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The TechBeat: Human-centric Crisis Management: Nurturing Resilient Teams in Hi-tech Environments (4/25/2024)

In such a rapidly evolving industry as tech, where disruptions belong to everyday life, the ability to manage these occurrences is central to maintaining the continuity of operations, and the practice of doing so is widely known as crisis management. In the context of the digital domain, the thing that comes to the fore when an accident arrives is how to save sensitive information from hackers or raise servers from the dead, e.g., technical aspects of the matter. What eludes one’s attention in this rush for a quick patch is how these occurrences affect the people responsible for cleaning this mess, while the consequences run from mere distress caused by the emergency of immediate action to a nervous breakdown. Unless a CEO means to blow the entire company budget on replacing burnt-out staffers every now and then, it is paramount to take precautionary care not only of the software but also of the people who stand at the front of its protection from accidents. This type of crisis management that gives precedence to the staff is defined as human-centered, and those who develop this approach know perfectly well that better preparation of your people for troubles (both in mental and practical terms) increases the probability that their actions will actually help to override the issue, not exacerbate the situation. Leaning back on the principles of this methodology, I suggest the following steps for taking precautionary care of your subordinates to foster their robustness throughout all three stages of a crisis. Stage 1. Preparing for the Worst Though any business can find itself affected by situations that may lead to a crisis, the types of incidents vary greatly from one company to another, even within the digital realm. Consequently, the first step toward a resilient team is to identify what problems the technology you rely upon may open the door to. Spare no effort on blindspot analysis; once done, it will save you money and nerve cells. Next, when potential breaches are identified, it is time to prepare a crisis management plan—a plan of actions your team is expected to take when the disaster steps over your threshold. The more detailed your catastrophe road map is charted, the greater the chances that the issue being tackled will go smoothly and will take place in a timely manner because your company population will know exactly what to do. The major danger that awaits you at this point is to put this plan on the most remote shelf and forget about it until the need arises. Make sure that everyone on your team is acquainted with its contents and can enact them which necessitates fire drills. Simulations of the emergency will highlight weaknesses in the plan and the system in general and showcase team performance which will facilitate your understanding of the business’ preparedness for such occasions. The gaps the drill exposed should be documented and then discussed with the team to show its members how to deal with them. While malfunction simulations will help you spot weaknesses in the system, you are still running the risk of countermeasures going pear-shaped if you are unaware of breaches in the psychological immunity of those who are supposed to face them first. Thus, the next step to take if you seek to improve the robustness of your team is to understand what is capable of breaking them down. Have a talk with each of the team members and identify what stresses them out. Some people easily endure the pressure at the moment but melt down under the continuous torrent of small bugs, or they just won’t be able to deal with the storm of scolding critique from infuriated clients. I bet that one of the major stressors to name will be a fear of making a mistake. Under mentally taxing circumstances, this fear may paralyze the individual’s will to take an action that is dictated by the situation but not outlined in the plan, which may ruin the entire operation. This psychological safety is the bedrock of resilience. That is why it is critically important to show empathy to your subordinates and foster a working environment where an error is a source of knowledge, not a reason for reprimand. These talks will help you get an idea of whom you can place on the disaster recovery team—a dedicated group of people who will shoulder addressing the matter in progress—and whom you can put at the helm as a disaster recovery (DR) leader. Stage 2. In the Midst of a Disaster. When chaos unfolds, it is important to identify whether it is fully digital in character or whether it may do physical damage to your staff. The recent pandemic and a string of armed conflicts erupting across the world reminded us that death danger can transcend the boundaries of imagined probability, so the protection of your employees against such emergencies is an item to include in the plan. Naturally, physical safety is one of our basic necessities, and ensuring it at the workplace is the employer’s duty, so double-check that your people are protected from injury. Furthermore, there is nothing more destabilizing in the moment of danger than unclarity and a sense of lostness caused by a lack of communication and information in general. Thus, keeping the involved up-to-date and providing overall transparency provides them with the level of certainty that forms the solid foundation for a reassured action. What goes hand in hand with informational support is the demonstration that everything goes according to plan: stay calm and collected, and set the example of sangfroid. Panic is contagious, so nipping it in the bud will reduce the stressfulness of the situation. As a continuation of your effort to bolster the mental robustness of your team at the moment, demonstrate to your employees that they are not abandoned to their own devices. There should be a leader who coordinates their actions and points them in the right direction, unfolding a safety net of prompts for occasions when a gap in the protocol calls for a senior manager’s instructions. The right step taken at the right moment will solidify the employee’s confidence in their own abilities to handle a challenge and, as an entailment, boost their mental resistance to tech mishaps. Stage 3. Crisis Aftermath When a crisis is over, the serenity of its aftermath tempts the possibility of consigning it to oblivion. Yet, even though the storm subsided, it is not the time to sit back and relax. Just like a fire drill demands documentation of its results and progress, the real disaster requires a detailed breakdown of the actions and behaviors of the entire team. Moreover, while a simulation may prompt you on the blindspots in the crisis management plan, your employees still know that it is a simulation, so their behavior under real circumstances may digress drastically from what is expected because of the higher level of stress. Consequently, documenting your team’s moves throughout the accident will highlight a) who proved to be more resilient to the disaster and why; and b) which mitigation tactics proved to be effective when enacted by real people on the ground. Keeping track of mistakes helps to adjust the CMP and choose the people who are more fit for a place on the crisis team. A good idea is to arrange a meeting where employees could share their experiences of being in the eye of chaos, what helped them to override it, and what, all the way around, impeded faster resolution. After hitting the hot iron of recording actions during the crisis, fostering resilience in your team demands tackling the imprint the accident might have left on the minds of those who bore the brunt. A corporate psychologist will perfectly do this job for you, or you can at least subsidize a visit or two to a shrink on the side. An honest, one-on-one talk with each participant where you will praise them for apt steps and subtly mention the points for improvement also has the power of alleviating the pressure, helping them slough off the remorse for missteps, learn their lessons, and move on. Wrapping Up However, challenging the laser focus on people at a tech-driven company may be, if you seek to steadily come on top of any hurdle impeding your way, paying attention to the well-being of your employees is imperative. Nurturing resilient teams in hi-tech environments requires mitigation of issues’ effects on people's physical and mental health and calls for creating a space where they feel supported and comfortable sharing their experiences, equipping themselves with hands-on knowledge on handling crises, and adapting to changing situations. In such a rapidly evolving industry as tech, where disruptions belong to everyday life, the ability to manage these occurrences is central to maintaining the continuity of operations, and the practice of doing so is widely known as crisis management. In the context of the digital domain, the thing that comes to the fore when an accident arrives is how to save sensitive information from hackers or raise servers from the dead, e.g., technical aspects of the matter. What eludes one’s attention in this rush for a quick patch is how these occurrences affect the people responsible for cleaning this mess, while the consequences run from mere distress caused by the emergency of immediate action to a nervous breakdown. Unless a CEO means to blow the entire company budget on replacing burnt-out staffers every now and then, it is paramount to take precautionary care not only of the software but also of the people who stand at the front of its protection from accidents. This type of crisis management that gives precedence to the staff is defined as human-centered, and those who develop this approach know perfectly well that better preparation of your people for troubles (both in mental and practical terms) increases the probability that their actions will actually help to override the issue, not exacerbate the situation. Leaning back on the principles of this methodology, I suggest the following steps for taking precautionary care of your subordinates to foster their robustness throughout all three stages of a crisis. Stage 1. Preparing for the Worst Stage 1. Preparing for the Worst Though any business can find itself affected by situations that may lead to a crisis, the types of incidents vary greatly from one company to another, even within the digital realm. Consequently, the first step toward a resilient team is to identify what problems the technology you rely upon may open the door to. Spare no effort on blindspot analysis; once done, it will save you money and nerve cells. Next, when potential breaches are identified, it is time to prepare a crisis management plan—a plan of actions your team is expected to take when the disaster steps over your threshold. The more detailed your catastrophe road map is charted, the greater the chances that the issue being tackled will go smoothly and will take place in a timely manner because your company population will know exactly what to do. The major danger that awaits you at this point is to put this plan on the most remote shelf and forget about it until the need arises. Make sure that everyone on your team is acquainted with its contents and can enact them which necessitates fire drills. Simulations of the emergency will highlight weaknesses in the plan and the system in general and showcase team performance which will facilitate your understanding of the business’ preparedness for such occasions. The gaps the drill exposed should be documented and then discussed with the team to show its members how to deal with them. While malfunction simulations will help you spot weaknesses in the system, you are still running the risk of countermeasures going pear-shaped if you are unaware of breaches in the psychological immunity of those who are supposed to face them first. Thus, the next step to take if you seek to improve the robustness of your team is to understand what is capable of breaking them down. Have a talk with each of the team members and identify what stresses them out. Some people easily endure the pressure at the moment but melt down under the continuous torrent of small bugs, or they just won’t be able to deal with the storm of scolding critique from infuriated clients. I bet that one of the major stressors to name will be a fear of making a mistake. Under mentally taxing circumstances, this fear may paralyze the individual’s will to take an action that is dictated by the situation but not outlined in the plan, which may ruin the entire operation. This psychological safety is the bedrock of resilience. That is why it is critically important to show empathy to your subordinates and foster a working environment where an error is a source of knowledge, not a reason for reprimand. These talks will help you get an idea of whom you can place on the disaster recovery team—a dedicated group of people who will shoulder addressing the matter in progress—and whom you can put at the helm as a disaster recovery (DR) leader. Stage 2. In the Midst of a Disaster. Stage 2. In the Midst of a Disaster. When chaos unfolds, it is important to identify whether it is fully digital in character or whether it may do physical damage to your staff. The recent pandemic and a string of armed conflicts erupting across the world reminded us that death danger can transcend the boundaries of imagined probability, so the protection of your employees against such emergencies is an item to include in the plan. Naturally, physical safety is one of our basic necessities, and ensuring it at the workplace is the employer’s duty, so double-check that your people are protected from injury. Furthermore, there is nothing more destabilizing in the moment of danger than unclarity and a sense of lostness caused by a lack of communication and information in general. Thus, keeping the involved up-to-date and providing overall transparency provides them with the level of certainty that forms the solid foundation for a reassured action. What goes hand in hand with informational support is the demonstration that everything goes according to plan: stay calm and collected, and set the example of sangfroid. Panic is contagious, so nipping it in the bud will reduce the stressfulness of the situation. As a continuation of your effort to bolster the mental robustness of your team at the moment, demonstrate to your employees that they are not abandoned to their own devices. There should be a leader who coordinates their actions and points them in the right direction, unfolding a safety net of prompts for occasions when a gap in the protocol calls for a senior manager’s instructions. The right step taken at the right moment will solidify the employee’s confidence in their own abilities to handle a challenge and, as an entailment, boost their mental resistance to tech mishaps. Stage 3. Crisis Aftermath Stage 3. Crisis Aftermath When a crisis is over, the serenity of its aftermath tempts the possibility of consigning it to oblivion. Yet, even though the storm subsided, it is not the time to sit back and relax. Just like a fire drill demands documentation of its results and progress, the real disaster requires a detailed breakdown of the actions and behaviors of the entire team. Moreover, while a simulation may prompt you on the blindspots in the crisis management plan, your employees still know that it is a simulation, so their behavior under real circumstances may digress drastically from what is expected because of the higher level of stress. Consequently, documenting your team’s moves throughout the accident will highlight a) who proved to be more resilient to the disaster and why; and b) which mitigation tactics proved to be effective when enacted by real people on the ground. Keeping track of mistakes helps to adjust the CMP and choose the people who are more fit for a place on the crisis team. A good idea is to arrange a meeting where employees could share their experiences of being in the eye of chaos, what helped them to override it, and what, all the way around, impeded faster resolution. After hitting the hot iron of recording actions during the crisis, fostering resilience in your team demands tackling the imprint the accident might have left on the minds of those who bore the brunt. A corporate psychologist will perfectly do this job for you, or you can at least subsidize a visit or two to a shrink on the side. An honest, one-on-one talk with each participant where you will praise them for apt steps and subtly mention the points for improvement also has the power of alleviating the pressure, helping them slough off the remorse for missteps, learn their lessons, and move on. Wrapping Up Wrapping Up However, challenging the laser focus on people at a tech-driven company may be, if you seek to steadily come on top of any hurdle impeding your way, paying attention to the well-being of your employees is imperative. Nurturing resilient teams in hi-tech environments requires mitigation of issues’ effects on people's physical and mental health and calls for creating a space where they feel supported and comfortable sharing their experiences, equipping themselves with hands-on knowledge on handling crises, and adapting to changing situations.

