each time I think I am strong enough, each time I think I have had enough space from what happened that I can focus just on the schoolwork. But I cannot walk down Shattuck, I cannot walk into Doe Library, without having a panic attack. Without remembering in vivid detail all the pain and the trauma of what happened to me. It all comes flooding back. And I break down. And so, I cannot finish my degree. People have asked me what the bench tattoo is on my arm. This is where I was sitting when, for the first time in almost 5 years, I had hope. This is where I was sitting when I realized that I do still have a chance, that I am still a normal person, and that I still can make something of myself. This was November of 2014. And now here I am, a software engineer at Google. Would you look at that. Do you know what my therapist says to me sometimes? She reminds me that all the great thought leaders, people of passion and change, that history tells us that many of them had bipolar disorder too. Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Isaac Newton, Abraham Lincoln, Beethoven, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Van Gogh, Einstein, Disney, .. the list goes on and on. So to all of you taking abilify and latuda and wellbutrin and zoloft and lithium, to all of you in therapy, to all of you with trauma in your past or present, I want you to know — if I can do it, if Einstein and Disney and Newton can do it, then you can too. And I am always here if you need someone to talk to.

I am coming out about my mental illness.

Fenix Finance, a decentralized exchange (DEX) operating on the Blast network, has successfully closed a $300,000 seed funding round. The investment was led by Orbs, a Layer 3 blockchain protocol, which will also serve as a technology partner for Fenix. The seed funding is earmarked for developing Fenix's unified trading and liquidity marketplace on the Blast network. A key component of this development is the imminent deployment of the Fenix Liquidity Hub, which Orbs’ Layer 3 technology will power. This hub aims to provide Blast users with token swapping capabilities, optimizing price execution by combining on-chain and off-chain liquidity sources. Orbs' Investment Strategy This investment aligns with Orbs' broader strategy of supporting projects that utilize its technology. The company has previously invested in several protocols operating on various Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, including Thena, IntentX, Symmio, and Harris & Trotter. Orbs' technology is designed to enhance capital efficiency and deepen on-chain liquidity for these protocols. Fenix Finance has been operating in open beta for less than two months but has already attracted over 5,000 users and generated more than $150 million in trading volume. The platform is aiming to increase its market share in the DEX space on Blast, which has grown to become the second-largest Ethereum Layer 2 network. Development Plans The seed funding will support several initiatives: Accelerating the development of the Fenix protocol
Onboarding more partners to deepen available liquidity
Ongoing development of Fenix Nest, which incorporates key components of the Curve ecosystem Fenix Nest includes features such as a vote delegator, vote optimizer, and rewards auto-compounder, which power a voting incentives marketplace. Analysis and Outlook This seed investment represents a significant step for Fenix Finance in establishing itself within the competitive DEX landscape. The partnership with Orbs could provide Fenix with a technological edge, particularly in terms of liquidity aggregation and trading execution. However, the DEX market is highly competitive, with established players and constant innovation. Fenix's success will likely depend on its ability to differentiate itself through superior user experience, deeper liquidity, and unique features offered by its integration with Orbs' Layer 3 technology. The growth of the Blast network as an Ethereum Layer 2 solution is also a critical factor. If Blast continues to gain traction, it could provide a fertile ground for Fenix to expand its user base and trading volume. As the decentralized finance (DeFi) space continues to evolve, partnerships between infrastructure providers like Orbs and DEX platforms like Fenix may become increasingly common. These collaborations could lead to more efficient and user-friendly