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Since its launch in 2015, nearly 12,000 startups from more than 100 countries have applied to the Visa Everywhere Initiative. These startups have gone on to collectively raise more than $16 ...

Visa Everywhere Initiative recognizes LGBTQ+ founders for their innovation

With more than $9 billion invested in Australian real estate and more than 16 years delivering for our clients, Ironfish has a well-earned reputation as one of Australia’s leading property investment specialists. We work with Australia’s leading ...

MyMarket Series: Master Borderless Investing in Australia

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MyMarket Video Series: Why Brisbane?

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MyMarkit

mymarkit

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your  background. Hi, my background is in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University. I had a career that focused on areas of neuroscience, clinical research, and computational neuroscience before I moved over into startup after founding my own company. I also had a tangent career with acting and was a main cast member of the television show Gossip Girl. What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do? We are called MyMarkit. We are the world’s first fintech blockchain marketplace, and it begets a whole new way to shop. Our marketplace is built ground up around ledgers that are mined from transactions between users for products in a free market (marketplace), which also creates a truly digital currency for the first time backed to the commodities. Our tech automates traditional overhead fulfillment/COGS and yields 70-80% gross margins at scale. It also means that buyers/vendors keep 100% of what they sell on our platform, while buyers can get the lowest prices possible anywhere. Our automation tech also allows for 100% infallible authentication and data analytics/tracking for the first time for the lifetime of the product. We are starting in the resale luxury market space before moving on to retail verticals. Welcome to a new way to shop! What is the origin story? I came across the idea for a lossless transaction after working on fully sustainable frameworks for a non-profit. I thought, why is it that the moment I purchase something, I will never get anywhere near the price that I just paid for it? Is this item no longer worth anything and the currency I just used to purchase it is worth everything? I realized, that’s not the case. The currency represents the value of the product purchased. From there, we looked at the fundamentals of blockchain and crypto in order to understand currency at its inception (whether it’s fiat, digital, or otherwise). We realized that a free market can translate to a marketplace where transactions between users can mine a currency that represents and is backed to the commodity to begin with. And thus, a lossless transaction and a true digital currency was born. It’s like having real world NFTs for physical goods for the first time. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? Our team is made of experts in every area of commerce, blockchain, marketplaces, fintech, and crypto/digital currency. We are a total of over 45 people strong, and we’ve worked over years to build our tech stack from the ground up to scale. I think the most interesting thing is that we were not all so myopic in thinking about how digital currency/blockchain is currently utilized. We had to go to its roots to find a way to use it that neutralized all currencies and brought it into the real world with true backing/worth. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? I would probably be in some other area of creation or helping others to create. The common theme of my life is to push boundaries and to do things that seem impossible in order to come up with solutions that should exist… but just don’t yet. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? Our success is measured by the market demand and the users. We know our product is something that consumers have asked for but have no alternatives currently to use. We lose so much money in how we purchase. We have so much volatility in how we use currency. We wanted to marry fintech, payment gateways, marketplaces, and blockchain all under one roof. And the most important metric is how happy our customers are with what we’ve created. They say that this is something that should have existed long ago. And for the first time, they don’t have to pay fees or lose out on commissions for selling their stuff. Buyers are so happy that they can get all of the cost savings by getting the lowest price possible on our platform. That is the most successful and most rewarding feedback. What’s most exciting about your traction to date? We have been in stealth mode to build out our technology, so we are just coming out of stealth. The pre-launch user sign up was over our expectations. We’ve onboarded executives from some of the biggest competitors in this space. We’ve had a phenomenal requests to white label our technology and to provide our tech solutions for other ecommerce or marketplace companies. We’ve also had developments in the financial services space to roll out digital wallets, debut our coin, and other exciting offerings. What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why? I’m most excited to see the future developments of digital currencies from countries. I think it’s a game-changing addition to the crypto world in that more regulations will soon arise, for better or worse. I am excited to see how blockchain solutions will be used for everyday use cases instead of more SAAS-focused enterprise functions. Overall, the future of blockchain with regards to financial services and various related spaces will be the one to look out for. What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform? We were nominated for Startup Of The Year, so we wanted to participate in the nominations. We are just going out for press now with our launch, so we appreciate that there is a community of tech-related news sourced by amazing writers to find the latest innovations for readers. What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself? Get over the concept of fear because on the other side of it is freedom. My biggest regrets were from doing things the expected way because certain ideas or innovations were too “ambitious” for the current market. I believe that’s how dynamic change happens - we have to get out of the mindset of what’s done already to do things that are truly novel and pioneering. What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing? LVMH just paved the way for retail brands to adopt blockchain authentication technology. So, it’s a matter of time before we will be using more variations of blockchain in everyday use cases. MyMarkit Inc. is nominated as a . Go vote! startup of the year in Playa Vista

From Gossip Girl Cast To Building A Blockchain Marketplace: Nan Zhang, MyMarkit Inc. CEO

