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Medical device

Security

Prepared statement

Since the Omnibus was passed in December 2022, medical device manufacturers have been preparing for updated premarket cybersecurity requirements.

Key Ways to Prepare For Revamped Medical Device Security Requirements

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.7Ru7Pjf-4rmebUZqz86o8g&pid=news

IT Security

Last year the company raised $55 million to advance the development of DYN101 and other nucleic-acid based drugs. — Reflexion Health’s digital therapy platform has received the OK from the FDA ...

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: MedCrypt, LunaDNA, Dynacure & More

Xconomy

Tufts University

"We are excited that MedCrypt has chosen to support our research investigating the challenges of effective threat modeling for medical devices," said Professor Votipka. "This research will identify common gaps in device threat models and support the ...

MedCrypt Funds Medical Device Usable Security Research at the School of Engineering at Tufts University

TMCnet

The School

Engineering

"We are excited that MedCrypt has chosen to support our research investigating the challenges of effective threat modeling for medical devices," said Professor Votipka. "This research will ...

Medcrypt Funds Medical Device Usable Security Research At The School Of Engineering At Tufts University

Mena FN

MedCrypt, Inc., the proactive cybersecurity solutions provider for medical device manufacturers, today announced its financing of the School of Engineering for a Tufts University fellowship program that will support research focusing on the investigation ...

The Buffalo News

MedCrypt, Inc., the proactive cybersecurity solutions provider for medical device manufacturers, today announced its financing of the School of Engineering for a Tufts University fellowship ...

FOX 40 WICZ TV

Get the most recent info and news about MedCrypt on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

MedCrypt

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your  background. My name is Mike Kijewski. I have a long history with MDs and their related software.I was previously the founder of Gamma Basics, a software company focused on building web-based technologies for use in radiation oncology. I started Gamma Basics while a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, and it was acquired by Varian Medical Systems in 2013. I then served as a Quality Analytics Portfolio Manager for Varian Medical Systems, the world's largest supplier of radiation oncology technology, prior to co-founding MedCrypt in 2016. I hold a bachelors in physics from the West Chester University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Medical Physics from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School. What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do? MedCrypt. MedCrypt helps medical device manufacturers build devices that are secure by design. Each MedCrypt product addresses a specific set of security fundamentals, enabling medical device manufacturers to proactively, easily, and reliably protect critical information at rest and in transit, monitor devices for security events, and identify and manage device vulnerabilities. In combination, these solutions enable manufacturers to not only protect critical device information and assure functional integrity, but also to holistically correlate security events with vulnerabilities and vice versa as well as identify affected versions and devices. What is the origin story? In 2014, I saw that hospitals were starting to ask questions about the patient safety impacts of a cybersecurity incident in a connected medical device. At the time, connected devices like CT scanners and drug infusion pumps were built with the assumption that the hospital’s network was secure. As this assumption fell apart, my cofounder Eric and I saw an opportunity to build tools that help companies building medical devices build cybersecurity features directly into their devices. The rest is history. Eric and I determined this was a space where sufficiently abstracting the complexity away from core cybersecurity features, in a way that understood the complicated healthcare ecosystem, would solve a real problem and address patient safety concerns. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? We’re a bunch of former medical device people who actually want to change the status quo. Instead of falling into the perspective of how people view the solution space, we think there is a fundamental shift in architecting proactive solutions that needs to occur for meaningful progress to be made against mounting security debt. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? Running a vegan bakery that I could check in on after surfing every morning. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? Our key measure of success is that the FDA has issued guidance validating our approach, that 5 of the top 10 medical device manufacturers are engaged with us, and that the industry is changing its position on how to ‘solve’ this space. What’s most exciting about your traction to date? When we started this company, we were told that this isn’t a real problem. Every day since then we have been proven correct in viewing the space and why device based security is the way forward. What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why? Most excited for the cutting edge clinical interventions that could be offered if they could operate securely. Changing how radiation treatments are delivered would be an extraordinary clinical success. I’m most worried about the application of ML and AI in this space without sufficient consideration and understanding of biases present. What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform? The community and desire to build content by those who are in the trenches on a daily basis is refreshing. What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself? Being an AP physics teacher will serve you in the long term even if you aren’t teaching in schools anymore. What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing? Even with the best intentions, every mess up can demonstrate the need to continuously check yourself and be surrounded by people you trust. MedCrypt was in Encinitas in Startups of the year hosted by HackerNoon. nominated as one of the best startups

This CEO was told medical cybersecurity wasn't a real problem and started his company anyway

Meet the Winners of Startups in North and Central America

I regularly hear people getting excited about having been awarded stock options in their companies, but not having any idea what the value of those options actually are. As a startup CEO, I wanted to write a quick guide for our current and future employees on how stock options work, and give some rules of thumb about how to assign a financial value to your options grants. [Disclaimer: I’m not an attorney, and stock option plans can have slight differences that result in huge changes of value. I’ve assumed “vanilla” stock options here, but you should read your options paperwork to understand how your situation may be different. Also, this assumes options in a venture-backed kind of company; options in publicly traded companies are a totally different beast.] Salary + Equity If you’ve ever been offered a job at a startup, you may have heard the hiring manager say something like “We can’t match a big company salary, but we’re going to give you X thousand stock options, so you have huge upside!”. Options in a startup company do a great job of aligning investor, manager, and employee incentives. They can also return life-changing sums of money for employees when things go well. However, people frequently over-value their stock options, leading to disappointment when (and if) their company is acquired, or goes public. What’s An Option? A Stock Option gives you the ability to purchase shares of a company at a pre-defined price (the “strike price”). If your option plan lets you buy shares at $0.10 per share, and the company sells for $1.00 per share, you make a profit of $0.90 per share. Nice! Mistake #1: Not Knowing Your Ownership Percentage An employee might know that they have options to buy 10,000 shares at $0.10. But privately-held companies don’t really have an advertised share price, so knowing how much your shares will be worth is tricky. Many private companies won’t tell you the total number of shares that have been issued. You have no way of assessing the value of the shares without this information. At , we have about 5.3 million shares outstanding. So an employee with options for 10,000 shares could own approximately 0.19% of the company. You need to know both the number of shares you have options to buy, as well as the total number of shares that have been issued for the company. If a company does this, assume your options are worthless. MedCrypt To find your ownership percentage, divide your number of shares by the total shares outstanding. Here is a table showing the relative ownership percentage for an employee with 10,000 options in a few different scenarios. Mistake #2: Using a VC’s Valuation Of Your Company People will hear that a Venture Capitalist (VC) has valued their company at $1B, and simply multiply their ownership percentage by $1B. This can lead to huge disappointment. When VCs invest in companies, they almost always get “preferred shares”, which come with a few extra features. One of these features is a “liquidation preference”. This means that, if the company is acquired, the preferred share holders each get their initial investment back before any other share holders get a dollar. Let’s look at someone who has options for 10,000 shares, at a company that was just acquired for $100M. They may think their options are worth $100k. If that company has raised $50M in VC funding, there is actually only $50M left after the liquidation preference to split between shareholders. Therefore, this employee’s 10,000 options are actually worth $50k. It’s even worse if that company has raised $70M. An Equation For Valuing Your Stock Options Your Money = (Your Shares / Total Shares) * (Exit Value — Money Raised) Here is a table showing the options value for an employee with 0.1% ownership in a company, with various different liquidation preferences and exit values. It’s not a coincidence that the whole bottom left corner of the chart shows $0. If a company doesn’t sell for more money than it has raised from investors, common stock is basically worthless. Other Considerations Vesting Employee options almost always have some “vesting period”. This means that you actually have to work for the company for some period of time in order to earn the options. A common vesting period is 3 years for employees. What if the company sells before your options have vested? Unless your company offers “accelerated vesting”, you’re out of luck. Exercising Your Options In order for your “options” to become “shares”, you need to “exercise” your options. That means you need to write a check. If you have 10,000 options, and the strike price is $0.10, you’ll be writing a check for $1,000 to your company to get those shares. If you decide to leave the company, you normally only have 90 days to exercise your options. That means you’ll be quitting, and writing your boss a big fat check on the way out the door. Lots of employees don’t exercise their options upon leaving the company, which means those options were essentially worth $0 to the employee. (So much for making up for a lower salary!) When Can I Sell My Shares? In a VC-style company, you could only really sell your shares if 1) the company is acquired, or 2) if the company “goes public” (aka IPOs). The probability of either of those things happening is far less than 100%. Again, if the company never sells or IPOs, your options are probably worth $0. Conclusion I’m a huge fan of employees having equity in their companies, and stock options are the most common way to do that. But don’t just assume that 10,000 options should make up for a $10k salary cut. There is a lot of information you need to know in order to value your options. If you’d like to work for a company solving a big problem, that grants equity to employees, and is transparent about how the company is run, MedCrypt is hiring! We’d love to hear from you. info@medcrypt.co

Valuing Stock Options for Startup Employees

An ENS name, for your viewing pleasure. Nothing says “I’m serious about Ethereum_”_ like your name on the blockchain If you’re like me, you might have a handful of addresses that you use quite often. Also, if you are like me, you might be a cartoon giraffe. If so, please reach out — we should hang. Ethereum Anyway, it can be tedious, boring, and error prone to copy and paste the same old style address over and over. Or, heaven forbid, you may need to manually type an address (protip: never type an ethereum address). Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pretty, human (giraffe) readable name for your Ether account? 0xaBc123… Well, that’s entirely possible with the Ethereum Name System (ENS). It works similarly to DNS — where a domain name (e.g. ) maps to an IP address (34.193.187.110). Instead, though, we give an Ethereum address a “domain name” ending in (e.g. edwardgiraffe.eth) hambutton.com .eth . The process for buying an domain is pretty simple — find an unused name, go to a registrar, click buy. Not so with ENS. In order to prevent a rush of from scooping up all the good domains, an auction format was instituted. The basics of an ENS auction goes something like this: internet domain squatters Signal your intent to buy a name buy placing a bid. Wait a few days, and reveal your bid. Finalize your bid if you win. Since this is Ethereum we’re talking about, this whole process takes place on the public . For a more technical explanation, check out this nifty visual timeline… blockchain _Still wondering how the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) bid process works? This visual timeline shows you each step of the…_medium.com A Visual Timeline of an Ethereum Name Service Bid Prerequisites Before getting started, you’ll need a bit of Ether, and an Ether wallet like a Ledger Nano, MetaMask, or MyCrypto (previously known as MyEtherWallet). I’ll be using MetaMask in this article because they have the coolest logo of all the available options. If you need help installing MetaMask, . I started out by creating a new account in MetaMask, and loading 0.08 Ether. The minimum bid for an ENS name is .01, so have at least that much, plus a bit more for gas. There will be several transactions. Strap in. check here MetaMask with a fresh account and no ETH. You will need some ETH. MyCrypto ENS Head over to MyCrypto.com and click the link in the main menu. You should see a search box. Type in a name you are interested in buying to see if it’s available. If so, great! We can continue. If not, you’ll need to go to a secondary market like We’ll assume your name is available, and continue on. ENS https://namebazaar.io/ MyEtherWallet.com ENS page Connect to your ETH wallet by selecting an option from the list — in this case, MetaMask. Click (or the equivalent button for your wallet). Connetct to MetaMask Start The Auction For the , put in the maximum amount of ETH you are willing to pay. If you’re feeling cheeky, put in a higher amount in the which will hide your actual bid. Important note — you need to actually have the amount of ETH in your wallet that you put in the bid mask. Actual Bid Amount Bid Mask, Finally, copy the presented to you, and click secret phrase Start the Auction. An important looking popup window will appear. Do what it says, and take a screenshot (just like the one below!). It also helps to copy the big block of text near the bottom of the window. Click Your wallet of choice will present you with a transaction to submit. Check to figure out an appropriate gas price, and submit the transaction. Yes, I am sure! Make transaction. https://ethgasstation.info/ Once you get the transaction ID, you can go to and look it up on the blockchain. https://etherscan.io For even more fun on etherscan.io, try typing in the ENS name in question. It will pop up some interesting stats on your auction. It will also let you know the date tha tyou need to reveal your bid. If you miss the “reveal” you will lose your ETH!!! Mark these dates on your calendar. Reveal Your Bid (3 Days Later) Three days after starting the auction, it will be time to reveal your bid. You have a 2-day window of time to do this, so make sure you are available to make this happen. Head back to the ENS section of MyCrypto.com and type in your ENS name. Click and it should tell you it’s time to reveal your bid. Check ENS Name Remember that screenshot from a few days ago? And that big blob of text with all the quotation marks and squiggly brackets? You’ll need that. If you have the long string of text, paste it into the first textbox. If all is well, then the rest of the information will fill in automagically. If not, manually enter your bid amount and secret phrase. After clicking , You will get a series of confirmation screens. Reveal your Bid Click and pay for the transaction using MetaMask (or your wallet of choice). The transaction come from the same address used to bid on the ENS name. Once finished, you’ll need to wait ANOTHER two days to finalize the auction. Yes, I am sure! Make transaction. must Finalize the Auction (2 Days Later) Once again, return to the ENS page of MyCrypto.com and type in your ENS name. The blue button should now say, . Finalize yourname.eth Click the buttons to confirm that yes, you do want to finalize, and pay your gas fees. This step must also be done by the same Ethereum account used to make the original bid and do the reveal transaction. really After the finalization transaction is complete, the ENS name is yours! Head over to etherscan.io and look it up. It should tell you that the name is taken, and the owner is YOU! Now all of your friends can send Ether and tokens to your ENS name. In the future, you may be able to do neat things like host a Swarm site at that address, or transfer it to a smart contract address that collects money for three legged giraffes. Sky’s the limit. If you enjoyed this post, please clap a bunch and follow me on ! Twitter