DeFi ecosystems, potentially accelerating mainstream adoption of decentralized trading platforms. While the $300,000 seed investment is relatively modest in the context of larger DeFi funding rounds, it provides Fenix Finance with resources to develop its platform at this early stage. The true test will be in the execution of their roadmap and their ability to capture market share in the competitive DEX landscape. Don’t forget to like and share the story! Vested Interest Disclosure: This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR. Fenix Finance , a decentralized exchange (DEX) operating on the Blast network, has successfully closed a $300,000 seed funding round. The investment was led by Orbs , a Layer 3 blockchain protocol, which will also serve as a technology partner for Fenix. The seed funding is earmarked for developing Fenix's unified trading and liquidity marketplace on the Blast network. A key component of this development is the imminent deployment of the Fenix Liquidity Hub, which Orbs’ Layer 3 technology will power. This hub aims to provide Blast users with token swapping capabilities, optimizing price execution by combining on-chain and off-chain liquidity sources. Fenix Finance Orbs Orbs' Investment Strategy This investment aligns with Orbs' broader strategy of supporting projects that utilize its technology. The company has previously invested in several protocols operating on various Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, including Thena, IntentX, Symmio, and Harris & Trotter. Orbs' technology is designed to enhance capital efficiency and deepen on-chain liquidity for these protocols. Fenix Finance has been operating in open beta for less than two months but has already attracted over 5,000 users and generated more than $150 million in trading volume. The platform is aiming to increase its market share in the DEX space on Blast, which has grown to become the second-largest Ethereum Layer 2 network. Development Plans The seed funding will support several initiatives: Accelerating the development of the Fenix protocol Onboarding more partners to deepen available liquidity Ongoing development of Fenix Nest, which incorporates key components of the Curve ecosystem Accelerating the development of the Fenix protocol Onboarding more partners to deepen available liquidity Ongoing development of Fenix Nest, which incorporates key components of the Curve ecosystem Fenix Nest includes features such as a vote delegator, vote optimizer, and rewards auto-compounder, which power a voting incentives marketplace. Analysis and Outlook This seed investment represents a significant step for Fenix Finance in establishing itself within the competitive DEX landscape. The partnership with Orbs could provide Fenix with a technological edge, particularly in terms of liquidity aggregation and trading execution. However, the DEX market is highly competitive, with established players and constant innovation. Fenix's success will likely depend on its ability to differentiate itself through superior user experience, deeper liquidity, and unique features offered by its integration with Orbs' Layer 3 technology. The growth of the Blast network as an Ethereum Layer 2 solution is also a critical factor. If Blast continues to gain traction, it could provide a fertile ground for Fenix to expand its user base and trading volume. As the decentralized finance (DeFi) space continues to evolve, partnerships between infrastructure providers like Orbs and DEX platforms like Fenix may become increasingly common. These collaborations could lead to more efficient and user-friendly DeFi ecosystems, potentially accelerating mainstream adoption of decentralized trading platforms. While the $300,000 seed investment is relatively modest in the context of larger DeFi funding rounds, it provides Fenix Finance with resources to develop its platform at this early stage. The true test will be in the execution of their roadmap and their ability to capture market share in the competitive DEX landscape. Don’t forget to like and share the story! Vested Interest Disclosure: This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR. Vested Interest Disclosure: This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program . HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR. Vested Interest Disclosure: business blogging program business blogging program