240 Stories To Learn About Startups Of The Year

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Yaroslav Zubko has crafted a remarkable international career, creating designs for Boeing, Markit, Deloitte, and Tinder. His exceptional work has earned him prestigious accolades, including the DotComm Award and the Clio Awards, one of the oldest creative awards in the US. The latter was received for one of Tinder's most famous projects, Swipe Night. How did he achieve such impressive feats in the competitive world of design? From Law to Designs Zubko’s journey began in the heart of Ukraine, a burgeoning hub for IT and design. Initially, he studied business law at a local college but decided to follow his passion and started studying graphic design online. In 2012, he landed his first job as a web designer at a Ukrainian fitness retail company, Terrasport. That work, along with some other early projects, laid the foundation for his work philosophy, characterized by a harmonious blend of aesthetics and functionality. In 2017, he assumed the role of product design director at UpTop, a New York-based property management startup. There, he was in charge of choosing which product features to research and test and deciding how they would be implemented. “There were nights when I couldn't fall asleep because I was thinking about ideas for the product,” Zubko recalls. Concurrently, he dedicated his time to “Interaction Library,” an ambitious project he had been nurturing since 2016. The initiative aimed to curate a comprehensive collection of interaction samples and interface behaviors, serving as a valuable resource for designers and stakeholders. American Odyssey The library's publication on platforms like Dribbble not only earned Zubko industry recognition but also captured the attention of business leaders. Among them was Tinder's Jonathan Badeen, who extended an offer to the designer, marking the beginning of a new chapter in Zubko’s professional life as the lead product designer at the dating giant in 2018. Zubko was entrusted with reshaping Tinder's user experience, with a focus on monetization and engagement. “I animated and presented over 20 versions of Tinder's app, and used A/B testing methods to understand what ideas were worth implementing,” he recalls. One of the standout achievements during his tenure was the restyling of subscription packages in alignment with Apple Store guidelines. This initiative not only enhanced the user experience but also paved the way for sustainable revenue growth. Zubko’s ability to balance user-centric design and revenue optimization was a testament to his holistic approach to product design. He often noted that his goal was to align Tinder's business objectives with user needs, creating a win-win scenario for the company and its users. His original design solutions helped reinvigorate Tinder's premium offerings, catapulting the app's revenue to new heights. Learning Solutions Transitioning from the realm of dating apps to educational technology and leveraging his previous experience, Zubko launched Fluently in 2019—a mobile application dedicated to immersive language exchange. In 2020, he was commissioned by Riiid Labs, which builds AI-based personalized learning solutions. It is one of the major players in the EdTech field, backed by $250 million in investment funding. At the company, Zubko took on the role of director of product design, contributing to Riiid's mission of revolutionizing personalized learning through AI and gamification. Drawing from his insights into UX/UI design, user engagement, and gamification strategies, Zubko led several notable projects. For instance, he worked on an application that helped American students to prepare for the SAT, a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. He also developed the mobile app DE Saber for Colombian students preparing for the Saber 11, a high school exit examination for college admission. Further, Zubko was invited to join Shiftsmart, a company that developed a platform assisting with team onboarding and training, performance management, scheduling and shift dispatch, and more. Shiftsmart raised a total of $117 million in funding, attracting prominent investment firms such as D1 Capital, Spieker Partners, Oakridge Management Group, and S12F, among others. Zubko served as a Senior Designer at the company and worked on the creation of the mobile app and branding. Towards Rewards Zubko’s original designs have earned prestigious international awards and industry acclaim. For instance, he was recognized as Designer of the Year 2019 by the Ukrainian IT Awards. He also won an international competition, the dotCOMM Awards, and the Italian A' Design Award for one of his freelance projects, FameLab. FameLab is a leading social marketing cloud that delivers authentic engagement on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook Pages. Zubko created interactive designs for the company’s app. He also contributed ideas and concepts to the Swipe Night initiative created for Tinder by the advertising agency 72andSunny in 2019. This was an interactive mini-series about friends trying to save themselves from the apocalypse. Users could participate in the series by swiping, thereby making decisions for the main characters. Based on users' choices, Tinder would then offer potential matches. In 2020, this project won a Clios, one of the oldest awards in the US, recognizing innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication. In 2021, Swipe Night was awarded the Entertainment Grand Prix at Cannes and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Interactive Media. Yaroslav Zubko has crafted a remarkable international career, creating designs for Boeing, Markit, Deloitte, and Tinder. His exceptional work has earned him prestigious accolades, including the DotComm Award and the Clio Awards, one of the oldest creative awards in the US. The latter was received for one of Tinder's most famous projects, Swipe Night. How did he achieve such impressive feats in the competitive world of design? From Law to Designs Zubko’s journey began in the heart of Ukraine, a burgeoning hub for IT and design. Initially, he studied business law at a local college but decided to follow his passion and started studying graphic design online. In 2012, he landed his first job as a web designer at a Ukrainian fitness retail company, Terrasport. That work, along with some other early projects, laid the foundation for his work philosophy, characterized by a harmonious blend of aesthetics and functionality. In 2017, he assumed the role of product design director at UpTop, a New York-based property management startup. There, he was in charge of choosing which product features to research and test and deciding how they would be implemented. “There were nights when I couldn't fall asleep because I was thinking about ideas for the product,” Zubko recalls. Concurrently, he dedicated his time to “ Interaction Library ,” an ambitious project he had been nurturing since 2016. The initiative aimed to curate a comprehensive collection of interaction samples and interface behaviors, serving as a valuable resource for designers and stakeholders. Interaction Library Interaction Library American Odyssey The library's publication on platforms like Dribbble not only earned Zubko industry recognition but also captured the attention of business leaders. Among them was Tinder's Jonathan Badeen, who extended an offer to the designer, marking the beginning of a new chapter in Zubko’s professional life as the lead product designer at the dating giant in 2018. Zubko was entrusted with reshaping Tinder's user experience, with a focus on monetization and engagement. “I animated and presented over 20 versions of Tinder's app, and used A/B testing methods to understand what ideas were worth implementing,” he recalls. One of the standout achievements during his tenure was the restyling of subscription packages in alignment with Apple Store guidelines. This initiative not only enhanced the user experience but also paved the way for sustainable revenue growth. Zubko’s ability to balance user-centric design and revenue optimization was a testament to his holistic approach to product design. He often noted that his goal was to align Tinder's business objectives with user needs, creating a win-win scenario for the company and its users. His original design solutions helped reinvigorate Tinder's premium offerings, catapulting the app's revenue to new heights. Learning Solutions Transitioning from the realm of dating apps to educational technology and leveraging his previous experience, Zubko launched Fluently in 2019—a mobile application dedicated to immersive language exchange. In 2020, he was commissioned by Riiid Labs, which builds AI-based personalized learning solutions. It is one of the major players in the EdTech field, backed by $250 million in investment funding. At the company, Zubko took on the role of director of product design, contributing to Riiid's mission of revolutionizing personalized learning through AI and gamification. Drawing from his insights into UX/UI design, user engagement, and gamification strategies, Zubko led several notable projects. For instance, he worked on an application that helped American students to prepare for the SAT, a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. He also developed the mobile app DE Saber for Colombian students preparing for the Saber 11, a high school exit examination for college admission. Further, Zubko was invited to join Shiftsmart, a company that developed a platform assisting with team onboarding and training, performance management, scheduling and shift dispatch, and more. Shiftsmart raised a total of $117 million in funding, attracting prominent investment firms such as D1 Capital, Spieker Partners, Oakridge Management Group, and S12F, among others. Zubko served as a Senior Designer at the company and worked on the creation of the mobile app and branding. attracting attracting Towards Rewards Zubko’s original designs have earned prestigious international awards and industry acclaim. For instance, he was recognized as Designer of the Year 2019 by the Ukrainian IT Awards. He also won an international competition, the dotCOMM Awards, and the Italian A' Design Award for one of his freelance projects, FameLab. FameLab is a leading social marketing cloud that delivers authentic engagement on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook Pages. Zubko created interactive designs for the company’s app. He also contributed ideas and concepts to the Swipe Night initiative created for Tinder by the advertising agency 72andSunny in 2019. This was an interactive mini-series about friends trying to save themselves from the apocalypse. Users could participate in the series by swiping, thereby making decisions for the main characters. Based on users' choices, Tinder would then offer potential matches. In 2020, this project won a Clios, one of the oldest awards in the US, recognizing innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication. In 2021, Swipe Night was awarded the Entertainment Grand Prix at Cannes and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Interactive Media. won won awarded awarded