Visual Guide to Buying A Vanity Ethereum Addresses with ENS and MyCrypto

Chatbots have revolutionized how we interact with technology, providing instant and automated responses to our queries. The development of large language models such as OpenAI's GPT-3 has further enhanced this technology, allowing chatbots to understand and respond to natural language inputs in a human-like manner. From code generation and debugging assistance to technical knowledge and best practices, ChatGPT can significantly enhance software engineers' productivity and efficiency. Through this article, I want to delve into how ChatGPT can support the software development lifecycle and provide a glimpse into the future of human-AI collaboration in software engineering. What Can ChatGPT do for Software Engineers? I decided to ask ChatGPT directly about its possibilities. Me: How can you help in software engineering? ChatGPT: “As a language model, I can assist in various aspects of software engineering such as: Code generation and automation of repetitive tasks Providing technical information and best practices on programming languages, algorithms, design patterns, and architecture. Suggesting solutions to coding problems and debugging issues. Generating explanations and summaries of complex technical concepts. Note: I'm an AI language model and while I can provide information and suggest solutions, I can't actually implement or execute any code.” Let’s try each bullet point out to see if ChatGPT can help us in software engineering. Code Generation and Automation of Repetitive Tasks Code generation and automation of repetitive tasks are critical aspects of software development that aim to streamline the development process and reduce the time and effort required for coding repetitive parts of a software project. Whether creating CRUD operations or generating HTML templates, ChatGPT can help reduce development time and improve overall efficiency, freeing developers to focus on other essential aspects of the project. I asked ChatGPT to generate CRUD operations for a table in MySQL using Golang and library. sqlx Me: I have a MySQL table: create table users
(
    id   varchar(36) PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
    email varchar(50),
    password varchar(255),
    created_at timestamp default CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
    updated_at timestamp default CURRENT_TIMESTAMP on update CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
); Write the Golang code that implements CRUD operations over the table using sqlx . Each method should be implemented as a separate function that accepts ctx context.Context and User structure or ID. ChatGPT: package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"

	"github.com/jmoiron/sqlx"
	_ "github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
)

type User struct {
	ID        string `db:"id"`
	Email     string `db:"email"`
	Password  string `db:"password"`
	CreatedAt string `db:"created_at"`
	UpdatedAt string `db:"updated_at"`
}

func connectToDb() (*sqlx.DB, error) {
	db, err := sqlx.Open("mysql", "user:password@tcp(localhost:3306)/dbname")
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return db, nil
}

func createUser(ctx context.Context, user User) error {
	db, err := connectToDb()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer db.Close()

	_, err = db.ExecContext(ctx, "INSERT INTO users (id, email, password) VALUES (?, ?, ?)", user.ID, user.Email, user.Password)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return nil
}

func readUser(ctx context.Context, id string) (User, error) {
	var user User

	db, err := connectToDb()
	if err != nil {
		return user, err
	}
	defer db.Close()

	err = db.GetContext(ctx, &user, "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id=?", id)
	if err != nil {
		return user, err
	}
	return user, nil
}

func updateUser(ctx context.Context, user User) error {
	db, err := connectToDb()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer db.Close()

	_, err = db.ExecContext(ctx, "UPDATE users SET email=?, password=?, updated_at=CURRENT_TIMESTAMP WHERE id=?", user.Email, user.Password, user.ID)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return nil
}

func deleteUser(ctx context.Context, id string) error {
	db, err := connectToDb()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer db.Close()

	_, err = db.ExecContext(ctx, "DELETE FROM users WHERE id=?", id)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return nil
} The code is not designed perfectly. For example, we shouldn't reconnect to the database with each query due to the overhead. Also, errors should be wrapped in fmt.Errorf() However, ChatGPT wrote the entire boilerplate code that we can make a few modifications to. Therefore, ChatGPT passed this part of the examination, and we can go to the next bullet point. Providing Technical Information ChatGPT claimed it could provide technical information and best practices on programming languages, algorithms, design patterns, and architecture. So I asked it to advise me on an approach to solving a problem. Me: I have a TypeScript app. There is a task to implement different payment methods in the app. How should I implement it? ChatGPT: One way to implement different payment methods in your TypeScript app is to use the Strategy design pattern. Here's how you can do it: Create an interface that defines the payment method: phpCopy codeinterface PaymentMethod {
  processPayment(amount: number): void;
} Create classes for each payment method that implement the interface: typescriptCopy codeclass CreditCard implements PaymentMethod {
  processPayment(amount: number): void {
    console.log(`Paying ${amount} using credit card.`);
  }
}

class PayPal implements PaymentMethod {
  processPayment(amount: number): void {
    console.log(`Paying ${amount} using PayPal.`);
  }
} Create a class that uses the payment method interface: typescriptCopy codeclass Order {
  private paymentMethod: PaymentMethod;

  setPaymentMethod(paymentMethod: PaymentMethod) {
    this.paymentMethod = paymentMethod;
  }

  processOrder(amount: number) {
    this.paymentMethod.processPayment(amount);
  }
} Use the payment method in your app: scssCopy codeconst order = new Order();
order.setPaymentMethod(new CreditCard());
order.processOrder(100);

order.setPaymentMethod(new PayPal());
order.processOrder(100); In this example, the Order class can process payments using different payment methods. The payment method can be changed dynamically at runtime by calling the setPaymentMethod method. The client code doesn't need to know the specifics of how payments are processed, it only needs to know that it can use the processOrder method to process payments. I prefer to use the Factory pattern here instead of the Strategy pattern because, in that case, we also abstract the logic of building a specific payment method. I asked ChatGPT if it had another idea about a design pattern that could fit here. Me: Is there another pattern that can fit here? ChatGPT: Yes, another pattern that could fit here is the Factory pattern. The Factory pattern allows you to create objects without specifying the exact class of the object that will be created. You can use the Factory pattern to create different payment methods based on a specific type or configuration. Here's an example: … This time it showed me what I expected to see. Indeed, both design patterns are applicable here, and choosing one will depend on your project and needs. But the undoubtful thing is ChatGPT could suggest different good design patterns for a problem. We've checked the design patterns. Next, let's review how ChatGPT can handle issues in a code. Suggesting Solutions to Coding Problems Software engineers solve coding problems daily. However, code debugging is the most time-consuming process, and using an AI helper would be a good performance boost. I faced an issue and asked ChatGPT how to fix that. I have a function that encrypts text with the AES256 algorithm. The problem is that an encrypted string contains invalid UTF-8 characters. How can I fix it? Me: func (c *Cipher) Encrypt(plainText []byte) []byte {
	plainText = pkcs7Padding(plainText, aes.BlockSize)

	cipherText := make([]byte, aes.BlockSize+len(plainText))
	copy(cipherText[:aes.BlockSize], c.iv)

	mode := cipher.NewCBCEncrypter(c.block, c.iv)
	mode.CryptBlocks(cipherText[aes.BlockSize:], plainText)

	return cipherText
} The issue of invalid UTF-8 characters can be resolved by encoding the encrypted text as a base64 string before returning it. This will ensure that the resulting string only contains characters from the ASCII range, which are valid UTF-8 characters. ChatGPT: To encode the encrypted text as a base64 string, you can use the function in Go: base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString func (c *Cipher) Encrypt(plainText []byte) string {
	plainText = pkcs7Padding(plainText, aes.BlockSize)

	cipherText := make([]byte, aes.BlockSize+len(plainText))
	copy(cipherText[:aes.BlockSize], c.iv)

	mode := cipher.NewCBCEncrypter(c.block, c.iv)
	mode.CryptBlocks(cipherText[aes.BlockSize:], plainText)

	return base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(cipherText)
} Base64 is a way to represent binary data as a string of characters. Of course, there are other ways to do that, for instance, Hex encoding, but in our case, base64 has advantages over them: Compactness: it uses a smaller number of characters to represent the same amount of data compared to hex encoding. This can be useful in situations where the encoded data size needs to be kept to a minimum. Readability: it uses a more compact character set (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /) that is easier to read and less prone to mistakes than hex encoding. Ease of use: it’s built into many programming languages and is widely used for encoding binary data in internet protocols such as email, HTTP, and XML. As a result, libraries and functions are often available to encode and decode base64 data efficiently. Therefore, for me, ChatGPT’s answer is reasonable. Next, let’s ask about some complex technical concepts. Generating Explanations of Complex Technical Concepts This is a fascinating feature for curious engineers. You can explore the technology world in-depth with ChatGPT. And the learning path will look like a dialog with a teacher. I asked ChatGPT about one of the consensus algorithms with one follow-up question. Let’s take a look. Explain the RAFT consensus algorithm for a 10-year-old kid? Me: RAFT is a way for computers to agree on something together. Imagine you have a group of friends and you want to decide on what to do for the day. ChatGPT: In RAFT, each friend is like a computer and you choose one friend to be the leader. The leader makes a suggestion, like "let's go to the park". Then, all the other friends vote on whether they agree with the leader's suggestion. If most of them agree, then the group decides to go to the park. But if not enough friends agree, the leader tries another suggestion. This way, all the friends work together to make a decision, and everyone is happy with what they are doing. That's what RAFT does, but with computers instead of friends. How do the computers elect a leader? Me: In RAFT, the computers elect a leader by holding an election. Each computer gets a chance to run for leader by sending out a message to all the other computers saying, "I want to be the leader." ChatGPT: Then, all the computers count the votes, and the computer with the most votes becomes the leader. If there is a tie, then the computers will have another election to break the tie. The important thing is that only one computer can be the leader at a time, and if the leader computer stops working, the other computers will hold another election to choose a new leader. This way, the group always has a leader and can continue making decisions together. I could keep asking follow-up questions about leader election algorithm internals, and I would always have an answer. The example shows how we can start exploring new things from high-level basics and dive into the depths as far as we need. Conclusion I’ve been using ChatGPT in my daily routine for weeks. This tool is worth considering for software engineers of any grade. It helped me with a wide range of problems, from code debugging to designing complex system architecture. Therefore, ChatGPT is a valuable asset to software engineers in various aspects of their work. The integration of ChatGPT into the software development process can result in faster and more efficient development cycles, improved code quality, and a better overall software engineering experience. References ChatGPT ( ) https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/

ChatGPT in Software Engineering: A Glimpse Into the Future

Do you want to launch your online store project using the Magento CMS? Discover our complete tutorial on installing and configuring Magento on a server. There are currently many online stores in CMS format, so it is difficult to make a complete list. However, some stand out; they reap the favours of professionals and amateurs. This is, for example, the case of Magento, which has succeeded in establishing itself as one of the major solutions in terms of e-commerce. Its possibilities, ergonomics, its modernity and the activity of its community make it one of the best online stores. To help you embark on the adventure of e-commerce and have your web store, we have produced a tutorial allowing you to install Magento easily. Let yourself be guided through the installation steps of your eBoutique and take advantage of its limitless possibilities: Prerequisites to install Magento Installation of Magento file on your server Installation of Magento and configuration of your e-store Access to Magento admin panel Create and configure your Magento store effortlessly. Many Magento developers specialize in creating, configuring and customizing Magento sites. To create your Magento store with all the features necessary for your business effortlessly, entrust its realization to an expert Magento professional. Post your project on Codeur.com and receive dozens of free quotes in minutes. 1. The prerequisites for installing Magento Before embarking on the actual installation, you must have specific tools and resources in your possession. Download Magento Setup Files Indeed, how to install and use the store without having the system files at our disposal. You will therefore need to download this set of files beforehand. This is extremely simple since the Magento development team puts the files online (free of charge and available to the community) on its portal. Go to this link to download Magento, select the correct version and create an account to download it. Choose a server compatible with Magento. The server will be the space to deposit the files relating to the operation of Magento. In our case, it is recommended to use an Apache server. You can get one (usually rented) from many service providers such as OVH, Godaddy, etc. Whichever solution you choose, the following components must be installed in your web space: Linux, Windows, or another UNIX-compatible operating system Apache Web Server ( 1. x or 2. x) PHP 5.2 .0 or higher, with the following extensions/addons: PDO/MySQL, MySQLi, mcrypt, mhash, simplexml, DOM, curl, gd, soap MySQL 4.1 .20 or higher A compatible email server (MTA): Magento connects directly to an SMTP server if you don 't have an MTA server Find a domain name The domain name is the address of your e-commerce site (also called URL), for example, yoursuperbeboutique.com. It is possible to buy your domain name directly from your host's site. Remember to follow a few simple rules when choosing your domain name: It should be easy to remember It should be easy to type (avoid using numbers in the URL or too many dashes) Try adding a keyword for your activity Use an FTP client to install Magento on a server. To connect to this server, you will also have to use " FTP " software (for File Transfer Protocol). This will allow you to upload files from your computer to your server. We recommend using firefox's little brother, FileZilla. Its use is simple and very well documented. Here are other free FTPs available: - Cyberduck.io - Winscp.net - Coreftp.com - Bitvise.com 2. Installation of the Magento file on your server Once these files have been downloaded, you can transfer the contents of the Magento archive to your server (via your FTP software). Start by unzipping the zip file. Then open FileZilla and connect to your web server by entering: The host, The identifier, The password, The port. These FTP identifiers are sent by email after subscribing to a hosting. Click on "Quick connect". Once connected, you find on your left your files present on your computer, while on your right, you find your files present on your server. Using the right navigation tree, double-click on the file www. On the left, position yourself on your Magento folder, double-click to open it and select the contents of the unzipped folder. Right-click to click "Send". Once the deposit is made, the installation of Magento opens its doors to us. 3. Installation of Magento and configuration of your e-store Go to your site's address, for example, www.maboutique.com, to begin the installation. Magento first suggests that you familiarize yourself with the license under which the store is distributed. We strongly advise you to know your rights and responsibilities when using the Magento system. Click on "Agree and Setup Magento". Magento then offers you to check your environment to find out if it is compatible. Click on "Start Readiness Check". In case of errors, use the Magento notes to solve them, then click on "Try Again". Otherwise, click "Next". Here you will specify the connection parameters to your database. Your host or network administrator systematically provides this information. : indicate the server on which your database is installed. Usually, this field is "localhost"; however, your host may have changed this setting. So refer to the information he gave you. Database Server Host : This information will allow you to select the correct database (if several are present on the server) to connect to it. Database name, Database Server Username and Password : allows you to choose a prefix for your tables; it's optional but allows you to distinguish between your Magento installation and your other tables. Table prefix Ask your host or network administrator for help if you don't know this information. Then click "Next". You must now configure the different addresses of your site. : indicates the root of your store (homepage); by default, Magento creates it. Leave the one indicated. Store Address : access path to your back shop (ex: www.votre-boutique.com/admin); for security reasons, we advise you to personalize this name. Admin Address : we advise you to check "Use HTTPS for Magento Storefront". This allows your store to secure certain pages (payment, customer account, etc.). Advanced options : it is a system used by Magento to protect connections and transactions. You can enter a personal key here or leave it blank and let Magento auto-generate this key. Encryption Key We then advise you to leave the default values unless you have specific restrictions. Click "Next". The next step allows you to customize the time zone, the currency used, and the default language. Note that you can change this data again once Magento is installed. Click "Next". You will now create your Magento account. Define here what will be your login (username) on the site; it will allow you, among other things, to access the administration panel. Then choose a password for this account (remember the password security rules, mix numbers and letters, lowercase and uppercase). Then click "Next". You will finally be able to launch the installation of Magento! To do this, click on "Install Now". 4. Access to Magento admin panel Once the installation is complete, Magento takes the opportunity to remind you of the information you have provided and provides you with links to your store (frontend) and your back store (backend). Magento also reminds you of the chosen (or generated) key so that you can keep it in a safe place. We advise you to write down all of this information. Your e-shop is now operational. Click on "Launch Magento Admin" to connect to your site's administration panel and, therefore, to your back office. You then arrive on the "Dashboard" of your site (also called the administration panel). It is where you can manage your entire Magento store and where the everyday management actions of your site will take place. As you can see, Magento is in English. To switch your site to French, go to your menu at the top right and click "Account Setting". You can then change the language of your interface in the "Local interface" field. Don't forget to click on "Save Account" to save your changes. You can see what your online store looks like at any time by clicking on "Customer View" from your menu. Since you have just installed Magento, your site design and information will be fundamental. The installation of your Magento eStore is now complete.

