A provider of efficient, customized and greener building solutions leveraging intelligent, AI-powered 3D printed construction. LAYER is a frontier technology redefining 3DCP (3D concrete printed) construction. It is developing a powerful next generation printed building platform (PBP) that helps construction businesses to enhance their offerings with printed capabilities. LAYER PBP combines robotics and artificial intelligence for an all-in-one platform that enables homes and buildings to be printed in hours or days. LAYER PBP is ideally suited for use by construction businesses of all sizes. With easy integration, intuitive technology and the first 3DCP platform to provide built-in artificial intelligence, LAYER allows even small, independent construction businesses to quickly compete within an increasingly competitive build market.

Layer Construction

When it comes to investing in cryptocurrency, narratives often play an important role in identifying promising investment opportunities. In 2017 we had Initial Coin Offerings (ICO's), Ethereum Killers (NEO, for example), Interoperability (Wanchain & Icon), and zero transaction fees (IOTA & Nano/Raiblocks). From 2020 - 2021 Decentralized Finance (DeFi) was the new narrative, bringing interest to cryptocurrencies such as MakerDao, Uniswap, Avalanche, etc. Additional cryptocurrency narratives in 2021 included: Non-Fungible tokens/NFTs (Enjin, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Galactic Geckos, etc.) Meme Coins (Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Floki Inu, etc.) Algorithmic Currency Protocols (Olympus DAO, Titan Finance, Wonderland, etc.) Binance Smart Chain "Moonshots" (Safemoon, for example) Metaverse & Crypto Gaming (The Sandbox, Decentraland, Axie Infinity, Illuvium, My Neighbour Alice, etc.) Savvy investors caught on to these narratives early and made some spectacular gains on their investments. However, this doesn't mean you should always chase the next big narrative. In fact, I believe it's best to focus on the fundamentals behind a cryptocurrency instead and build a long-term position. But at the same time, it's important to understand which narratives are attracting the most attention since the money usually follows soon after. Once you know what the next narrative is, you can research cryptocurrencies within that narrative and build a position with the projects that have a good team and fundamentals behind them. One narrative that is attracting a lot of attention right now is ZK-Rollups, and we'll be looking at this technology in this post. We'll also look at three cryptocurrencies which use ZK-Rollup technology, with a secret, bonus cryptocurrency that is related to one of the platforms mentioned. Keep reading until the end and see if you can find it. If you decide to invest in ZK-Rollup related cryptocurrencies , I recommend using to easily buy and sell cryptocurrency, including the ones mentioned in this post. Kucoin Kucoin is available worldwide, including the USA. ZK-Rollups: Explain Like I'm Five (ELI5) Explained simply, a ZK-Rollup is a smart contract that takes hundreds of transactions off the main blockchain and bundles them into a single transaction. It then sends a validity proof back to the main blockchain. This reduces the amount of data being sent through Ethereum's main blockchain (Layer 1), enabling faster and cheaper transactions. For a more detailed explanation on ZK-Rollups, read the next section or skip ahead if you already understand how they work. What are ZK-Rollups & how do they work? Zero-Knowledge Rollups (ZK-Rollups) are smart contracts that scale the Ethereum network by processing multiple transfers off the main blockchain. ZK-Rollups work by taking hundreds of transfers off-chain and combining or "rolling" them up into a single transaction. It then submits a SNARK (succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge) back to the main chain as proof of validity. Validating a block with a ZK-Rollup is faster and cheaper since less data is included. ZK-Rollups are being developed for Layer 2 construction to increase scalability. Another option being developed is one of the options Optimistic Rollups. If you want to see a more detailed explanation on ZK-Rollups and Rollup technology in general, I recommend the following resources: ZKP Science Layer 2 Rollups - Ethereum.org ZK-Rollups - EthHub.io 3 ZK-Rollup Platforms With Their Own Cryptocurrencies At the time of me writing this, there aren't many ZK-Rollup-based platforms with their own native token, hence why only three are included in this article. Loopring (LRC) Loopring (LRC) is a ZK-Rollup Layer 2 solution that allows for high-throughput, low-cost trading and payments on Ethereum. It aims to allow anyone to build non-custodial, order book-based exchanges on Ethereum by leveraging zero-knowledge proofs. With ZK-Rollups, Loopring claims its exchanges can offer faster settlements for traders. Instead of settling trades on the Ethereum blockchain directly (like other DEX's do), ZK-Rollups enable Loopring exchanges to complete computations off-chain. This reduces the number of transactions being submitted to the Ethereum network, increasing speed and reducing costs for traders. Loopring has its own token (LRC), which you can find on . US based investors can use to invest in LRC. Binance Kucoin zkSync zkSync is a Layer 2 scaling solution that offers cheaper and faster transactions than the main Ethereum blockchain (Layer 1). It uses ZK-Rollup technology to process transactions off the Ethereum blockchain while still maintaining its security and finality. zkSync was developed by Matter Labs which received $50 million in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Crypto.com, Blockchain.com, Aave, and more. zkSync's benefits include: Low gas fees: Gas fees are equal to 1% of Ethereum gas & cheaper than using optimistic rollups High speeds: 2000+ transactions per second (tps) compared to 14tps on Ethereum Security: Secured by the main Ethereum blockchain Frictionless transfers: Easily move your crypto between Layer 1 and Layer 2 without delays Censorship resistance: You can move your assets back to Layer 1 at any time zkSync does not currently have a native token, but I recommend following their social channels if you don't want to miss out. they're planning on releasing one. Immutable X (IMX) Immutable X is a Layer 2 scaling solution for trading Ethereum NFTs. It uses ZK-Rollups to enable instant trade confirmation, over 9,000 transactions per second and zero gas fees. Since Immutable X is a Layer 2 for Ethereum, ownership of NFTs isn't affected since it inherits the security and finality of the Ethereum blockchain. by the company behind God's Unchained, a Free-to-Play NFT trading card game similar to the popular Hearthstone. Immutable X was developed The Immutable X marketplace will be used to trade God's Unchained cards initially, but as time goes on, they intend to open up the marketplace to assets from other games. Benefit's of Immutable X include: Zero gas fees for peer-to-peer trading. Set your own trading fees. No custodial risk; users keep their private keys. Up to 9,000+ TPS. Not a centralized sidechain. Secured by Ethereum. A true Layer 2 inheriting security of Layer 1. Any NFT that is created or traded on Immutable X is 100% carbon neutral. One of Immutable X's huge benefits is the zero gas fees for trading NFTs. This simplifies the process of trading NFTs between users, making it easier for mass adoption. Immutable X looks very promising, especially since it covers three major narratives in the cryptocurrency space: ZK-Rollups, NFTs, and Gaming. It's also backed by an NFT trading card game that has the potential for mass adoption. As the Immutable X exchange matures and attracts assets from additional game developers, I can see this project becoming huge. Immutable X has its own token (IMX), which you can find on As a bonus recommendation, you can find God's Unchained cryptocurrency (GODS) on Kucoin too. Kucoin. Conclusion You can find Loopring (LRC) on . If you live in the USA, you can find it on Kucoin. Binance Immutable X (IMX) is available on along with God's Unchained (GODS). Kucoin zkSync has not yet released a token for their platform yet, but you can to stay updated on a release date. follow their social channels I hope you enjoyed this story; feel free to check out the useful resources below: Good exchange to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon (MATIC), Polkadot (DOT), Binance Coin (BNB), and more from anywhere in the world with cash. CEX Exchange — Available worldwide If you live in Europe, one of the best exchanges to buy cryptocurrencies with cash, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), and many more. BitPanda — Only available in Europe, Canada, and Mexico - Great exchange where users can trade over 750 different cryptocurrencies, including new, low market cap cryptocurrencies. Kucoin Available worldwide, INCLUDING the USA. - Exchange where users can trade over 500 different cryptocurrencies. Binance Available worldwide apart from the USA - Secure, buy and grow your crypto assets with the world's most popular hardware wallet. Ledger Wallets Buy a Ledger wallet here. You can also keep up with me on and if you need a content writer for your website, publication, project or campaign, contact me on cryptonitewrites@gmail.com. Twitter

ZK-Rollups: 3 Cryptocurrencies to Explode in 2022 & 2023?

