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Startups of The Year 2023 Winners: Europe

Loss of Amazon Rainforest Resilience: Author Contributions

Author(s):
(1) Irene Drelichman, member of CONICET, Argentina. Content Overview Abstract & Introduction Notation and Preliminary Results Proof of our main theorem Applications to fractional Poincar´e inequalities References Abstract. We characterize the real interpolation space between weighted L1 and W1,1 spaces on arbitrary bounded domains, when the weights are positive powers of the distance to the boundary multiplied by an A1 weight. As an application of this result we obtain weighted fractional Poincar´e inequalities with sharp dependence on the fractional parameter s (for s close to 1) and show that they are equivalent to a weighted Poincar´e inequality for the gradient. 1. Introduction 2. Notation and Preliminary Results 3. Proof of our main theorem 4. Applications to fractional Poincar´e inequalities In the forthcoming results we will make use of two well-known properties of weighted norms contained in the following lemma. We include a proof for the sake of completeness. References [1] Acosta, G.; Drelichman, I.; Dur´an, R.G. Weighted fractional Sobolev spaces as interpolation spaces in bounded domains. Math. Nachr. 296 (2023), no. 9, 4374–4385. [2] Brezis, H. How to recognize constant functions. A connection with Sobolev spaces. Russian Math. Surveys 57 (2002), no. 4, 693–708 [3] Bourgain, J.; Brezis, H.; Mironescu, P. Another look at Sobolev spaces. Optimal control and partial differential equations, IOS, Amsterdam, 2001, pp. 439–455. [4] Bourgain, J.; Brezis, H.; Mironescu, P. Limiting embedding theorems for Ws,p when s ↑ 1 and applications. J. Anal. Math. 87 (2002), 77–101. [5] Drelichman, I.; Dur´an, R. G. Improved Poincar´e inequalities in fractional Sobolev spaces. Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn. Math. 43 (2018), no. 2, 885–903. [6] Drelichman, I.; Dur´an, R. G. Improved Poincar´e inequalities with weights. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 347 (2008), no. 1, 286–293. [7] Drelichman, I.; Dur´an, R. G. The Bourgain-Br´ezis-Mironescu formula in arbitrary bounded domains. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 150 (2022), no. 2, 701–708. [8] Dyda, B.; Ihnatsyeva, L.; V¨ah¨akangas, A. V. On improved fractional Sobolev-Poincar´e inequalities. Ark. Mat. 54 (2016), no. 2, 437–454. [9] Gogatishvili, A.; Koskela, P.; Shanmugalingam, N. Interpolation properties of Besov spaces defined on metric spaces. Math. Nachr. 283 (2010), no. 2, 215–231. [10] Guo, CY. Fractional Sobolev-Poincar´e inequalities in irregular domains. Chin. Ann. Math. Ser. B 38 (2017), 839–856 . [11] Hedberg, L. I. On certain convolution inequalities. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 36 (1972), 505–510. [12] Hurri-Syrj¨anen, R.; V¨ah¨akangas, A. V. On fractional Poincar´e inequalities. J. Anal. Math. 120 (2013), 85–104. [13] Jiang, R.; Kauranen, A.; Koskela, P. Solvability of the divergence equation implies John via Poincar´e inequality. Nonlinear Anal. Theory Methods Appl. 101 (2014), 80–88. [14] Myyryl¨ainen, K., P´erez, C., Weigt, J. Weighted Fractional Poincar´e inequalities via isoperimetric inequalities. arXiv:2304.02681v2 (2023). [15] Maz’ya, V.; Shaposhnikova, T. On the Bourgain, Brezis, and Mironescu theorem concerning limiting embeddings of fractional Sobolev spaces. J. Funct. Anal. 195 (2002), no. 2, 230–238. [16] Milman, M. Notes on limits of Sobolev spaces and the continuity of interpolation scales. Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 357 (2005), no. 9, 3425–3442 [17] Mohanta, K. Bourgan-Br´ezis-Mironescu formula for Triebel-Lizorkin spaces in arbitrary domains. arXiv:2308.12830v2 (2023). [18] Muckenhoupt, B. Weighted norm inequalities for the Hardy maximal function. Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 165 (1972), 207–226. [19] L´opez-Garc´ıa, F.; Ojea, I. Some inequalities on weighted Sobolev spaces, distance weights and the Assouad dimension. arXiv:2210.12322 (2022). [20] Ponce, A.C. An estimate in the spirit of Poincar´e’s inequality. J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 6 (2004), no. 1, 1–15. This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. Author(s): (1) Irene Drelichman, member of CONICET, Argentina. Author(s): Author(s): (1) Irene Drelichman, member of CONICET, Argentina. Content Overview Abstract & Introduction Notation and Preliminary Results Proof of our main theorem Applications to fractional Poincar´e inequalities References Abstract. We characterize the real interpolation space between weighted L1 and W1,1 spaces on arbitrary bounded domains, when the weights are positive powers of the distance to the boundary multiplied by an A1 weight. As an application of this result we obtain weighted fractional Poincar´e inequalities with sharp dependence on the fractional parameter s (for s close to 1) and show that they are equivalent to a weighted Poincar´e inequality for the gradient. 1. Introduction 2. Notation and Preliminary Results 3. Proof of our main theorem 4. Applications to fractional Poincar´e inequalities In the forthcoming results we will make use of two well-known properties of weighted norms contained in the following lemma. We include a proof for the sake of completeness. References [1] Acosta, G.; Drelichman, I.; Dur´an, R.G. Weighted fractional Sobolev spaces as interpolation spaces in bounded domains. Math. Nachr. 296 (2023), no. 9, 4374–4385. [2] Brezis, H. How to recognize constant functions. A connection with Sobolev spaces. Russian Math. Surveys 57 (2002), no. 4, 693–708 [3] Bourgain, J.; Brezis, H.; Mironescu, P. Another look at Sobolev spaces. Optimal control and partial differential equations, IOS, Amsterdam, 2001, pp. 439–455. [4] Bourgain, J.; Brezis, H.; Mironescu, P. Limiting embedding theorems for Ws,p when s ↑ 1 and applications. J. Anal. Math. 87 (2002), 77–101. [5] Drelichman, I.; Dur´an, R. G. Improved Poincar´e inequalities in fractional Sobolev spaces. Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn. Math. 43 (2018), no. 2, 885–903. [6] Drelichman, I.; Dur´an, R. G. Improved Poincar´e inequalities with weights. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 347 (2008), no. 1, 286–293. [7] Drelichman, I.; Dur´an, R. G. The Bourgain-Br´ezis-Mironescu formula in arbitrary bounded domains. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 150 (2022), no. 2, 701–708. [8] Dyda, B.; Ihnatsyeva, L.; V¨ah¨akangas, A. V. On improved fractional Sobolev-Poincar´e inequalities. Ark. Mat. 54 (2016), no. 2, 437–454. [9] Gogatishvili, A.; Koskela, P.; Shanmugalingam, N. Interpolation properties of Besov spaces defined on metric spaces. Math. Nachr. 283 (2010), no. 2, 215–231. [10] Guo, CY. Fractional Sobolev-Poincar´e inequalities in irregular domains. Chin. Ann. Math. Ser. B 38 (2017), 839–856 . [11] Hedberg, L. I. On certain convolution inequalities. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 36 (1972), 505–510. [12] Hurri-Syrj¨anen, R.; V¨ah¨akangas, A. V. On fractional Poincar´e inequalities. J. Anal. Math. 120 (2013), 85–104. [13] Jiang, R.; Kauranen, A.; Koskela, P. Solvability of the divergence equation implies John via Poincar´e inequality. Nonlinear Anal. Theory Methods Appl. 101 (2014), 80–88. [14] Myyryl¨ainen, K., P´erez, C., Weigt, J. Weighted Fractional Poincar´e inequalities via isoperimetric inequalities. arXiv:2304.02681v2 (2023). [15] Maz’ya, V.; Shaposhnikova, T. On the Bourgain, Brezis, and Mironescu theorem concerning limiting embeddings of fractional Sobolev spaces. J. Funct. Anal. 195 (2002), no. 2, 230–238. [16] Milman, M. Notes on limits of Sobolev spaces and the continuity of interpolation scales. Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 357 (2005), no. 9, 3425–3442 [17] Mohanta, K. Bourgan-Br´ezis-Mironescu formula for Triebel-Lizorkin spaces in arbitrary domains. arXiv:2308.12830v2 (2023). [18] Muckenhoupt, B. Weighted norm inequalities for the Hardy maximal function. Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 165 (1972), 207–226. [19] L´opez-Garc´ıa, F.; Ojea, I. Some inequalities on weighted Sobolev spaces, distance weights and the Assouad dimension. arXiv:2210.12322 (2022). [20] Ponce, A.C. An estimate in the spirit of Poincar´e’s inequality. J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 6 (2004), no. 1, 1–15. This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. available on arxiv

An Interpolation Result for A1 Weights With Applications

Before we begin, you may be wondering: What is ? NEO (formerly Antshares) is a Chinese-based blockchain which uses instead of to achieve consensus. I know I’m throwing around big terms, but simply put, NEO nodes/servers will be way more eco friendly than its competitors! Read more about this . NEO proof-of-stake* proof-of-work here In addition, NEO’s can be written in any language! It currently supports C#, Java and Python, with plans to support Javascript, C and Golang in the , lowering the barrier of entry for developers looking to step foot into smart contracts. For comparison, Ethereum created its own language, Solidity, for contract development. smart-contracts future Hopefully I’ve already convinced you to get your hands dirty with NEO, but if not, you may want to check out articles by my dear friend, who wrote about how he discovered cryptocurrency, block-chain technology, and the NEO platform! Nathan Mukena As Nate covers the big pictures, this article will take us down to the nitty-gritty! We will show you how to set up a dev environment, build a private for you and your friends, write/compile your first smart contract and even how to create a React App to interface with your newly deployed contract!~ network Excited?! Lets begin - Building a smart-contract on a blockchain platform can be a daunting task. The first step: Set-up your environment! new We will focus on keeping costs down, installing the NEO-python CLI, running our own block-chain private network via AWS and deploying out very first contract!~ Check out for some more in-depth guides! Alex Guba Allow Linux subsystems on your windows machine! Step 1: Open and use the following commands_:_ Windows PowerShell Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux restart + Start up the Ubuntu environment Step 2: Download Open up the and initiate Ubuntu_:_ command prompt ubuntu *set up your root username/password install python 3.6.5, run these commands on Ubuntu: Step 3: sudo -i apt-get install software-properties-common python-software-properties add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa apt-get update apt-get install python3.6 python3.6-dev python3.6-venv python3-pip libleveldb-dev libssl-dev g++ installing NEO-Python Step 4: open up a new , and clone the neo-python project: command prompt cd <storage location>git clone t https://github.com/CityOfZion/neo-python.gi go back to the : Ubuntu terminal cd /mnt/<drive+storage location>/neo-pythonpython3.6 -m venv venv source venv/bin/activatepip install -e . run the NEO-Python prompt ! Step 5: (from Ubuntu) np-prompt you are now connected to the NEO network! Next week, we will look into creating a network where you and your friends can connect and deploy your first smart contract. public private Check out the project I’m currently working on! is a marketing platform for local business, generating engagement through small activities and rewarding users with cryptocurrency they can later spend on these stores. Nodis.io setting up your own private NEO network on AWS. Next week’s guide:

Getting started on a NEO SmartContract!