How to Easily Install Magento on Your Server

Although Ethereum has firmly established itself as the leading blockchain platform capable of running smart contracts, it isn’t without its defects. It has solved some of its problems, such as enormous energy consumption by switching to a proof-of-stake consensus protocol. However, scaling issues continue to exist. Ethereum has a low transaction throughput (approximately 15 transactions per second), slow transaction finality (around 1 minute), and at times high gas fees when the network is under strain. Avalanche is an independent blockchain platform designed to overcome some of the barriers to scalability mentioned above. In this article, we will explore what Avalanche is and its benefits compared to other blockchain platforms. We will also create an ERC-20 smart contract on Avalanche from scratch using Infura. What Is Avalanche? According to its website, Avalanche is the fastest smart contracts platform in the blockchain industry, as measured by time-to-finality. Unlike Ethereum or Bitcoin, Avalanche consists of several chains, each performing a specific task. The Avalanche network's three most important chains are the C-Chain, the X-Chain, and the P-Chain. The C-Chain is an EVM-compatible blockchain capable of running smart contracts. The X-Chain is responsible for token transactions. And finally, the P-Chain maintains consensus among subnets, arguably the most critical component of Avalanche. Through , Avalanche allows anyone to spin up their own instance of a blockchain within the ecosystem. Additionally, users can customize these blockchains to suit their own needs. These custom blockchains can use different consensus protocols (proof-of-work or proof-of-stake) and offer over 4,500 transactions per second without putting any additional strain on the rest of the network. Each one is a sovereign network that defines its own rules. subnets Subnets are one of the most unique features Avalanche offers. Not only can anyone build their own custom blockchain network as a subnet, each one is completely interoperable with the rest of the Avalanche network. This makes subnets a powerful tool for creating custom solutions, while still being part of a broader network. Benefits of Using Avalanche Through the usage of subnets and novel consensus protocols, Avalanche can provide the following benefits: Since there is no upper cap on the number of subnets that can be created, and subnets operate fairly independently, Avalanche can offer extraordinarily high tps rates. Theoretically Infinite Transactions Per Second Avalanche has the lowest time-to-finality in the industry, with transaction confirmation in under two seconds. Low Transaction Finality Avalanche uses proof-of-stake to secure its network, which makes it extremely energy efficient. It also allows validators without access to high-end GPUs to participate. Energy Efficient Over thousands of validators secure Avalanche. And unlike Ethereum or Bitcoin, a small number of pools do not control the vast majority of the network. Extremely Decentralized Creating an ERC-20 Token with Avalanche As mentioned earlier, the Avalanche C-Chain is entirely EVM-compatible. This means it's simple to port projects from Ethereum and other EVM-based chains onto Avalanche. It also means that the mature tools for Ethereum development like devnet, Truffle, and top API suite, Infura work natively to develop on Avalanche. In this section of the article, we will create an ERC-20 contract that implements a cryptocurrency on Avalanche. We will do so using Solidity, Infura, Truffle, and the Truffle Dashboard. Step 1: Install the MetaMask Extension Install the for your browser in case you haven’t already, and follow the instructions put forward by Metamask to create your wallet. MetaMask extension Step 2: Add Avalanche and Fuji Testnet to MetaMask By default, MetaMask comes configured with only the Ethereum mainnet and Goerli testnet. In order to add the Avalanche C-Chain, and the Fuji testnet, follow the instructions in . this document Step 3: Get AVAX from a Faucet Head over to the on the Avalanche website and request a free test AVAX for your wallet. If all goes well, you should see 2 AVAX in your MetaMask wallet. Fuji faucet page Step 4: Get Infura Avalanche / Fuji URL Before we start building the project, let’s get the endpoint we will use. Go to infura.io and either sign up for an account or login, then perform the following: Click on the button and create a new Web3 API project. Create New Key Navigate to the tab and scroll down to . Endpoints Avalanche C-Chain Switch the endpoint from to . MAINNET FUJI Copy the endpoint for future use in this project. Step 5: Install NPM and Node We will build our project using node and npm. In case you don't have these installed on your local machine, you can do so . here To ensure everything is working correctly, run the following command: $ node -v If all goes well, you should see a version number for node. Step 6: Create a Node Project and Install Dependencies Let's set up an empty project repository by running the following commands: $ mkdir my-crypto && cd my-crypto
$ npm init -y We will be using Truffle, a world-class development environment and testing framework for EVM smart contracts, to build and deploy our smart contract. Install Truffle by running: $ npm install -g truffle We can now create a barebones Truffle project by running the following command: $ npx truffle init To check if everything works properly, run: $ npx truffle test We now have Truffle successfully configured. Let us next install the OpenZeppelin contracts package. This package will give us access to ERC-20 implementations (the standard for fungible tokens and cryptocurrencies), on top of which we will build our contract. $ npm install @openzeppelin/contracts Finally, let us install the package that will allow Infura to sign transactions on our behalf using addresses derived from a 12- or 24-word mnemonic. We will use the mnemonic from our MetaMask wallet in step 1 for this purpose. hdwallet-provider $ npm install @truffle/hdwallet-provider Step 7: Writing the ERC-20 Smart Contract Open the repository in your favorite code editor (e.g. VS Code). In the folder, create a new file called . contracts MyCrypto.sol We are going to write a very simple ERC-20 contract that creates a token with an uncapped supply. We will also mint 100 tokens in our wallet. Add the following code to the file: // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.4;

import "@openzeppelin/contracts/token/ERC20/ERC20.sol";

contract MyCrypto is ERC20 {

 constructor() ERC20("My Custom Token", "MCT") {
 _mint(msg.sender, 100 * 10 ** ERC20.decimals());
 }
} Step 8: Deploy the Smart Contract to Ganache & Fuji In order to deploy the contract to the Fuji testnet, we will require an RPC endpoint. Fortunately, Infura offers access to free, blazing-fast Avalanche C-Chain endpoints. Here’s where the endpoint URL we obtained in Step 4 will come in. Next, in the file, replace the contents of the file with the following: truffle-config.js const HDWalletProvider = require('@truffle/hdwallet-provider');
const INFURA_API_KEY = "<-- Fuji Infura API Key -->";
const MNEMONIC = "<-- MetaMask Wallet Mnemonic or Private Key -->";

module.exports = {
 networks: {
 development: {
 host: "127.0.0.1",
 port: 8545,
 network_id: "*"
 },
 fuji: {
 provider: () => new HDWalletProvider(MNEMONIC, INFURA_API_KEY),
 network_id: '43113',
 gas: 4465030
 }
 },
 compilers: {
 solc: {
 version: "0.8.13",
 }
 }
}; Replace the placeholders in lines 2 and 3 with your Infura Fuji API key and MetaMask wallet's mnemonic respectively. (The latter is the string of 12 words given to you when you first set up your wallet.) Take care to never share this key or mnemonic publicly. Alternatively, you can use your wallet’s private key instead of the mnemonic. This is found in your MetaMask wallet’s tab when you click on . Account Details Export private key Let us ensure that the contract is compiled correctly by running: npx truffle compile If there are no errors, we are clear to deploy the contract. With our smart contract in place, we can now write a simple deployment script. In the directory, create a file called and add the following code: migrations 1_deploy_contract.js const myCryptoContract = artifacts.require("MyCrypto");

module.exports = function(deployer) {
 deployer.deploy(myCryptoContract);
}; Now, before we deploy to the Fuji network, we should ensure it will deploy without any problems. We can do this by first deploying our contract to a local Ganache blockchain instance. To get Ganache running, open up a new terminal and type the following command: ganache Now we can test deployment to Ganache by typing: npx truffle migrate --network development That should produce output in our console similar to this one: Now that we know our contract will deploy successfully, we are all set to deploy our contract to Fuji. From the terminal, run the following command: npx truffle migrate --network fuji If all goes well, your terminal will display the transaction hash and the address of the deployed contract on the Fuji network. Head over to and search for your contract address to view your contract. https://testnet.snowtrace.io/ Step 9: Add Your Token to MetaMask Now that our token exists on a real blockchain, we can add it to our MetaMask wallet. Switch the network on MetaMask to Fuji, and choose on the Assets tab. Here, you can import a custom token by entering the contract address of your token, the name, and the symbol. Import Token If all goes well, you should be able to see your token and a balance of 100 under the tab. Assets Conclusion In an extremely short amount of time, Avalanche has emerged as one of the most formidable alternatives to Ethereum and its ecosystem. Its network of subnets promises faster transactions and low costs at the same time. As evidenced by the token we created in this article, Avalanche uses the same tools Ethereum uses. Therefore, if you are an Ethereum developer, you are also an Avalanche developer by default. To start building on Avalanche using Infura, . check out the documentation here Have a really great day!

How To Deploy An ERC-20 Smart Contract On Avalanche with Infura

All through this smaller-than-expected series, we'll make our own personal Instagram duplicate, called Instapics. This little application allows you to post, as, and remark on photographs, as well as follow different clients. Considering that, how about we make a plunge! Stage 1: Download Laravel and Other Project Files Before we start, we should initially guarantee that we have a framework that can uphold Laravel. As indicated by the documentation, Laravel requires the accompanying: - Laravel utilizes a ton of PHP 5.3-explicit elements, similar to terminations, late-static restricting, and namespaces. PHP 5.3.x - is empowered of course in PHP 5.3, however, on Windows frameworks, you could have to add the augmentation in your PHP.ini design record. The FileInfo library - this is utilized by Laravel for encryption and hash age, and ordinarily comes pre-introduced with PHP. Mcrypt library Whenever we're finished setting up the climate, we should download Laravel and every one of the libraries we'll use for Instapics. Download the accompanying documents and spot them inside a web-open envelope: - (Currently v3.2.1) Laravel - (Currently v2.0.4) Twitter Bootstrap - (Currently v1.7.2) jQuery Inside Laravel's root envelope, you'll track down a public organizer - this is where all freely open records ought to be put away. Laravel v3.2.1 has some premade organizers inside the public envelope for our resources, CSS, img, and js organizers. Place the Twitter Bootstrap and jQuery documents in their comparing envelopes. Stage 2: Setup Laravel's Encryption Key, Pretty URLs, and Virtual Host Before we compose any code, we want to set an encryption key for Laravel to use for our application. Laravel utilizes this to encode any information we could require encryption for, like treats. Open the application/config/application.php record and track down the key setting. Inside, the default worth will be YourSecretKeyGoesHere!. Then, open up a Terminal/Command Prompt, peruse Laravel's root catalog, and use Artisan to create a key: PHP craftsman key: create This ought to naturally produce an irregular 32-character encryption key for . Assuming that you did this accurately, it ought to now seem to be the accompanying: Laravel To recover your key, simply rehash the means! Then, we want to change the arrangement so it can acknowledge pretty URLs and work even without guiding our solicitations toward index.php. In the application/config/application.php record, search for the accompanying: Assuming you're utilizing this, you want to guarantee that you have mod_rewrite empowered on your web server (if you're on Apache). Finally, we'll have to set up a virtual host for Laravel. This isn't required for an improvement climate, at the same time, for creation, we mustn't permit admittance to the Laravel library and application documents. As referenced above, in the Laravel documents you ought to see an organizer, called public, which is where all freely open records ought to go Designing a virtual host relies upon which web server you're utilizing. Here is a model for the Apache Web Server: We ought to likewise add the area, instapics.com, to our host's records (since this space doesn't exist). In Windows, alter the document C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts; in Linux/OSX, you normally alter/and so on/has. Add this line to the document: 127.0.0.1 instapics.com This will illuminate our machine that the space instapics.com will set out to 127.0.0.1, which is the neighborhood PC. Stage 3: Setup Routing In Laravel, all solicitations to the application are planned to explicit capacities or regulators by Routes. They are answerable for training the application where URLs go. For instance, assuming we needed http://instapics.com/home to deliver the home view record, we can make the accompanying course inside routes.php, tracked down inside the application envelope: On the other hand, if we rather need to course http://instapics.com/home to a Controller, say, the home.php regulator, we could follow through with something like this: Route::controller('home'); This would course to the home.php regulator document. Any activity strategy there will be made accessible also. Something imperative to note here is that as a matter of course, Laravel doesn't course to the regulators as other PHP structures do. This is by the plan. Thusly, we can make basic pages without the need to make a regulator for them. For instance, to make a static Contact Us page that rundowns down contact data, we can just follow through with something like this: Route::any('contact-us', work() { return View::make('home.contact-us'); }) This will course http://instapics.com/get in touch with us and render the application/sees/home/contact-us.php record. Since we have no powerful handling on this page, we can just naturally deliver the view record, saving us an opportunity to make and design a regulator to do such. There is quite a lot more that we can do with Routes in Laravel that it can remain all alone as its instructional exercise. Stuff like: - Laravel empowers us to take courses, in light of the HTTP action word that was utilized in the solicitation. For instance, we can have a GET solicitation to the/home course head off to some place not the same as where the POST solicitation would go. HTTP Verbs - this allows us to the highway a URL with special case esteem joined to it (for example /client/(: num) where (: num) is the client's ID) Trump cards - these let us run some usefulness previously or after a course is executed, contingent upon the course that was called. For instance, we can make an auth channel that will be called before all courses, except the home, and about courses. In CodeIgniter, these are like Hooks, however a lot more straightforward to carry out, because the channels depend on the courses - so we can execute them for all solicitations or simply some. Channels For this web application, however, we just need two or three courses. Initial, a course that maps all solicitations to regulators naturally. Open up the routes.php document, and remark out the default course to the Home regulator: Beneath this piece of code, add the accompanying line: Route::controller(Controller::detect()); This line will plan every one of our solicitations to every one of the regulators. There is no such thing as if the regulator or activities, the framework will return a 404 reaction. Presently, we make a course for http://instapics.com/about. We can simply make an about regulator, yet that would be a loss since we can just put that inside the Home regulator. Add the accompanying line after the course we recently made: Route::controller(Controller::detect()); Route::get('about', 'home@about'); This course will guide all solicitations to http://instapics.com/going to the Home regulator, and the About activity. Stage 3. Make your First Laravel Controller Regulators in Laravel are tracked down inside the application/regulators organizer. Of course, the Home regulator will acknowledge demands shipped off the base of the Laravel application. For instance, going to http://instapics.com/will go to the Home->action_index() technique. To make a regulator, essentially make a document inside the application/regulators envelope. By show, we'll need to name the record something illustrative that will likewise be the name of the regulator class. Until further notice, we should make another regulator for our login system, called "Login": Then, open your program and visit http://instapics.com/login. From here, you ought to see the "test" troubleshooting message that we put. Since, in the routes.php document, we set it to empower courses to every one of the regulators, this ought to work with next to no extra arrangement. Whenever you've affirmed that it's working, simply eliminate the troubleshooting message. We'll get back to this regulator in a future article. For the present, salute yourself; you've quite recently made your most memorable Laravel regulator!