How a Designer Landed a Job at Tinder and Achieved International Recognition

When it comes to blockchain technology and the Internet of Things (IoT), we are seeing a substantial amount of companies making cutting-edge projects. With the addition of 5G around the world, it is becoming a global industry that many could not participate in before. With so much buzz around web3 and the metaverse, it is creating a spotlight on the future of tech. Below are the top 5 IoT blockchain projects that are worth looking into. #1 IOTEX.IO is a decentralized platform that enables developers, businesses, and smart device manufacturers to create dApps that people can use to monetize their data. IOTEX.IO The platform uses blockchain technology, chain-agnostic developer tools, and smart contracts to enable secure data sharing, authentication, and payments between devices. IOTEX also has its own native token, the IOTX, which is used to pay for services on the open-source network. Founded in 2017, IoTeX is led by a team of scientists and engineers that formerly worked for Google, Uber, Oracle, Facebook, and Bosh. It also leads IoT working groups in prominent global organizations, including the and . IIConsortium IEEE #2 Helium is a decentralized WiFi network for the Internet of Things (IoT) smart devices and machines. It is powered by cryptocurrency. Its network is integrated by devices owned by a community of users worldwide. Helium People in the Helium network mine Helium tokens by expanding the decentralized WiFi network with devices called Helium hot spots, which are antennas that can transmit small amounts of data over long distances via radio frequencies. #3 IOTA is a cryptocurrency and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) that focuses on providing micro-transactions and data integrity for the IoT industry. Its DLT7 is designed to record and execute transactions between machines and IoT devices. IOTA IOTA has been working on developing a “tangle” architecture that allows for scaling without the need for fees or miners. IOTA claims they are developing proof-of-concepts building on IOTA technology for the automotive and IoT industry. Unlike other blockchains, IOTA uses a DAG data structure, allowing transactions to be added in parallel. #4 IBM Watson IoT Platform The is a cloud-based platform that allows businesses to connect and manage devices, collect data, and create applications using IBM’s cognitive computing capabilities. IBM Watson IoT Platform By using the Watson IoT Platform, you can collect connected device data and perform analytics on real-time data. The IBM Watson IoT Platform is a Cloud-hosted service that provides device management capabilities and data gathering in a time series format. The platform has been used by major companies such as BMW, Samsung, and Telefonica to create innovative IoT applications. #5 VeChain The ecosystem is built on the VeChain Thor blockchain, which is public and focuses on providing enterprise-level supply chain management solutions. VeChain VeChain combines blockchain with the IoT to improvise data management and increase transparency while enhancing business process efficiency. Its open-source network provides features enabling users to build dApps that solve real-world problems to widen real-world adoption. IoT blockchains could grow exponentially as the machine economy, , is expected to be driven by over 150 billion devices by 2030, when McKinsey the IoT industry will be worth up to $12.6 trillion. according to IHS Markit predicts Blockchain brings new promise to Web3 and users, and IoT blockchain projects have the potential to give back to users ownership over their data, enabling them to profit from the value it generates, which according to experts, today is a year. worth up to $3,000