Have you heard about the blockchain before? You know, that awesome new technology everyone is making a big deal about? Although you may still ignore what makes it so special technically, you simply know that it is another cutting-edge technology which could end up changing your life. Maybe you’re one of those who decided they wouldn’t spend time trying to figure out how it actually works. After all, very few people would decompose their newly bought I-Phone to find out how it was made. Same for the blockchain; it won’t really matter until it is actually helpful or fun to use. Or would it? The blockchain (especially the public blockchain) was invented to be economically and socially disruptive. The is to transform the way we transact and exchange value by suppressing the need for a costly and intrusive mediator (or middleman). If it succeeds in its purpose and is widely adopted, it may have profound consequences on our society. Experts realize this ( ) and praise the benefits of a new decentralized economy. But skeptics also see the issues which could result from its use (see this ). very reason for its existence see my previous article article Knowing a little bit about the blockchain may be helpful for the future. The interest around the blockchain technology keeps on rising and we may one day have to decide whether we should use it in our daily activities. Understanding the blockchain can be challenging but resources are available to get you introduced to the topic. I encourage all to do their own research on this topic and get an idea of what this technology looks like. In this article, I’ll focus on the technical aspects of the blockchain. Basic elements Every blockchain in the world will be dealing with following elements: There are — individuals, you, me, people, organizations. parties There are — stuff that people can exchange. assets There are — the exchanges of stuff between individuals. transactions There are — a set of new transactions put together. blocks A — a sequence of blocks. Also known as the blockchain. There is no central authority responsible over the chain. Rather, every party involved will keep an accurate copy of the chain. chain There is a frequent — parties must regularly come together and agree on what new blocks are accepted in the chain (one of the things that make the blockchain technology special). consensus — the foundation of the blockchain technology in my opinion. More details below. Cryptographic hash functions These elements are essential characteristics of a blockchain. Blocks and Hashes Since the blockchain is a chain of blocks, the first step to mastering the blockchain is to understand what a block is. Generally speaking, meant to be added to an existing chain. Here’s an example of a block. a block is a set of recorded transactions Example of a block. The above block contains a number of transactions of different types. Transactions may refer to an exchange of value, a confirmation, a change of role, etc. As a matter of fact, our block can contain any information you would like. However, using this block enables you to make it available and readable to everyone as soon as that block is added to the chain. Anyone who has access to the chain will be able to see your transactions. . How is a simple block of data not vulnerable to attacks and corruption when that block is accessible to thousands of individuals in an unsupervised way? Thanks to cryptography (more specifically cryptographic hash functions)! But even so, no one will be able to change the data without getting noticed ! Feel free to read up on but a summary is that it takes your whole block of data and compresses it into a short message called a . Every block will have its own unique hash (collisions — two different blocks having the same hash signature — are possible but extremely rare). . Imagine, for example, that one individual named Kevin wanted to change a transaction on Block 68. The true hash signature of block 68 would be enough to tell there has been a change. Cryptographic hash functions are awesome how a cryptographic hash function works hash signature Changing even one tiny bit of data on a block will automatically cause its hash signature to be significantly different Cryptographic hash functions are what makes the blockchain reliable. An effective hash function is one that (1) dramatically changes its result when the block is even slightly modified, (2) has low chances of collisions, and (3) is time efficient. A good blockchain is one with a great hash function first and foremost. Bitcoin, for instance uses while Ethereum uses . SHA256 Keccak-256 An unbreakable chain Here’s how, with only blocks and hashing algorithms, you can create a chain of information that can preserve its integrity while being shared with everyone within a network. Let’s take the block from the previous paragraph and give it a header. Block and block header Typically, the block header contains information about the block but we will focus on 2 key pieces of information: The hash of the previous block: every block must contain the hash of its preceding block. The Merkle Tree of the current block: if you are