Step by Step Guide to Build the Laravel Web App

Beware of the infamous Airdrop Scams or anything requesting your Private Key. Learn how to avoid getting scammed from a real-life scenario. The crypto world as new and exciting as it is also has a dark side that needs to be discussed more often. Unfortunately, there are scammers that prey on a massive group of people via many deceptive practices. In my case, I fell victim to an airdrop scam link promising to offer coins based on setting an account with them. The website was very professionally created and I only did a brief google search on it before I foolishly provided my PRIVATE KEY. Yes, it is labeled “private key” for a reason, so please keep that private. Anyways, the next day, the scammer took all my NFT’s worth over 25 ETH and started to sell them on the open market. They created stories to members on the MCP Discord channel that I have died and claimed to be my family member trying to sell off the NFT to pay for the funeral expense. How low is that… Let’s say I was devastated, I watched as they vultured away my NFT’s at fire-sale prices to community members of the game. I was offered to purchase the NFT’s back at the fire-sale prices from community members that found out after realizing they purchased such great deals, but that would mean that the scammer won. I could not allow that gratification. The community and the developers were trying to see what they could do for me, as these scenarios are uncommon and having a solution is not easy. After a year, finally, I was able to see a positive light. The game developers of MCP provided me with a solution that would make me happy, however, it was not going to be on Megacryptopolis. This marks a major milestone for Decentralized App’s that take care of their own community members and truly restored my trust in the game. My itch to be part of the MCP community was still there, however, it tortured me as I stood watching cool updates upon updates of gameplay. Then, on Christmas of 2021, a kind samaritan that goes by the name from the MCP community offered to give back my stolen Level 7 Residential building to me as a surprise Christmas present. @BabaYetuNFT I was overwhelmed with joy as I never expected a stranger that I have never seen or spoken to, to provide me something that is worth about 2.5 ETH (current market rate ~$10,000). Watch the full video ( ) here Here is what he had to say… Baba Yetu: “We literally spend all day clicking on things and you shouldn’t be penalized for trusting, it should always be one of those systems where we trust first, unfortunately in this world you don’t know the stove is hot until you touch it and burn your finger. In the real world we’re taught all these things from the moment we’re born what’s right and wrong, there is no real owner’s manual, our parents aren’t teaching us how to stay safe in the metaverse, it’s on us we’re that first generation.” “There’s a lot of stuff that goes on the world that you yourself don’t have control over. You can donate, you can send a tweet out but directly there’s so few things we can do. I stopped and thought, this is the perfect example of a place where I'm actually uniquely positioned that I can restore something for you. This is on me, so I'm more than happy to do it, it’s not like you’re a random person that nobody’s ever met or talked to, I know that you having this asset back is going to allow you to play the game and hopefully it also inspires other folks who might have acquired some assets from your thief to help out as well.” We could only wish to hear stories like this more often, unfortunately, the good news is drowned out by negative news all the time. Baba Yetu is the name of the hero in my story and I hope that we can hear more stories like this. If you have been a victim of a crypto-related scam, unfortunately, there isn't much assistance and support out there. Educate more people to be aware of how to spot scam posts and NEVER share your PRIVATE KEY OR PASSPHRASE. We hope to combine forces with security experts in a community to offer aid to those that recently got scammed. If you or someone you know have the skill sets to combat scams, please reach out to us by messaging in the comments. If you have been a victim of fraud, let us know how by leaving a comment. Together we are strong.

Conquering Crypto Scams: How I Got My Stolen NFTs Back

There are many tools like Docker, Vagrant, VirtualBox, etc. that gives you the power to achieve the multiple versions of PHP in your system. But I want to stay away as much as possible from third-party tools and try to leverage the native as much as I can. So want to learn how to install multiple versions of PHP on the Ubuntu system? Okay, that’s great. Let’s assume, you have OS: Ubuntu 16.04 PHP: 7.1 (PHP-FPM) Nginx: 1.10 And want to install . PHP 7.2 Install PHP 7.2 Run the following commands to update the PHP repository & the Ubuntu system sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update Now you are able to install the new version of PHP sudo apt install -y php7.2-fpm
sudo apt install -y php7.2-dev
php -v If still pointing to the old PHP version, then run the following command php -v sudo update-alternatives --set php /usr/bin/php7.2 Install PHP 7.2 Modules You may need some additional PHP modules in order for PHP to work with your applications. You can install the most commonly needed modules especially required for Magento 2 with: sudo apt install php7.2-mysql php7.2-bcmath php7.2-curl php7.2-xml php7.2-gd php7.2-intl php7.2-mcrypt php7.2-mbstring php7.2-soap php7.2-zip To check installed PHP modules: php -m | grep -E 'bcmath|ctype|curl|dom|gd|hash|iconv|intl|json|mbstring|mcrypt|openssl|pdo|soap|spl|xml|xsl|zip' To search the PHP module: sudo apt-cache search php7.2 Now, you have a new PHP 7.2 version and required modules installed. Similarly, you can install PHP 7.3, 7.4, 8.0 & so on and its related modules. Now a big question is: How to use a specific PHP version as per application? Before that, we should know how PHP is used. PHP can be used as a CLI or web server module (mod_php, CGI, FPM). Switching PHP CLI Version PHP’s command is linked to , which is symlinked to , which again is symlinked to actual PHP, example . php /usr/bin/php /etc/alternatives/php /usr/bin/php7.2 So here lies the logic of switching PHP CLI versions. By default, the PHP installation changes the CLI version to the new one. In case if you want to switch to a specific version, say PHP 7.2, you can use the command update-alternatives sudo update-alternatives --set php /usr/bin/php7.2
php -v You can find the list of PHP executables with ll /usr/bin | grep php You might need to run to set the required PHP version if you are running `composer` commands or any CLI PHP script. update-alternatives Switching PHP Web Server Version As you probably know, Nginx runs PHP code via PHP-FPM, which listens on a Unix socket. And that makes it easier to switch the PHP version in the Nginx’s server block. If you want to point any application, say Magento 2 running on Nginx with PHP 7.2, you can simply change the value of directive as: fastcgi_pass You can find the list of PHP executables with fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock To find the list of Unix sockets for PHP-FPM ll /run/php | grep sock In order to verify the PHP version for Web SAPI, you can use in your .php file. phpinfo() Conclusion Some people might want to use Docker, Vagrant based solution for this. It’s Okay. For me, I always prefer a native system without depending on third-party solutions. This minimizes the overhead and latency problem and hence makes the application development easier and faster. Above you read, how easily you can change the PHP CLI and Web SAPI version. For CLI based you might have to run the command on demand. But for Web application, once the required PHP version is set, they will work independently on specific PHP versions. update-alternatives Please comment below if you have any better solution for handling multiple PHP versions. Previously published at https://blog.magepsycho.com/how-to-install-multiple-versions-of-php-on-ubuntu/

How to Have Multiple Versions of PHP on Ubuntu

ArkStream Capital, a primary market fund founded by BlockArk, invested in more than 10 projects in the first quarter of 2021. We will start with the project introductions and track analysis to explain why we invested in these projects. 1. Apron Apron Network is committed to building a decentralized infrastructure service network platform. All infrastructure service providers can be integrated on Apron, and it can provide all kinds of decentralized infrastructure for all blockchains and blockchain applications (DApps) to meet different needs. Centralized node problem for decentralized services On November 11, 2020, a dormant loophole in Ethereum caused Infura’s chaos and caused Infura’s server to go down. Many projects that used Infura, including the well-known Ethereum wallet MetaMask, non-custodial wallet Coinbase wallet, and CryptoKitties and the lending platform Compound, etc. could not be used normally, and even caused an undisclosed hard fork of Ethereum. Industry insiders commented that this was the most serious accident on the Ethereum blockchain after The DAO incident. This incident has alerted many people. Although the technology of Ethereum is decentralized, Ethereum needs nodes to maintain its network. As the largest node service provider, Infura is centralized and relies heavily on Amazon. Managed cloud server, which means that if Infura has a problem like this incident, or if there is a problem with the Amazon cloud behind it, it will affect Ethereum. Why we invested in Arpon? The Chainlink boom is a sign of what will happen in the future once the market realizes the need for critical infrastructure components that allow actual use cases to exist. Since GRT went public and listed, ATH has also reached 96X. As Uniswap and other Defi use search protocols, the market has fully discovered its value. In the wave of value discovery of middleware, Arpon aimed at the positioning of decentralized Infura. Arpon is developed based on the Substrate framework, and the team has strong development strength. It is the award-winning team of Polkadot Hachathon and has received Web Grant support. Apron wants to become a decentralized Infura, providing users with API access services in a decentralized manner. In addition to Ethereum, it will also support multiple chains, such as Bitcoin, Polkadot, IPFS, Tron, and so on. Apron will also integrate various services, including data analysis platforms, data storage and messaging services, and so on. Multi-chain and multi-function will greatly enhance the value capture effect of the Apron network. 2. InsurAce InsurAce is a decentralized DeFi insurance agreement that aims to provide DeFi users with reliable, robust and worry-free DeFi insurance services. Its characteristic advantages include extremely low premiums, stable income, rich product lines, and low barriers to entry. Provide DeFi users with guaranteed and profitable insurance services. The huge potential of DeFi insurance coverage At present, the coverage rate of the entire DeFi TVL is less than 2%, and the coverage rate of 8%-10% is a reasonable ratio that can be expected. The insurance sector has great potential. The insurance sector has not been further developed so far. There are two reasons: Firstly, insurance still belongs to the category of risk management, it belongs to a follower position. Generally speaking, the industry always advances in cash business first, and then risk management keeps up. Second, insurance is different from lending, exchanges, and other circuits that rely on liquidity and profitability. The insurance circuit is a circuit that can build user trust, user loyalty, and brand. This also requires time accumulation and precipitation. Insurance is a track that needs deep cultivation and is worthy of long-term focus. It has just started, and there is still a lot of room, but it also requires great efforts to develop and cultivate. Why we invested in InsurAce? As a community-driven decentralized open insurance platform, InsurAce has fully mobilized the three parties of policyholders, insurers, and investors-all of them can obtain platform governance tokens by providing liquidity (participating in SCR liquidity mining), thereby maximizing The capital utilization rate has been improved to a minimum. At the same time, InsurAce refers to the business model of traditional insurance companies, builds a DeFi investment sector based on insurance, uses insurance to escort investment, and uses investment income to deny insurance services, and finally builds a two-wheel-drive model of insurance + investment to create a safe DeFi portal, And continue to create revenue for users. InsurAce has created a comprehensive platform with both investment and financial management functions. 3. Pocket Pocket Network provides a trustless API layer, allowing easy access to any blockchain. It is building a complete distributed network of blockchain nodes. Developers can seamlessly access these nodes, use encrypted economic incentives, and are ready to provide node hosting services for development API requests to meet demand. Pocket Network aggregates supply and demand through a distributed network, creating a powerful open-source infrastructure layer. Node incentives for decentralized services Different Web3 middlewares serve different needs. Some middleware solves the expansion needs, some solves the storage needs, and some solves the cross-domain interaction needs. The continuous prosperity of the middleware field allows people to enjoy it more effectively. Convenience and advantages brought by Web3 application. Recently, solutions in the field of decentralized API have appeared frequently, which has laid a solid foundation for the complete decentralization of Web3 applications. However, from the perspective of the underlying network, there is one area that has not received enough attention, and that is the issue of full node incentives. There is no shortage of mining nodes in a network where the mining revenue is greater than the mining cost, but it is not so optimistic for full nodes. Although for users, running a full node can completely guarantee the security and privacy of operations on the chain, but because there is no native economic incentive mechanism in the network, the cost of running a full node is higher than its advantages, so most users choose a centralized full node service provider. Similarly, the cost of running a full node for developers forces them to use a centralized full node to support the back end of the application. Why we invested in Pocket? Web3 native problems need to be resolved by the Web3 native middleware protocol. Pocket Network provides a complete bottom-level network full-node incentive and Web3 application decentralized data acquisition solution, which provides a coordination mezzanine with decentralization as the core for the Web3 infrastructure and upper-level applications. From the perspective of the agreement, Pocket Network provides a bilateral market composed of full-node supply and demand sides, and the agreement itself is responsible for promoting the application layer data demand and the underlying network data supply market to operate more efficiently. Pocket Network has received support from API3, Skale, MyEtherWallet, HOPR, ethers.js, Satun Network, Mycrypto, fuse, portis, and other projects. The downtime of Infura has warned of the importance of decentralized node services, which is why Pocket can quickly obtain cooperation and investment in many projects. 4. HOPR HOPR is a protocol that allows users to run peer-to-peer private network nodes. It can send data through the network without exposing metadata. Metadata can be described as the object of sending and receiving data, the time of sending data, the amount of sending data, the address of sending data, and so on. Protecting metadata is crucial, because metadata can be used by malicious actors in various network attacks, such as hacker attacks or user profile attacks. User A passes the message to Z. The message will be transmitted and confused by different nodes in the HOPR network through “onion encryption”, and finally reach Z. The jump-type transfer method between different nodes gives the network the name HOPR. The privacy dilemma of the Internet “I think Chinese people can be more open and less sensitive to privacy issues. If they are willing to exchange privacy for convenience, in many cases they are willing, then we can do something with data. But we must follow certain principles. If the data will benefit the user and he is willing, we will do it. This is our basic principle. This is what should be done and what should not be done.” Li Yanhong said at the China Development Forum. The status quo of Internet privacy is darker than Li Yanhong said, and countless applications steal user privacy without the user’s permission. Almost everything we do online today is protected by different types of encryption, from our online banking to simple WhatsApp messages. The problem is that this encryption only protects your data (the actual content we are sending). It does not protect your metadata: all information about the data you want to send. Why we invested in HOPR? HOPR provides a full-stack network-level privacy solution. When sending data through HOPR, the data is sent to the destination through many intermediate “hops”. At each hop, data is mixed with other data through a network called a mixnet, so anyone observing from the outside cannot know what is being sent or who the sender and recipient are. HOPR uses the Sphinx packet format to ensure that each piece of data sent through HOPR is indistinguishable from each other, and can even be accurate to the same size. Users can fully control the route taken by their data. As long as not all these parties are secretly colluding, the entire hop is safe and private. Unlike the standard centralized method that we used to be used to, mixnet has a huge advantage in terms of numbers. Like all the best-distributed systems, despite human beings’ personal interests, people are still forced to work together: there is no benefit to doing anything other than following the rules. 5. Razor Razor Network is a decentralized oracle project that currently runs on the Ethereum network, but it does not target applications on the Ethereum mainnet. Instead, it will cooperate with multiple L1 and L2 blockchains to improve A fully decentralized oracle is provided on the platform. Hope to connect smart contracts with data in a fast and safe way. At present, the testnet of the flagship product decentralized oracle network has been launched, and at the same time, the official also released a testnet browser for browsing testnet information. The explosive growth of the oracle track An oracle is a third-party service that provides data required for the execution of smart contracts, usually related to prices. The traditional financial system requires intermediaries, so there will be a single point of failure. They are prone to corruption, fraud, security accidents, etc. And smart contracts and decentralized networks give us the opportunity to rebuild these systems. They are accessible to ordinary people and can improve the traditional financial products built on these systems, especially in lending. With the rapid growth of the DeFi track, the oracle machine has received the most attention. Nevertheless, the track can accommodate more competitors. BAND, DAI, API3, and NEST have good market performance and more innovative solutions are also accepted by the market. Why we invested in Razor? Compared with previous competing products, Razor’s balance of decentralization, safety and performance has allowed it to find the possibility of “overtaking in corners”. Razor uses a sliding computer mechanism to prevent attacks such as invalid sources and (bribery) signals that may occur on the oracle. This mechanism can iteratively resolve disputes over the results of the oracle, and will ensure a steady improvement in system security. The project focuses on providing the maximum security allowed by game theory without sacrificing speed. Because of this, Razor has found a balance between efficiency and security, and its completely decentralized setting also avoids The bottleneck problem that the centralized oracle may encounter. The founder of Razor, Hrishikesh, comes from Consensys and has rich experience in the blockchain industry and code. Under his leadership, Razor has reached cooperation with a series of projects such as Skale, Matic, MatraDAO, and Conflux. Also published on Medium's Subdomain: https://arkstreamcapital.medium.com/portfolio-report-for-the-1st-quarter-of-2021-2-arkstream-capital-a8696d6edda8