Human-centric Crisis Management: Nurturing Resilient Teams in Hi-tech Environments

I recently spoke with Emmanuel Quezada, the Co-Founder & CEO of , where we explored the realm of Web3 and its potential impact on industries beyond its financial roots, spanning entertainment, media, and art. We delved into topics like the intricacies of Web3 IP licensing, challenges hindering widespread adoption, and efforts to democratize Web3 accessibility for diverse user groups and demographics. I hope you enjoy. U-topia To Start, Can You Walk Us Through Your Professional Journey? I stepped into the role of CEO at ATS Corporate back in 2021, a branch of my family office, . It was an exciting time because I was also studying for my Applied Blockchain Diploma in Gold Coast, Australia. During this period, we dove deep into market research, exploring everything from blockchain to crypto and Web3 industries. We pored over hundreds of articles from big names like CoinTelegraph and CoinDesk to understand these industries' challenges and how we could tackle them. ATS Mexico Out of this came U-topia, a project I'm incredibly passionate about as its Co-founder and CEO. It's not just about business; it's about shaking up the entertainment and Web3 industry. We're working hard to ensure crypto and Web3 tech are accessible to anyone aged 13 and above, collaborating with regulators and governments worldwide. Our primary focus is on Gen Z, who comprise 26% of the world's population. And let's not forget about my family's political ties – my brother Daniel Quezada is gearing up to run for President of Mexico in the 2030 elections with his party, Partido Pueblo. Our mission is to ensure everyone, including future generations, can from Web3. benefit Does Web3 bring new challenges and opportunities for Intellectual Property (IP) licensing? Challenges — not really. Nothing specific to IPs. Of course, general issues like low scalability, etc., are there. But that’s only because the underlying technologies are still new. Opportunities, however, are many. Blockchain technology, cryptography, and other Web3 frameworks have significantly broadened the horizon for IP registration, licensing, and transfers. From automated, non-intermediated copyright enforcements to encoded royalties, we can now do things that were unimaginable in the past decade. It’s a really exciting time. What’s stopping Web3 from achieving mass adoption from an IP and entertainment perspective? Accessibility. Web3 still only serves a niche audience of enthusiasts and early adopters. Most existing projects aren’t designed for everyone, everywhere. This can be a feature in some sense, but it doesn’t help with achieving Internet-scale adoption. Kids, for example, often can’t use Web3 due to complex processes, a lack of regulation, security risks, etc. Parents fear their children will be exposed to scams, hacks, and other dangerous activities. And they’ve got good reason to think so. Plus, there’s a general lack of awareness among adults. Most people still think of crypto, and thus Web3, as a tool for frauds and criminals. Another issue plaguing the Web3 landscape is the lack of interoperability. In simpler terms, the assets of one project are often trapped within its confines, limiting their potential. U-topia, however, offers a solution. We are building a bridge, a gateway to other metaverse solutions like Roblox. While other projects like Pixels and Mocaverse also offer interoperability, U-topia’s unique selling point lies in the world-class IPs we leverage to create our products. The negativity stops the masses from exploring promising innovations in Web3 media and entertainment, among other sectors. How does U-topia solve these problems? —that’s our approach. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater Children can get addicted to the metaverse. The thrill of making some quick bucks flipping NFTs can get to them. They could lose their parents’ hard-earned money to scams and hacks. But none of this means we should stop upcoming generations from accessing cutting-edge technologies early on. It’ll be a disaster for their progress and society as a whole. So, we offer a safe space where anyone above 13 years can explore Web3. That’s , where we’re . It’s a platform to streamline IP licensing, entertainment, and Web3 education. U-topia building Web3 for every age, every stage We’ve built the world’s first crypto ‘Wallet for Kids’ secured with a multi-account feature. It lets parents oversee their child’s Web3 activity and provide guidance. They can also set spending limitations, etc. That too, is within a fully compliant, safe, and regulated ecosystem. So, on the one hand, we help educate our future generations about technologies that matter. On the other hand, we connect creators and collectors who want to explore the full potential of Web3 IPs. will get access to an integrated ecosystem of rich, engaging, and high-value IPs, both from Web2 and Web3. We’ve combined the best of both worlds. Bandai Namco, Nike, BAYC, and others live together in our U-topian multiverse. U-Pass holders Last but not least, we’re to achieve the speed, flexibility, and cost-efficiency needed for broad adoption. We focus on providing a superior user experience that our community members will love and enjoy. Plus, our platform will be highly sustainable and eco-friendly. building on Solana Some people say NFTs are dead. What’s your response? These people can’t look beyond price action and gross market dynamics. But the technologies we’re building have deeper significance. NFTs, for one, are much more than cool PFPs. They’re a means to establish on-chain property rights, provenance, and ownership. They support highly resilient and flexible IPs. That too, is within functional circular economies. These are novel avenues that’ll take a long way forward. NFTs are here to stay. They are not dying soon. To wrap up, share your best advice for newcomers and projects building in Web3. Explore new technologies. Experiment to your heart’s content. But educate yourself in every way. And, most importantly, always do your research. We’re in a bull cycle and lots of lucrative options will pop up left, right, and center. All of them won’t be real, so make sure you test the waters before diving in. Read the docs, and speak with your friends and peers in the industry. Follow experts. Do whatever it takes to make informed decisions. Remember — if something feels too good to be true, it most likely isn’t.

Creating Resilient & Flexible Web3 IPs — A Discussion With U-topia CEO, Emmanuel Quezada