ZK-Rollups: ¿3 criptomonedas para explotar en 2022 y 2023?

I﻿f you're a native, you will understand the unique pain of gas fees. As crypto continues to become more popular, congestion and network traffic result in higher fees and slow transaction times. DeFi Fortunately, are here to improve scalability, privacy, and other characteristics of the underlying blockchain. Their emphasis on scalability enables them to perform thousands of transactions per second. Layer 2 solutions This makes L2s the perfect tool for transforming the payments landscape, especially pertinent as the crypto world demands more robust and user-friendly off-ramp solutions for users around the world. , Ethereum's Layer 2, is one of the key networks which is well-positioned to address many of the issues facing the most active crypto degens. Let's see how - with a real-world use case of the first core banking system built entirely on Arbitrum as an example. Arbitrum Scalable, Decentralized, Fast Arbitrum has experienced a high level of growth since last year, but a surge was seen right after the airdrop of their native token ARB. How does it work? "Put simply, people and smart contracts ask Arbitrum’s blockchain to do something by placing transactions into the chain's ‘inbox’. Then Arbitrum processes it and outputs a transaction receipt. How Arbitrum processes that transaction—what determines its ‘chain state’—is decided by the transactions in its inbox," as is stated on . Decrypt The key features of Arbitrum which make it great for decentralized finance protocols are: - by processing transactions off-chain and then submitting them to the Ethereum blockchain, layer 2 solutions can significantly increase the number of transactions that the network can handle. This can lead to faster confirmation times and lower transaction fees. 1. Scalability - competitively fast, states that "Arbitrum One has recently shared its latest performance report, demonstrating how it surpasses the Ethereum network in terms of total transactions processed. According to the report, Arbitrum One protocol processed a total of 1.26 million transactions in a week, while the Ethereum network processed just 939,000.," which is impressive! 2. Speed Binance research - ﻿Arbitrum is the to achieve the second stage of decentralization. The Arbitrum Foundation announced the launch of DAO governance for the Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova networks, a massive leap forward in the decentralization of the two networks. 3. Decentralized first EVM rollup technology A real-world use case & the transformation of crypto payments , a Swiss fintech company governed by Swiss banking law, has introduced a to address these challenges. The platform, operating under a Swiss fintech license, integrates the benefits of Layer 2 rollup blockchain Arbitrum in an attempt to revolutionize the global payments landscape. Fiat24 decentralized application (DApp) Through Fiat24’s DApp (accessible via its signature NFT), customers are able to use the crypto assets stored in their MetaMask or any other non-custodial crypto wallet to buy a Starbucks coffee, making their tokens instantly available for spending anywhere that Visa® is accepted. Chief Technology Officer of Fiat24, Nico Buechel, commented: “I believe that Arbitrum has achieved great things over the past couple of years and it is very inspiring to see the growth that the team at have achieved. Arbitrum offers several benefits and there are many reasons why we chose to build on it rather than any of the other possible chains available.” Offchain Labs More Layer 2s Strive to Improve Crypto Payments Two significant examples of layer 2 solutions are the and the . Despite having their own working mechanisms and particularities, both solutions are striving to provide increased throughput to blockchain systems. Bitcoin Lightning Network Ethereum Plasma Whether﻿ they use payment channels (conducting multiple transactions off-chain and settling the final outcome on the layer 1 blockchain), sidechains (independent blockchains that are interoperable with the main blockchain), state channels (allowing parties to engage in multiple transactions and smart contract interactions without involving the main blockchain until the final settlement), or Rollups (Layer 2 constructions that bundle multiple transactions into a single transaction on the main chain),  several Layer 2 solutions are actively addressing payment issues in the cryptocurrency space. By moving most transactions off-chain or aggregating them on the main chain, layer 2 solutions provide enhanced user experiences while still leveraging the security and decentralization of the underlying layer 1 blockchain. Arguably one of the more impactful opportunities to see the cryptocurrency sector really take off, Layer 2's like Arbitrum are paving the way for mass adoption and increased usability. And, at the end of the day, that's all that we want to see - a digital asset class not just for Hodling, but also for spending. This story was distributed as a release by fiat24 under HackerNoon’s Brand As An Author Program. Learn more about the program here: https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author

How Layer 2 Scaling Is Transforming the Global Payments Landscape

Cómo la escalabilidad de la capa 2 está transformando el panorama de los pagos globales

Comment la mise à l'échelle de la couche 2 transforme le paysage mondial des paiements

कैसे लेयर 2 स्केलिंग वैश्विक भुगतान परिदृश्य को बदल रही है

レイヤ 2 スケーリングが世界の決済環境をどのように変革するか

Como o dimensionamento da camada 2 está transformando o cenário global de pagamentos