Why We Invested in These 5 Blockchain Companies

What is Powpeg? The Powpeg is RSK’s 2-way peg protocol used to do conversions between BTC and R-BTC. The RSK Powpeg protects private keys stored in special purpose PowHSMs based on tamper-proof secure elements, using a layered design which is  referred to as defense-in-depth. To learn more about it, I suggest you read the article , from Sergio Demian Lerner and Sebastian Lindner. Building the Most Secure, Permissionless and Uncensorable Bitcoin Peg Part 1: how to convert BTCs in R-BTCs using RSK’s 2-way peg protocol I strongly recommend trying the 2-way peg on Testnet, before doing it on Mainnet. At this moment, the minimum amount of the process is 0.01 BTCs, so you must be careful not to do something wrong and lose your “real” funds. Overview Steps Get a BTC wallet with a Legacy address, like Electrum Have BTCs in this Legacy address Know the BTC address for RSK Peg using MyCrypto Send Bitcoin to the RSK Peg address Get your tBTC private key on Electrum Get tR-BTC address using your tBTC private key Use your tR-BTCs :) BTC wallet with a Legacy address Legacy address, or P2PKH, is an address format of Bitcoin which starts with a 1 in Mainnet. It is the original BTC address. All mnemonics and private keys can generate BTC legacy addresses. But be careful! Some wallets use the new SegWit formats and don't allow you to send BTC from your original Legacy address. My suggestion is to use the wallet, check out the options. I will show you how to do this in the next steps. Electrum download Electron wallet Go to the page. Electron wallet download I am using . I decided to use the and copied it into the folder. Windows OS Portable version C:\RSK\Electrum I strongly recommend verifying the GPG signatures to make sure that your download is original, there are instructions on the same page. If you are using Windows OS, check out some notes in the download page too. Run Electron wallet on BTC testnet Open the folder where you copied / installed the Electrum wallet, and run the following command to execute it on Testnet For example, I save it in the folder. C:\RSK\Electrum I will run: electrum -portable.exe --testnet -4.0 .9 It will open the Electrum app in a new window. Configuring Electrum in the first time This is the first time we are executing Electrum, so we need to finish the installation with some configuration in order to create a new wallet. Although you can connect to a trusted server (and this is recommended for secure use), letting Electrum decide on a server is a good beginner option. Select , and click the button. Auto connect Next You don’t need to change the , so click the button again. default_wallet Next There are some different options on the next step. I will create a Standard wallet, and then send BTCs to this new wallet. Select the click the button. Standard wallet Next The seed or mnemonic is a group of words which generates all addresses in a wallet, using the pattern defined at BIP39 Choose click the button. Create a new seed Next The next step is very important! You must NOT choose Segwit! So select and click the button. Legacy Next Write down your seed phrase, or mnemonic, or backup phrase (all these terms mean the same), with 12 words. This is used to recover your account, in case you lose your password. Save your seed in a safe place. Do not show your seed to anyone! For example, my seed in this tutorial is endless core secret strategy other tomato beef young snake ceiling hurdle filter I am showing it to you because this is a tutorial and we're using the Testnet, however I will never store real cryptos using this seed :) After saving your seed, click the button. Next Paste your seed to confirm that you can restore it properly then click the button. Next This is the result for my example seed: Remember: the seed phrase is the most important thing in a wallet / account! You can also define a password to encrypt your seed. I will not do it here because it is only a tutorial Now you can decide if you would like to keep your Electrum updated. It is up to you. The next message is to alert us that we are in Testnet. Perfect! This is our goal. This is your wallet Get your BTC Legacy address Go to the third tab, . Receive Change the to . Expires after Never Click the button new address You will see a Bitcoin Testnet address like below. My Legacy BTC testnet address is: n2pUF7gJiFZoSpJJBxvnzPVuJ7qN9vK6aT You can check it out in the zoomed image: BTC Testnet faucet We need some t-BTCs to experience this process. So get test Bitcoin from Testnet Faucet. There are a few options to get Bitcoin on Testnet. We use https://testnet-faucet.mempool.co/ This site gives us 0.01 BTCs each hour. Because 0.01 BTCs is the minimum to send in to PowPeg and we need to pay the miner fee, we must have more than 0.01 BTCs. So I will do the process to get 0.01 BTCs twice, in 2 hours. n2pUF7gJiFZoSpJJBxvnzPVuJ7qN9vK6aT https://live.blockcypher.com/btc-testnet/address/n2pUF7gJiFZoSpJJBxvnzPVuJ7qN9vK6aT Take a look in some requests n2pUF7gJiFZoSpJJBxvnzPVuJ7qN9vK6aT https://live.blockcypher.com/btc-testnet/address/n2pUF7gJiFZoSpJJBxvnzPVuJ7qN9vK6aT You can check your balance in - a block explorer for Bitcoin testnet Blockcypher Know the BTC address for RSK Peg using MyCrypto Now you need to know the Peg address, or RSK Federation address. The RSK Federation address is retrieved by making a Smart Contract call on RSK Testnet. You will execute a call to the smart contract Bridge to get the address. An option is using MyCrypto The most secure and trusted way to do it is to install the desktop version of MyCrypto on your computer. Check your version in page MyCrypto’s download Another alternative, though not so secure is to use the web app. In this case it is important to be sure that you are in the “real” MyCrypto website, be careful not to go to a false website. Here I will do in MyCrypto web app In the main page, navigate to or go directly to Tools => Interact with contracts https://app.mycrypto.com/interact-with-contracts Select Network RSK Testnet Select Contract Bridge Click on Interact with Contract In , select to execute a call to the smart contract Bridge and get the address. Read / Write Contract getFederationAddress It should look like the screenshot below. Copy the address. For example, now it is: 2N1GMB8gxHYR5HLPSRgf9CJ9Lunjb9CTnKB Send Bitcoin to the RSK Peg address Great! Now you have more than 0.01 BTCs and you know the Peg address. The next step is to send Bitcoin to the Peg address, or RSK Federation address. Once you have the RSK Federation address, you can send Bitcoin to it from your Bitcoin address. Note: You need to send a minimum amount of 0.01 BTC for conversion. Come back to Electrum to do the transfer Go to the tab Send Pay attention: the value is represented in mBTC. 1 mBTC = 0.0010 BTC So 0.01 BTC = 10 mBTC Pay to: 2N1GMB8gxHYR5HLPSRgf9CJ9Lunjb9CTnKB Amount: 10 Click on the button Pay Confirm the transaction and click the button. Send Done! Now you must be patient :) You have to wait a minimum of 100 confirmations + a minimum of 5 minutes for checking your R-BTC balance. Get your tBTC private key on Electrum Here I am doing a tutorial, so I can share it only for educational purposes. Go to menu Wallet => Private Keys => Export You don’t need to export it, just copy the first address and your private key, like mine: Address: n2pUF7gJiFZoSpJJBxvnzPVuJ7qN9vK6aT Private key: p2pkh:cUkVmQJPb5wwfW1pvqVfGAcF7fSPQN7nJGFJaYr59QoQ5pabdswR Get tR-BTC address using your tBTC private key The same private key can be used to generate addresses for different networks. https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ The private key for your Bitcoin address will be used to discover your tR-BTC address, and also to transfer your tR-BTC later. RSK has a tool to get your tR-BTC in a secure way, on your desktop, without exposing your private key on the internet. So, let’s use it! Go to . github.com/rsksmart/utils If you do not want to compile the utility, you can download the . I will use it. latest release Go to last release page and click on to download it build.zip I saved, unzipped it in and renamed to C:\RSK rsk-utils-build In the build folder, open index.html in your browser For example, my path is file:///C:/RSK/rsk-utils-build/build/index.html Now enter your Bitcoin private key. Do include : in the front! NOT p2pkh My saved private key is: p2pkh:cUkVmQJPb5wwfW1pvqVfGAcF7fSPQN7nJGFJaYr59QoQ5pabdswR So I will fill only cUkVmQJPb5wwfW1pvqVfGAcF7fSPQN7nJGFJaYr59QoQ5pabdswR Click on the button. Transform Then you’ll get your RSK address. In my example, the RSK address is 2226ac4054d6a0ebfec341014974796ede3701de Remember: never share your private key! Here I am doing a tutorial, so I can share it only for educational purposes. Next steps Monitor your address on RSK explorer You can monitor your address on . RSK explorer Take a look at my RSK testnet address: https://explorer.testnet.rsk.co/address/0xc5b5ced7337f059eff3b307284aee9f60926be7869b67c8ee198b410a2eb6e40 Note 1 Maybe the first time you search in explorer, you’ll get a block information, and not an address information. If this happens, just change block for address in the URL For example: https://explorer.testnet.rsk.co/block/0xc5b5ced7337f059eff3b307284aee9f60926be7869b67c8ee198b410a2eb6e40 Will be https://explorer.testnet.rsk.co/address/0xc5b5ced7337f059eff3b307284aee9f60926be7869b67c8ee198b410a2eb6e40 Note 2 Remember that the 2-way peg process takes some time. You have to wait a minimum of 100 confirmations + a minimum of 5 minutes for checking your R-BTC balance Probably the first time you try to check your address in explorer, it will return a Not found message. This happens because your address didn’t receive any transaction yet, so the explorer doesn’t know the address until now. As seen in this image: But after 100 confirmations + a minimum of 5 minutes (more than 16h hours), I got my balance! How to use my R-BTC? RSK has many wallets, check it out in on DevPortal. wallet’s page The inverse process: Peg out Additionally, I would like to do the inverse process: I will transform my R-BTC back into BTC. This process will be explained in the next article. Final message I showed you how to transform your BTCs in tR-BTCs and opened a door for the DeFi possibilities over Bitcoin on the RSK network. I hope this tutorial has been helpful and I’d appreciate your feedback. Happy with this tutorial? Share it if you like it :)