has revolutionized the development and deployment of modern software systems, offering unprecedented scalability, flexibility, and maintainability. Microservice architecture Despite the fact that microservices are considered a cutting-edge development industry, the term was first used 20 years ago — in 2005, Peter Rogers invented the term "micro-web services" during a presentation on cloud computing. Rogers created a functional model of microservices that has become a reality over time. Using , a powerful and versatile programming language, allows developers to leverage the full potential of microservices. We will briefly review each step and reveal the technical nuances that contribute to the successful implementation of your microservice application. Java Step 1: Define the boundaries of your services The cornerstone of any microservice architecture is clearly defining service boundaries. This critical step involves: Carefully analyzing the business domain Identifying holistic components Defining the interactions between them. Microservices should encapsulate specific business capabilities, ensuring high cohesion and low coupling between modules. Domain-centric design principles, such as bounded contexts and ubiquitous language, provide a solid foundation for defining service boundaries and promote common understanding among stakeholders. In practice, tools such as Domain-Driven Design (DDD) can help model complex domains by helping developers define the aggregates, entities, and value objects that form the building blocks of microservices. Moreover, techniques such as event-storming facilitate collaborative exploration of events and domain business processes, paving the way for a well-defined microservices architecture. Step 2: Select appropriate tools and frameworks Choosing the right tools and frameworks is critical to building the technological foundation of the microservices ecosystem. In the Java ecosystem, several frameworks and libraries offer robust features for building microservices, each with its own strengths and trade-offs. , popular among developers, provides a comprehensive set of tools for rapid development, dependency injection, and integration with various libraries. In addition, frameworks such as and offer lightweight, cloud-native alternatives optimized for microservice deployments. Spring Boot Micronaut Quarkus technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes play a key role in creating scalable and resilient microservice architectures. Containerization Docker containers provide lightweight, portable deployment units, and Kubernetes orchestrates containerized applications by automating deployment, scaling, and management tasks. Step 3: Establish cross-service communication Effective communication between microservices is essential for orchestrating complex workflows and ensuring seamless operations. Depending on the nature of the communication and requirements, different communication patterns such as synchronous , asynchronous message queues, and event-driven architectures can be used. RESTful API RESTful APIs serve as the foundation of many microservices architectures, offering a standardized approach to communicating over HTTP. Frameworks such as allow developers to create reactive, non-blocking REST APIs ideal for handling high-performance, real-time workloads. Spring WebFlux For asynchronous communication, message brokers such as and provide reliable message delivery and separate communication between services. Kafka's distributed architecture and fault-tolerant design make it well-suited for event source and stream processing applications. Apache Kafka RabbitMQ Service mesh technologies such as and provide a layer of abstraction for managing interactions between services, addressing tasks such as service discovery, load balancing, and traffic routing. By shifting these responsibilities to individual microservices, service grids simplify development and operation while improving reliability and observability. Istio Linkerd Step 4: Ensure scalability and fault tolerance Scalability and fault tolerance are critical aspects in designing microservice architectures that can handle diverse workloads and maintain high availability. Horizontal scalability, achieved through containerization and orchestration, allows microservices to dynamically expand in response to increasing demand. Fault tolerance mechanisms such as circuit breakers, retries, and revert strategies help mitigate failures and ensure smooth degradation under adverse conditions. Libraries such as and provide robust implementations of these patterns, allowing developers to build resilient microservices that can gracefully withstand failures. Netflix/Hystrix resilience4j Distributed caching using technologies such as or can reduce performance bottlenecks by caching frequently used data closer to the application, reducing latency and improving scalability. In addition, database partitioning technologies allow data to be horizontally shared across multiple nodes, allowing microservices to horizontally scale database access and efficiently handle growing datasets. Redis Memcached Step 5: Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD) Achieving fast and reliable software delivery requires a robust CI/CD pipeline that automates the build, test, and deployment processes. Tools such as , , and provide powerful automation capabilities, allowing developers to frequently integrate code changes and confidently deploy them to production. Jenkins GitLab CI CircleCI Containerization, combined with container registries such as or , provides consistency across environments and simplifies deployment across infrastructures. With Docker, developers can package their applications and dependencies into lightweight, portable containers, enabling seamless deployment across development, test, and production environments. Docker Hub Amazon ECR Deploying microservices in a cloud-native environment such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform offers additional benefits in terms of scalability, resiliency, and operational efficiency. Cloud-native services such as provide managed Kubernetes offerings, abstracting away the complexity of infrastructure management and allowing developers to focus on building and deploying microservices. AWS ECS, Azure Kubernetes Service, and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Monitoring and observability are important aspects of operating microservice architectures in production. Tools such as (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) provide comprehensive visibility into system health, performance metrics, and logs, enabling proactive monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimization. Prometheus and Grafana, and ELK Stack Conclusion In conclusion, building a microservices architecture in Java requires careful consideration of service boundaries, tool selection, interaction patterns, scaling measures, and CI/CD practices. By following these steps and utilizing the right technologies and best practices, developers will be able to build fault-tolerant, scalable, and flexible systems that can meet the demands of modern software development. Microservices, combined with the reliability and versatility of Java, enable organizations to innovate quickly, adapt to changing market conditions, and deliver exceptional value to customers in today's rapidly evolving digital landscape.

How to Build a Resilient Microservice Architecture With Java

In this article, we will take a look at the Erlang ecosystem, focusing on the underlying architecture of Elixir and Erlang, two functional programming languages, and see how they utilize a shared runtime system known as BEAM for code execution To grasp the full potential and innovation behind Erlang and it's crucial to delve into their origins and the principles that guide their development. Elixir, The development of began in the mid-1980s in . At that time, Erlang was designed to provide a better way to "build telephone applications"[1]. It was developed for writing that can run without interruption. Erlang Ericsson's laboratory concurrent programs What makes Erlang exceptionally , as well as , is its process-based approach. These processes do not share memory and can communicate with each other using asynchronous messages. Processes can also restart each other, which allows for easy system recovery in case of errors. These processes belong to the programming language rather than the operating system. In addition to sending and receiving messages and commands among themselves, they can also send them outside the kernel, allowing the system to scale by adding more processing units. Erlang also has a mechanism for changing code within the program without stopping its execution called . concurrent and scalable fault-tolerant hot code swapping is a dynamic created for building and , with prominent applications in , , and development[2]. It was created by José Valim in 2011 to offer a solution to common concurrency issues in programming that he faced during the time he worked as a Ruby/Rails developer[3]. At the same time, the intention was to achieve the competitive robustness of Erlang. Therefore, Elixir was developed based on the Erlang Virtual Machine (BEAM), inheriting Erlang's capabilities for creating resilient, distributed applications. The interoperability of Elixir and Erlang is further facilitated since both languages compile into a common bytecode format, allowing seamless integration and use of libraries from both languages. Elixir functional language scalable maintainable applications communication networks real-time systems web application (ERTS) compiles the original Erlang program code into bytecode, which is then executed on , Erlang's virtual machine. BEAM runs as a single process of the operating system (OS), and unless specified otherwise, the number of threads that this process executes corresponds to the number of OS cores[4]. BEAM does not have any information about system information or OS processes but serves only to execute commands that are written in special registers. All processes implemented within Elixir or Erlang are fully executed by BEAM, on just one OS process. compared to threads and processes of the operating system, which allows for the creation of many such processes where each performs its task, isolated from the rest of the program. BEAM efficiently allocates and manages these lightweight processes through its scheduler threads. in BEAM are designed to dynamically distribute tasks (processes) across available cores, thus optimizing program execution without unnecessary load on a single core. The Erlang Runtime System BEAM These processes are small and lightweight Scheduler threads To wrap up, understanding the architecture that underpins Elixir and Erlang offers fascinating insights into how these languages manage to achieve remarkable levels of concurrency, scalability, and fault tolerance. From Erlang's original design to revolutionize the development of telephone applications to Elixir's creation for enhanced maintainability and scalability in modern applications, both languages demonstrate the power of functional programming in managing complex, distributed systems with ease. References https://www.labouseur.com/courses/erlang/history-of-erlang-armstrong.pdf https://elixir-lang.org https://semaphoreci.com/blog/elixir-creator-jose-valim https://www.erlang.org/blog/a-brief-beam-primer

Inside BEAM: How Elixir and Erlang Leverage a Shared Runtime for Resilient Applications

You can jump to any section of the National Aeronautics Science & Technology Priorities here. Relationship with Essential Government Functions Essential Government Functions align with and complement the societal dimensions and cross-cutting enablers established in the Grand Pathways Framework. In the Grand Pathways Framework, are actions or services that use cross-cutting enablers to support and deliver one or more societal dimensions. For example, community trust in its governance depends on execution of safe, secure elections, which in turn require secure cyberinfrastructure. Healthy populations require the ability of people to access necessary medical providers and services, which in turn requires the availability of educated and trained practitioners and the production and transport of essential medical supplies. key functions Some key functions have been identified as so vital to the national interest and national security that they have been formally designated and are used to assign and direct responsibility for Federal actions, some in steady-state settings while others are associated with significant incidents (Figure 2 and Appendix A): • National Essential Functions (NEFs), Mission Essential Functions (MEFs), and Primary Mission Essential Functions (PMEFs) (Appendix 1): NEFs are the critical responsibilities of the Federal Government in sustaining the Nation. MEFs and PMEFs ensure that each Federal department and agency implements key functions required to ensure continued performance of the NEFs. • National Critical Functions (NCFs): NCFs apply to the private sector and all levels of government and are vital key functions that, if disrupted, weaken national security. • Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) and Recovery Support Functions (RSFs): ESFs are used to focus Federal response and coordination with non-Federal partners, and RSFs serve similar key functions during recovery. • Community lifelines: Community lifelines establish a unity of effort between governments at all levels and non-governmental organizations (such as infrastructure owners and operators) to sustain the most fundamental services in the community that, when stabilized, enable all other aspects of society to function. These function sets are principally used to drive contingency and continuity planning and in incident response, which tends to focus on preparedness, response, and recovery for specified shocks. While presented at the national level, communities benefit from an understanding of these functions. Other function sets like lifelines are familiar and relevant to local communities, particularly those frequently affected by natural disasters, and can be used beyond a specific incident to provide indicators of service delivery outside of an incident (e.g., power and water lifelines). and use them to document the key building blocks (cross-cutting enablers) and any intermediate steps or resources that help them deliver value to the community (societal outcomes) in both steady-state (day-to-day) and in disruptive incidents. Breaking down outcomes using key functions and cross-cutting enablers allows users to discover common elements (e.g., one enabler that is vital to multiple key functions or outcomes) and key interdependencies. Such elements can emerge as priorities for study (i.e., new science), risk or vulnerability assessment, risk reduction (i.e., hazard mitigation or other resilience investments), or community engagement. The Grand Pathways Framework is meant to allow users to identify key functions that are relevant to whatever dimensions of resilience they are concerned with, This was originally published in March 2023 on It has been broken-up into bite sized sections, each with unique headlines and AI-generated lead images, in line with the provisions of whitehouse.gov. Creative Commons 3.0.

Hacking Resilient Communities: The Interplay Between Government Functions and Grand Pathways 