Cách mở rộng quy mô lớp 2 đang thay đổi bối cảnh thanh toán toàn cầu

Layer 2 扩展如何改变全球支付格局

How Optimistic Rollups Enhance Ethereum's Performance and Security

In my last article ' ', I elaborated that cross-domain collaboration is the fundamental layer to backbone value creation.The future of blockchain depends on how to build up the governance and business implementation framework for cross-domain collaboration, other than putting all the fortunes into the uncontrollable decentralized financial applications. And DAC, which is a cluster for cross-domain collaborations, is the key to the whole framework. Finance is not the future of blockchain, cross-domain collaboration is When we focus on the study and architecture of the DAC, the methodology for launching various DApps becomes clear. When you are going to incorporate a traditional style company, you will have to register with a government office, and a set of legal and financial policies will be issued to protect the interests of all the shareholders. A DAC should have a similar kind of governance structure for decentralized registration and for regulating the relationship among various distributed collaborators. Just as a traditional company has the KPI management, project management, and other management systems to manage the business, a DAC also should have a similar framework to manage the business implementation, or it will become a total mess when distributed collaborators just act based on their own understanding and timeline. Since the actual business operation is a complicated procedure, voting function, which most DAOs have used, is far more than enough. When the governance and business implementation framework for a DAC is well-established, you will find it pretty simple to establish a DAC and to collaborate within the DAC. Since DAC lives on the internet and blockchain, all the collaboration activities are programmable, recordable, and traceable, which provides the convenience for governance and management. A DAC is set to accomplish some business goals, so it is the same concept as a DApp, and the incentives mechanism will flow naturally as the results of collaborations. Why connect the DAC with the Optimistic Rollup? You can find the detailed introduction of the Optimistic Rollup (OR) , which is a Layer 2 scaling construction on Ethereum. here Just as the name of Optimistic Rollup, 'Optimistic' is used because aggregators publish only the bare minimum information needed with no proofs, assuming the aggregators run without committing frauds, and only providing proofs in case of fraud. 'Rollup' is used because transactions are submitted to the main chain in bundles (that is, they are rolled-up). We found it a super match to combine the OR concept with the DAC (cross-domain collaborations) governance and business implementation. First, the establishment of a collaboration relationship among distributed collaborators should be as simple as possible. Most distributed collaborators may span in different time zones and have no trust foundation from the beginning, if the collaboration relationship is hard to buildup and confirm, the collaboration will be impossible to implement, and the DAC couldn’t be established either. Inspired by the Optimistic feature of the OR, we can design an Optimistic mechanism to enroll these distributed collaborators without any threshold, simply by assuming that each collaborator is honest and will act coordinately as his promise. However, if some collaborators committed fraud, an arbitration and punishment system should be activated to protect the interests of the ‘good’ collaborators. Second, OR moves transactions off-chain onto a layer 2 sidechain, which is secured by the main chain. Since the sidechain provides the scalability, improves the privacy, and lowers the transaction cost, it gives us a clue that actually collaboration(transaction) practices (might happen anytime, anywhere, in an irregular frequency) can be placed onto the sidechain, while not the main chain. Enough lessons have been learned if you rely too much on smart contracts for on-chain management, such as the MakerDAO liquidation crisis and other hacked DeFi projects. In practice, it is reasonable to conclude that you don’t have to put all the transaction onto the chain, because the transaction details only need to be confirmed among those distributed collaborators, such as what these collaborators want to execute and what results they hope to achieve. There is no need to obtain a global consensus, which is time-consuming, costly, and without any privacy. When we place the transaction on the sidechain and leave the freedom to those distributed collaborators to discuss and determine the details, Rollup mechanism will synchronize the state of every transaction on the main chain, to act as the witness to avoid potential default risks and to initiate the incentives or punishment. For example, if both the collaborators have reached the consensus on the sidechain, the state will be upload onto the main chain, but if some collaborators didn't admit the transaction results afterward, the state of the disagreement would be compared with the previous state of the consensus. Punishment will be executed to those who default. Of course, there should be some tools on the sidechain to record the transaction details, to implement specific activities, and to do the management. How to leverage the OR mechanism? Since the OR is still under development, we can refer to the concept of OR and optimize it to work for the DAC. Let’s discuss how to leverage OR in two layers. The DAC governance layer The governance layer is specially designed for the establishment and maintenance of a collaboration relationship. Since most distributed collaborators are not familiar with each other, how to set up a simple but protectable mechanism for all these distributed collaborators would be crucial. First, we could decompose the complex collaborations among many distributed parties into multiple peer-to-peer collaborations, which is called Meta Collaboration. Meta Collaboration is the smallest unit in a DAC. Then, integrating the Staking Economy, the algorithm of Optimistic Rollup, Game Theory, Smart Contract, etc., we could define a contract to regulate Meta Collaboration, let’s call it Meta Staking Contract (MSC). MSC leverages the staking deposit as the guarantee for each Meta Collaborator to act as their promise. When both Meta Collaborators have staked deposit into the escrow account of the Meta Staking Contract, the Meta Collaboration is established. Super easy! But how does Meta Staking Contract protect the benefits for all the collaborators? In the collaboration process, by default, both Meta Collaborators are deemed to act coordinately and as their promise. So, when the Meta Collaboration is finished, the status of the staked deposits will be changed to to-be-allocated, and these deposits will be automatically returned after 2 weeks of Challenging Period. However, if any collaborator (aka "Bad Party") broke its promise, the other collaborator (Good Party) can apply for Arbitration service right away, the to-be-allocated deposits will be revoked, the Meta Staking Contract will be suspended. According to the arbitration result, the Bad Party will be punished. The revoking and Arbitration mechanism of the Meta Staking Contract enables every distributed collaborator to build up a DAC to establish and maintain a collaborative relationship with another collaborator quickly, protectively, and without any permission. With Meta Staking Contract, it is very convenient to govern the distributed collaboration and highly efficient to scale. The DAC business implementation layer Managing the business implementation of distributed collaborations is the hardest part. Referring to the OR mechanism, we can place each Meta Collaboration onto a sidechain so that Meta Collaborators can discuss, negotiate and confirm the collaboration details off the chain by themselves, which helps to reduce the pressure for the main chain. However, this is far more than enough for these collaborators to manage the detailed business implementation. A systematic framework should be provided for them to facilitate the collaborations, which includes two complementary components, Transactions Statement Contract (TSC) and Microservice Tools Pool (MTP). So, how does this framework help with collaboration management? Transactions Statement Contract will be deployed on the sidechain, and it converts the milestones information of a transaction that both Meta Collaborators agreed into a standard contract template, which includes seven factors, Context, Boundaries, Goals, Measurable Results, Input, Activities, and Output. The template enables all the Meta Collaborators to coordinate on the same page, which is very easy to record, validate, and propagate. In Meta Collaboration, all the Input and Output are data-lized, so Microservice Tools Pool should be set to provide microservice tools/APIs for implementing specific Activities to accomplish the conversion between data and value. Based on the consensus defined in the Transactions Statement Contract, microservice tools/APIs are leveraged to execute various Activities to achieve Measurable Results. The Output of the microservice tools will be recorded on Wiki, and the Wiki linkages will be recorded onto the side chain. The deliverables will be audited off the chain by the related party and uploaded on the main chain regularly. If the result complies with the requirements, the framework will call Meta Staking Contract to do the incentive allocation. If there are any disputes in the collaboration process, the framework will call Meta Staking Contract to do the governance job. Values and Use Scenarios Collaboration is the most basic layer for value creation. With the framework and practice I described in this article, you will find it very easy to build up a DAC, to govern the collaboration relationship with other collaborators, and to manage the whole business implementation. The framework is highly scalable with support from sidechain, and we could add more microservice tools, such as communication, payment, knowledge management, events, etc., to support more use scenarios. The framework will also disrupt the traditional way to launch DApps. Developers can refer to the Meta Staking Contract, the management framework, and the microservice tools pool to launch a DApp very quickly. If a developer calls the Meta Staking Contract, the management framework, and the Wiki microservice, a distributed Wikipedia or Quora style application will be created. If another developer adds the chatroom microservice, a distributed and private community application will emerge. This framework and practice will have considerable value and applications in the sharing economy, gig economy, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, social community economy, volunteers, etc. Last but not least, cross-domain collaboration is an excellent match for Optimistic Rollup. The practice I introduced above will become one of the cornerstones to support the development of Web 3.0. Contributed by Kevin Liu and Steven Guo.