interested in knowing exactly what a Merkle Tree is, I recommend . For the sake of brevity, I will simply state that it is a combined hash signature of every transaction in the current block. The Merkle Tree allows you to check whether a transaction in a block actually belongs to that block. this article Here’s what the blockchain looks like: A chain of blocks — Blockchain : The block header helps you know two things : the following block contains its hash and the next block contains the hash of that block and so on. If that block is changed, its hash will not match with all the following blocks. If one block of the chain has been changed : the Merkle Tree allows you to verify transactions. If one transaction in a new block has been changed Note that the very first block of the chain , called Block 0 or Genesis Block, is different from the other blocks since there is no preceding block. This is what it typically would look like. A Peer to Peer Network Now that we understand what the blockchain is — a ledger of transactions that is effective at keeping its integrity — we need to explain the last valuable quality that sets it apart as an innovative technology: it is a ledger. of hundreds to thousands of computers — usually called nodes or miners — responsible for: distributed A typical blockchain is shared across a large peer-to-peer network Maintaining their own updated copy of the ledger Collaborating together to achieve consensus when a new block is about to be added to the chain. Here’s a picture of the network: Conclusion I hope you can see now that the blockchain allows any transaction to be recorded in a transparent and secure way without the help of a bank or a money transfer agency. If you would like to trade an asset, you simply need to submit a transaction to the blockchain network. Once the computers of the network agree to write the transaction on a block and add that block to the chain, this transaction remains on the blockchain permanently. How do thousands of computers manage to achieve regularly consensus? I shall address that question in my next article. Helpful Resources: https://blockgeeks.com/guides/what-is-hashing/ _The aim of this post is to provide an overview of the basic Merkle Tree data structure and a jumping off point for more…_hackernoon.com Merkle Tree Introduction

Introduction to the Blockchain: the basics

In my previous , I explained how I transitioned from being a crypto-skeptic to a blockchain enthusiast in 2017. I changed my position after realizing the potential of the blockchain technology to significantly transform the worlds of finance, business and value exchange. But as I did more research and sought to understand the blockchain, I faced the blockchain enthusiast’s first challenge: separating the truth from the hype. article A career accelerator and an open playground There was already a lot of material online related to the blockchain at the time. For the previous 3–4 years, people from all kinds of academic backgrounds and walks of life wrote and taught about the blockchain. I am surprised that even I get to write about the blockchain technology after only being involved with it for less than a year. But this is apparently the current situation of the blockchain technology; since few people know it in depth, you could become an “expert” within months and start training others. That is why I secretly nickname the blockchain ‘the career accelerator’. The truth is that the blockchain is a new technology which has not been standardized yet. Take a look at the definition for example; for the word blockchain. Besides, ever since Bitcoin was invented in 2009, many different types of have been launched and rarely is one identical to the other. The open-source nature of the technology and its popularity make it the favourite playground of ambitious explorers and would-be world changers. This is visibly at the expense of rigorous researchers. people still struggle to find one universal definition blockchain projects Will the real blockchain experts stand up? Anyways, there were still tons of resources available for my own personal research. I started by learning from people who worked with the technology: reading stories on the Medium, following tutorials on how to create (blockchain-based applications), chatting with colleagues, collaborating on mini-projects on the and the , etc. My little personal research would usually take me a few hours a day after work. Thanks to the blockchain online community, I eventually gained some understanding of the unique technical features of the blockchain. DApps Ethereum platform NEO ecosystem However, some questions can only be answered by actual researchers. For example, there is always one challenge for the blockchain consultant: determining when the blockchain should be used or not. Many blockchain projects I heard about simply sounded unnecessary. If I was going to work on the blockchain, I had to avoid doing . And I needed researchers or business leaders to help me understand which types of problems the blockchain was actually designed to solve. blockchain for the sake of blockchain I eventually came across a few subject