Fenix Finance Secures $300K Seed Investment from Orbs

Fenix Finance Orbs থেকে $300K বীজ বিনিয়োগ সুরক্ষিত করে

Fenix Finance sichert sich 300.000 US-Dollar Startkapital von Orbs

Fenix Finance obtiene una inversión inicial de 300.000 dólares de Orbs

Fenix Finance obtient un investissement de démarrage de 300 000 $ d'Orbs

फेनिक्स फाइनेंस को ऑर्ब्स से 300 हजार डॉलर का बीज निवेश मिला

Fenix Finance、Orbs から 30 万ドルのシード投資を獲得

Fenix Finance, Orbs로부터 30만 달러 규모의 시드 투자 확보

Fenix Finance garante investimento inicial de US$ 300 mil da Orbs

Fenix Finance получила от Orbs начальные инвестиции в размере 300 тыс. долларов США

Fenix Finance, Orbs'tan 300 Bin Dolarlık Tohum Yatırımı Sağladı

Fenix Finance đảm bảo khoản đầu tư hạt giống trị giá 300 nghìn đô la từ Orbs

Fenix Finance 从 Orbs 获得 30 万美元种子投资

Unveiling TEN's Encrypted Ethereum Layer 2 Network It is a significant achievement for the blockchain community that Obscuro Labs' , which is an encrypted Ethereum Layer 2 network, has successfully received a substantial amount of money, amounting to $9 million USD. This fundraising round, which was in charge of the digital heavyweight blockchain instruction, R3, highlights one of the most significant turning points in blockchain research. An all-EVM encrypted Layer 2 solution for Ethereum is offered by TEN, which is recognised as a pioneer in the field of blockchain innovation. A powerful team and industry specialists, including R3, are behind TEN. TEN is backed by these individuals. TEN Its goal is to provide Web3 applications with solutions that are safe, efficient, and decentralised wherever possible. This rollup falls somewhere in the middle of the Optimistic and ZK rollups.  Corda is the tokenization platform that is now the market leader, and R3 is the firm that developed it. With the infusion of talent from R3, TEN is able to improve its position as a significant player in the Layer 2 solutions and acquire knowledge that is of great value. R3 is the source of more than half of TEN's senior leadership team.R3's wide consortium, which has long backed blockchain-based initiatives such as RWA tokenization and CBDC, comprises 42 of the largest banks in the world as members. This is perhaps the most crucial aspect of the collaboration. Diverse Investment Backing: A Vote of Confidence in TEN's Potential Besides R3, other well-known investors like Republic Crypto, KuCoin Labs, Big Brain Capital, DWF Labs, and Magnus Capital have also backed the latest round of investments. The industry is aware of TEN's unique value offering and possible impact on the Web3 environment, as shown by the large amount of support that follows. is different from other algorithms because it can find a good mix between ZK-Rollups and optimistic-based L2. There are other Layer 2 options, but TEN is the best because it is faster, safer, more flexible, and more private. TEN is ready to change the blockchain industry with features like immediate links, security that can be changed, and safe random number generation. TEN Utilising Ethereum's well-established security architecture, TEN prioritises user safety by including cutting-edge functionality such as programmable encryption. Developers are now able to design a new generation of on-chain apps that encompass gaming, DeFi, RWA, and institutional use cases. This is made possible by the addition of the capability to customise the privacy settings of smart contracts. Because users can quickly use TEN's secure features with only three clicks, they are unaware that they are engaging with an encrypted decentralised application (dApp) right now. TEN's Journey Toward a Decentralized Tomorrow With the start of its mainnet planned for October and testing still going on Coinlist's testnet, TEN is in a great situation to strengthen its place as the top Layer 2 option in Web3. The creative team in charge of is laying the groundwork for future autonomous technologies. Simplifying, protecting, and improving the user experience are all things that TEN is focusing on as it works to change the way we use blockchain apps. In the world of cryptocurrencies, people are getting more excited and looking forward to the project's mainnet launch. A lot of people are excited to see what new options TEN will open up in the free environment. TEN Gavin Thomas, Co-Founder and CEO of Obscuro Labs, emphasises TEN's transformative potential, stating, "Layer 2s were always not just about scaling, but enhancing Ethereum with new features in ways that cannot be done on Mainnet. With TEN, we deliver on that promise by bringing everything we learned from building encryption on Corda to Ethereum." Final Thoughts The growth of Ethereum Layer 2 networks has been led by R3, and they have now hit a major turning point. This is even more true now that Obscuro Labs' is a well-known player in this field. One thing that makes TEN's approach to user experience, scaling, and security stand out is that it is a paradigm shift in the way distributed technologies are used. The fact that TEN has invested R3 demonstrates the level of expertise that the business has in distributed ledger technology (DLT). This is due to the fact that the firm has a union of significant banks and Corda, which is its primary tokenization platform. Remembering that TEN's round of investment was successful is another crucial thing to keep in mind. TEN Not only does the backing of these well-known organisations demonstrate that TEN has a possibility of being successful, but it also demonstrates how distributed ledger technology (DLT) is becoming an ever more significant component of the transformative process in conventional areas as the blockchain industry continues to expand. As it continues to pursue its vision, TEN is in a fantastic position to have significant influence over the course that the digital future will take. This is because it intends to launch its mainnet as early as October. The TEN investment round needs to be regarded as a significant advancement for Ethereum Layer 2 solutions and the blockchain community as a whole. The acronym TEN is a symbol of optimism for a future in which there is no central authority and confidence, speed, and openness are of utmost significance. The reason the firm is expanding is because it is extremely skilled in distributed ledger technology (DLT), which is the core of the strategy that it has developed. Don’t forget to like and share the story! Image credits: Markus Wrinkler: This author is an independent contributor publishing via our brand-as-author program. Be it through direct compensation, media partnerships, or networking, the author has a vested interest in the company/ies mentioned in this story. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR Vested Interest Disclosure:

TEN Raises $9 Million From R3 and Others to Pioneer the Next-Gen Encrypted Ethereum Network

TEN নেক্সট-জেন এনক্রিপ্টেড ইথেরিয়াম নেটওয়ার্কের অগ্রগামীর জন্য R3 এবং অন্যান্যদের থেকে $9 মিলিয়ন সংগ্রহ করেছে

TEN sammelt 9 Millionen US-Dollar von R3 und anderen, um Pionierarbeit für das verschlüsselte Ethereum-Netzwerk der nächsten Generation zu leisten