5 IoT Blockchain Projects That You Should Look Out for in 2022

The Ultimate Guide to Building Efficient and Secure Fintech Apps

Chaos has become a symptom of the tech world. Every day, thousands of developers are putting out fires at work and getting caught up in one crisis after another. The better part of those fires have been lit by the rise of and . The popularity of those advancements is at an all-time high, yet failures continue to be prominent and complex. microservices distributed cloud architectures Downtime Jitters According to an IHS Markit survey, the cost of downtime for 400 companies hit a collective per year. This is a staggering figure. $700 billion In March 2015, a 12-hour Apple store outage cost the company $ . 25M In May 2017, one outage stranded tens of thousands of British Airways (BA) passengers and resulted in a $102.19M loss. In December 2020, a large-scale outage took down YouTube, Gmail, and Google Assistant for around an hour. There were a lot of pocket holes that month. We all need a magic pill to alleviate this headache —waiting for your service to crash is a bleak option. Let’s do it the Netflix way and chill during deployment. Play Destroy Welcome to chaos engineering - a place where mistakes are intentional and failures are embraced. Its history dates back to 2010 when the Netflix Eng Tools team created Chaos Monkey to test the resilience of its IT infrastructure. Today, chaos engineering is ‘celebrating failure’ to help engineers and systems build muscle memory and maintain more resilient complex systems. Vaccinate Against Downtime In layman’s terms, chaos engineering is the process of things on purpose. hacking Just like a vaccination, you inject or to trigger an immune response within the system. latency CPU failure In this case, our main goal lies in identifying hidden problems that may wreck production. As a сhaos engineer, you test the system's ability to handle real-world problems - server errors, traffic jumps, corrupted messages - in a series of controlled experiments. Break Things Strategically To stress your system out, you need to follow a four-step process: Develop a profound understanding of a system so that you are aware of what it looks like during normal functioning. This state will serve as a measurable variable. Define the steady-state of the system. Choose the damaging action you want to enact. Simulate realistic scenarios. Replicate real-life problems that have previously occurred in your system. For example, if traffic spikes caused havoc a few months ago, opt for bugs that mimic those affects. Build a hypothesis around steady-state. Keep tabs on your system while the bug is attacking it. Focus on key metrics, but don’t forget to assess the entire system. Measure the impact. Safeguard the infrastructure by coordinating developer teams and business units. Furthermore, you should start small and build up as you gain confidence in a system. Minimize the blast radius. Finally, you’ll have one of the two outcomes. You either confirm the resilience of the system, or you find a weak point to eliminate. Invalidate your hypothesis. Pro tip: Run chaos experiments in production to replicate the real state of things. If you perform chaos testing during staging or integration, you won’t build a real vision of how the system in reacts. production Embrace the Art of Chaos Awesome! We’ve successfully shattered your application using controlled chaos and debunked the concept of chaos engineering. Next, you would want to right the wrongs to make your system invincible. Credit for the above piece goes to Tatsiana Isakova, Hang Ngo, and Ellen Stevens. Subscribe to ’s thematic newsletters via our subscribe form in the footer. HackerNoon