matter experts. One of them was Don Tapscott, founder of the . , a book dedicated to the topic he co-authored with his son , was eye-opening. As the title suggests, the authors argued that the blockchain could profoundly transform the way the world exchanges value. As they phrased it, after the Internet of Information and the Internet of Things, we finally had the “Internet of Value”. For those who want to learn about the blockchain as an agent of global disruption, the book is a great starting point. Blockchain Research Institute Blockchain Revolution Alex Tapscott Skipping the middleman But for those of us who simply want to know why we would ever want the blockchain in our lives, here is my short answer after reading : you use the blockchain when you want to . Blockchain Revolution skip the middleman Who is the middleman? Generally, any institution standing between you and other individuals in order to authenticate your identities and to operate transactions of value and information between you and them. Following different scenarios, the middleman can be an intermediary bank, an insurance company, the government, Western Union, Google, AirBnB, Facebook, Amazon, etc. You generally trust the middleman — at least enough to provide them with some of your personal information. Source: https://medium.com/@Joebg002/will-smart-contracts-be-the-death-of-the-middleman-7cba39987282 Why take out the middleman? For many different reasons. The middleman can be expensive to maintain. He may be greedy. He might be intrusive and collect more of your data than you would like him to. He may threaten some of your personal freedoms. He may simply be logistically slow. Or maybe you just don’t trust him. Whatever problem you may have with your middleman, the blockchain is here to help you get rid of him. This is a big deal — big enough to create a buzz. But one question you need to ask is: “should we actually take out the middleman”? One buzzword and a lot of questions This is the question that seemed most critical to me after reading the book. Contrary to a lot of folks I heard on this topic, I believed the answer was quite complicated. Yes, governments and corporations can be corrupt and intrusive. Yes, financial institutions may slow down your transactions and charge fees. No institution created and controlled by human beings is perfect. But rather than throwing away the whole system, a better approach may be to fix or improve it. And no one knows whether eliminating the need for trust in our governments, banks, and corporations will change our societies for the better. We can be sure, however, that the blockchain cannot always be the solution. The truth can hurt. Moreover, the blockchain technology is still under development. Scalability is definitely one of the major issues. The best public blockchains are currently struggling to handle effectively their volume of transactions and some of them are expensive to run and . As beneficial as the blockchain could become in the future, it really seems like it has been more and lucky speculators than anyone else. The blockchain is clearly not living up to the expectations yet. incredibly energy-consuming helpful to criminals One of the unfortunate things with the blockchain space is the fact that many actors fail to answer the difficult questions. Because the short-term rewards are sometimes more appealing than the long-term benefits, many can’t see beyond high risk ventures like crypto-investments and ICOs. Few are considering the impact (positive and negative) that the technology could have on businesses and communities if implemented and used. While overhyping the blockchain, we downplay its need for research, development, and regulation. As a result, blockchain enthusiasts can sometimes feel all they have is one buzzword and a lot of questions. Conclusion Nonetheless, many new exciting blockchain projects have been launched since 2017. I am myself currently working on an interesting proof of concept and will be happy to share more in the future. Indeed, one problem with new technologies is that they raise a lot of questions. But this uncertainty is also what makes them exciting and drives people to start exploring. A good friend who works in the blockchain space once told me: “with the blockchain, the sky is the limit.” Because we don’t know just yet the future impact of this technology, we are naturally getting excited and imagining a whole new world right around the corner. Two typical blockchain enthusiasts. I am sure the blockchain and its consensus technology have an important role to play in the future. However, the challenge for blockchain professionals, researchers, and enthusiasts will be to adjust it to the real needs of their communities and to walk away from the numerous scams and irrelevant initiatives out there. I believe the first step is to understand the technology itself. So my next article will explain how the blockchain works. Stay put! Helpful resources: https://coincenter.org/entry/open-matters https://www.blockchainresearchinstitute.org/ https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Blockchain: Buzzword or A Whole New World?