TEN recauda $9 millones de R3 y otros para ser pioneros en la red Ethereum cifrada de próxima generación

TEN lève 9 millions de dollars auprès de R3 et d'autres pour lancer le réseau Ethereum crypté de nouvelle génération

TEN ने अगली पीढ़ी के एन्क्रिप्टेड एथेरियम नेटवर्क को आगे बढ़ाने के लिए R3 और अन्य से $9 मिलियन जुटाए

TEN、次世代暗号化イーサリアムネットワークの開拓に向けて R3 などから 900 万ドルを調達

TEN은 차세대 암호화 이더리움 네트워크를 개척하기 위해 R3 및 기타 업체로부터 900만 달러를 모금했습니다.

TEN levanta US$ 9 milhões da R3 e outros para ser pioneiro na rede Ethereum criptografada de última geração

TEN привлекает 9 миллионов долларов от R3 и других для создания зашифрованной сети Ethereum нового поколения

TEN, Yeni Nesil Şifreli Ethereum Ağına Öncülük Etmek İçin R3 ve Diğerlerinden 9 Milyon Dolar Topladı

TEN huy động được 9 triệu đô la từ R3 và các loại khác để tiên phong cho mạng Ethereum được mã hóa thế hệ tiếp theo

TEN 从 R3 和其他公司筹集了 900 万美元，以开拓下一代加密以太坊网络

In August, received grant funding worth a total of $98,000 from Microsoft & its industry-leading partners — including OpenAI, GitHub, Massdriver, Ansarada, Bubble & MongoDB — to accelerate its mission to bring cutting-edge AI to the masses, as quickly as possible. KudoAI “The age of AI is upon us,” claimed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, just one day before his company invested $10 billion for 49% stake in OpenAI. The public release of ChatGPT — the uncannily human-like chatbot that became the (outpacing even TikTok/Douyin!) — is largely responsible for the current surge in AI interest. ChatGPT’s initial release was based on the powerful GPT-3.5 language learning model developed by OpenAI on the basis of revisions that spanned five years. fastest-growing app in human history The Microsoft-led grants mark a significant milestone for KudoAI, as the mission to bring AI to the masses is greatly accelerated. “The age of AI is upon us.” —Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO About KudoAI KudoAI is a pioneer in making advanced AI accessible to everyone. Currently, the is chatgpt.js, a widely acclaimed JavaScript library that empowers developers to build AI applications, ranging from chatbots to creative content generation. core product chatgpt.js was accepted last month into the inaugural cohort of 100.builders, an AI incubator funded by industry heavyweights like Stability.ai (creators of Stable Diffusion) & Coinbase. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG8DtsEo0PM&embedable=true Additionally, chatgpt.js is an Official Selection in Season 3 of — a fund for art, science, and public goods projects that impact the world — where community members vote to support projects by purchasing Artifacts, a new type of NFT minted as open editions, of which each sale unlocks additional match funding and cash prizes from various sponsors. Artizen Apps built using chatgpt.js have won awards and even been featured by Google in their marketplaces. For more information, visit https://www.kudoai.com

KudoAI Bags $98K Grant from Microsoft, OpenAI to Accelerate Mass AI Adoption

KudoAI obtiene una subvención de 98.000 dólares de Microsoft y OpenAI para acelerar la adopción masiva de la IA

KudoAI remporte une subvention de 98 000 $ de Microsoft et OpenAI pour accélérer l'adoption massive de l'IA

KudoAI को बड़े पैमाने पर AI अपनाने में तेजी लाने के लिए Microsoft, OpenAI से $98K अनुदान प्राप्त हुआ

KudoAI が Microsoft、OpenAI から AI の大量導入を加速するために 98,000 ドルの助成金を獲得

KudoAI recebe subsídio de US$ 98 mil da Microsoft e OpenAI para acelerar a adoção em massa de IA

KudoAI nhận được khoản tài trợ 98 nghìn đô la từ Microsoft, OpenAI để tăng tốc việc áp dụng AI hàng loạt