Netflix and Smash

The popularity of cryptocurrencies is increasing every year. This is due not only to Bitcoin, but also to traditional exchanges, which in every possible way stimulate interest in cryptocurrencies, and also attract new investors and traders. Over the past year, the demand for regulated crypto investment products has grown by several times. Of course, media plays a significant role in the popularization of cryptocurrencies, but media and traditional exchanges work for different audiences. Media purposefully attracts small players, ordinary users who are not familiar with the rules of investing and trading. Traditional exchanges attract large players who intend to benefit from their investments. The more major players start working with cryptocurrencies, the higher their price becomes and the more they are used in the real world. The growing variety of exchange-traded products (ETPs) listed on traditional exchanges and the rapid development of indices have allowed more investors to access crypto assets without the complexities of owning and holding. Previously, big players had difficulties when dealing with cryptocurrency assets. Now everything has become much easier, more and more large investors are thinking about starting cryptocurrency trading. Suffice it to recall that when the price of Bitcoin began to skyrocket, a large number of private investors and large investment funds added this digital coin to their portfolios. Elon Musk and his company Tesla invested in Bitcoin and even announced the idea of ​​creating their own cryptocurrency. Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Austria, Sweden, Gibraltar – countries where you can easily access exchange-traded products (ETP) At the moment, access to exchange-traded products (ETP) can be obtained in Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Austria, Sweden, Gibraltar. There are a number of countries that are awaiting approval for exchange-traded products and with the large private investors and funds operating under the jurisdiction of those countries. It is also important to note that the launch or planned development of crypto indices by such giants as CME Group, CBOE, Nasdaq, Bloomberg, S&P Dow Jones, IHS Markit lays the foundation for various funds and platforms. This encourages more and more people and investors to enter the cryptocurrency market. Traditional exchanges are intermediaries between different market participants, ranging from licensed issuers and settlement agents to data providers and custodians. This is why the growth and diversity of cryptocurrency investment products is highly dependent on the success of traditional and cryptocurrency exchanges. It is they, apart from the media, that most of all stimulate public interest in cryptocurrencies. For example, at the beginning of 2021, the SIX exchange announced 22 cryptocurrency ETPs from seven issuers, and over time made a loud statement about a record number of transactions and turnover of the order book. Another prime example is the Deutsche Boerse exchange. At the beginning of 2021, the Bitcoin exchange index on this exchange reported an average daily volume of 57 million euros, up from 15.5 million euros in the previous month and almost equaled the largest ETF volume on the exchange. The willingness of various traditional exchanges to partner with crypto market participants and invest in the infrastructure needed to list various crypto products has spurred a group of ETP issuers looking to capitalize on the growing demand for regulated placements. Companies such as CoinShares, VanEck, 21Shares, FiCAS AG and WisdomTree are actively deploying crypto ETPs in Europe. In the United States, exchange-traded crypto products faced a number of regulatory hurdles that prevented any government approvals from being obtained. The adoption of Exchange Traded Cryptographic Products (ETP) is now very difficult in the US. Regulators are harshly denying their approval to exchanges, citing a number of reasons. However, a powerful alternative has emerged, highlighting the ever-growing demand for regulated cryptocurrency investment vehicles – cryptocurrency trusts. Cryptocurrency Trusts Cryptocurrency trusts are a type of fund that is managed by a professional management team. Accredited investors can invest in these trusts by purchasing shares over the counter. The use of cryptocurrency trusts reduces the number of regulatory requirements that investors face when dealing with public ETPs. This greatly facilitates the investment process for large market players. The most prominent example of a cryptocurrency trust is the Grayscale Trust, which offers several assets related to the value of cryptocurrencies. The Grayscale Trust (owned by the Digital Currency Group) has gained tremendous influence on the cryptocurrency market and is showing an annual return of 200%. The Grayscale Trust enables institutional investments in the US through regulated crypto offerings. This cryptocurrency trust is the best proof that the demand for exchange-traded cryptographic products (ETP) is only increasing, and after all, ETP is not yet available on traditional exchanges. However, OTC trusts have a number of disadvantages compared to traditional exchange-traded products: ETP markets are more liquid, which means that investors can easily enter or exit the markets without having to block funds for a certain period of time. The structure and rules of the ETP are fixed, which provides an additional level of security for the investor. That is why those investors based in Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Austria, Sweden and Gibraltar have an advantage over those who can only invest through cryptocurrency trusts. It is safe to say that the approval of the ETP in the US will create significant difficulties for the business model of funds such as Grayscale. Investors tend to prefer the increased flexibility and efficiency that ETP guarantees on exchanges. That is why, if traditional exchanges get permission from the regulatory authorities, it will greatly affect the situation in the entire market. State-level authorization of exchange-traded cryptographic products will hit trust funds very hard and may even question their existence. It is possible that they are the reason for the rejection of the adoption of cryptographic exchange products in the United States. Nevertheless, everyone is struggling with this problem: traditional and cryptocurrency exchanges, large and small investors, cryptocurrency enthusiasts. The pressure from the cryptocurrency community is only increasing and it is quite possible that they will soon win. Cryptocurrency Indices Boost ETP Cryptocurrency indices developed by exchanges and data providers over the past few years have spurred the growth and diversification of crypto investment products. Indices provide information on the price performance of an asset or a basket of assets and can be used to structure ETPs, funds and derivatives. They have a huge impact on crypto investment