How to do Conversions Between BTC and R-BTC Using the Powpeg Protocol

The video game industry has always attracted the most cutting edge technology and innovation. Therefore, it’s not surprising that after the ICO boom in 2017, when the world community kept unanimously saying that the blockchain would change the world, the topic of the integration and use of cryptocurrencies was extremely hyped in the gaming industry. So, it became seethed with tokens that meant to change the gaming experience. Let’s figure out why crypto investors should pay attention to the thriving gaming sphere and gaming altcoins. How can cryptocurrency change the gaming world? Blockchain is actively penetrating games, and decentralized apps become truly successful products. Every month up to 50 new blockchain-based applications appear on the market, and the number of users downloading dApps reaches 66 thousand per day! Let's take a look at how the presence of cryptocurrencies changes games, and also talk about the main flaws that gaming digital assets have. First of all, blockchain games allow players to establish complete control over their in-game items, namely game artifacts or characters. They can be improved, and then sold or gifted to other users. Often, each asset is represented by a unique non-fungible token of the ERC-721 standard, which allows it to be supervised. Such tokens became widespread when the famous CryptoKitties, CryptoPunks and MyCryptons entered the market. Tokens provide a guarantee of real property By linking in-game items with , users can exchange in-game skins, cards, weapons, and characters between different games. The main thing is that other gaming platforms operate the same blockchain. A case in point is the WAX ​​platform, which unites about 400 million online players. Gamers can create their own marketplaces to trade in-game items, sell personally designed artifacts, and even estimate the cost of loot. The ability to create a gaming multiverse ERC-20 tokens Cryptocurrency gives players the ability to carry out transactions with each other and buy or sell in-game assets directly. The absence of intermediaries allows the user to control the market, rather than the developer or the processing center, which charges large commissions for transactions. Many free games rely on in-game purchases, and cryptocurrency makes the process of acquiring assets a kind of smooth one, which helps to attract more gamers. No intermediaries between players Platforms that allow users to monetize their gaming achievements motivate gamers to play better, because their efforts are rewarded. And the better the player's result, the more coins he can earn. This opportunity encourages the gaming community to massively download crypto games. Cryptocurrency improves the gaming experience Are there any disadvantages? It is important to understand that the advantages described above is  a perfect representation of how to use cryptocurrencies in games. Today, many gaming platforms that use digital assets have a small number of users. Mostly it happens due to skepticism and distrust to cryptocurrencies, but also because a lot of crypto games are too dull to attract gamers. Players are looking for beautiful graphics and an exciting gaming experience. A common problem is the presence of a rare token in one game that cannot be used in the other one. It turns out that the efforts and time given to the game were wasted, because such crypto assets can hardly be cashed out. Another situation is when money received after the sale of game items remain virtual since none of the exchangers works with rare coins. There are no solutions in the crypto games market that can be used to easily and quickly monetize gaming efforts and get real money for winning matches. However, as elsewhere, there are indeed exceptions... Real market solutions The gaming industry is mainly focused on making the ultimate profit for developers. At the same time, the income of the multi-million audience of gamers is not growing, given how operose the gameplay is. The issue of monetizing skills is especially relevant for modern players, because who doesn’t want to earn money doing what they love? To motivate and attract new players, gaming platforms are introducing daily bonuses, offering players to complete tasks for a reward, developing VIP programs, and so on. And everything mentioned is perfectly united by , which evens the perspectives for both developers and players. the gaming altcoin IQN The token was designed to provide users with the opportunity to monetize their achievements by competing in games of all genres and directions. The team behind the gaming altcoin enters into partnerships with gaming platforms to integrate IQN so that players can easily and quickly turn their efforts into an asset. The gaming PvP platform IQeon.com appeared to be the first platform allowing to conduct transactions with a digital asset. Here, users can participate in game matchups and get reward in IQN tokens for winning. The capitalization of the token is still quite small – about $12 million with 5.5 million coins in circulation. However, the asset is already showing good growth: over the year, IQN value has skyrocketed by 250%. And this, in turn, is a direct evidence of the altcoin’s growing popularity among traders and the expansion of possibilities for its use. IQN is expected to become a really successful solution, thanks to which players will be motivated to play again and again. It means they can earn money while enjoying what they love. However, its price movement will depend on the success of the platforms that the team chooses to integrate with. Therefore, investors should replenish their portfolio and follow token development. Summary Thanks to the integration of games, blockchain and virtual money, we found out a separate industry, which already brings considerable income to all its participants. While some are skeptical about Bitcoin, others allow millions of people to monetize their hobby by introducing cryptocurrency into games. One thing is clear – for the emergence of new effective projects, the crypto community needs a gaming industry, and game developers and their fans need a digital currency market for greater motivation.

Video Games And Crypto: What's The Hype?

Prerequisites You'll need to have Geth & Tools install. Instruction to initiate the network 1) Please see Go Ethereum Tools installation instruction below: Open your browser and navigate to the Go Ethereum Tools download page at https: Scroll down to the section and proceed depending on your operating system. . Installing OS X.
Click on the ** ** to download the applications bundle archive. . Installing Windows.
![Installing Geth - ](Images/geth gif)
You need to know you are running a or version Microsoft Windows, you are not sure about that, you can check your version following [these steps](https: Depending on your Windows version, you should download the or version the Go Ethereum Tools. After downloading the tools archive, open your folder, and you will find a file named OS X, and a file called Windows. Note that the last numbers the filename could vary depending on the last built available. Decompress the archive the location your preference your computer s home directory. 1. //geth.ethereum.org/downloads/ 2. "Stable Releases" 2.1 in "Geth & Tools 1.9.7" 2.2 in 2 -2. if `32 bit` `64 bit` of if //support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13443/windows-which-version-am-i-running). `32 bit` `64 bit` of 3. "Downloads" `geth-alltools-darwin-amd64-1.9.7-a718daa6.tar.gz` in `geth-alltools-windows-amd64-1.9.7-a718daa6.zip` in in 4. in of in 's hard drive, and rename the containing folder as `Blockchain-Tools`. We recommend using a location that can be easily accessed from the terminal window like the user' 2) First you create accounts (also called wallet) by Geth before you create genesis block. Open a terminal window, navigate to the Blockchain-Tools folder. Create the first node's data directory using the geth command and a couple of command line flags by running the following line in your terminal window (Git Bash in Windows): ./geth account new --datadir node1 Repeat the same process for the second node by replacing the datadir parameter with the node2 folder. ./geth account new --datadir node2 node1: $./geth account new --datadir node1
 Your new account locked a password. Please give a password. Do forget this password.
 Passphrase: passwordnode1 ( example)
 Repeat passphrase: passwordnode1
 Address: {public_key_address} is with not for node 2 : $./geth account new --datadir node2
 Your new account locked a password. Please give a password. Do forget this password.
 Passphrase: passwordnode1 ( example)
 Repeat passphrase: passwordnode1
 Address: {public_key_address} is with not for After you create a new node account by geth in the terminal, the output will ask for your password and it will produce a public key address (visible) and hidden private key (automatically stored in keystore file). Copy these two public key addresses from the terminal screen and save them in a text file. You cans store the addresses in text file by running the following line in your terminal: $ echo >> accounts.txt
$ echo >> accounts.txt 'Node1 public key address' 'Node2 public key address' For each node, save your password in a file in a corresponding node folder to help ease the process for later on such as unlocking account. $ echo > node1/password.txt
$ echo > node2/password.txt 'passwordnode1' 'passwordnode2' 3) In the terminal, Run puppeth by typing "./puppeth', name your network, and select the option to configure a new genesis block. 4) Choose the Clique (Proof of Authority) consensus algorithm 5) Block time is the expected interval between two blocks. For ethereum, this is around 15 seconds. For Bitcoin, it is 10 minutes. You can simply press enter for default which is 15 seconds. How many seconds should blocks take? (default = ) 15 6) Paste both account addresses from the second step one at a time into the list of accounts to seal. 7) Paste them again in the list of accounts to pre-fund. There are no block rewards in PoA, so you'll need to pre-fund. 8) You can choose no for pre-funding the pre-compiled accounts (0x1 .. 0xff) with wei. This keeps the genesis cleaner. 9) Create a Chain ID/Network ID with any numeric value such as 888 Specify your chain/network ID if you want an explicit one (default = random) 10) When you are back at the main menu, choose the "Manage existing genesis" option. 11) Choose the "Export genesis configurations". Then simply press enter for default. This will fail to create two of the files, but you only need networkname.json. 12) You can delete the networkname-harmony.json file. 13) Ctrl+C to quit puppeth 14) Initialize each node with the new networkname.json with geth. init networkname.json node1/ init networkname.json node2/ ./geth --datadir ./geth --datadir 15) Run the first node, unlock the account, enable mining, and the RPC flag. Only one node needs RPC enabled. ./geth --datadir node1/ --syncmode 'full' --networkid (any_numbers) --rpc --minerthreads 1 --unlock "node1_sealer_address" --password node1/password.txt --mine --allow-insecure-unlock class "pl-s" style "box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(3, 47, 98);" class "pl-pds" style "box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(3, 47, 98);" class "pl-pds" style "box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(3, 47, 98);" class "pl-s" style "box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(3, 47, 98);" class "pl-pds" style "box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(3, 47, 98);" class "pl-pds" style "box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(3, 47, 98);" node1_sealer_address: By open up keystore file in a text editor, the address value can be found in 'UTC' text file. File path is node1/keystore/'UTC...etc' Notice that the last part of the file name in keystore/'UTC..address' is the address of your account 16) Set a different peer port for the second node and use the first node's enode address as the bootnode flag. 17) Be sure to unlock the account and enable mining on the second node! While node1 is mining in a terminal, open a separate a terminal to run node2. In a separate terminal, navigate to the blockchain-tools directory, run the following command line: ./geth --datadir node2/ --syncmode --networkid (any_numbers) --unlock --passw
ord node2/password.txt --mine --allow-insecure-unlock --port --bootnodes --ipcdisable 'full' "node2_sealer_address" 30304 "enode_address_from_node1" node2_sealer_address: By open up keystore file in a text editor, the address value can be found in 'UTC' text file. File path is node2/keystore/'UTC...etc' To retrieve enode address: Copy the entire enode:// address (including the last @address:port segment) of the first node located in the Started P2P Networking line. 18) You should now see both nodes producing new blocks, congratulations! Geth Command Line flags: ghfgh --datadir value : Data directory the databases keystore. It will be node1 node2. Example: --datadir node1/

--syncmode value: Blockchain sync mode ( , , ) (default: fast)
syncmode helps preventing the error Discarded Bad Propagated Block.

--networkid value : Network identifier. As defined the genesis.json file. Please use the same id 

--rpc : Enable the HTTP-RPC server

--mine: Enable mining.

--miner.threads value: Number of CPU threads to use mining (default: )

--unlock --password --mine tell the node to unlock this account, the password that file to start mining (i.e. voting/sealing Proof-of-Authority)

--allow-insecure-unlock : Allow insecure account unlocking when account-related RPCs are exposed by http

--port : Since the first node for and and "fast" "full" or "light" 'full' in for 0 with in and for 30304 's sync port already took up 30303, we need to change this one to 30304 using --port.

--bootnodes value : tells your node at what address to find your bootnode. Comma separated enode URLs for P2P discovery bootstrap. In this case, enode address from node1 mining terminal.

--ipcdisable : Disable the IPC-RPC server Strongly recommend to check the Geth Command Line Interface documentation for more command line flags explanation. Link : https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Command-Line-Options Connect MyCrypto to your network to send a transaction Use the MyCrypto GUI wallet to connect to the node with the exposed RPC port. You will need to use a custom network, and include the chain ID, and use ETH as the currency. 1. In the left pane on MyCrypto, click "Change Network" at the bottom left. Setting network info 2. Click on "Add Custom Node", then add the custom network information that was set in the genesis. 3. Ensure that you scroll down to choose Custom in the "Network" setting to reveal more options like Chain ID: 4. The chain ID must match what you came up with earlier. 5. The URL is pointing to the default RPC port on your local machine. Everyone should use this same URL: http://127.0.0.1:8545 6. Select Keystore File to open up your wallet. Click "SELECT WALLET FILE" and navigate to node1/keystore file (the one start with UTC-....” and is also where your encrypted private key is stored, then type your node1 password (you had created this password earlier when you first create accounts by Geth) We need to select node1 keystore file because node1 already has RPC exposed port. We're going to send a transaction to ourselves to test it out. Follow the next steps. Copy the pre-fund address into the "To Address" field, then fill in an arbitrary amount of ETH. Confirm the transaction by clicking "Send Transaction", and the "Send" button in the pop-up window. Click the Check TX Status when the green message pops up, confirm the logout: You should see the transaction go from Pending to Successful in around the same blocktime you set in the genesis. You can click the Check TX Status button to update the status. Congratulations, that was the first transaction send on this blockchain network! Also published at https://medium.com/@janetcheung897/guide-to-create-your-own-private-ethereum-blockchain-in-proof-of-authority-consensus-mechanism-93af0dabb9e3

Create A Private Ethereum Blockchain With Proof-of-Authority Consensus Mechanism: A How-To Guide