You can jump to any section of the National Aeronautics Science & Technology Priorities here. Introduction & Purpose The Resilience Science and Technology Grand Pathways Framework aims to build resilient communities by identifying, aligning, and prioritizing science, technology, and innovation that equitably and justly strengthen multiple dimensions of American society. In recent years, America’s communities have faced unprecedented shocks and stresses due to natural hazards, accidents, and deliberate acts, some occurring in tandem or as cascading disasters. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 2021, the United States experienced 20 weather or climate disaster events with losses that exceeded $1 billion each; since 1980, 310 such events occurred.[1] Weather events, like the unusual cold snap in Texas in February 2021[2] , lead to pronounced secondary effects, such as prolonged power losses. Deliberate disruptions, like the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack that disrupted oil supply chains[3], can have similar widespread impacts. Both of these events occurred while the Nation grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid epidemic, and other health crises that have exacerbated pre-existing weaknesses in the built environment as well as social and institutional inequities. Helping individuals, families, and communities recover from these immense challenges while building their resilience to historical, ongoing, and future stressors is a challenge that requires a whole-of community effort, and that includes focusing and harnessing science, technology, and innovation. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law highlights the need to address these challenges by investing over $50 billion to build the Nation’s resilience to the impacts of climate and extreme weather hazards, and directs investment in billions more in infrastructure that will need to be resilient to both natural and man-made hazards. [4] There are a number of other investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act[5] that, if built with all-hazards resilience and cybersecurity in mind, will significantly enhance the Nation’s resilience to climate change and a wide array of other threats and hazards. Further, the Biden Administration’s commitments to increasing social equity[6] and environmental justice[7] will help remedy persistent inequities that have diminished the resilience of communities. The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)’s Subcommittee on Resilience Science and Technology (SRST) investigated methodologies and strategies to assist agencies focusing their resources as they make use of the generational investments afforded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law[8] and the Inflation Reduction Act.[9] SRST was created in 2019 to address cross-cutting resilience science and technology issues related to all threats and hazards, at all stages of risk management, considering both physical and social science dimensions. SRST is investigating the interdependencies among societal dimensions of resilience (including the key functions and cross-cutting enablers that support them), and identifying the critical gaps that impede resilience. The goal of these investigations is to identify mechanisms, or “grand pathways,” to align current and future resilience science and technology capabilities to address those gaps across multiple disruptions, resources and cross-cutting enablers, key functions, and societal dimensions to assist communities in advancing their own resilience. A sound, single framework will help prioritize investments and ensure that Federal dollars are spent to their best advantage. A resilient community anticipates, avoids, adapts to, withstands, and builds back better in the wake of disruptions. This report outlines the Resilience Science and Technology Grand Pathways Framework, which aims to identify science, technology, and innovation approaches that improve communities’ abilities to anticipate, avoid, adapt to, withstand, and build back better from acute shocks and chronic stresses with the potential to cause disruption or destruction. End users of the Grand Pathways Framework include Federal agencies and their partners, such as planners, policy makers, community leaders, innovators, and others. This effort builds on the Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction (2005) and follow-on hazard specific implementation plans (2008) published by the NSTC’s Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction.[10] The Grand Challenges provided a 10-year strategy for Federal agencies and external partners and stakeholders to deliver science- and technology-based investments to increase disaster resilience, with efforts aimed at increasing understanding, reducing vulnerability, informing decisions and otherwise promoting risk-wise behaviors. [1] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2021. “Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters.” https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/ [2] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2021. “Valentine's Week Winter Outbreak 2021: Snow, Ice, & Record Cold.” https://www.weather.gov/hgx/2021ValentineStorm [3] Department of Energy. 2021. “Colonial Pipeline Cyber Incident.” https://www.energy.gov/ceser/colonial-pipeline-cyberincident [4] The Executive Office of the President. 2022. “President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/#resilientinfrastucture [5] See, for example, The Executive Office of the President. 2022. “FACT SHEET: Inflation Redduction Act Advances Environmental Justice.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/17/fact-sheetinflation-reduction-act-advances-environmental-justice/ [6] The Executive Office of the President. 2021. “Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidentialactions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-thefederal-government/ [7] The Executive Office of the President. 2021. “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climatecrisis-at-home-and-abroad/ [8] The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (P.L. 117-58) is also referred to as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021, https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ58/PLAW-117publ58.pdf [9] The Inflation Reduction Act is P.L. 117-169, https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ169/PLAW-117publ169.pdf [10] National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction. 2005. “Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction.” https://www.sdr.gov/grandchallenges.html This was originally published in March 2023 on It has been broken-up into bite sized sections, each with unique headlines and AI-generated lead images, in line with the provisions of whitehouse.gov. Creative Commons 3.0.

Anticipate, Adapt, and Build Back Better: The Grand Pathways Framework for Resilient Communities

I recently spoke with Co-Founder & CEO, Mayur Relekar. During our discussion, we explored the current challenges within the Web3 space, focusing on the imperative for solutions that resolve user-centric issues and the necessity to expand Web3's accessibility beyond the crypto-native audience. Arcana Furthermore, we discussed the future of Web3, emphasizing the crucial roles of innovation and industry maturation. Hope you enjoy it! Hello, Mayur. Thanks for joining me in this conversation. Let’s start off with your origin story and how you came up with Arcana. Hey, Dan. It’s my pleasure. Thanks for having me. I have worked in tech for the last 18 years. I am from Bangalore in India which is known as the Silicon Valley of the East. So, after the first few years in Indian “big” tech, I had to startup. It was almost like a rite of passage. I had two startups between 2010 and 2013. One was in the cloud telephony space, and the other was e-commerce. Both didn’t see great success, to be honest, but I learned some invaluable lessons along the way. Most importantly, I learned that I was in love with technology, particularly platforms. I’ve always found it beautiful, almost elegant, that the cost of reproduction of a digital product or service was almost zero, and platforms especially epitomized this. I continued to work in tech, and then fast forward to 2017 which is the year I discovered blockchains and Bitcoin and Ethereum. The technical aspects were all-consuming, but I was completely enamored by the philosophy behind their existence. In what almost this moment of clarity, I knew my life’s work lay here, in this direction. In 2019, after having spent a few years building and voraciously learning about this burgeoning technology, my co-founders, Aravindh and Abhishek, and I decided we ought to build something real in this space. It felt like a calling, felt like it would be a disservice to all the knowledge we’d gained and how we collectively felt about the space if we didn’t do it. So, we took the plunge. Our forte has been to ideate, visualize, and realize products fairly fast. In Q3 of 2019, we built and took to market a PoC of a decentralized storage solution to market. We then realized nobody cared about decentralized storage! But we had built all this tech, so we ended up dogfooding it to build a browser extension that allowed you to send end-to-end encrypted attachments in your email. While doing so, we realized that a lot of things we did to make this product delightful to users could be generalized. By combining the latest in applied cryptography and our know-how of building useful products, a platform to help people and teams build useful products that could attract the masses was there to be built. That is how Arcana was born. What are some of the existing problems in Web3 preventing widespread adoption? Over the last few years, we saw a lot of products getting built in the Web3 space that are Vitamins, at best. They are nice to have but don’t really solve any problems. A mildly differentiated fork of Uniswap, yet another NFT collection but this time with a frog or apps built “for the culture” are valiant attempts, but we need to get past this. We need to build Painkillers. We need to build apps that solve real user problems and many of them. Another problem I’ve noticed is many of us in Web3 build only for crypto natives. As long as it’s something novel, then great, but if we want adoption, we have to start to look at all user personas that qualify as being internet savvy. If you talk to such users, for example, gamers, most will tell you that the UX in Web3 just sucks. Downright sucks. Most non-Web3 people entering the space still don’t know how to create a wallet or, more importantly, manage their private keys properly. Not to mention transactions, which often add much more friction due to high gas costs, steep learning curves, unfamiliar processes, etc. Developers face a hard time integrating such features into their applications, mainly due to the absence of a robust and intuitive UX stack. We’re bridging this gap—it’s key to onboarding the next one billion users to Web3. For example, we built , which enabled Web3 platforms (or anyone) to send crypto via email or by using their Twitter ID. It gives a massive adoption boost, besides showcasing the potential of Arcana’s holistic stack. SendIt Since you mentioned SendIt, can you tell us more about it? What other products are you building? Very recently, in an interview with Lex Fridman, Brian Armstrong said “Action produces information. Keep doing stuff”, he further goes on to mention he borrows this line of thinking from a Paul Graham quote where he says “Startups are like sharks, if they stop swimming they die.” SendIT was more or less thought up along these lines where we simply wanted to showcase an app built on top of our SDKs that end users could interact with, and perhaps devs could learn more about the things that can be built with Arcana. Sending crypto to someone is a great way to introduce them to the crypto world. So we thought why not build something where users can do this, but the flow would not involve newbies figuring out what wallets are or having to deal with seed phrases? Can we make a PayPal for crypto where users can send crypto to an email ID? That was the genesis, and we set ourselves up with a lofty goal of getting 50k users in 2 months. We got 50k users in 6 days, 100k in 12 days. Today, we have upwards of 500k users who have performed around 1.5M transactions in 2 months! By launching SendIT, we not only ended up building a Web3 consumer app with insane traction but also learned so much about our backend, all our metrics on our other products, our socials, and our docs, all of them shot up. So I’d say what Brian Armstrong said is 100% true and something we will vehemently abide by in the future. Speaking of the future, we have some very exciting stuff brewing in the Arcana kitchen. We are soon to be launching our Gasless SDK in partnership with Biconomy, we have an NFT checkout feature coming soon, we have our app chain going live with its test net, and so much more… To wrap things up, please tell us where you see Web3 in the next five to ten years. The eternal optimist in me believes the future will all be frogs, llamas, flying unicorns, and rainbows. But the pragmatist in me feels like we are at an inflection point. On one side, we have a deep bear market amplified by geo-political unrest + grim macroeconomic outlooks, and on the other side, you have an industry that has seen many projects die and smart, talented people leave for greener pastures or jail! All the ingredients for the perfect underdog story where the handful of high integrity, hardworking teams have to answer the call to really innovate. Innovation that leads to adoption. There are clear signs that we, as an industry, are becoming more mature. Echo-chambers are being rejected, and product lead teams are coming to the fore, placing the users and their needs first and then starting to build products that address those needs. Idealism is being rejected with acceptable trade-offs being made with usability and user experiences taking center stage. These are strong foundations to build on top of and attract builders and users alike. Money will follow.