products. For example, the CME Group cryptocurrency indices have allowed the launch of various futures and options contracts on BTC and ETH. Interest in CME derivatives contracts has grown tremendously in 2020 and at some point surpassed the interest in all other cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges. The huge success of CME Group’s crypto derivatives is the best example of how traditional exchanges are driving the spread of cryptocurrencies. CME Group derivatives have improved the overall market efficiency, which has encouraged more investors to participate in it. Accordingly, this contributed to an automatic increase in efficiency. Other exchanges and data providers have already paid attention to this trend and are actively using it: CBOE, Nasdaq, IHS Markits, and S&P Dow Jones – they have either launched or announced plans to release cryptocurrency indices in 2021, which is sure to further increase popularity of cryptographic assets. The more high-profile and well-known traditional exchanges start talking about cryptocurrencies or creating cryptographic products, the faster the popularity of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is increasing. In the US and Europe, the government has different attitudes towards the regulation of cryptographic assets. Europe is much more ETP-friendly, and the US is much more friendly to crypto derivatives and indices. This affects the cryptocurrency market in different ways. Crypto derivatives and indices are the standards for the market, but ETP is not. It is very strange that the United States treats them so categorically. DeFi and CBDC are driving interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain as actively as traditional exchanges In addition to traditional exchanges, the distribution of cryptocurrencies is strongly influenced by hype topics – DeFi and CBDC. Even traditional exchanges have noticed this and are looking for ways to interact with DeFi and CBDC to capitalize on it. The development of the DeFi market, which has been going on for over a year, has brought the traditional and cryptocurrency financial sectors very close. Every month, more and more fintech startups appear in the world that want to significantly change the world of financial services with the help of decentralized finance. The DeFi market allows anyone to become a direct participant in the financial market and receive high returns on their investments. This is what attracts a lot of interest in cryptocurrencies in general. Development of CBDC is also expected. The largest banks in the world have already demonstrated their understanding of the prospects for CBDCs and their interest in issuing them. For example, Sberbank of Russia has applied for the registration and issue of the Sbercoin digital coin. In 2021, it is planned to conduct a series of tests of national cryptocurrencies in Singapore, Switzerland and Hong Kong. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has long vehemently rejected any crypto ETP proposals, rejecting ETF applications from Bitwise, Wilshire Phoenix, and VanEck. Europe has taken a much friendlier approach to ETP but has been tough on cryptocurrency derivatives. In Great Britain, for example, they were banned. Suffice it to recall how the US Securities and Exchange Commission put an end to Pavel Durov’s TON project, which caused dozens of investors to lose their investments. The SEC resists the popularization of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the United States, but one-day society will break this position of the SEC and win a complete victory. Let me remind you that the ban on TON was actually unfounded, the project was closed simply because it was unprofitable for someone. In the Bitwise and ETF Trends report on financial advisors, 47% of respondents noted that approving bitcoin ETFs in the US would make them more convenient for distributing cryptocurrencies across client portfolios, a sign that regulation is currently one of the biggest barriers to ways to accept it. TON Crystal and traditional exchanges TON Crystal is not yet traded on traditional exchanges, but it is very popular on cryptocurrency exchanges. The token is not even a year old, but it is being traded so actively. With the highest liquidity, the TON Crystal token is traded on CEX.IO, and the Bitcoin.com Exchange also demonstrates good liquidity. TON Crystal trading volume on March 15, 2021 – $ 5,628,467. Considering that the token has been trading for less than 6 months, this is a very good indicator. The Free TON project plans to become more famous than Bitcoin and has all the possibilities for this. Considering that it has much greater scalability than all other projects, the Free TON blockchain can replace all existing centralized finance systems. TON Crystal has every chance of becoming the project with which billions of people will interact every day. When TON Crystal can be traded on traditional exchanges, it will increase trading volume and total capitalization. This will be a very important event in the development of the project. Conclusion – innovation only thrives when regulation allows The world is still at the beginning of the path to fully legalize cryptocurrency financial products. The cryptocurrency community has to overcome a huge number of regulatory barriers hindering the popularization of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. However, the adoption process is accelerating every year. Regulators and cryptocurrency exchanges, at least in some countries, are open to innovation. The rate of ETP applications has increased significantly over the past year, indicating that demand is growing. As the regulatory framework clears up, the willingness of traditional exchanges to build infrastructure to support traded crypto products will help improve market efficiency. Traditional exchanges have a big impact on how quickly cryptocurrencies will massively proliferate. They have long seen the trend in this direction and are trying with all their might to achieve success. The activity of traditional exchanges in relation to cryptocurrencies is attracting an increasing number of investors who have never worked with blockchain and cryptographic assets. It is hard to doubt that traditional exchanges are now as important to accelerating the spread of cryptocurrencies as the hype around DeFi and NFT. By the way, a fun fact. Americans will pour $ 40 billion of “covid” payments into stocks and bitcoin. Analysts at the Japanese financial giant Mizuho surveyed 235 representatives of American households with annual incomes of up to $ 150,000. They were asked one question: how will citizens spend the new incentive checks from Biden? 40% of respondents will pour some of the “covid” payments into stocks and bitcoin. The priority is cryptocurrency. Bitcoin plans to acquire 61% of respondents. Mizuho researchers concluded that this investment could increase BTC’s current capitalization by 2-3%. So why is the US still resisting the popularization of cryptocurrencies?