In 2017,  non-fungible tokens (NFTs) arose as a medium of exchange without an economy. They became a way of trading kitschy virtual collectibles like CryptoKitties — that is until a collector paid $170,000 (600 ETH) for a kitty named Dragon. The new digital token had created digital scarcity. In a digital economy with runaway reproduction trampling over copyrights, NFTs offered a way to attach data to a currency. Only the holder of the NFT with the unique identifier for Dragon could sell, exchange, or destroy the cryptocollectible. In virtual worlds, NFTs have found an economy. Virtual worlds create a virtual microcosm of the real economy. People confined to their homes during the pandemic are populating virtual art galleries, museums, gaming platforms and diverse 3D world experiences. NFTs are becoming the main medium of exchange. Visitors can irrefutably prove ownership of the digital assets they buy, sell, and trade. NFTs, however, are still stuck in closed virtual worlds. In gaming, your knight, his sword, horse or shining army cannot do battle in another gaming world. When each item has its own unique NFT ID, technically the knight can gallop off into another game. Interoperable blockchains make this feat possible. The gaming world is tokenizing game assets to game across virtual worlds. Some old economic principles still apply. Game developers and gamers will benefit from economies of scale and network effects — as more people have access to gaming assets, NFT value will increase. But in virtual worlds, the gravity effect is less important. That is, virtual world trade is not limited by physical distance. Game assets and NFTs can teleport anywhere. Here’s how the cryptographically unique tokens could become more valuable than fiat currencies or crypto tokens in open gaming worlds on the blockchain. How to Make Money in Virtual Lands When SecondLife began selling virtual land in 2003, many people did not get it. Eventually, e-commerce shops, art galleries, and game developers set up shop in the Linden economy. Clever crypto users circumvented regulators by entering the virtual Linden world to exchange crypto for fiat through Linden Dollars. But the Linden world missed the opportunity to move to the digital ledger that hosts Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — the blockchain. Virtual lands hosted on the blockchain provide more ways to monetize your virtual experience. Traditional ways to make money on virtual lands include buying land low and selling high, trading wearables and crypto collectibles, renting land, creating experiences and e-commerce shops, and earning advertising revenues. On the blockchain, token holders are platform owners.  If game developers create hot games that attract more gamers to your metaverse, you benefit from token appreciation, as well as yield earning opportunities by freezing tokens in your wallet for staking, liquidity pooling and farming. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) offer even more value creation opportunities. Fungible tokens are interchangeable. One US dollar can be exchanged for another greenback. NFTs, in contrast, are unique and can reflect scarcity and rarity of an underlying digital asse The ability to attach information to NFTs opens up all sorts of new value creation opportunities. NFTs are used to track the provenance of art and precious metals. Businesses are moving NFT-tagged products through production and supply chains. The MMOG/MMORPG markets are the first to exchange NFT assets across different virtual worlds. NFTs in Virtual Gaming Lands Gaming NFTs are poised to become the hottest. NFTs of virtual lands are among the . They include (MANA), (CUBE) and . The virtual world with the most NFT trading activity is a dedicated MMOG/MMORPG gaming platform, (SAND). top 25 NFTs traded Decentraland Somnium Space Cryptovoxels The Sandbox The number one selling digital asset across all virtual worlds is land. Following land, gaming assets and wearables are popular. The Sandbox gaming assets are the top non-land NFTs. NFTs for new virtual land , where building the city and exchanging building assets for $MEGA to stake and yield farm is the game, are quickly rising. MegaCryptoPolis Game developers are recognizing the value of tokenizing gaming platforms through gaming ERC-721 tokens. Decentraland, the first blockchain virtual world, plans to build new gaming experiences in Genesis City to capitalize on the rising value in gaming. Its venture capital arm Metaverse Ventures is funding the development of casino properties in Vegas City and gaming in Decentral Games. Gaming DeFi and NFTs The newest trend is merging virtual gaming with the hottest trend in crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi), to earn NFTs.  The game play at MegaCryptoPolis is building the microeconomy to get $MEGA. Building materials trade as ERC-721 NFTs are acquired through free-to-play missions and swapped for $MEGA. Once citizens earn $MEGA through city-building tasks, they earn yield by staking, liquidity mining and yield farming in Ethereum and TRON pools. is an esports platform opening up cross-game trading of NFTs. The Singapore-based platform has merged team eSports and DeFi into a new industry called m$ports. Gamers compete in teams in liquidity and staking pools created by Armies via Uniswap. The pool with the highest APY wins the gamified $ANRX NFTs on the Decentralized Gaming Platform Exchange (gDEX). AnRKey X MegaCyrptoPolis citizens will be able to transfer value across the Ethereum and TRON chains. AnRKey plans to introduce cross-game NFT usage. NFT game assets, however, are still stuck in closed gaming worlds. Trading NFTs Across Metaverses Geography and physics are not limitations in the virtual world, but unfortunately NFTs tied to one world are. The ability to teleport NFT-based gaming assets across connected gaming ecosystems through interoperable blockchains will unleash the full value of NFTs. This year, gamers in The Sandbox will be able to take their NFT-enabled gaming assets and play and sell them on Ubisoft, Atari, or in other virtual gaming worlds, and vice versa. The Sandbox virtual world is expanding across metaverses (gaming worlds) to create a gaming colossal in the virtual world. Through its partnership with , gamers will be able to teleport to their tokenized games and assets other major gaming platforms. Ultra In open metaverses, gamers will have more opportunities to market and trade tokenized gaming assets and experiences. The original Sandbox game, an App Store Best Games two years in a row, attracted over 40 million users. These gamers can now enjoy full digital ownership of their creations and gaming experiences and re-use and resell them. And because gamers can prove ownership, value, demand, scarcity, and rarity of NFT-based gaming assets, these items are more valuable. In open gaming worlds, potential NFT value is gravity-defying. NFT Wallets for the Virtual World Gamer Gamers will soon be jumping across popular game houses and taking their NFTs with them. New products are springing up to help them manage the explosion in NFTs spread across wallets, games and chains. If you do not know what to get the gamer in your family for Christmas this year, consider an NFT Wallet. The wallet consolidates a user’s NFT assets from different gaming platforms on one screen, as well as provides NFT price charts and other analysis tools. The Wallet is wrapping NFTs to use in DApps across Ethereum, TRON, BSC and other chains. NFTBank MOBOX Any NFT wallet can plug into ’ ERC-2309 extension to batch transfer NFTs . So if you sell NFTs for a knight, horse, sword and shield, you can package the gaming assets in one bundle and send them off to another gaming world. Polyient Games

Virtual Gaming Worlds: NFTs Creating New Cross-Chain Gaming Monetization

Mobile as a gaming platform has dominated the gaming industry. Nearly market came from mobile. It is expected that by 2021, mobile games revenue will grow to 100 billion dollars. Today mobile game developers pay a commission of 30% for any lead from the app store (paid app) or in-game transactions. 51% of the global games In comparison, and collectibles are a niche market with a unique economic model. One of the prominent catalysts for the digital asset game/collectible in blockchain was . Launched in 2017 on ETH network, the entire scope of gameplay surrounded collecting, breeding and auctioning kitties. It created a new economic model for players where new game assets are created and sold to other players just like a regular cryptocurrency. blockchain games CryptoKitties The most expensive CryptoKitties asset ever sold was for over . As a result, many swamped the game to breed and sell virtual cats. The popularity reached a point that the Ethereum network slowed down massively due to transaction overload. $170,000 in 2018 Today, CryptoKitties is now a larger part of “KittyVerse”, an extended realm of CryptoKitties consisting of several game developers. This community has developed several games that utilize the ERC-721 kitties as an asset in these games (e.g. Kitty Race), thereby extending the asset utility in other games and making the experience better for everyone. Blockchain game economic model: Since the evolution of CryptoKitties, many blockchain-based games have evolved and are beginning to display signs of future potential. To date, there are 750+ blockchain-based games/collectible dApps in existence across multiple platforms, source: . dapp.review Blockchain game developers monetize their in-game assets in pre-sales / crowd sale and post-game launch, collect a small proportion of fees or royalties from each digital asset transaction (as illustrated below), thereby providing game developers a better ability to monetize their creations properly. The possibility of freely transferring assets has made blockchain-based games popular over web2-based games. In centralized games, players could lose years of hard work put to earn rare assets either from account hack, canceled games or centralized decisions, etc. In contrast, Blockchain provides security to players' collectibles or digital assets, tamper-proof ownership records, and enables cross-game asset transfer. Additionally, it provides an option for players to monetize their earned assets or possessions in the secondary market. The current state of blockchain game philosophy: Despite its huge benefits, blockchain games are yet to make a big leap. Reason - lack of interpretability between existing blockchain-games. Though blockchain-based digital assets (e.g. gaming/collectible) issued from the same network have interoperability, game developers are resistant to utilize this feature. Why? Most game developers once build their audience, guard them in closed-walls so as not to lose them. Having any kind of value and asset transferability between games could risk their audience and with that, risk losing their in-game transaction economy and spread its variables without control to a free open market economy. Therefore, most developers restrict their economic returns to in-game purchases or activity. This makes the whole gaming ecosystem isolated to 1 or 2 games. Let's look into the below analysis to understand it better. Gaming ecosystem analysis: Based on projects using the standard ERC-721 on the Ethereum Blockchain, in H1 2019 there were nearly per week transacting with at least 1 dApp game. Though the count of active users increased by 70% in H1 2019, 90.77% of players only played one blockchain game from the list of 14 projects analyzed during the period H1 2019. 12,000+ addresses This indicates how extremely crypto gaming or communities are isolated from each other. My Crypto Heroes with the highest active users (or players) is by far the most "isolated" project, with 93% of its players not playing any other blockchain game. Source: . NFT NonFungible.com To expand the blockchain gaming ecosystem, we want users of game dApp to try out broader applications. Apart from CryptoKitties, almost all projects have less than 10% of common users with other projects. What can we do about it: Blockchain requires a new token standard for that allows its developers to set license fees, enabling cross-platform usage. This way developers will be able to control game economic returns in the free market and create further development avenues. NFT tokens enables Protocol-Level Royalties to break the developer isolation. Developers building on the NEAR protocol can straight forward set a developer fee percentage that is charged in addition to transaction fees any time their smart contract is called. NEAR protocol This opens up a whole range of automated royalty and licensing-based business models that were previously hugely difficult to implement on a blockchain app. With the problem of inability to control the variables, now projects (developers) can partner and collaborate with each other to create the utility of their assets in other game applications. For instance, let's pick two of the blockchain games with the highest active user base - CryptoKitties and and build their digital assets to interact in each other platform. MyCryptoHeroes For example, CryptoKitties can join in the battle quest in the MyCryptoHeros game and train to give birth to a special CryptoKitties bread, a Ninja Kitty. Such functionalities would not only increase developers' earnings but also increase user engagement and eagerness to try out other apps. Other than improving the developer's earning opportunities, NEAR protocol also simplifies UX for users. Given the complexity to navigate through dApps, the developers mostly targeted the crypto (or blockchain) community as their application adopters. NEAR protocol simplifies the application usage, allowing developers (or entrepreneurs) to expand their horizons to a wide range of customer persona such as crypto-novice. Here is how it is achieved: It lets users try out decentralized applications the same way they try all other apps – for free. Developers can prepay transactions for them so that their users don’t need to worry about getting crypto tokens to start using the applications. Additionally, it allows users to sign up with just an email address and password. Once users are ready to upgrade the security of their account, apps can securely and automatically transfer access keys to the users' account. Users can create unique account system using NEAR wallets that are human-readable names With blockchain machinery running silently in the background, users experience a smooth onboarding and engagement process with the NEAR-based dApps, similar to experiencing applications like Facebook or Instagram. For startups thinking about developing NEAR blockchain-based products, they can leverage the accelerator program by the to launch successful products. By being part of the , startups can leverage Open Web Collective's vast community and a pool of advisors from niche industries to build secret-sauce for their business model. Open Web Collective accelerator program The foundation uses Lean-startup methodology which helps startups to define value propositions, target customer persona and easily build MVP to validate idea desirability in the market. This mechanism ensures successful launch of products with minimum failures. Closing remarks: Blockchain gaming has just come into existence and clearly requires further work on its base layer (or protocol) to make it usable by a wider mainstream users/ developers community. NEAR protocol helps to reshape the blockchain gaming ecosystem by providing easy cross-game assets utilization and better UX, thereby which was previously untargeted by existing blockchain protocols.

Blockchain Gaming: A Paradigm Shift in Economic Modeling

Recent months demonstrated explosive growth of Decentralized Finance with $13B+ in total value locked. Normally, games are the first thing to take off on new platforms, and seems like DeFi is not an exception here. The most obvious pretendent here is the decentralized city builder dApp game is not a new kid on the block - launched early 2018 to become one of the most popular blockchain games with $42 Million of estimated market cap to date. MegaCryptoPolis 3D (MCP3D) Players acquire Land Plots in Districts to construct buildings using Resources. Some buildings produce Resources, others allow to grab ETH and TRX from in-game “Funds” ($400’000 available at the moment). The most expensive game assets are Districts - one was recently sold by a player for 70 ETH (~$27’000 at the date of the deal). Districts were initially distributed on the Ethereum network starting at 5 ETH. All the Ethereum Districts now have their owners and are available only on the secondary market. TRON gaming map was opened March 2020 and still has Districts opening every next month with the initial auction bid starting at 200 000 TRX. Resources are the core of gameplay as required by almost every action in the game. Every time a Resource is used in the game it’s burned — reducing the overall supply of a Resource. Each Resource has its own price on the in-game market, that may vary depending on network. Actual deal prices and trading volumes are available in so-called that works just like a block explorer for the game assets: “MCP Times” newspaper All the game logic runs on smart contracts with all the actions being a transaction and every game item a non-fungible token. Resources are also traded as NFTs (ERC-721) today, that does not reflect the nature of a countable asset. A new ERC-20 Token called $MEGA was launched on September 24 to change that dramatically. What is the $MEGA Token? The core idea behind $MEGA is enabling value transfer between chains and creating an independent and trustless market with no control from developers. $MEGA is not a utility or a governance token. It’s designed as an index for all in-game Resources combined for every blockchain. Pre-minted total supply. Not a token offering, pre-sale or distribution. No token reserved for team members. $MEGA Token will have a static supply that is not changing over time as no Mint() or Burn() functions are in the smart contract - that means no new $MEGA Tokens will be created, ever. 100% $MEGA Tokens will be initially allocated in the Vault. Players will be able to receive $MEGA from the Vault by depositing Resources to the Vault. The less $MEGA Tokens left in the Vault, the more Resources will be required to receive the same amount of $MEGA from the Vault. It works just like UniSwap’s x * y = k rule. Resources locked in the Vault could be released by any player using $MEGA Tokens. The more Resources is deposited to the Vault the less $MEGA is required to receive the same amount of Resources from the Vault. How to use $MEGA? $MEGA is not a governance or a utility token. However, it can be used in many different ways: Release Resources from the Vault, exchange one Resource to another inside a single chain, transfer Resources between chains, add to liquidity pool to earn fees, trade on exchanges as a storage of value or for HODLING. How to get $MEGA? $MEGA Token can be received by locking Resources in the game. Resources can be produced in a building, purchased on the in-game market or acquired in Packs from the official store (limited amount). MegaCryptoPolis $MEGA Tokens will be available in liquidity pools (Uniswap) and on  decentralized exchanges in October. With the recently announced MakerDAO partnership MegaCryptoPolis offers a time limited 30% discount on Packs with Resources when purchased with DAI.