When Cross-Domain Collaboration Meets Optimistic Rollup

In the past few months, the price of ETH has surged, and the usage of the Ethereum network has significantly increased. The main culprits for this trend have been the renewed interest in NFTs and the consolidation of DeFi applications, along with the outstanding growth of the cryptocurrency market. This has resulted in a number of “not so pleasant” consequences for DApp developers in the Ethereum ecosystem: (even more if you want your transaction to be validated in the next few blocks). At the time of writing, the average gas fee in the Ethereum mainnet is approximately $15. mainly, the network’s inability to accommodate the increase in usage leading to high gas costs This new scenario we are facing in the Ethereum ecosystem has shifted layer 2 improvements overnight from a “nice to have” feature to an “utmost requirement” for Dapps to be able to operate sustainably in terms of performance and cost. Fortunately, we already have several consistent layer 2 platforms and protocols to help us in this quest. One of the most promising foundational constructions to build layer 2 solutions are Many projects are built upon them, but how can we choose the layer 2 solution based on optimistic rollups that best fulfill our needs? This publication is an attempt to answer that question, making a comparison of the three promising layer 2 solutions based on optimistic rollups. Let’s jump right into it! optimistic rollups. What are rollups? And why are they optimistic? In order to be able to compare different layer 2 solutions based on rollups, we first need to make a quick detour to understand what optimistic rollups are. To secure all of these bundled transactions, and to make them individually verifiable, a cryptographic proof is generated from the bundle. Rollups are solutions that bundle (or “roll up”) sidechain or off-chain transactions into a single transaction that is then committed to L1. A requirement for rollups to work is to have some kind of with a reduced number of nodes or with additional features for high-performance, that is responsible for handling signature verification, contract execution, etc. This makes the independent blockchain able to verify the validity of the transactions that are afterwards bundled for their commitment in the main Ethereum chain. Ethereum-compatible independent blockchain, L2 rollup sidechains are responsible for verification and contract execution, while the L1 exclusively stores immutable transaction data. In Optimistic Rollups, participants are “optimistic” about the validity of the transaction being performed in the sidechain. There is no need for additional computation by aggregators to commit sidechain transactions into the main chain. And how can we be sure that sidechain transactions are actually valid? Optimistic rollups use fraud-proofs to ensure that all transactions are legitimate. This means that instead of performing a verification for every single transaction, like in other rollup solutions like , we only perform the proof computation if we have suspicions that a transaction is fraudulent. If someone notices a fraudulent transaction from an aggregator, the rollup can be challenged by sending a fraud-proof to run the transaction’s computation and verify its validity. ZK-rollups This significantly reduces the gas costs compared to ZK-rollups, and opens the door to the ability of achieving x10-x100 improvements in the transaction throughput. After an invalid block has been committed and a fraud proof is finalized, the chain in layer 2 can be rolled back and resumed from the previous non-fraudulent block. (Source: ) coinmarketcap.com Introducing the comparison contenders After this brief introduction to rollups, we have all the foundations we need to tackle our layer 2 comparison. For this comparison, I selected three of the layer 2 solutions that, in my opinion, have a more interesting set of features for DApp developers (i.e. the ones I would personally consider to deploy my own applications). All of them share (more or less) the same building blocks: an Ethereum compatible VM to run users’ Solidity contracts in L2; sequencer/aggregators responsible for batching transactions from L2 from bundles that are then committed at L1; a set of L1 smart contracts to orchestrate the interaction and commit the data from L2; the use of different fraud-proofs for peers to be able to refute invalid or forged transactions committed by aggregators; and the use of a stake to orchestrate the incentive and the economics of the L2 system. Let’s have a look at each of them in detail to get up to speed for our comparison. Despite having building blocks in common, the three solutions differ significantly in the way they implement the rollup protocol. 1. Optimism: Optimism leverages all the existing tooling in the Ethereum ecosystem, and modifies it to implement their optimistic protocol and layer 2 solution. Their L2 VM is the , which is a modification of the Ethereum VM (EVM) which replaces context-dependent EVM opcodes with new opcodes suitable for L2 contract execution. The VM behaves as a sandboxed environment which guarantees deterministic smart contract execution and state transition between L1 and L2. VM: Optimism VM (OVM) Optimism also modifies the wide-spread Ethereum client, Geth, so it can be used as a client for the L2 chain. This client modifies messages so that they are understood by other L2 clients, and it includes all the processes required for the sequencing and batching of transactions in order to build the rollup. Client: For their rollup construction, Optimism uses the Geth client as a single sequencer. In Optimism, transaction data is compressed and then sent to the Sequencer Entry point contract on L2. The sequencer is responsible for “rolling up” these transactions in a “batch” and publishing the data on Ethereum, providing data availability so that even if the sequencer disappears, a new sequencer can be launched to continue from where things were left off. Anyone can send new transactions to L1, and these transactions are added in a L1 contract that behaves as a “append-only log” for every L2 transaction. Rollup construction: For each transaction published by the sequencer, a verifier is responsible for downloading that transaction and applying it against their local state. If everything matches, they do nothing, but if there’s a mismatch, the verifier needs to submit on-chain all the valid previous transactions, and re-execute any state root published to show that the published state root was actually wrong. If the fraud verification succeeds, the wrong states and batches are pruned from L1. Verification: The sequencer of batches at every epoc need to be marked as collateralized by a smart contract called the bond manager. To become a collateralized sequencer, a fixed amount of ETH needs to be staked in the contract. Sequencers can recover this stake after 7 days of depositing, the moment from which the batches for the sequencer can be considered final, as no verification and slash is possible anymore. If fraud is successfully proven, a percentage (X%) of the proposer’s bond gets burned and the remaining (1-X)% gets This economic model prevents sequencers from going rogue, but doesn’t address the potential case where verifiers send lots of fraud proofs for a large number of different batches on an attempt to the chain (forcing a lot of L1 computations). Economic model: This stake is slashed every time fraud is detected for a sequencer. distributed proportionally to every user that provided data for the fraud proof. 2. : Arbitrium Arbitrium implements the Arbitrium Virtual Machine. The AVM is responsible for running L2 contracts and keeping their state. The state of the VM is organized as a Merkle Tree, and execution is done in the generated state transitions over this Merkle Tree. Arbitrium also implements its own custom L2 client. VM and client: Arbitrium uses a single on-chain contract to orchestrate its rollup protocol. At any point in the protocol, there is some state of the VM that is fully confirmed and final, i.e. its hash is stored on-chain. the VM is able to execute a specified number of steps of computation resulting in a specified new hash-state (with its corresponding contract execution, payments and event emission). The DA may end up being valid (i.e. the computation is successful), or invalid. If the DA is valid, the system will enter a new state, with a new state hash in the tree, and its corresponding side-effects (payments and logs) specified in the DA. If the DA is invalid, the branch is rejected and the state is unchanged. Each state can have at most one DA following from it. If a DA has no following state, then anybody can create a DA that follows it, creating a new branch point. The result will be a tree of possible futures. So we can see that while Optimism uses several L1 smart contracts to commit the state and execution at the L2, the L1 construction for Arbitrium’s rollup is based on the storage in L1 of a history of state roots that commits the