FIAT-based Exchanges Play A Major Role In Helping The Adoption of Cryptocurrencies

What is a surveillance state? Privacy International defines it as one which and ”. “collects information on everyone without regard to innocence or guilt” “deputizes the private sector by compelling access to their data While this may sound dystopian, this is quickly becoming a reality right here in the United States with serious implications on our civil liberties. Despite its portrayal as the global poster child for surveillance, China is actually on par with the USA in regard to security cameras per capita; based on data from IHS Markit, there is currently one security camera per every 4.6 and 4.1 people in the USA and China, respectively. While China’s security camera network is primarily government-owned, the majority of security cameras in the USA are consumer-owned. Interestingly, the rapid installation of over 85 million security cameras in the USA has been fueled by partnerships between the public and private sectors, namely police agencies and data-hungry tech giants. The proliferation of security cameras in the USA is fueled by public-private partnerships between police and Big Tech. The most striking example of this is Amazon’s Ring, whose aggressive nationwide expansion is fueled by 900+ partnerships with police agencies in 44 states. As part of these partnerships, police actively support the installation of Ring cameras via taxpayer-funded discount programs; in exchange, they gain access to Ring’s Neighborhood Watch Portal, a tool that allows police to request video footage directly from Ring users without a warrant. For example, in Baltimore police are offering homeowners up to $150 rebates to cover camera and installation costs. The catch? They must share all of their video footage with police for at least two years. With police and Big Tech in control of our security camera infrastructure, new threats to our civil liberties are now just a “flip of a switch” away. SUPERCHARGING SURVEILLANCE THREATS America’s security camera infrastructure is emerging alongside other new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). Clearview AI, a facial recognition company, made headlines in 2019 after launching a searchable database of over 3 billion photos of everyday people’s faces, scraped primarily from social media platforms. Clearview AI licenses this database to customers, who can identify anyone from even grainy photos with surprising accuracy. In Feb 2020, Clearview AI’s list of over 2,200 customers was leaked, which included: USA Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Walmart, Macy’s, and more than 600 North American police agencies. Police agencies will undoubtedly use technologies like Clearview AI to better protect citizens. However, these technologies are often mixed, matched, and used in ways outside of their original intention. In fact, the potential threats are supercharged when multiple technologies are combined together. What happens when Amazon’s security cameras are supercharged with AI-powered facial recognition, 100x optical zoom, and more? If history is any indication, a surveillance state-owned by Big Tech may be on the horizon. While regulations to restrict the use of AI in public spaces are being discussed, we cannot let the balance sheets of the private sector and with the persuasiveness of the public sector overshadow our right to privacy. GOOD INTENTIONS DON’T LAST FOREVER The same technologies built to work for citizens can be mechanized against them – this point is illuminated in a very real way by the Hong Kong protests in 2019. For months, Hong Kong’s CCTV system of 50,000 security cameras, normally used for things like finding lost children and managing traffic, was deployed to monitor citizens, reportedly using AI-powered facial recognition software. In now-viral videos, people were seen ripping down CCTV poles and shining laser pointers at cameras to avoid being persecuted. This is evidence that after physical hardware infrastructure is installed, it only takes the flip of a switch to activate “emergency only” software-based capabilities. It only takes a flip of a switch to activate “emergency only” software-based capabilities. In the USA, “emergency-only” surveillance policies have also been instituted during times of crisis. The Patriot Act, which granted unprecedented surveillance privileges to US Intelligence agencies, was signed into law just 45 days after the 9/11 attacks. Almost 20 years later, it is still active but under a new name: the USA Freedom Act. In 2013, the extent of invasive surveillance under the Patriot Act was illuminated by Edward Snowden, who exposed several large-scale, government-sponsored programs with cooperation from major telecoms and other private companies. Through backdoor arrangements, the NSA effectively “flipped the switch” on US telecom infrastructure to silently monitor the calls, texts, and even locations of citizens for years. Just like our telecom infrastructure, our security camera infrastructure is owned by private companies and is susceptible to “flipping the switch”. But it doesn’t have to be this way – we still have time to build the human-centered future we deserve. About IoTeX Founded as an open-source platform in 2017, IoTeX is building the Internet of Trusted Things , an open ecosystem where all “things” — humans, machines, businesses, and DApps — can interact with trust and privacy. Backed by a global team of 30+ top research scientists and engineers, IoTeX combines blockchain, secure hardware, and confidential computing to enable next-gen IoT devices, networks, and economies. IoTeX will empower the future decentralized economy by “connecting the physical world, block by block”. | | | | Learn more: Website Twitter Telegram Medium Reddit