KudoAI 获得微软和 OpenAI 的 9.8 万美元资助，以加速人工智能的大规模采用

the leading R&D firm for the , purchased 5,728 shares of common stock shares at , a $50M pre-money valuation. Forward Research Arweave ecosystem HackerNoon $42.55 per share This is great news for our shareholders, who’ve previously purchased shares at the and at the , which was the last issuing of new HackerNoon shares. 2019 equity crowdfunding price of $8.20 2020 strategic investment price of $11.35 HackerNoon agreed to . This ensures that HackerNoon, who recently exceeded one billion words published, and it’s contributing writers, will have for all their stories. back up the HackerNoon library on Arweave Web3 backups Pioneering Text Preservation with Arweave Your stories should last forever. HackerNoon not only publishes about , , and , but also works to integrate our publishing system with the emerging technologies that will make the next internet. We’re aiming to partner with products and companies like Arweave, who’ve made technological breakthroughs in digital publishing. blockchain cryptocurrencies web3 “We backed up the entire HackerNoon library on Arweave for about $58,” said . “We’re still in the very early days of a truly decentralized internet, but when it comes to hosting and distributing digital text, we’re thrilled to be a small part of driving that cost towards zero.” HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke Stories are how we learn. Stories have the power to inspire, to guide, to change lives. We are working to make HackerNoon stories last forever. More Web3 Integrations Already Live on HackerNoon Before this partnership, we’ve built and integrated functions to further HackerNoon’s journey into the world of Web3. Signup / Login with Wallet 1.0 is email, 2.0 is social, and 3.0 is the digital wallet. Really exciting for readers, writers, and partners to be able to use all HackerNoon has to offer with just a 3.0 identity. and NFTs as Profile Photos Story Embeds People can embeds NFTs into HackerNoon stories and use them as their profile avatars, which show up bordered by the notorious identity hexagon. Noonies Tech Awards NFT Badges Our yearly tech awards come with many prizes, including original NFT badge for all the winners to signify and preserve their accomplishments. : ex , , Crypto Data Price Pages $BTC $ETH $AR These coin price pages combine curated stories with timely data to form a qualitative and quantitate hub about each top cryptocurrency. Web3 Writing Contests By publishing with web3 tags, contributors enter to win prizes from paying customers such as Sandbox, Sora, Coinsbee, NOWpayments and Avalanche. : ex , Blockchain games rankings Axie Infinity Gods Unchained We monitor and measure the world’s most-trending blockchain games based on internet traction and blockchain activity. Publishing More Web3 And of course everyday, publishing more , , , , , and related stories :-) ai blockchain cryptocurrency decentralization web3 One of the most important things we think Web3 can help us achieve is preservation. With our partnership with Arweave, and the other integrations, we are working to further decentralize the HackerNoon, making us a more community-driven, trustworthy and sustainable place to read, write, learn and publish. About HackerNoon How hackers start their afternoons. We are an open and international community of 35,000+ contributing writers publishing stories and expertise for 4,000,000+ curious and insightful monthly readers. Founded in 2016, HackerNoon is an independent technology publishing platform run by David Smooke and Linh Smooke. . HackerNoon’s built for technologists to read, write, and publish. Learn more about what humans think of HackerNoon About Arweave The Arweave network is like Bitcoin, but for data: A permanent and decentralized web inside an open ledger. Permanent storage has many applications: from the preservation of humanity's most important data, to the hosting of truly decentralized and provably neutral web apps. The Arweave protocol is stable, mature and widely adopted. It acts as a map that points you to places you can learn about, use and build on Arweave. In the comments below, let us know what you think of these integrations and what other Web3 integrations you’d like to see us roll out.

HackerNoon Raises $250k at $50M Valuation From Forward Research

হ্যাকারনুন ফরওয়ার্ড রিসার্চ থেকে $50M মূল্যায়নে $250k সংগ্রহ করে৷

HackerNoon sammelt 250.000 US-Dollar bei einer Bewertung von 50 Millionen US-Dollar von Forward Research

HackerNoon recauda $ 250k a una valoración de $ 50 millones de Forward Research

HackerNoon lève 250 000 $ à 50 millions de dollars d'évaluation de Forward Research

हैकरनून ने फॉरवर्ड रिसर्च से $50M मूल्यांकन पर $250k जुटाए

HackerNoon が Forward Research から 5,000 万ドルの評価額で 25 万ドルを調達

HackerNoon, Forward Research로부터 5천만 달러 가치 평가로 25만 달러 조달

HackerNoon levanta $ 250k em avaliação de $ 50M da Forward Research

HackerNoon İleri Araştırmalardan 50 Milyon Dolarlık Değerlemeyle 250 Bin Dolar Artırdı

HackerNoon huy động được 250 nghìn đô la với mức định giá 50 triệu đô la từ nghiên cứu chuyển tiếp

HackerNoon 以 5000 万美元的估值从 Forward Research 筹集了 25 万美元

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