state of the L2 chain. Rollup construction: New transactions in L2 trigger an update of the state of this Merkle Tree that stores every state in the chain. To validate the stored states, participants of the protocol can make what is called in Arbitrium a Disputable Assertion (DA) to attest starting from some state-hash, (source: https://medium.com/offchainlabs/how-arbitrum-rollup-works-39788e1ed73f ) Staking plays a key role in Arbitrium’s rollup. Anybody can put a stake on one of the states of the tree. B In other words, you’re asserting that you have taken the correct branch at each DA along the path from the current state to the square you’re staked on. If you are wrong, your stake will be slashed. You can move your stake to the right, choosing up or down the branch, but you can’t move to the left because that would amount to undoing a staking commitment that you made earlier; or bet on two parallel branches at the same time. The construction of the protocol ensures that eventually all independent histories (branches) will come together to a DA where disputes will eventually be resolved. Economic model: y staking on a state (squares depicted in the figure) you are asserting that that state will eventually be confirmed by the protocol. The stake of participants staking on the wrong branch is distributed between the ones that staked in the accepted branch. : Once a DA’s staking deadline has passed, and all of the timely (placed before the staking deadline) stakes that remain are on the same branch from that DA, the system can confirm the result of that DA. If the DA is confirmed as valid, its side-effects, such as payments, are effectuated on-chain. This is how the state of the VM moves forward. The protocol is completely trustless, as any participant is entitled to verify the state of the VM by staking on the branch thinks is right. Verification The DA is either accepted or rejected, and the current state moves to the appropriate square to the right of the DA. 3. Metis: Metis uses an EVM-compatible virtual machine, the Metis VM (MVM). The MVM differs significantly in terms of functionality and features to all the VMs from the projects above. In the MVM, Metis introduces the concept of Decentralized Autonomous Companies (DACs). DACs are independent entities in the system that can represent, for instance, large scale enterprises that perform many of their day-to-day operations over the platform). DACs are key for the operation of Metis. When a new DAC is instantiated in the system, VM and client: computing and storage at L2 are completely decoupled. a new storage layer is specifically created for the DAC. Thus, DACs have their own storage with a view of their chain interactions. Metis’ L2 computing layer (i.e. block mining, consensus, cross-layer communications, etc.), on the other hand, its shared by all the DACs in the network, but it includes an interesting feature: the fact that all of the computing processes are implemented as individual services (following a microservice approach) allows the computation layer to be scaled up and down according to the overall network’s needs and throughput. Furthermore, the MVM introduced the role of providers that can sign up and contribute computing power to make Layer 2 construct truly decentralized (these providers can be seen as the sequencers from the Optimism platform). The provider will be incentivized based on the blocks produced. Finally, a really powerful feature included in the MVM and the Metis client which other L2 platforms lack is support, not only for contract execution, but for decentralized storage linked to the computation of smart contracts. Thus, Metis integrates with the IPFS network through an IPFS resolver in the MVM which allows contracts to point at immutable data stored in IPFS. This can be used, for instance, to point to confidential data stored in the IPFS network. Metis architecture (source: Metis whitepaper) In Metis, the sequencing and batching of L2 transactions is not done by a single sequencer but a pool. At L1, Metis deploys a set of contracts that orchestrate the commitment of batches of L2 to L1. Rollup construction: A pool of sequencers will be randomly selected to rollup the state roots and submit the transactions to L1. Each sequencer needs to stake a number of Metis Tokens to be qualified. The fact that the Metis ecosystem has strong, real economic connections, with transaction values that can be in the billions requires the use of a Dynamic Bond Threshold (DBT) so that the risk and reward of malicious behavior is linked to the real economic value managed by the DACs involved in the transactions. The DBT is calculated using as a base the maximum economic capacity of the DAC assigned to a sequencer. The economic capacity of a DAC is computed according to its total balance. A DAC’s sequencing is blocked until an eligible sequencer is found in the sequencer pool. New deposits or withdrawals of funds from the DAC’s balance trigger automatic updates to its DBT. Consequently, new withdrawals to the DAC balance will reduce the required DBT of sequencers, and vice versa for new deposits. This ensures that the required sequencing collateral always follows the real economic value of a DAC. Economic model: Thus, if the number of staked Metis Token (MT) of a particular sequencer is below the DBT for the DAC it is assigned to, it won’t be able to batch transactions for that DAC. For verification purposes, the Metis platform introduces the concept of L2 Rangers in their MVM. L2 Rangers are members of a special DAC that are responsible for sampling a range of blocks and validate the state roots according to the transactions assigned periodically from a random DAC. Rangers not only validate sequenced transitions for other DACs, but they also do it for their own DAC (they overwatch themselves). Each completed validation from a Ranger is rewarded with some Metis Tokens (MT). A successful challenge (i.e. fraud proof) to a state of the chain awards the validator a portion of the “malicious” sequencers bond. On the other hand, a failed challenge will cause the Ranger validator to lose the bond and eventually lose access to MVM_RANGERS. Verification: This verification method where both sequencers and verifiers need to be collateralized, this addresses one of the key issues we identified in the verification process of the Optimism platform, which is the lack of stake of verifiers in the generation of fake fraud proofs. The well-oiled coordination of collateralized sequencers and verifiers (i.e. L2 Rangers) also shortens the proofing window to enhance the network efficiency. Protocols such as the one proposed by Optimism, transactions can’t be considered final until the window of verification has passed, and verifiers have had enough time to send all the proofs. This is a direct consequence of verifiers not being collateralized. Despite being an incentive for detecting invalid state updates, there is no large penalization for misbehaving as a verifier. Thus, in order to prevent potential misbehaviors, the finality window is increased to “allow everyone to speak”. In Metis this is not needed because verifiers are collateralized, and a misbehavior from their side will be translated in a loss of funds. Verifiers as well as sequencers have “skin in the game”, and this enables a reduction of the finality window, and this is the reason for Metis being able to validate transactions in hours instead of the 7 days other protocols such as Optimism need. Ready to compare! So without further ado, let’s put all of our contenders side-by-side for a last general view of the situation: As depicted in the table (and as described in our explanations from above), the three platforms are perfect fits to deploy your DApp in a performant L2 solution backed by the Ethereum mainnet as a L1. Metis is the most feature-rich platform from the three we’ve described: it supports decentralized storage by default, and includes additional performance and security schemes. The specific decision will be potentially determined by your performance, scalability, flexibility, and feature requirements. The decoupling of storage, their use of DACs, and their dynamic DBT scheme, makes it a perfect fit for corporations (large or small). Optimism is a great option for Ethereum maximalists, as it uses every tool from the Ethereum ecosystem (no need for new concepts). Finally, Arbitrium’s permissionless staking for state history verification makes it a really efficient and interesting proposal that allows faster verification times than standard rollup constructions preventing delay attacks (although still a bit slower than Metis due to the flat architecture it uses). I hope this comparison helps you make a more informed decision of the L2 to choose if you are planning to deploy a new DApp, or migrating from L1 to L2. In conclusion, there is no single right answer, but a consistent roaster of optimistic L2 platforms from which to choose. Reference; https://adlrocha.medium.com/the-optimistic-layer-2-wars-5661f378885c This article was written by Alfonso de la Rocha