November 26, 2017 is definitely a historical day in this technological era. According to , it was on that day that the whole world watched Bitcoin’s monetary value reach the 10,000 USD mark. On December 16, 2017 it went on to reach its all-time high of 19,192.15 USD. Bitcoin.com I knew it was rising… and I refused to buy I remember these weeks particularly well since I was also watching closely the most valuable rising to new heights. Although I couldn’t have predicted the peaks in value of Bitcoin or (another rising cryptocurrency at the time), I had been observing their growth in real time for all three months preceding their high performance. As a matter of fact, ever since I installed the on my iPhone a few months earlier, I was scrutinizing their fluctuations on a daily basis. I probably knew earlier than a lot of folks that ‘something was up’ with these cryptocurrencies. cryptocurrency Ethereum Coinbase App I wasn’t part of the happy crowd though. For three months, as I watched these cryptocurrencies rise higher and higher, I made the same decision every single day; I chose not to invest in any of them. I chose so because I wasn’t convinced Bitcoin was an actual legitimate investment vehicle. And while I assume many crypto-investors were counting their 50, 75, 100 and 200 percent return on investment, I was seriously wondering whether I would regret that choice in the future. I was skeptical To be honest, I am the last person I would have imagined getting involved with cryptocurrencies. Although I heard about cryptocurrencies from my roommate back in 2014, it never inspired me anything other than skepticism. I often ignored the topic when brought up. And when I did give it some thought, I seriously questioned the moral value of a device that was used either for uneducated speculation or as a means of transactions for . Being the kind of guy who appreciates staying out of trouble, these facts were enough to keep me away. drug dealers Besides, no one I knew could answer my question: how are cryptocurrencies helpful? Transacting using Bitcoin not only looked unnecessary to me, but it was also impractical. If you wanted to acquire Bitcoins, you had to buy them. Even though one could argue (with difficulty) that obtaining cryptocurrencies is feasible for everyone, very few stores and retailers accepted them. Our good old traditional fiat currencies were much better for buying groceries, shopping, and keeping life simple. So Bitcoin and other crypto stuff were a no-no for me. Please. No. It wasn’t until after I graduated from University in 2017 and started working full-time that I revised my position — at least on some aspects. I met colleagues then who were and who also worked on projects related to the blockchain. I intend to explain the blockchain as clearly as I can in my upcoming articles but, until then, my short explanation will be “the technology underlying cryptocurrencies”. That is at least how my new colleagues first defined it to me. Before I had time to decide I would never work on that “sketchy blockchain stuff”, they also mentioned that the blockchain could accomplish much more than operating Bitcoin. crypto-investors And then I looked into it I was told for the first time that the blockchain was apparently a network with the unmatched ability to enable transactions between its participants without a third-party while preserving the security and transparency of these transactions. Different ideas came to mind as I contemplated this claim: money transfers without going through a bank or a financial agency, business operations like purchases, sales, and commissions without a middleman. Little room for corruption and privacy breaches. No institution, no corporation, just people connected together through a network. Utopian, I thought, but worth looking into. I still had questions. “How is the absence of a bank helpful or even reassuring? Isn’t this technology undermining the value of trust upon which society is built? How easy is it to build such a complex system”? I also still had difficulties explaining to others how and why the blockchain could be helpful. That made me see how limited my understanding of its applications was and it was obvious I had a lot of learning to do. The risks of wasted time seemed high but the rewards of discovering a potentially successful technology were motivating. Therefore, I chose to investigate the blockchain technology. “A book with a magnifying glass on top of it, next to a pen, and globes on a desk in Cianorte” by on João Silas Unsplash I intend to share more details about my research in my next article. The least I can say is that the more I learned about the blockchain, the more I was fascinated by its potential. I was comforted in my decision to learn about it, and it had nothing to do with Bitcoin and crypto-investments. Conclusion Back in December 2017, as Bitcoin hit its highest value, I was wondering whether not buying Bitcoins was a choice I would regret for a long time. I finally concluded that it did not matter: I knew there was much more to the blockchain than Bitcoin, Ethereum, ICOs, etc. And I was ultimately more interested in finding out how the blockchain could really help do more than gambling and facilitating crime. I already believed then that it had good chances to be a technology for tomorrow, beyond the buzz of today. Photo by on Reuben Juarez Unsplash

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