Making Web3 Resilient & User-Friendly With Mayur Relekar

The recent geopolitical tensions stemming from the Hamas attack on Israel triggered a notable downturn in global markets over the weekend. Nonetheless, despite these persistent high tensions, U.S. stocks have impressively managed to rebound, with the three major indices, S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq Composite all posting modest gains since the week's outset. To add to it, September’s Producer Price Index (PPI) a 0.5% increase, surpassing the expected 0.3%. Remarkably, the markets appear to have largely shrugged off this increase, with the S&P posting an impressive 2.48% gain over the past five days. reported No Crypto Party Just Yet But while this resilience offers a brief respite for the equities market, it doesn't necessarily indicate that risk-on assets like will rally significantly anytime soon. crypto The crypto markets continue to chop around with no clear direction while hopeful investors jump to the next big thing, only for it to decline again once they start to take profit. The root cause? There are very limited capital inflows to the crypto economy, and as a result, most of the moves are more probable to be internal rotations rather than caused by inflow. For now, exercising caution for anything crypto remains the course of action I can prescribe. I’m not a big believer that the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and the contrasting economic data will necessarily provide any big blowbacks to crypto in the near future. I continue to believe that the cycle bottom has probably been set for BTC, and for every week passing without a new low, that notion is strengthened. Bitcoin's Battle to Maintain Support Levels Bitcoin is currently struggling to hold above the $27,000 level; the price of one BTC is down 3.1% over the past week, currently trading at $26,700. However, amid the reduced market activity, it is interesting to observe is that long-term investors are aggressively stacking sats, with the latest data from Glassnode that HODLers currently hold over 76% of the circulating BTC supply. revealing Even more intriguing is the rate at which this group of BTC investors is accumulating 50,000 BTC per month, which translates to around $1.35 billion as per the current prices. Notably, the increasing interest in stacking BTC is not confined to the crypto community. Hedge fund tycoon Paul Tudor Jones earlier this week that, in light of mounting geopolitical risks and the increasing levels of U.S. government debt, Bitcoin and Gold are emerging as attractive options. expressed Noteworthy Mentions Crypto Taxation Landscape: A Global Perspective Crypto tax policies are dynamic across the world. In our latest article, we highlight some of the advanced crypto tax jurisdictions and tax haven countries’ frameworks. This is a living article that will evolve over time, and the information found is with a high abstraction level. Read full article . here Industry Shakers JPMorgan debuts tokenization platform JPMorgan has officially launched its in-house blockchain-based tokenization app, the Tokenized Collateral Network (TCN), and executed its inaugural trade with asset management giant BlackRock. At the core, TCN allows investors to use assets as collateral by transferring ownership through blockchain, simplifying collateral transactions. It is also worth noting that the tokenization of (RWAs) is currently getting a lot of traction both in crypto and traditional finance. Real World Assets Zimbabwe turns gold-backed digital token into payment method The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has unveiled Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), a gold-backed digital payment token. This project was initiated in April 2023, with each digital token being backed by a specific quantity of gold stored in the bank's reserves. The new ZiG token is set to encourage local investors to invest in national assets rather than US dollars, a big hurdle in a country grappling with triple-digit inflation. FCA issues warning to unregistered crypto firms The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom issued a warning this week to 146 cryptocurrency companies, enforcing the new promotional regulations mandating registration with the FCA. This move, marking the first warning under the updated rules, is part of the FCA's ongoing efforts to combat illicit financial promotions aimed at UK consumers. Alongside the warning, the FCA published a list of non-compliant entities, including KuCoin and Huobi, among others. Also published . here

The Market Remains Resilient Amidst Geopolitical Tensions

No one is immune to a crisis. One day, you're busy growing your company, and the next, a war breaks out in your country, throwing everything off balance. It's undeniably a critical situation, but the business world is full of numerous risks that companies must be prepared for. While you can't predict every twist and turn, having confidence in your team's ability to handle most situations is a significant advantage. In this article, I'll show you how to prepare your and enhance its resilience in the face of challenges. team Let's put this puzzle together. What makes a team resilient? A team can be deemed resilient when it handles challenges, external pressure, and even unexpected situations that come its way. They're like quick-change artists, adapting on the fly without missing a beat. It almost sounds like a dream team, doesn't it? When a full-scale war broke out, we didn't panic. Instead, we went into action mode and came up with a backup plan. We set up extra communication channels and found an additional way to get the funds we needed. But here's the thing: from day one, we made it clear that the safety of every team member was the top priority. After that, it was all about making sure our workspaces were in order so we could actually get work done. Then, there was the communication side of things. We figured out who could handle what based on their skills, energy levels, and how much they wanted to dive in. That's when we formed these small teams of 2-3 members who could divide and conquer. This way, we managed to stay productive. Some of us went all in on work, while others took breaks to recharge, and that helped us keep the workflow going until others were ready to jump back in, either physically or mentally. Why should you beef up your team? War is a critical event, and the likelihood of such a scenario occurring for most individuals is close to zero. But there are other crucial moments for , especially when it comes to dealing with customer-related issues. These problems can impact either a large number of customers or your top users, potentially resulting in financial losses or reputational risks. business owners In such cases, some top managers opt to set aside all other tasks and rush to solve the problem. However, there's a way to prepare the team so that they can handle the issue without completely neglecting their regular tasks. I prefer to mitigate potential risks and have a Plan B for each one. So, what does this Plan B involve? It may include a protocol outlining specific actions to take in case a particular problem arises. We usually have a couple of team members take turns overseeing these guidelines, and we incorporate this approach into our sprint planning at the beginning of each sprint. How to make your team resilient: 3 real-life tips you can try right now Of course, each situation is unique, but is there some kind of recipe that can work for any company, no matter its size? Well, my answer is that there's no one-size-fits-all solution. HOWEVER. Think about it like this: When you visit a doctor, no matter the reason, they usually give you the same basic advice—don't drink too much, quit smoking, eat healthy, and get some exercise. Why? Because these are proactive steps that can keep you from getting sick in the first place. It's always easier to stay healthy than to deal with an illness. The same idea applies to businesses. Whenever you bring a new person onto your team, part of their onboarding process should include giving feedback on their own onboarding experience. For example, after about three months, the new team member should give their thoughts on the onboarding process and all the materials they got to learn about the company. They can say what's clear, what's not, what's missing, and what can be improved. Furthermore, this person should suggest precisely how you can improve it. They can also share if they understand what each team in the company does. This simple step can help any company, no matter how big or small. Here's a simple idea: By doing this, you'll keep improving your onboarding materials with every new hire. That way, the next person who joins will have an even better understanding of the company—what it does and how it works. If you've got a team that's used to working in a specific way with clear roles and tasks, try this out. Pick one person, let's say a salesperson who handles a big client, and give them a 2-3 week vacation. See how the team copes with supporting that client. Does the client know who to reach out to if they have questions? Is your team well-prepared to address their inquiries? Here's another practical tip for all companies: Sure, there's a chance you might lose the customer temporarily, but think of it as finding any weak spots in your ship and patching them up. This little experiment can show you how well your processes are set up and where they might need some fixing. Moreover, it helps you prepare for the future so that if that salesperson needs time off or gets sick, you won't risk losing the client. If you're not keen on the idea of learning from your mistakes, or you'd rather not make the team feel like they're being treated as guinea pigs in an experiment, Have a conversation with the person who's going on vacation. Ask them what they think needs to be done to keep the team's performance up while they're away. This way, you're involving them in the process of procedure design, and they can help identify any communication gaps and suggest practical solutions. After all, they have a personal interest in making sure the client doesn't go anywhere while they're gone. there's an alternative approach. is to give it a practice run, somewhat akin to fire drills in school. Only this time, instead of a fire, you're simulating a different tricky situation, such as a server failure. Go through the plan and see if all the steps in it would actually help in that situation. If you currently lack such a protocol, this meeting is an opportune time to create one. Engage with the teams to discuss how they can handle customer communication, address technical server issues, and so forth. Another way to get ready for a crisis Takeaways The is always full of curveballs and surprises, so you need to know how to build tough-as-nails teams. These are the squads that don't just survive when things get wild but actually thrive. Now, you know at least three ways to prepare your team for challenges. Remember, being forewarned is being forearmed. business world

Building Resilient Teams: Empowering People to Thrive in Turbulent Times

About a year ago, I was working on a project at my previous job. The goal was to set up a reliable message queue. Most people might go straight to RabbitMQ, and I almost did too. But I decided to look for something different. That's when I came across NATS JetStream. After working with it for the past year, I can say it's truly impressive. It's fast, it can handle a lot of data, and it fits well with cloud systems. Today, I'll walk you through how to use NATS JetStream with a Golang app. By the time you finish reading this article, you'll be able to implement a robust and fast message queue. Message queues For those who are not familiar, what are message queues? In the real world, message queues help systems talk to each other without getting overwhelmed. For example, when you order something online, your order might go into a message queue before it's processed. This way, even if many people order at the same time, the system can handle it smoothly. Message queues are key for making sure data gets where it needs to go, especially when things get busy. Project requirements For my project, I had a clear list of needs when it came to selecting a message queue: : It was crucial that our messages stayed safe. We couldn't afford to lose them due to network glitches or if a server needed to restart. In simple terms, once a message is in the queue, it should stay there until it's processed. Durable Queues : Sometimes, there can be small issues or temporary errors when a system tries to read a message. I needed a way to send these messages back into the queue so they could be tried again later. This ensures that no message gets left behind because of short-term problems. Retrying Messages : As our system might get more users and data, I wanted our message queue to grow easily with us. Horizontal Scaling With these requirements in mind, I began my search for the perfect message queue solution. Possible solutions When searching for the right message queue, I explored several options. Here's a brief overview: : I didn't dive too deep into these. They're older and seem to lack current support. Gearman, Beanstalkd, and similar : It's favored by many small businesses. However, I found it a bit slow. Setting the HA (High-available) cluster requires real expertise. Plus, it lacks the ability to “requeue” a message with delay. RabbitMQ : It's excellent for PubSub and storing KV data. But as a queue system? Not the best. If Redis is set to store all messages, it slows down drastically. Redis : It's a strong choice for event streaming. But it’s not the best choice for message queues. For instance, how can I requeue a message? Apache Kafka : It looked promising and fits the needs of large organizations. It met most of my criteria. Yet, horizontal scaling isn't straightforward. It demands a large infrastructure and a skilled team, which felt excessive for my project's scale. Apache Pulsar Finally, I stumbled upon NATS JetStream. It seemed to align perfectly with my requirements. How NATS JetStream fits to requirements To understand how NATS JetStream works, I made some simple code and did tests. Here's what I learned: : : Setting Things Up I made two simple Golang CLI tools One for sending messages (NATS publisher) ...
publishedTotal := 0
for i := 0; i < 30000; i++ {
	subject := "test_subject_name"
	_, err = jetStream.PublishAsync(subject, []byte(strconv.Itoa(i)))
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("publish: %w", err)
	}

	publishedTotal++
}
fmt.Printf("published %d messages\n", publishedTotal)
... One for fetching messages (NATS consumer) ...
totalReceived := int32(0)
for {
	func() {
		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 3*time.Second)
		defer cancel()

		msgs, fetchErr := jetStreamSubscriber.Fetch(1, nats.Context(ctx))
		if fetchErr != nil {
			if errors.Is(fetchErr, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
				return
			}