The Burgeoning Global Surveillance State - What's Going On?

In this article, you'll create a new DigitalOcean account using a free credit link. Then, you will clone a GitHub repository, and use Terraform code to initialize, plan and apply resources to your account, using a preconfigured image from DigitalOcean and your custom domain name. Finally, you will access your account remotely via SSH and execute two scripts to configure both your video conference server and Let's Encrypt SSL to enable HTTPS. is a secured, fully featured, and completely free video conference server. Jitsi Meet Jitsi isn't just for video conferencing. It also has room chat, virtual hand raise, screen sharing and streaming a YouTube video. Using your own Jitsi server, you don't have to be tied down to any free public servers, which maybe laggy or not available 24/7, or to be dependent on premium servers. And if you're a serious user, you can create a scalable, optimized video conferencing server, or even a frontend graphical user interface to wrap around your server. Prerequisites * Custom domain name. The article walks you through changing DNS for your domain name. How to Change DNS for a Domain * account. The tutorial walks you through creating a DigitalOcean access token. DigitalOcean How to Create a Personal Access Token * SSH Keygen. Requires a Windows Subsystem for Linux or macOS. * . The installation walks you through installing and configuring your Terraform program. Terraform Install Terraform Step 1 - Clone GitHub Repository Free Credit You can signup a DigitalOcean ["DO"] account with up to , which should last you up to 2 months, as unused credit expires after 60 days. $100 credit here After using up the free credits in one DO account, you can then re-signup for a another DO account using the same link above. However, there are some limitations: (1) Your credit card details is required for each DO account (but you will not be charged until the credits are used up). (2) You will need to redeploy all your dockerized web apps, and reroute all your links to new DO IP addresses. (3) You will need to use a new email address for each DO account. You can use an anonymous email forwarding app, such as , to create unlimited email aliases. AnonAddy.com Clone Repository Clone this repository to your folder : myproject $ git https://github.com/dennislwm/terraform-jitsi-ssl myproject clone Step 2 - Generate a SSH Key You can create an SSH key with either OpenSSH, which is included in on Windows Subsystem for Linux ["WSL"] and macOS. (1) Open a Command Prompt or Terminal window and enter the following command: > ssh-keygen (2) Enter file in which to save the key. For example, c:\users\denbrige\.ssh\id_rsa_do1 When prompted to enter a paraphrase, just press the Enter key for an empty paraphrase. (3) Open the config file using Notepad: > notepad c:\users\denbrige\.ssh\config (4) Append the following line in the file: IdentityFile c:\users\denbrige\.ssh\id_rsa_do1 The SSH checks each ssh key within the file when attempting to establish an SSH connection. config Step 3 - Terraform Initialize, Plan and Apply Configuration (a) In the folder, edit the file and change the default values for: root variables.tf * - path to local SSH folder, e.g. "c:\\users\\dennislwm\\.ssh\\" strSshPath * - name of local SSH public_key *.pub* file, e.g. "id_rsa.pub" strSshId * - path to this project root folder, e.g. "c:\\users\\dennislwm\\terraform-jitsi-ssl\\" strRootPath * - name of custom domain, e.g. "example.com" strDoDomain (b) Create a file and add the following (replace the "token" with your DigitalOcean API access token string): terraform.tfvars = "token" strDoToken Warning: Keep your file (add to ) a secret to prevent unauthorized access to your DigitalOcean account. terraform.tfvars .gitignore Execution Terraform has commands to deploy resources in a very simple way. This consists of three steps: * Init * Plan * Apply (1) In the folder, initialize Terraform nested modules by typing the following command: tf $ terraform init Note: You must execute the init command after each nested module changes. (2) Create Terraform plan by typing the following command: $ terraform plan (3) Execute Terraform plan by typing the following command: $ terraform apply Warning: Before typing 'yes', ensure ALL resources Terraform will create and DESTROY are correct. Step 4 - Access Your Droplet Console This article walks you through DNS for your domain name. How to Change DNS for a Domain Warning: If you do not change the DNS, you will NOT be able to configure Jitsi in the next step. Preconfigured Scripts The preconfigured image has scripts to configure Jitsi in a very straightforward way. This consists of two steps: * Configure Jitsi Server * Configure Let's Encrypt SSL Login to your DigitalOcean account and access the console for your droplet via SSH. (1) Configure Jitsi server by typing the following: $ ./01_videoconf.sh The menu will ask you to type a domain name, which you added to your project above. Enter exactly the same, eg. markit.work. When prompted, select the menu option to "Generate a Self-Signed Certificate", unless you want to import your own certificate. Warning: If you enter an IP address instead, you will NOT be able to configure HTTPS in the next step. (2) Configure Let's Encrypt SSL to enable HTTPS by running the following: $ ./02_https.sh The script will ask you for an Email, which will be used to notify you when it's time to renew the certificates to maintain your website with a secure connection. You have successfully deployed and configured your secure video conferencing server. Congratulations! To test your new server, open a web browser and navigate to your domain via HTTPS, e.g. https://markit.work Understand Terraform Project and Resources Project Structure Your project folder should look like this: Resources Let's take a peek at how Terraform resources work, in particular the and files. main.tf jitsi.tf Terraform requires a file, in the folder, that accesses global variables and global return values in and files, respectively. main.tf root variables.tf outputs.tf The primary function of file is to contain all global resources, such as provider and resource . main.tf digitalocean digitalocean_ssh_key The secondary function of file is to import all modules and their return values, such as module . main.tf jitsi For example, this is the source code for importing a module: module jitsi { source = objSshKey   = [digitalocean_ssh_key ]
       strSshPath  = strSshPte   = strRootPath = strDoRegion = } // //  Use relative path to root folder "./modules/jitsi/" // //  Use default variables.tf in root folder //  Override variables.tf file in modules folder (exclude from main) //    strDoProject //    strDoImage //    strDoSize // .objSshKey .fingerprint var .strSshPath var .strSshPte var .strRootPath var .strDoRegion Modules Each module contains resources for a droplet, e.g. , which has a separate folder, under the folder. jitsi modules Terraform requires a resource file, such as , in the folder, that access module variables and module return values in and files, respectively. jitsi.tf modules variables.tf outputs.tf The folder structure, which consists of THREE (3) TF files, is similar to the folder structure. However, the declaration overrides any global declaration in the folder. modules root modules root The primary function of is to contain all local resources, such as resource , resource , etc. It also inherits any global resources from , such as provider . jitsi.tf digitalocean_droplet digitalocean_domain main.tf digitalocean The secondary function of is to contain any provisions, which are non-state objects, such as provisioner , , etc. These are specific tasks that depends on the resources deployed. jitsi.tf remote-exec file Variables Terraform loads variables in the following order, with later sources taking precedence over earlier ones: 1. Environment variables 2. The terraform.tfvars or terraform.tfvars.json files, if present. 3. Any *.auto.tfvars or *.auto.tfvars.json files, processed in lexical order of their filenames. 4. Any -var and -var-file options on the command line, in the order they are provided. (This includes variables set by a Terraform Cloud workspace.) 5. There is no mention of *.tf files, this is because variables declared in *.tf files are concatenated into a single entity before being processed by terraform. Hence this declaration have highest precedence. Any variables or return values declared within the local module files will override the global variables declared in the main folder. As an analogy to writing code, this is similar to a function's local variables overriding the global variables declared in its parent function. However, unlike code, the local file must declare all the global variables even if there is no overriden values. For example: variables.tf In the folder, the file contains: root variables.tf variable strDoRegion { = description = }
     variable strDoSize { = description = } default "sgp1" "Region for droplet (override in modules)" default "s-1vcpu-1gb" "Size for droplet (override in modules)" The global variables and contain the default values "sgp1" and "s-1vcpu-1gb", respectively. strDoRegion strDoSize In the folder, the file contains: modules variables.tf variable strDoRegion {
       description = }
     variable strDoSize { = description = } "Region for droplet (use default in root)" default "c-4" "Size for droplet (override in modules)" The local variable is declared, but its default value is not set (inherits from global), while the local variable is overridden by setting default to "c-4". strDoRegion strDoSize In practice, it is recommended to set ALL default values in the main file, even if you intend to override these values in the modules file. variables.tf variables.tf Outputs The modules file consists of return values from a remote server, e.g. an IP address. outputs.tf Any local return values can be accessed from both the and the files. For example: jitsi.tf main.tf In the folder, the file contains: modules outputs.tf output {
       value = digitalocean_droplet } "server_ip" .objJitsi .ipv4_address The local return value contains the ipv4_address from the module resource. server_ip jitsi In order to access the local return value above from the file, you must declare it in the main file. main.tf outputs.tf In the folder, the file contains: root outputs.tf output {
       value = module } "server_ip_jitsi" .jitsi .server_ip The global return value is declared, and the value is set to the local return value . server_ip_jitsi server_ip Conclusion In this article, you have successfully achieved: * clone a GitHub repository * generate a SSH key * execute Terraform Init, Plan and Apply to deploy resources * access your droplet console and execute scripts via SSH Get the Source Code You can download the above source code from GitHub repository . terraform-jitsi-ssl What To Do Next You can further explore Jitsi in several meaningful ways: * Read - This helps you to have a deeper knowledge of Jitsi server. Jitsi Documentation * Read - This helps you explore a collection of projects within Jitsi ecosystem. Jitsi Projects * Read - This helps you find relevant information about Jitsi features. Jitsi Blog * Participate in - This helps you to have a meaninful discussion online with other users of Jitsi Jitsi Community * Read . Terraform Documentation

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