Comparing 3 Promising Layer 2 Solutions Based on Optimistic Rollups

Games have touched us all in one way or another. From an all-consuming passion to a livelihood, they have been integral to human civilization for ages. Thanks to emerging tech innovations, though, games and gaming have undergone a paradigm shift in recent years. Besides being more user-centric and community-oriented, novel gaming protocols now integrate transferable in-game assets with “real” monetary value. Modeo Cheng is aiming to be a leader of this change as Lead Game Designer of . By designing Treaty, the world’s first blockchain-powered game introducing composable, in-game player agreements, he is working to disrupt the status quo and foster grassroots gaming innovation. Curio Research I spoke with Modeo about the paradigm shift happening in the industry, the potential for fully on-chain games, and creating a new era of gaming experiences. Please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into blockchain gaming and Web3. I’m a big strategy gamer who has experience playing thousands of hours of games such as Football Manager, Civ, and Hearts of Iron. Currently, I am a Computer Science student at UC Berkeley, but I have dropped out to fully focus on Curio and our game, Treaty. I have a passion for research, and in 2020, I worked on a few research projects exploring regulations on freelance platforms and the impact of open innovation on gig economies. Through this experience, I discovered how certain platforms might pose concerns for gig workers, underscoring the importance of decentralized systems. In 2021, I joined Smrti Lab as an analyst to research tokenomics and evaluate game projects, which led me to realize the potential for blockchain to disrupt gaming. Currently, at Curio, I lead the game design and have developed the vision for Treaty. What is the current state of on-chain gaming in your view? What key problems are you solving at Curio? On-chain games have completed their first cycle. In my opinion, the last generation of on-chain games, known as GameFi, has become obsolete. None of their economic models have been successful. They claim everyone can profit from playing the game. However, few users pay to consume their content, which effectively makes them Ponzi schemes that don’t work. This is disappointing, and I sympathize with those who feel that on-chain games are fraudulent. On-chain games have much greater potential than financial derivatives. Developers are taking bold steps to build fully on-chain games, where both assets and the entire game logic exist on the blockchain. This shift towards fully on-chain games unlocks composability and game autonomy far beyond what traditional studios can offer. To realize our vision, we are addressing some key challenges. We are creating a new type of game that does not exist on the market currently. Therefore, we are building many novel components from scratch. Our game design approach differs significantly from that of most studios. Rather than devising rules around an existing game template, we derive them from our envisioned game experiences and test them through tabletop simulations. Our methodology leans heavily on first principles, choosing to reinvent and innovate rather than merely enhance what existing games offer. To achieve our goals, we are working hard to solve some of the toughest technical challenges in this field. Our demo launch earlier this year showed us that the current EVM framework is very restrictive for game performance, and it is impossible to make significant improvements without modifying the architecture. To tackle that, we are developing our own custom rollup framework, , on top of the EVM. Keystone Treaty, the game you’ve built at Curio, involves a functional social layer, enabling in-game social interactions between players. Is that correct? Please tell us why this is significant. The traditional structure of grand strategy games and MMOs lacks the intricacy and depth of social networks found in real-world communities. In games like Rise of Kingdoms, relationships are predetermined by game studios. Players don’t have the capacity to organically form and govern their own social structures. A significant reason for this has been the absence of virtual assets and a meaningful system to protect those assets. In the conventional web2 model, there are no substantial incentives to guard assets that don't exist tangibly. However, the advent of smart contracts has transformed the landscape, enabling game assets and logic to exist in an immutable, decentralized ledger. This innovation calls for the construction of a social layer over the assets layer to safeguard users' stakes on-chain. Through smart contracts, our first game, Treaty, offers a robust response to this challenge. It introduces an automated stream where participants can conveniently monitor promises and enforce agreements, a virtual analog to the legal enforcement bodies in the real world that protect people's interests and rights. This structure forms the basis for more complex and authentic virtual relationships, rivaling and potentially exceeding the social network depth of real-world communities. It will redefine the virtual society, making it possible for MMOs and grand strategy games to mirror the rich and multifaceted nature of human interaction found in the physical world. What are some of the main technical requirements for migrating real-world social relations to an on-chain gaming environment? Trust-building is the most important element. It is vital for people to believe that the on-chain world they interact with is fair and trustworthy. Only then will they be willing to stake their assets and construct meaningful relationships with strangers onchain. We are working on a novel sovereign rollup framework to make it happen, and it’s gonna be much more performant than traditional blockchains, tailored to our exact use case. Another challenge is lowering the barrier to treaty creation. It is important to recognize that people are used to making agreements verbally using natural language and expecting players to write treaties in code is not ideal in the long run. Fortunately, some great LLM tools are now available to support the translation of natural languages into code. Looking ahead, players can expect to be able to make transactions or even generate smart contracts within chats in future versions. Curio is exploring alternative execution environments for on-chain gaming with Keystone. Can you explain this move briefly? Current on-chain game architectures are unable to robustly support both the social layer and the high throughput needed to make great MMO games. is our flagship on-chain game architecture and the first architecture that addresses both needs very well. Keystone The tick-based game engine and the contract execution layer interoperate with stateful precompiles, allowing games to run lightspeed while player treaties are seamlessly integrated and enforced. This is a huge step towards the end game of blockchain games. Currently, there is no EVM framework to support games that can be played smoothly. We discovered this issue during our playtest earlier this year. Therefore, is one of our major in-house projects that aims to place the game engine in the chain. Keystone With custom precompiles, smart contracts can access the underlying ECS chain state. Instead of Solidity, game logic can be written in Go and can be massively parallelized. In short, on-chain games will now be over 100 times faster than before. How do you see the future of on-chain gaming? What are your plans for this future? Any upcoming projects that you’d like to share? We are at the cusp of a new era where the nascent space of on-chain games is beginning to emerge and take form. We envision a future where games with web3 native features become a unique and groundbreaking category of their own, offering an entirely new gaming experience, unlike anything that has come before. Our plans are directed toward leading this revolution. As part of our efforts, we're currently developing our flagship game founded on the concept of 'treaties'. But we're not just creating a game, we're also building the critical infrastructure like to support it. Keystone We see our work not just as a singular product, but as a catalyst for an entirely new breed of games. Our first goal is to set a pioneering precedent that will inspire and pave the way for a wave of innovative crypto-native games. The exciting journey ahead is filled with vast possibilities, and we're looking forward to sharing more about our upcoming projects as they evolve.

Unlocking the Future of Gaming: An Interview With Modeo Cheng, Lead Game Designer of Curio Research