			log.Printf("sub fetch err: %s\n", fetchErr)
			return
		}

		for _, msg := range msgs {
			ackErr := msg.Ack()
			if ackErr != nil {
				log.Printf("sub ack err: %s\n", ackErr)
			}
			totalReceived++
			log.Printf("total received: %d\n", totalReceived)
		}
	}()
}
... Durable queues With these tools ready, I checked a few things: : Sending Many Messages : What if I send thousands of messages all at once? Question : The consumers took all the messages in. Nothing was lost. Answer : Sending Without Consumer : What if I send messages but there's no one to consume them? Question : When a consumer is ready, it receives all the messages. Answer : NATS Server Issues : How do consumers act if the NATS server stops? Do they try to connect again when NATS is back? Question : Yes, consumers connect back to NATS by themselves when it's working again. Answer : Unread Messages and NATS Problems : What about messages sent to NATS but not consumed, and then NATS server turns off? Question : If NATS starts working again, all the waiting messages are consumed. This is because NATS keeps messages safe on the computer's storage. Answer NATS showed excellence aligning our first requirement. Let’s check out how it can send messages back to a queue. Requeue In NATS JetStream, requeuing a message that has encountered a problem is straightforward. You can achieve this by calling the function available in the message API. Invoking ensures that the message is sent back to the queue, effectively providing a second chance for it to be processed at a later time. Nak() Nak() Another feature that adds to the utility of NATS JetStream is the ability to requeue messages with a custom delay. This functionality comes in handy when dealing with tasks that are deferred and need to be carried out after a certain period has elapsed. For example, if you have a notification system that must send alerts at specific intervals, you can use this feature to schedule these messages accurately. Two requirements are nailed. There is one more important point about scalability. Horizontal Scaling When it comes to horizontal scaling, NATS JetStream makes the process relatively simple. Setting up a cluster involves running multiple NATS servers with JetStream enabled. All that's required is to specify the same and define the routing paths between each node in the configuration. cluster_name I added an example of docker-compose.yml file to run a local NATS cluster: version: "3.5"
services:
  nats1:
    container_name: nats1
    image: nats
    entrypoint: /nats-server
    command: --server_name N1 --cluster_name JSC --js --sd /data --cluster nats://0.0.0.0:4245 --routes nats://nats2:4245,nats://nats3:4245 -p 4222
    networks:
      - nats
    ports:
      - 4222:4222

  nats2:
    container_name: nats2
    image: nats
    entrypoint: /nats-server
    command: --server_name N2 --cluster_name JSC --js --sd /data --cluster nats://0.0.0.0:4245 --routes nats://nats1:4245,nats://nats3:4245 -p 4222
    networks:
      - nats
    ports:
      - 4223:4222

  nats3:
    container_name: nats3
    image: nats
    entrypoint: /nats-server
    command: --server_name N3 --cluster_name JSC --js --sd /data --cluster nats://0.0.0.0:4245 --routes nats://nats1:4245,nats://nats2:4245 -p 4222
    networks:
      - nats
    ports:
      - 4224:4222

networks:
  nats:
    name: nats What adds to the utility is that you can connect to any node within the cluster, whether from a publisher or a consumer application, and it just works seamlessly. This implies that the system is designed to handle varying load distributions, routing the messages effectively irrespective of which node you are connected to. It was clear to me that NATS JetStream aligned with all my requirements perfectly. Pros and nuances I spent considerable time with NATS JetStream and can outline its strengths and limitations based on my experience: Pros : NATS JetStream is more than just a message queue system. It offers a variety of features that I'll elaborate in the next articles. Broad Functionality : Being written in Go, the source code is accessible and provides insight into undocumented functionalities. This is particularly useful for Go developers who want to delve deeper into the system. Go-Based : The performance metrics for NATS JetStream are impressive, making it a reliable choice for high-throughput scenarios. Strong Benchmarks Nuances : One thing to be aware of is that NATS ensures 'at-least-once' message delivery. As a result, your consumer logic must be idempotent to handle such cases. 'At-Least-Once' Delivery : While the documentation is generally good, it doesn't cover all configuration options. Sometimes, you'll need to go through the SDK code to understand certain functionalities fully. Incomplete Documentation : This could be seen as both a pro and a nuance. The SDK handles reconnections automatically, which means you don't have to code this logic yourself. Built-In Reconnection Logic Performance The performance benchmark was conducted by , where NATS JetStream was compared with other popular message queues like Apache Pulsar and RabbitMQ. It's important to approach these results with a degree of skepticism, as the company is known for its affinity towards Apache Pulsar. They themselves noted that they faced difficulties in configuring NATS JetStream for the benchmark, which could potentially skew the results in favor of their preferred system. Steamnative NATS JetStream – During our tests, we attempted to follow the recommended practices for deliverGroups and deliverSubjects in NATS, but encountered difficulties. Our NATS subscriptions failed to act in a shared mode and instead exhibited a fan-out behavior, resulting in a significant read amplification of 16 times. This likely significantly impacted the overall publisher performance. Conclusion After working with NATS JetStream for an extended period, several aspects of the system became apparent: Easy configuration. High performance. Broad functionality. Beyond its capabilities as a message queue, NATS JetStream also functions as a message broker for event-streaming, PubSub, and synchronous Request-Reply message bus. While this article provides an initial overview, I plan to discuss the diverse features of NATS JetStream in more detail in future articles. This will include a closer look at its specific functionalities and how they can be applied in different scenarios. References NATS JetStream Publisher/Subscriber demo code Comparison of NATS, NATS Streaming and NATS JetStream Implementing NATS JetStream as Queues in Golang Steamnative performance benchmark Steamnative performance benchmark (detailed)

NATS JetStream — a New Way to Create Resilient Message Queue

The first half of 2023 was quite eventful for the global financial markets and the crypto industry. Macro factors, particularly inflation, continued to play a major role, and while the US Federal Reserve put a (temporary?) on its 10-month aggressive rate hike in June, the rate of inflation is yet to come down to the Fed's 2% desired target. pause Nevertheless, both equities and riskier assets such as crypto recorded positive gains in H1, with the S&P 500 up over 14%, while Bitcoin’s price almost doubled from its year opening of $16.5K to more than $30K. That said, there were several noteworthy events that shaped the macro and crypto outlook in H1 2023. In this special edition, we take a step back to highlight some of the major developments and trends that took place in the first half of 2023. Additionally, we present our views on some of the moving pieces in the crypto industry that will likely take centre stage in the second half of the year. Banking Industry Turmoil US Regional Banks were in for a rough ride in H1 as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) became the largest bank to since the 2008 financial crisis. This sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley and the crypto industry, as most of SVB’s clients fell within these two operational domains. collapse SVB’s woes began when it announced on March 8 that it had liquidated $21 billion worth of securities portfolio and was looking to sell an additional $2.25 million from its treasury stock. The news did not sit well with the markets, leading to a bank run that saw clients withdraw $42 billion just a day after. Notably, SVB was not the only US bank that went under; other crypto-oriented banks that also bit the dust include Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank. These two banks were  reeling from the aftermath of the , which saw clients withdraw billions of dollars in Q4 2022, stretching beyond their ability to meet withdrawal demands. FTX collapse However, on the other hand, the Fed's continued rate hike also played a hand. For instance, in SVB's case, the bank had purchased a huge chunk of US treasuries when rates were highly lucrative in 2020. But with the Fed raising rates throughout the better part of 2022, these treasuries were out of the money (not profitable). Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Explained For a better context on how the events at SVB unfolded, check out this in-depth LinkedIn . post US Regulators on the Heels of Crypto Regulators, especially in the US, have been cracking down on crypto activity for quite some time. But this year, the momentum has increased, with several crypto companies falling victim to this ongoing purge. First, it was Kraken Exchange, which agreed to a $30 million settlement with the SEC for offering crypto staking services. Then Paxos was issued a Wells Notice to halt the issuance of the BUSD stablecoin, and as of writing, several other crypto companies, including Binance, are facing charges from the SEC. According to the court filing documents, Binance is being of 13 charges spanning around calculated evasion of the law, lack of disclosure, conflicts of interest, and deception. Notably, this mounting regulatory pressure has led Binance's market share to drop from 60% during Q1 2023 to 52% as of June. accused That said, there is a glimmer of hope: a US Judge recently that XRP does not meet the criteria for being an investment contract. This development is a significant milestone for the crypto industry as the debate on whether cryptocurrencies are securities has long dragged on. However, this is not to say that all crypto assets targeted as ‘securities’ by the SEC are off the hook. ruled Moving away from the US, regulators in Europe finally passed the MiCA bill, which is set to come into enforcement next year. And in the East, Hong Kong is gradually emerging as a potential crypto hub, with the authorities large banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered to tap into the crypto clientele market. pushing Bitcoin Beat the Odds to Soar Past $30K Despite the macro and regulatory uncertainties, BTC managed to close the first half of 2023 above the $30K mark. This resilience has brought renewed optimism in the market, with some analysts leaning towards the possibility of a new bull run. However, there are still a lot of factors at play that could see BTC range in its current level or take a dive during the second half of the year. But what's interesting to observe are the fundamental and technical trends that have previously been a catalyst for Bitcoin's rally: Bitcoin has decoupled from equities, with the correlation dropping to a 17-month low, according to a recent by K33 Research. report The number of whole Bitcoiners (holding 1 BTC or more) is at an all-time high. Bitcoin's market dominance is slowly climbing back up, now at 46.7%, according to Coingecko. Computational power on the Bitcoin network is on the rise. To top it up, traditional financial institutions are becoming increasingly bullish on Bitcoin. Standard Chartered recently predicted that Bitcoin's price could eclipse $120K by the end of 2024. This news came against the backdrop of Blackrock's Bitcoin ETF , which has triggered a new wave of ETF applications. application Looking at the long term charts, one is tempted to conclude that we might be in an accumulation phase before Bitcoin finally makes a move up. However, with the global markets still facing some headwinds, caution is warranted, given that in times like these, markets have a funny way of surprising investors. Ethereum’s Shapella Upgrade: A Success The much-awaited finally went live in April 2023, marking a huge milestone for the Ethereum blockchain. For context, this upgrade enabled the withdrawal of staked ETH, and the question on most stakeholders' minds was whether this upgrade would impact Ether's price positively or negatively. Shapella upgrade As expected, Shapella's success slightly boosted Ether's price, but, most importantly, the number of staked ETH has increased from 18 million to 24 million since the upgrade. The current figure accounts for 20% of the total ETH in circulation, a sign that more and more people are opting to stake their ETH as opposed to leaving the assets idle. Image Source: Dune Analytics It is also noteworthy that Ethereum's full transition to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network has paved the way for Liquid Staking Derivative platforms, such as Lido and Rocket Pool, both of whose native tokens, LDO and RPL, are up over 80% year-to-date. This is a niche that most savvy crypto investors are currently eyeing closely. NFTs and The Metaverse Had a Slow Start NFTs and the Metaverse have not had the best run this year compared to 2021 or early 2022, when they were a particularly hot topic. According to by Dapp Radar, the NFT market trading volume fell by 38% to $2.9 billion in Q2 2023 as liquidity continued to dry up across the entire crypto ecosystem. statistics While it's quite evident that NFTs are struggling to maintain their 'darling' status, H1 2023 shed light on one emerging trend that could finally provide a breakthrough: the tokenization of . Real World Assets (RWAs) According to an by Forbes, there are several heavyweights in the traditional finance space who are already thinking of tapping into this area. One of them is Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which estimates that asset tokenization could balloon into a $16 trillion dollar market and could help save as much as $20 billion annually in global clearing and settlement costs. article Time will tell how this trend unfolds, but it just might be the much-needed catalyst for NFT adoption in the financial world. What Does H2 2023 Hold in Store for Crypto? The second half of 2023 has started on a high note, with BTC showing continued strength amidst the macroeconomic uncertainties. But besides the price action, some of the fundamental trends that will likely be dominant in this half of the year include CBDC , the adoption of crypto regulatory frameworks, and a shift in the global landscape of crypto companies and banking. research CBDCs on the Rise According to a recent by the Bank for International Settlements, over 93% of central banks across the world are currently exploring CBDCs. Already, some countries like China are in the advanced stages of rolling out their digital currencies, while the likes of the US and Europe are now paying closer attention to the opportunities and risks of developing their own CBDCs. survey Crypto Regulatory Frameworks Following the stance taken by regulators, it is almost apparent that regulatory frameworks will be another major theme. While Europe and the UK have both recently passed crypto-related bills, the US is currently over two stablecoin drafts that will provide a platform for both banks and non-banks to issue stablecoins. debating We are also likely to see more regulatory developments on a global level, given the growing interest by the G20 to firmly oversee crypto activity. A Shifting Landscape (West to East) Lastly, there is a paradigm shift currently underway: crypto companies are moving away from the US and setting up shops in Asia. Just recently, Circle's CEO, Jeremy Allaire, confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg that the company is eyeing a strategic expansion into Hong Kong. Moreover, Circle was recently Singapore's payments institution license. granted While it may not happen faster than most people anticipate, it is clear that there are cracks beginning to emerge, and soon most crypto companies will be moving to jurisdictions that are crypto-friendly and have proper guidelines governing crypto operations. Also published . here