DeFi Meets NFT With $MEGA Yield Farming in The MCP3D Decentralized City

Blockchain tech is gradually integrating with the current industries as big corporations and startups seek solutions based on this new innovation. Forbes has since taken up the initiative to list 50 best projects leveraging blockchain; this year’s publication marks the second annual ‘Blockchain 50’ ranking by the magazine. Prior to its fame, blockchain’s main niche was digital payments and in particular Bitcoin transactions. This has however changed in recent years given the technology’s potential in reducing costs and processing time while increasing transparency . across even a number of giant industries According to the by Forbes, leading sectors in integration include banking, tech and automobile manufacturing. Blockchain 50 list Tech giants like Amazon and IBM have both pioneered blockchain solutions suited for direct and indirect consumers. The former offers blockchain extension services on Amazon Web while the latter developed ‘IBM blockchain’ which is currently known for its ‘Food Trust’. It is also notable that most ongoing projects have opted for Hyperledger Fabric, R3 Corda, Bitcoin, Chainlink and Ethereum blockchains. Given these set pacers, more blockchain-based projects have emerged to solve existing inefficiencies in today’s world. However, not all have proven to be good prospects of the Forbes Blockchain 50 list. This article highlights 20 of the most promising blockchain-built innovations that might feature in the ranking this year. 1. Bridge Coin This digital currency is built on the Stellar blockchain and leverages smart contracts to facilitate token management and investment security. Basically, the BD token serves as a means to access which is in turn linked with the Forex Industry. Through this platform, stakeholders in the FX market like banks and investors can make digital currency-based payments through BD coin. Bridge Services One of the main competitive advantages of Bridge Coin is its scalability owing to Stellar’s blockchain. This unique approach to FX markets as more players join the industry will not only facilitate fiat-crypto integration but also diversify investment options within cryptocurrency. It, therefore, follows that Bridge Coin might be a top project in the industry going forward. 2. Zelwin This platform is an online marketplace that prides itself on being the first peer to peer platform where all stakeholders make money. Zelwin’s model is a loyalty reward system in which buyers are allocated ZLW tokens for every purchase made. They can choose to transfer these funds to Mastercard or Visa accounts for spending; alternatively, there is an option to save the rewards. has shown great potential to feature in the top 20 blockchain projects this year owing to its global market and token rewards system. As it stands, the platform offers a wide range of goods that participating buyers and sellers can trade in from anywhere in the world. Furthermore, the firm’s approach to leverage crypto coins in loyalty marketing is in line with ongoing industry shifts to create fairness. Zelwin 3. Atromg8 is a Switzerland based blockchain innovation seeking to revolutionize security and privacy in the messaging & payments ecosystem. The project’s blockchain landscape and unique Multi-DLT are supported by ‘Innovative MixNet 5.0’. This privacy-oriented platform is built from various open sources and is fundamentally decentralized in order to facilitate real-time digital networks. Atromg8 The Atromg8 network is likely to gain a good number of users in the near future as security features take lead in blockchain applications. Today’s world has also moved from a competitive one to collaborative; this blockchain network will not only help realize value in sharing ideas real-time but also in transfer of funds аnd new ways of corporations between existing networks. 4. MMCrypto is one of the biggest Bitcoin & Crypto Communities. Led by Co-Founder Christopher Jaszczynski aka Chris MMCrypto they have experienced huge growth during the recent bear market. Their YouTube Channel is right now ranked worldwide within the top 5 in terms of daily average views and their private Telegram Community is among the biggest if not the biggest in the world with a combined member count of more than 18'000 people. MMCrypto Community members report that what they love about MMCrypto is that they not only focus on technical analysis for the Bitcoin Price and selected Altcoins. They also include revolutionary on-chain fundamental indicators to predict Bitcoin and Altcoin Prices. Not only that this method of analysis is brand new to the world of investing it also shows incredible accuracy in regards to the predictions. Chris MMCrypto has been among the first people ever on YouTube to talk about that starting in the middle of the last bear market and is still the go to place on YouTube for a combination of technical and fundamental analysis. Chris himself is also known for speaking frequently as a headliner, keynote speaker and expert at a variety of international top industry conferences. 5. Platinum Q DAO Engineering ’s main business is customized software solutions for their clients. The company leverages engineering-fundamentals to provide cost-efficient and innovative tech solutions within the development space. Notably, Platinum offers blockchain development solutions that include; DApp creation, blockchain integration and Enterprise consulting for entities looking to implement distributed ledgers within their networks. Platinum Q DAO Engineering This software-oriented firm is a likely top 20 blockchain project given it offers the most advanced tech today within its services portfolio. Some of Platinum’s prominent clients so far include Japan Airlines and electronics manufacturer, Foxconn. The company’s fortune stands an even greater chance if blockchain becomes the most sought-after technology of the decade. Regarding Anton Dziatkovskiy, CEO at Platinum Q DAO Engineering, the old question "Are you going to implement Blockchain Technology in your business" has been replaced by "Why are your databases not on the blockchain?" 6. Crypto Village Accelerator is a Blockchain project accelerator that has experienced tremendous growth in the past 6 months. It is building an ecosystem that allows the best projects to quickly raise capital and immediately enter the market. Their MISSION is to eliminate scams and allow their users to grow financially. The founder, Carlo Buonpane, works with many of the best exchanges and has participated in numerous projects in recent years. Crypto Village Accelerator Crypto Village Accelerator has just launched a form of Staking on its CVA token which allows a gain of up to 120% in CVA per year. A platform to invest in other large projects and a platform for real estate investments will be launched shortly to allow users to always have a diversified investment portfolio and reduce risks. The entire ecosystem of platforms and services is expected to be completed by the end of 2020 7. X10 Agency - is one of the most high rated and fast-growing crypto agencies globally. The company has proven highly successful in the crypto and blockchain promotion market and has already worked with 50+ clients. The projects that they work with are always worth to follow, including big and famous crypto exchanges, STO and IEO projects, wallets and so on. X10 Agency X10’s team consists of professionals that previously worked inside crypto projects themselves with background in marketing, PR and fundraising. 8.  Blue Hill Mining Project is a tokenized mining project offering co-ownership into an increasing number of mining exploration licenses via tokens. The ecosystem has its own Liquidity System that provides funding to continue to grow the project in an independent way. The objective of this token model is the which is the final stage of the life, when the underlying value reaches $30 per BHM-Token. Blue Hill Mining Project Buyback Plan 9.  Bitit is the first cryptocurrency exchange to feature on this list; the platform offers fiat-crypto trading services. Users can easily top up their accounts through a Mastercard or Visa linked account to buy crypto coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The platform prides itself in making crypto available through local currencies in addition to convenience and security. Bitit This project’s focus on delivery, payment security and covering the global market are part of its competitive edges. Furthermore, Bitit has packaged its services as a one stop shop for crypto traders while maintaining a low fee and good rates. 10. Nominex Maybe potential game-changer in crypto trading, switching it from pure exchange of tokens to BTC/USDT and back to a community-based non-stop competition. The idea strikes me for two reasons. One is market positioning: crypto exchanges are at risk threatened by Wall Street type actors. Second, smart strategy: with no hype in the air, retail crypto investors drift away slowly. But proper contests and ranking systems deliver everything they desire in this sort of activity. And Nominex guys are building something to match this need: a potentially market-leading ‘entertrading’ service. Cryptocurrency exchange represents a mixture or ideas previously unseen in the market. They have something in common with EOS and some other recently launched exchanges, namely the hybrid token distribution model that may totally refund trading fees in te first phase of NMX token distribution, and some tips come from the ‘old school’ direct marketing. In the second phase of NMX token distribution traders split every day the same (big) amount of NMX tokens proportionally to their daily trading volumes. The daily tournaments and payout schedule deserves some attention. The has no limitations, and everyone can have as many referral levels as 1 thousand or 1 million and earn 4 different types of bonuses. There are signs for future gamification implementations as well. No doubt this one is worth at least looking at and giving a test run. Nominex referral program 11. ECOSC , a Malta-based company designed platform that uses Blockchain technology to embrace the oil/gas, minerals and all products for Trade with world fastest,transparent and secure Trade platform with world fastest cross border payment system(L/C), Fast confirmation for payment. It is a global, decentralized Supply Chain Management solution on top of blockchain; that aligns stakeholders, vendors and buyers around the strategic management of supply and demand outcomes, with a widely acceptable crypto currency assets. ECOSC 12. Sudan Gold Coin This crypto coin will be backed by real gold; the firm’s goal is to offer a decentralized avenue where users can own and trade gold through tokenization. It further uses smart contract technology to register and create new agreements as to the ownership of gold within the network’s ecosystem. The (SGC) will be the metal-backed tokens in which users can derive the value of their gold or other precious minerals. Sudan Gold Coin The platform is established as a reliable, decentralized exchange network whose credibility is verifiable through stakeholders like Sudan’s government. With this innovation, interested gold buyers can instead own a small amount in their digital wallets as opposed to the hustle of acquiring it in its physical state. SGC’s pegging to a stable asset like gold also makes it more attractive than most volatile blockchain and crypto projects. 13.  Blockchain Foundry As of press date, blockchain’s application in modern-day industries is lower than most enthusiasts would have anticipated. has positioned itself as a consulting firm in this space providing integration and development services for prospective clients. This firm targets governments, enterprises in need of customized blockchain solutions. Blockchain Foundry The Blockchain Foundry service packaging might just be its success ticket. For now, the demand for its product is larger than its market supply. If implemented with tact, Blockchain Foundry stands a good chance of capitalizing on a first-mover advantage. 14. Coinstelegram Coinstelegram group is a crypto services provider with a particular interest in English & Russian news coverage. Apart from regular news updates, offers a summary trading analysis of the top ranking crypto projects. This is delivered in a well-organized manner with third party data from CoinMarketCap crypto exchange. Coinstelegram Coinstelegram also runs a as part of its portfolio focusing on crypto assets, blockchain-oriented projects and digital tokens. Some of its popular blockchain investments so far include Perlin, Tron, Sparkster, Genesis Vision and Ethereum. crypto fund The Coinstelegram market niche in news coverage and crypto driven investment funds is one to look out for this year. As it stands, a court in Australia has already recognized Bitcoin as an investment vehicle while Germany’s regulator, BaFin, classified crypto assets as financial instruments. Coinstelegram’s partners within the crypto industry, investments and the media are also set to accelerate the company’s growth. 15.  OAAM is a team of experts with over 20 years of experience in business consulting in the field of strategy and marketing. Since 2016 OAAM has been specializing in providing services related to the implementation of blockchain and new technology OAAM in startups, In-depth knowledge of tokenization and the IEO, ICO and STO systems allows the company to advise clients on a daily basis regarding how to best finance new projects. OAAM is providing following services: consulting, whitepaper preparation, graphic part, smart contract and token, listing and IEO or STO on exchanges, marketing and advertising campaign, social media management, crowdfunding with support of international advisors. 16.  CryptoCompare Just like Coinfirm, provides an analysis of cryptocurrency data. Users can get live crypto price comparisons on this platform amongst other particulars like traded volumes and market capitalization. Furthermore, the website also shows the percentage of variations in prices over different time periods; daily and weekly. CryptoCompare As more users join the crypto industry, it becomes more liquid to give signals by the second. CryptoCompare’s live price updates are not only valuable to frequent traders but also the larger digital currency market including speculators. 17.  Cryptwerk Despite the rise of cryptocurrencies, only a few outlets across the world have recognized digital currency as a payment for goods or services. operates as an online directory to guide interested clients to these Bitcoin, Ether, Dash, Bitcoin Cash or Monero accepting shops. Users can register on the platform for free and avoid banks or exchanges by simply searching on Cryptwerk which businesses have embraced digital currencies. Cryptwerk The information gap between buyers and sellers looking to use crypto coins has been one of the challenges to adoption. Cryptwerk’s strategy and product bridges this gap efficiently with a nice summary of stakeholders deep in the crypto market. This type of statistical and information analysis is definitely a good niche to propel the ‘online directory’ for cryptocurrencies into the Forbes Blockchain 50. 18.  Tierion implements blockchain's solution as immutable proof for recorded data. The firm uses 'chainpoint' technology to anchor and allocate a timestamp for data on a distributed ledger. It has since proven to be instrumental in document timestamping, IoT data integrity, regulatory compliance and blockchain verifiable credentials. Tierion Dell is among the tech giants that have integrated with chainpoint for data anchoring services. Boomi, a unified platform for data management, API and cloud-based integration, built by Dell now leverages this service for keeping data records on a blockchain. 19.  Bitt is a FinTech company using blockchain to facilitate P2P payments through its mobile app and other softwares. This platform targets financial institutions, central banks, merchants and consumers globally. As a result, Bitt is AML/KYC compliant based on the country of operation. Bitt Notable milestones by this project include participating in a sandbox that helped form the first FinTech legislation in Carribean. Most recently, Bitt signed a contract with the Central Bank of Barbados which will see the first CBDC coin piloted on a blockchain. 20.  Stox Last but not least is , this project is based on the Ethereum blockchain network and serves the prediction market in crypto. The platform runs on its native token as the wage for event predictions, payment of fees and staking collateral. Stox Users basically guess prospective outcomes in weather, politics, sports and even Finance. Based on the current trends in fields like betting, this is a hot market despite the volatility in crypto combined with a low probability of making correct predictions.

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