How to build a web app that accepts online payments? How to choose best payment provider and where to start? These are the main issues that our customers face with. Whether it is a booking app, marketplace platform or eCommerce solution, you should be able to process payments for transactions. According to latest report by , online shopping trend is constantly increasing: in 2016 shoppers bought 51% of stuff on the web, relative to 48% in 2015 and 47% in 2014. Moreover, these days mobile shopping is noted as a continuing upward trend with 44% in 2016 and 41% in 2015. In the light of above, it is essential that payment gateway integration runs without a hitch within both desktop and mobile versions. comScore and UPS At this point, how to choose the right credit card processing company? : There are 5 common factors to consider, while choosing a payment processor Security Cost (monthly/setup/minimum fees, etc.) Signup duration Payment types Customer support There are various options to choose from when it comes to accepting payments in your web app, though nowadays is among the most popular ones. Launched back in 2010, now it accepts all credit/debit cards, supports over 100 currencies and available for startup and business owners in in the United States, UK, Canada, Australia, and still gaining ground. Among the giants that use Stripe payment gateway you can find Twitter, Target, Adidas, BestBuy, Slack, HubSpot, Pinterest, Salesforce, Facebook and many others. Stripe Read also: Marketplace App: Features for Users’ Needs Top 5 Stripe advantages: — provides you with full control over every customer, payment, subscription, transfer, and others from one place Comprehensive dashboard — with two-step authentication (password + unique code from mobile device) and fine-grained permissions Stripe keeps your account impenetrable for fraudsters Safety — Stripe doesn’t have any hidden or card storage fees, fixed price: 2.9% and plus $0.30 per card change Clear policy — extensive libraries support for various programming languages and mobile platforms; versioned API updates; in-depth documentation Built for/by developers — with responsive machine-learning system Stripe analyzes each payment risk level and indicates its’ fraudulence in real time Real-time risk evaluation How to integrate Stripe payments in web app: We’ve opted for stripe payment integration within a number of in such industries, as , , Travel & Tourism, and others. There are two key prerequisites to be able to handle credit card information: your web application should be hosted on https server and you need an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate. marketplace projects Engineering & Construction Consumer Services Read also: Stripe vs Braintree: Which Is the Best Solution for Your Startup? Ready to start? — Begin with and filling in several forms, like banking details and statement descriptor. creating a Stripe account Install Node.js module for Stripe: npm install stripe --save Set your secret API key. Access Stripe Dashboard to retrive it: const stripe = require('stripe')(' your stripe API key '); Building a payment form: To make it easier and faster Stripe offers : embedded payment tool that fully takes care of creating an HTML form, validating user data, and guarding your clients’ card details. This tool sends private card information directly to Stripe, without touching a server, and then Stripe returns a token representation of the credit card to your website, where this token can be employed for charge requests. Any doubts? — Look at . Checkout stripe checkout example In the meanwhile, in those cases when you need to , you can build it using Stripe.js library and HTML. create a custom payment form Stripe payment processing tips: Testing: For test mode of your newly-created payment form Stripe offers several card numbers that simulate particular responses and errors. The most common are: Wrong card number: 4242424242424242 Declined card for fraudulent reason: 4100000000000019 Wrong CVC code: 4000000000000127 Successful charge: 4000000000000077 MasterCard accepted: 5555555555554444 Visa accepted: 4012888888881881 American Express accepted: 378282246310005 Though there are other numbers that enable testing invalid address line fails, risk levels, expired card messages, processing errors and much more. Moreover, there are test methods for Bitcoin and international credit cards, like Europe, Asia, Africa, and so on. Read also: How to Create a Two-Sided Online Marketplace Platform? Connectivity: Stripe can be connected to a bunch of third-party apps that you use, including CRM software, analytics solutions, eCommerce systems, accounting and invoicing applications, email-marketing services, and others. Furthermore, it synchronizes all the sales data automatically. Mobile app: Now to accept payments with stripe and to track them you don’t need a computer. iPhone application allows you to track all the customers, payments and transactions, set up notifications for new payments or get daily summaries. Think you know Stripe? — No, you don’t. It’s just another payment system Such statement is the main misrepresentation, since Stripe is not just a payment platform. The company offers a including, but not limited to: full set of business tools makes it easier to start an international business and lessens the importance of your physical location. This tool allows entrepreneurs to incorporate a US business, open a US bank account and begin accepting online payment. Atlas is used to build up accounts and to enable online payments for your vendors, sellers, contractors or anyone else, who sells on marketplace. This solution facilitates complex flows, like automation of transfers to sellers, tuning of payment schedules, set the route for funds, and even much more. Connect enables selling products within a growing number of mobile applications. With customizable “Buy Button” entrepreneurs can offer their goods across apps like Twitter or ShopStyle. Relay product is a smart engine that comprises best billing practices and ensures full control over the process. The system takes care of billing your subscribers monthly (weekly, daily, annually) and meanwhile does all the calculations regarding subscription changes and depts. Subscriptions Stripe cooperates with governments worldwide The company has recently a framework agreement with British Government. Moreover it accompanied Barack Obama during his visit to Cuba. And it is Stripe Atlas that was offered to local entrepreneurs, removing one of the greatest barriers to Cubans involved in global financial sector. signed up Stripe is cut from the same cloth as PayPal The majority of people believe that Stripe and PayPal are birds of a feather, though they take in different business niches. At a time when PayPal is largely focused upon consumers, Stripe is targeted at creating tools for programmers. The company lately acquired , unique platform that enables future development tools, like building a “developer OS” to facilitate writing and executing code. Runkit The Wrap-Up: Stripe is one of the most popular payment processors for ecommerce platforms. Apart from the facts that it is hassle-free for programmers, business owners and customers, it also eliminates the need for gateway and merchant account. With Stripe you can start online selling on a dime. One of the core Stripe benefits among competitors is its’ world-class documentation. is full of guides and examples that can facilitate any building experience. If you need some advice on payment integration or still doubt about which system to choose for your web app, — we’ll be glad to help you with the right choice. Stripe tutorial drop us a line

How to Integrate Stripe Payments in Web Application?

Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology by C. G. Jung, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . CHAPTER V here CHAPTER V On the Significance of Number-Dreams The symbolism of numbers which greatly engaged the imaginative philosophy of earlier centuries has again acquired a fresh interest from the analytic investigations of Freud and his school. But in the material of number-dreams we no longer discover conscious puzzles of symbolic concatenations of numbers but the unconscious roots of the symbolism of numbers. There is scarcely anything quite fundamentally new to offer in this sphere since the presentations of Freud, Adler and Stekel. It must here suffice to corroborate their experiences by recording parallel cases. I have had under observation a few cases of this kind which are worth reporting for their general interest. The first three instances are from a middle-aged married man whose conflict of the moment was an extra-conjugal love affair. The piece of the dream from which I take the symbolised number is: in front of the manager his general subscription. The manager comments on the high number of the subscription. It reads 2477. The analysis of the dream brings out a rather ungentlemanly reckoning up of the expense of the affair, which is foreign to the generous nature of the dreamer, and which the unconscious makes use of as a resistance to this affair. The preliminary interpretation is, therefore, that the number has some financial importance and origin. A rough estimate of the expenses so far leads to a number which in fact approaches 2477 francs; a more exact reckoning, however, gives 2387 francs, which could be only arbitrarily translated into 2477. I then left the numbers to the free association of the patient; it occurs to him that the figure in the dream should be divided as 24-77. Perhaps it is a telephone number; this supposition proves incorrect. The next association is that it is the total of some numbers. A reminiscence then occurs to him that he once told me that he had celebrated the 100th birthday of his mother and himself when his mother was 65 and he was 35 years old. (Their birthdays are on the same day.) In this way the patient arrived at the following series of associations:— He is born on 26 II. His mistress 28 VIII. His wife 1 III. His mother (his father is long dead) 26 II. His two children 29 IV. and 13 VII. The patient is born II. 75. His mistress VIII. 85. He is now 36 years old, his mistress 25. If this series of associations is written in the usual figures, the following addition is arrived at:— This series, which includes all the members of his family, gives the number 2477. This construction led to a deeper layer of the dream's meaning. The patient is most closely united to his family, but on the other hand very much in love. This situation provokes a severe conflict. The detailed description of the manager's appearance (which I leave out for the sake of brevity) pointed to the analyst, from whom the patient rightly fears and desires firm control and criticism of his condition of dependence and bondage. The dream which followed soon afterwards, reported in brief, runs: The analyst asks the patient what he actually does at his mistress'? to which the patient replied he plays there, and that indeed on a very high number, on 152. The analyst remarks: "You are sadly cheated." The analysis displayed again a repressed tendency to reckon up the expense of the affair. The amount spent monthly was close on 152 francs, it was from 148-158 francs. The remark that he was being cheated alludes to the point at issue in the difficulties of the patient with his mistress. She maintains that he had deflowered her; he, on the contrary, is firmly convinced that she was not a virgin, and that she had already been seduced by some one else at the time when he was seeking her favours and she was refusing him. The expression "number" leads to the associations: number of the gloves, calibre-number. From there the next step was to the fact that he recognized, at the first coitus, a noticeable width of the opening instead of the expected resistance of the hymen. To him, this is proof of the deception. The unconscious naturally makes use of this opportunity as an effective means of opposition to the relationship. 152 proves at first refractory to further analysis. The number on a subsequent occasion aroused the really not remote association, "house-number." Then came this series of associations. When the patient first knew her the lady lived at X Street No. 17, then Y Street No. 129, then Z Street No. 48. Here the patient thought that he had clearly gone far beyond 152, the total being 194. It then occurred to him that the lady had removed from No. 48 Z Street at his instigation for certain reasons; it must therefore run 194 - 48 = 146. She now lives in A Street No. 6, therefore 146 + 6 = 152. The following dream was obtained during a later part of the analysis. The patient dreamt that he had received an account from the analyst in which he was charged interest for delay in payment from the period September 3rd to 29th. The interest on the total of 315 francs was 1 franc. Under this reproach of meanness and avariciousness levelled at the analyst, the patient covered, as analysis proved, a violent unconscious envy. Diverse things in the life of the analyst can arouse the patient's envy; one fact here in particular had recently made a marked impression. His physician had received an addition to the family. The disturbed relations between the patient and his wife unfortunately does not permit such an expectation in his case. Hence his ground for envy and invidious comparisons. As before, the analysis of 315 produces a separation into 3—1—5. To three he associates—his doctor has three children, just lately there is one in addition. He himself would have five children were all living; as it is he has 3 - 1 = 2 living; for three of the children were stillborn. The symbolism of the numbers is not exhausted by these associations. The patient remarks that the period from 3rd to 29th September contains twenty-six days. His next thought is to add this and the other figures of the dream: With 342 he carries out the same operation as on 315, splitting it into 3—4—2. Whereas before it came out that his doctor had three children, and then had another, and the patient had five, now it runs: the doctor had three children, and now has four, patient has only two. He remarks on this that the second figure sounds like a rectification in contrast with the wish-fulfilment of the first. The patient, who had discovered this explanation for himself without my help, declared himself satisfied. His physician, however, was not; to him it seemed that the above disclosures did not exhaust the rich possibilities that determined the unconscious images. The patient had, for instance, added to the figure five that of the stillborn children; one was born in the 9th month and two in the 7th. He also emphasised the fact that his wife had had two miscarriages, one in the 5th week and the other in the 7th. Adding these figures together we get the determination of the number 26. It seems as if the number twenty-six were determined by the number of the lost times of pregnancy. This time (twenty-six days) denotes, in the dream, a delay for which the patient was charged one franc interest. He has, in fact, suffered a delay through the lost pregnancies, for his doctor has, during the time the patient has known him, surpassed him with one child. One franc must be one child. We have already seen the tendency of the patient to add together all his children, even the dead ones, in order to outdo his rival. The thought that his physician had outdone him by one child could easily react immediately upon the determination of 1. We will therefore follow up this tendency of the patient and carry on his play with figures, by adding to the figure 26 the two complete pregnancies of nine months each. 26 + 9 + 9 = 44 If we follow the tendency to split up the numbers we get 2 + 6 and 4 + 4, two groups of figures which have only this in common, that each group gives 8 by addition. These numbers are, as we must notice, composed entirely of the months of pregnancy given by the patient. Compare with them those groups of figures which contain the information as to the doctor's fecundity, viz. 315 and 342; it is to be noted that the resemblance lies in their sum-total giving 9 : 9 - 8 = 1. It looks as if here likewise the notion about the differentiation of 1 were carried out. As the patient remarked, 315 seems thus a wish-fulfilment, 342 on the other hand a rectification. An ingenious fancy playing round will discover the following difference between the two numbers: 3 × 1 × 5 = 15.     3 × 4 × 2 = 24.     24 - 15 = 9 Here again we come upon the important figure 9, which neatly combines the reckoning of the pregnancies and births. It is difficult to say where the borderline of play begins; necessarily so, for the unconscious product is the creation of a sportive fancy, of that psychic impulse out of which play itself arises. It is repugnant to the scientific mind to have serious dealings with this element of play, which on all sides loses itself in the vague. But it must be never forgotten that the human mind has for thousands of years amused itself with just this kind of game; it were therefore nothing wonderful if this historic past again compelled admission in dream to similar tendencies. The patient pursues in his waking life similar phantastic tendencies about figures, as is seen in the fact already mentioned of the celebration of the 100th birthday. Their presence in the dream therefore need not surprise us. In a single example of unconscious determination exact proofs are often lacking, but the sum of our experiences entitles us to rely upon the accuracy of the individual discoveries. In the investigation of free creative phantasy we are in the region, almost more than anywhere else, of broad empiricism; a high measure of discretion as to the accuracy of individual results is consequently required, but this in nowise obliges us to pass over in silence what is active and living, for fear of being execrated as unscientific. There must be no parleying with the superstition-phobia of the modern mind; for this itself is a means by which the secrets of the unconscious are kept veiled. It is of special interest to see how the problems of the patient are mirrored in the unconscious of his wife. His wife had the following dream: She dreamt, and this is the whole dream: "Luke 137." The analysis of the number gives the following. To 1 she associates: The doctor has another child. He had three. If all her children were living she would have 7; now she has only 3 - 1 = 2. But she desires 1 + 3 + 7 = 11 (a twin number, 1 and 1), which expresses her wish that her two children had been pairs of twins, for then she would have reached the same number of children as the doctor. Her mother once had twins. The hope of getting a child by her husband is very precarious; this had for a long time turned her ideas in the unconscious towards a second marriage. Other phantasies pictured her as "done with," i.e. having reached the climacteric at 44. She is now 33 years old, therefore in 11 years she will have reached her 44th year. This is an important period as her father died in his 44th year. Her phantasy of the 44th year contains the idea of the death of her father. The emphasis on the death of her father corresponds to the repressed phantasy of the death of her husband, who is the obstacle to a second marriage. At this place the material belonging to the dream "Luke 137" comes in to solve the conflict. The dreamer is, one soon discovers, in no wise well up in her Bible, she has not read it for an incredible time, she is not at all religious. It would be therefore quite purposeless to have recourse to associations here. The dreamer's ignorance of her Bible is so great that she did not even know that the citation "Luke 137" could only refer to the Gospel of St. Luke. When she turned up the New Testament she came to the Acts of the Apostles. As chapter i. has only 26 verses and not 37, she took the 7th verse, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." But if we turn to Luke i. 37, we find the Annunciation of the Virgin. Verse 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Verse 36. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. Verse 37. For with God nothing shall be impossible. The necessary continuation of the analysis of "Luke 137" demanded the looking up of Luke xiii. 7, where it says: Verse 6. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Verse 7. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? The fig-tree, which from antiquity has been a symbol of the male genital, is to be cut down on account of its unfruitfulness. This passage is in complete accord with innumerable sadistic phantasies of the dreamer, concerned with the cutting or biting off of the penis. The relation to her husband's unfruitful organ is obvious. That she withdraws her libido from her husband is clear for he is impotent as regard herself; it is equally clear that she undergoes regression to the father ("which the father hath put in his own power") and identifies herself with her mother who had twins.By thus advancing her age the dreamer places her husband in regard to herself in the position of a son or boy, of an age at which impotency is normal. Furthermore, the desire to overcome her husband is easily understood from, and amply evidenced in her earlier analysis. It is therefore only a confirmation of what has been already said, if, following up the matter of "Luke 137," we find in Luke vii. verse 12, Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. (13) And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. (14) And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. In the particular psychological situation of the dreamer, the allusion to the resurrection presents a delightful meaning as the cure of her husband's impotency. Then the whole problem would be solved. There is no need for me to point out in so many words the numerous wish-fulfilments contained in this material; they are obvious to the reader. The important combination of the symbol "Luke 137" must be conceived as cryptomnesia, since the dreamer is quite unversed in the Bible. Both Flournoy and myself have already drawn attention to the important effects of this phenomenon. So far as one can be humanly certain, the question of any manipulation of the material with intent to deceive does not come into consideration in this case. Those well posted in psychoanalysis will be able to allay any such suspicion simply from the disposition and setting of the material as a whole. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. C. G. Jung (2015). Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/48225/pg48225-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

LAYER CONSTRUCTION

layerconstruction.com

1-10 employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

LAYER CONSTRUCTION

EVERGREEN INDEX #5947

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Layer Construction WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!

LAYER CONSTRUCTION

layerconstruction.com

1-10 employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

LAYER CONSTRUCTION

EVERGREEN INDEX #5947

RELATED COMPANIESRANK

STORIES ABOUT LAYER CONSTRUCTION

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Layer Construction WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!