The H1 2023 Crypto Recap: Bitcoin Remains Resilient Amid Banking Shakeups and Regulatory Uncertainty

In today's data-driven world, having a resilient data pipeline is crucial for businesses to extract valuable insights and make informed decisions. Disclaimer: This article includes an affiliate link to Dromo. You won’t be charged anything extra for clicking on these links, but you will be supporting me if you choose to do so. While incorporating data validation logic into a data pipeline is a relatively straightforward task for developers, challenges arise when the validation logic needs updating or when validation fails. Traditionally, organizations have relied on engineers to troubleshoot and fix these issues, leading to inefficiencies and an unsustainable system. The key to a robust data pipeline lies in empowering non-technical team members to maintain data quality and handle bad data. The Problem with Traditional Approaches When data is progressing through a pipeline and then fails a validation check, it is common practice to block it from progressing further and resort to one of the following approaches: : Although this approach alerts engineers to the problem, flagging validation errors in a platform like Sentry does not make them easier or more pleasant to fix. Debugging more traditional performance issues - such as network errors or memory leaks - will almost always take precedence over investigating one-off validation errors. Triggering an error in an application monitoring system : As in the first example, this approach captures that a validation error has occurred. But now an engineer needs to sift through log files just to find these issues, which tends to happen sporadically at best. often languish in the depths of log files, when they need to be resolved in real-time. Logging the error to a server Data validation alerts : In this approach, alerts are written to an Excel file or JSON document and then shared directly with a stakeholder via email or Slack. This is the most effective of the three approaches but requires a lot of work to set up and is quite rare. Notably, this approach still necessitates collaboration between the report reader and an engineer to find the original data file, understand the error message, and resubmit the corrected data. Writing errors to a report The most common outcome across the board is that bad data is simply blocked for much longer than anyone wants. Engineers are slow to fix bad data because they would rather be building and refining systems and infrastructure, and non-technical stakeholders are slow because they are either not in the engineering loop, or not equipped with the right tools. These traditional approaches result in organizations struggling to maintain resilient data pipelines and engineers being bogged down with one-off data fixes instead of building and refining infrastructure. The missing ingredient shared across all of these approaches is an intuitive yet powerful UI that anyone at the organization can use to fix bad data promptly and then keep it moving through the pipeline. Empowering Non-Technical Team Members To create a truly robust , organizations must find ways to effectively repair bad data by removing engineers from this process altogether. data pipeline This can be achieved by empowering non-technical team members across product, operations, and customer success to: : Providing a familiar workbook interface for non-technical team members to review and correct data issues streamline the process and reduce the need for engineering intervention. Review non-validating data in real-time : Once data has been fixed, non-technical team members should be able to reintroduce it into the pipeline, increasing the throughput and velocity of high-quality data in the system Recirculate good data back through the pipeline Engineers frequently define validation rules directly in code with if/else conditions or using a popular library like Great Expectations, validate.js, or JSON Schema. However, in situations where business users control the validation logic, variations of the logic should be applied depending on the data, or the logic changes frequently, it is much preferable for non-technical stakeholders to write and maintain validation rules themselves. This way, the organization can maintain high data quality standards without waiting for engineers to hardcode new logic Maintain validation logic directly, in some cases: Implementing Solutions Several software companies, such as , are working towards making resilient data workflows accessible for every organization. Dromo Dromo's platform focuses on empowering non-technical team members to define and maintain validation logic, review non-validating data in a familiar interface, and recirculate data back through the pipeline after it has been fixed. By adopting solutions, businesses can create more efficient and sustainable data pipelines that truly unlock the full potential of their data. Conclusion In summary, the key to a resilient data pipeline lies in empowering non-technical team members to maintain data quality and handle bad data in real-time. By removing engineers from the process of fixing data issues, organizations can create a more sustainable system that allows engineers to focus on what they do best: building and refining the system itself. Many companies are making this approach more accessible, allowing businesses to unlock the full potential of their data and drive better decision-making.

Build Resilient Data Pipelines by Empowering Non-Technical Teams to Detect and Resolve Bad Data

The brands we associate with "startups" are no longer startups. Dropbox is 16 years old, Airbnb is 15, and Pinterest is 13. At this point, they have either transformed into large enterprises, been sold off, or ceased operations altogether. The future of product development is defined by a newer generation of companies launched in the 2020s. Let's explore what sets them apart. Emphasizing joy When comparing the original Twitter for iPad or Facebook Paper with the most recent versions, it is evident that flat design made it easier for developers to create decent-looking apps, but sacrificed playfulness. Larger companies build unified, scalable design systems for multiple platforms. Achieving playfulness is hardly their goal now, and the craftsmanship . doesn’t scale well https://youtu.be/MsmPjQfsdO4?embedable=true https://youtu.be/Ne2uHFi_e_M?embedable=true However, small design details, such as the shredding animation in Passbook, the audiotape in Apple Podcasts, or the page-turning animation in Apple Books, contribute to the overall identity of the app and evoke certain emotions. Although some may view these details as over-the-top, they make the software more than just a tool and elevate it to the realm of art. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRxlFr5gQy0&embedable=true https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPaPg222tf4&embedable=true As John Gruber , recently put it Either you know that software can be art, and often should be, or you think what I’m talking about here is akin to astrology.” Steve Jobs in 2011: echoed this It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing. Some of my favorite apps lately are ‘digital toys’ with fun, quirky features. Examples include , a fresh take on browsers, , a calendar that mentions joy at the landing page, intimate social apps like and , and , a geo-based messaging app. Arc Amie Airbuds Locket Zenly https://twitter.com/darylginn/status/1549720866316902402?s=20&t=AcqlbFB4-QS_UIpFfMAufg&embedable=true Even though Snap announced the shutdown of Zenly last August, it still hasn't found a popular replacement. Its attention to detail still seems unmatched by the competition: it’s how the team prioritized the ‘wtf’ factor from the beginning. curious to read Another example of fun design is ‘chaotic redesigns,’ a recent trend. This trend appears to be a useful thought exercise in considering people's emotions about modern software and how the concepts that popular products use can be taken to the point of absurdity. Twitter https://twitter.com/theshanelevine/status/1619743752029114368?embedable=true Generative design is likely to have a significant impact on the UI space. The world only needs so many takes on the checkout or login page, and neural networks can review more references than a designer can in a lifetime. Would craft and the ability to evoke emotions from the user become a differentiator once again, along with the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes? https://www.usegalileo.ai/?embedable=true Building in public Yuhki Yamashita, ’s CPO, wrote an article on how , thanks to the open collaboration in Figma and Docs and constant iterations. It's crucial to ask for feedback on prototypes and create community betas to adapt to ongoing feedback. Figma ‘work in progress’ is now the norm Google https://twitter.com/jakub_swiadek/status/1636160133393956866?embedable=true The Browser Company is an excellent example of embracing this philosophy by sharing sneak peeks into their thinking process via , , and voice memos podcasts. Similarly, the Nothing Technology team shares and even do . YouTube TikTok their thinking competitor reviews https://youtu.be/Xy7FQM10wF4?embedable=true Generative content could replace current forms of content marketing, such as customer stories and blogs. To stay relevant, companies must , connect with their audience beyond support requests and forums, and iterate even before the first version of a feature goes live. This can include direct Twitter chats or public Discord and Slack groups. build in public https://youtu.be/Qct6LKbneKQ?embedable=true Smaller teams, or no team at all In recent years, there has been a trend towards increased accessibility of building blocks for products: open-source libraries, hosting solutions, and easy-to-integrate payment processors. Companies like Notion and Mojang with 50 employees or less. achieved billion-dollar valuations Generative content can further simplify things for small and one-man teams. Pieter Levels launched multiple profitable products without the need for large teams. He even documented his learnings in a book that he published and sold without the help of a team. https://youtu.be/6reLWfFNer0?embedable=true If the trend continues, work may become a means of self-expression for many. Work and play will become even more intertwined, as by Packy McCormick: predicted in a recent essay I predicted that “Within two decades, we will have multiple trillion-plus dollar publicly traded entities with just one full-time employee, the founder.” If you believe the AI accelerationists, or even the AI safety folks, I may have been too conservative. We live in a world in which fewer and fewer people need to work to meet humanity’s basic survival needs. (...) I get to spend my days reading, having conversations with really smart people, making “art,” and writing. (...) It’s a modern aristocratic life, wrapped in a work game. Companies could also reduce their teams to increase productivity. This approach by 37signals, the makers of Basecamp and Hey. If a project cannot be completed by two people, they will simplify it until it can be. In addition, team members , with designers capable of developing the prototypes themselves. is currently being tested wear multiple hats Being more flexible, and more opinionated With a smaller team and a niche focus, businesses can prioritize values such as sustainability, zero carbon emissions, privacy, tracking-free solutions, or charitable donations. Examples of such products include , a podcast client for iOS, and . Overcast Offscreen Magazine Companies can have unique working styles as well. and wrote entire manifestos to describe their processes, and Gumroad took , using just the async communication, and allowing their team to combine multiple jobs or projects. Arc 37signals another unconventional approach https://youtu.be/Nw9b1epsu9Q?embedable=true As building products becomes easier, more people can launch their own products, leading to a greater variety. Consumers will be able to choose products that align with their values, driving companies to become more transparent and better reflect the principles of their founders. Even large corporations will have to become more agile and adaptable to keep up, reducing their sales and operations departments to focus on innovation and quickly adapting to user needs. The one-size-fits-all approach is no longer effective, whether in fashion, content production, or workplace design. By delegating trivial tasks, people will bring more flexibility into their lives, providing more time to reflect on what is important for them.

Embracing Uncertainty: Creating Resilient Products for a Changing World 

The crypto market is facing yet another potential systemic risk if Silvergate, one of the largest crypto-friendly banks, winds down its operations. As we noted in our , the bank recently announced that it may soon cease to be a going concern. previous newsletter Despite this looming uncertainty, the markets are seemingly resilient, with BTC still trading above $22K. However, those who recall last year's insolvencies probably understand that caution is warranted during times like this. A classic letter to return to if you never read it is this one: . if you see smoke, you better run The Bright Side of Things… Silvergate has a significant client base, making it a viable candidate for yet another bailout or outright buy-out. There are rumours that several top institutions, including Citadel and Blackrock, are considering rescuing Silvergate. But will this be enough to sustain the market’s recently renewed confidence? It’s difficult to say but for now it remains positive that BTC still trades above $22k in the wake of these news and FED chairman Jerome Powell saying . the FED is prepared to speed up the rate of rate hikes Bitcoin NFTs Hype Continues The Stacks token (STX) has experienced an impressive surge of over 125% in price over the last month, largely attributed to the ongoing excitement surrounding Bitcoin NFTs. In recent weeks, the integration of NFTs onto the Bitcoin blockchain through has sparked a frenzy of activity and debate among users. This same enthusiasm has now spilled over to Stacks, a Bitcoin layer for smart contracts that allows for the creation of decentralized applications and NFTs. Ordinals However, not everyone in the Bitcoin community is thrilled about using the leading digital asset for anything beyond monetary transfers. Some Bitcoin maximalists have voiced their opposition to this trend. Noteworthy Mentions Crypto Braces for Regulation in the US and Europe The crypto regulatory landscape is changing at a rapid pace, and we are committed to keeping you informed. In our latest weekly , we delve into how the US and Europe are adapting to these developments. This is a lengthy articly covering all we know of current state of regulatory developments. article Industry Shakers Crypto Exchange Bybit Suspends USD Deposits Crypto exchange Bybit announced last week that it would be suspending USD deposits for both national and international customers. This follows Binance's decision a month ago to halt USD transfers and an ongoing crisis at Silvergate, a California-based lender well-known for providing banking services to crypto firms and exchanges. However, users are still able to deposit and withdraw crypto from wallet addresses, as well as make purchases using credit cards and other payment methods. Binance.US Is Operating 'Unregistered Securities Exchange,' SEC Official Says The SEC staff believes that Binance.US is operating an unregistered securities exchange in the United States, according to a lawyer who spoke at a Voyager Digital bankruptcy hearing on March 3rd. William Uptegrove, a lawyer for the SEC, expressed concerns that Voyager's VGX token could be classified as a security under the law. In response to these allegations, Mark Renzi, the financial advisor for Voyager, released a earlier this week disagreeing with the SEC's claims. statement BIS concludes experiment for cross-border retail CBDC architecture Project Icebreaker, an initiative of the Bank for International Settlements and central banks of Israel, Norway, and Sweden, recently concluded research into potential benefits and challenges of utilizing retail central bank digital currencies in international payments. The CBDC model developed by Project Icebreaker allows multiple foreign exchange providers to submit quotes to the system's hub, enabling end users to select the most cost-effective exchange rate. Visa says the firm remains committed to its crypto strategy Visa has maintained its dedication to its crypto strategy, in spite of a number of prominent crypto sector flops. This is in opposition to an earlier Reuters article that stated that the firm was putting off the introduction of certain crypto-related services and products until the regulatory environment and market conditions improve. Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto, refuted the Reuters report through a , asserting that it was inaccurate. tweet Also published here .

Despite Silvergate's Impending Downfall, Bitcoin Remains Resilient

What Inspired You to Become an Environmentalist? I was 9 y.o. when my dad organized a trip to the Space Control Center where I saw the live feed of Earth from the Space Station. At 11 y.o., I saw the Greenpeace TV commercial that showed brave people standing against oil drilling. The animals that were covered in oil from the spills and the dead marine life — made me realize how humans negatively impact the world. I have been fascinated with the natural world since but approached it not from the academic side but from the activism side. Now, I study ecology and circular materials management. What Are the Biggest Challenges in Eco-Friendly Food Production Nowadays? Food affects so many facets of life: from social, like human rights, to public health, environment, and many more. So it seemed to be a multi-dimensional playing field for me to help tackle some of the issues. When I started my first food company in 2012, I was very naive. The willingness to create a 360 sustainable model was the goal, but with every step I took toward it, I was presented with another bottleneck. Despite that, some eco-friendly solutions already existed at the time, and the fragmentation of the industry made it very difficult to connect the dots. Integrating any new sustainable solution within the multi-level, complex supply chain is extremely challenging. How Did You Come Up With the Recipes for the Environmentally-Friendly Snacks ? In 2016, a friend of mine sent me a report by United Nations about pulses and their ability to be the solution to global hunger. In this report, United Nations also proclaimed pulses “The architects of soil health.” So, as an environmentalist, I started looking at the white space and the opportunity to reformulate traditional snacks by adding this healthier crop. What Other Sustainable Initiatives Do You Support in Your Company? The core mission is replacing traditional monocultures that destroy the soil, with soil-nourishing pulses (peas, chickpeas, beans). I haven’t given up on the idea of a 360 sustainable model, and by adding new initiatives, I’m inching closer to it. I started to eliminate all non-recyclable plastic from our packaging and revelry all the supply chain. There are better solutions out there, but we are still working on integrating them into the company. It took a while to find reliable and trusted resources when it came to managing the offsets. Through a verified 3rd party, we get to work with regenerative farmers and put the carbon we produce over the year back into the soil. On top of it, we work with a few non-profits through which we offset our e-commerce shipping by planting trees in the U.S. where the trees are needed the most. So far, we’ve planted our samplings in Oregon state. This year, we are focusing on California. In Your Opinion, Why Are People Not Aware of How Food Production Influences the Environment? Do You Think That Millennials Are More Conscious in That Regard? With digitalization came social media, and we still pontificate on its effects on our brains. I think technology is a tool, and it’s up to a person the way he/she wants to use it. I personally love social media for the way it ripped the curtains of a few industries and let us peek “behind the dark curtains”. Animal agriculture is one of the leading industries that are toxic to the environment, not to mention the extreme cruelty to animals. It’s not common knowledge that animal farming is linked to pollution, deforestation, and the degradation of nature. Someone has to be doing their own research to make these connections. I think millennials are the generation that grew up without Google and social media, but then witnessed the digital explosion and became curious about things. That fed into my own curiosity and “do-your-own-research” mentality. When I was in school, I had to go to public libraries to find answers to some of the things. Now, it's just me and the search engine. Gen Z was practically born with it, and they are equally concerned about the environment and pollution. Do You Believe People Care About the Sustainable Aspects of the Products? In 2020, just less than 2 years after the launch of the company, was featured on Bloomberg national TV and was named as the “The most eco-friendly product” in its category. Unimaginable Bites product line It was unbelievable that without any PR machine behind the brand, the product spoke for itself and was recognized by the media. I believe that people care, they do; it’s just there’s research that shows that when a customer makes a choice, their decision is predominantly swayed towards the cheaper price. So it’s pivotal to keep carving out the space for sustainable products and work with institutions and the policymakers to bring the prices down of the ingredients and raw materials that are for the public good. We need a systems approach to push better products ahead of the conventional ones. Do You Know Other Environmentalist Founders? Do You Collaborate? I know a few, and I empathize with their struggles. Things have gone better since I started: there are more sustainable solutions, pollution and the environment is more on the agenda, which drives the consumer and supplier awareness. During the pandemic, my conversations with other founders became more intimate, we deeply connected on the idea that sustainability is at the top of our priorities. How Do You See the Future of Food Production? The future of food is regenerative, smart, and sustainable. Otherwise, the current system won't be able to sustain another 3 billion people by 2050. I think mega-cities will be getting fresh produce from vertical farms, plant-based proteins will mimic the taste of animal meat 1:1 to address the growing demand for animals, and cell meat agriculture is taking off where meat from a cruelty-free single cell will be grown in bio-rectors. The most important aspect is that the future of food starts with addressing the convenience and price points of healthier, cleaner options. I believe that access to healthy food is a human right, not a privilege. The old food system and colonial mentality clearly disagree with me. Therefore, we need to go against the lobbies of the dirty industries and work with the public sector, governments, and NGOs to reimagine the food system as a whole.

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