Vodex offers outbound call automation for use in sales, marketing, customer onboarding, and call notification.

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VODEX Ltd | 228 followers on LinkedIn. Protecting people and products at work with fume and dust extraction solutions. Ask as about our ESD products too! | Everyday, many individuals are exposed to hazardous substances at work. Some of these can be very harmful to the respiratory system.

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VODEX Ltd is a fume &amp; dust extraction solutions company. Whether it is fine dust extraction or fume control, we help with local exhaust ventilation and filtration for a range of industries.

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Vodex Communications offers tailored solutions for large and small businesses including VOIP, HD Voice, Ethernet and resolves connectivity issues.

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Vodex - Provider of AI and SaaS-based software for outbound phone call automation. Raised a total funding of $320K over 1 round from 3 investors.

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Vodex, Leading Generative AI-Powered outbound phone calls solution provider. We help businesses generate qualified leads via conversational AI calls &amp; help industries get repeat customers by getting customised feedback.

Vodex | A Leading Generative AI Powered Outbound Phone Calls Solution ...

Vodex Ltd is an Environmental Services, Plumbing &amp; Hvac Equipment, and Building Materials company located in England, GB with $1.00 Million in revenue and 12 employees. Find top employees, contact details and business statistics at RocketReach.

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View VODEX COMMUNICATIONS (vodexcommunications.com) location in California, United States , revenue, industry and description. Find related and similar companies as well as employees by title and much more.

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&quot;Be it a large business or a small one, hiring people just to make phone calls all day becomes a bit of a burden for any company. Vodex helps businesses with automating outbound phone calls for scenarios like sales, marketing, customer onboarding, phone call notification etc using Conversational ...

Vodex Company Profile, information, investors, valuation & Funding

Find company research, competitor information, contact details &amp; financial data for VODEX LIMITED of SOUTHAMPTON. Get the latest business insights from Dun &amp; Bradstreet.

VODEX LIMITED Company Profile | SOUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom | ...

Warehousing and Production Facilities were soon added to the company portfolio, before further growth resulted in our move to dedicated office and warehouse space in our head office in Bishops Waltham, Southampton. ... At VODEX we have a clear purpose to protect people, products and the environment.

Vodex Ltd Profile

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Be it #realestate #insurance #marketingagencies or any other company which needs a sales agent, Vodex is the way to go. Explore, connect &amp; converse with www.vodex.ai #ai #genai #trending #news #chatgpt #gemini #copilot #aicommunity #aichatbots #aicommunication

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Vodex has 768 active competitors. Competitors include Drift, LivePerson.

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Vodex

In the history of human existence, communication serves as the indispensable thread that weaves connections, understanding, and knowledge. Picture this: in a corner of the comic world, on November 7, 1989, Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes engages in a conversation with his dad over the phone. This seemingly ordinary scene encapsulates a universal truth – the need to talk. No one is omniscient, see Calvin didn't know 11 + 7. The complexities of life, the myriad of experiences, and the wealth of information that surrounds us demand an incessant quest for understanding. We need to talk to others, at times, to seek answers, perspectives, or simply to share our thoughts. However, this act of communication is not haphazard; it follows a set of unspoken rules, guidelines, and etiquette that transform it into a nuanced art. Communication is, in essence, the bridge that connects minds, allowing ideas to flow, emotions to be shared, and knowledge to be transferred. Yet, mastering this art is no small feat. The intricacies of language, the subtleties of tone, and the all those non-verbal cues all contribute to the richness of human interaction. Now, as a coder, I find a parallel allure in translating this intricate communication into the realm of machines talking to machines. In the vast landscape of programming, where precision and clarity are paramount, communication takes a different form. API An acronym for "Application Programming Interface", though sounding just too technical, is just a term for machines talking to machines. As with any communication, there are varied kinds of it too. (Simple Object Access Protocol), (Representational State Transfer), (Remote Procedure Calls), etc. just to name a few. SOAP ReST RPC It's worth noting that communication in the digital realm isn't confined to APIs alone. There's also the intriguing realm of event-driven communication – an asynchronous data exchange that doesn't always wear the API label prominently. Yet, it plays a crucial role in orchestrating seamless interactions between different components, making systems agile and responsive. ReST I have been dealing with web-apis, flavors of ReST, for almost two decades now. And I say flavors of ReST as ReST is not as stubborn as other such protocols as SOAP simply because it is , rather just set of guidelines or architectural style. That sets ReST apart from others in very distinct way. not a protocol ReST makes machine-to-machine communication more humane, simple and natural. Detailing a ReST api is more philosophical than technical, because one always starts with nouns when designing a ReST api. What's in the ? Name Seriously what’s in the name? why are we so obsessed with names and naming things? I had about it a decade ago. It was and still is an opinion of mine that names are nothing more than an abstraction to details. Without names conversation would be too wordy, verbose and still not very clear. We tend to name things and to make things clearer, we add more discriminating names. More the number of nouns, richer the vocabulary. Eskimos have twenty odd names for different kinds of ice. Names are not just limited to things or places, but also cover many actions. blogged Actions But there is a stark difference between names and action. If names and actions are a sets, mathematical sets, you would notice cardinality, number of items in the set, of names increases overtime whereas same is not true for actions. Cut as an action has same name when you are cutting a paper as well as cutting vegetable. Actions, thus, are polymorphic in nature. Same action can be tied to multiple nouns. HTTP Enough with philosophy, let’s now focus on technicality. ReST came along with HTTP, and it is hands-in-glove relation. There are few misunderstandings about HTTP, mostly about usage. Most folks look at HTTP as a Transport protocol, they are not to blame though, you can download files with HTTP, so one can easily fall for it. Confusion of HTTP being a Transport protocol stems from the fact that the acronym or abbreviation literally is Hyper-Text Protocol Transfer When you perform an action using HTTP, it usually involves some sort of , you are either a document to, or one from, a server. The word you really want to focus on is . Since most of the time the substance of a sentence is usually in the middle, unfortunately many fell for than and synonymously used Transport in place of Transfer wherein both are literally different terms. Document Shuffle sending receiving Hyper-Text Transfer Hyper-Text The fact is HTTP is “ ” Application Protocol It works on top of real transport protocols as or in case of HTTP2. TCP/IP (Connection Oriented) UDP or QUIC (Connection Less) HTTP Verbs (Methods) To shuffle a document HTTP defines very few verbs limited to GET, PUT, DELETE and POST GET is to fetch a document PUT is to place a document DELETE is to remove a document And let’s not talk about just yet, let's circle back to it later. POST A Dialogue Above image depicts a simple dialogue between a user and some web application. Each message in this dialog is some sort of document being shuffled between the parties. Let's not worry about what's shuffled for now. It traces a workflow for the web-application. Media Types The data which is getting shuttled between server and the user follows certain agreed upon format so both parties can make sense of it. This formatting is dictated as Media Type. Let’s look at few examples. text/plain text/html image/jpeg application/xml application/vnd.example+xml Looks familiar, except may be the last one and I am not referring to the formatting. Let’s read the last media type application The media is for consumption by an application not humans vnd This is vendor defined custom media type. example This is a vendor specified media type name +xml This media type is based on already known xml media type -Media Types Hyper We have seen media types now what does mean? User uses some application which talks to server on user’s behalf. The applications employed by users are referred as . The web browser is an example of user-agent. These user-agents understand and make sense of the media which flows to and from the server. Hyper user-agents A Nudge An application at the server must have an agenda as the conversation needs to have a closure. It must end either successfully or unsuccessfully. As with any dialogue user-agent and application on the server take turns to take next step as per the selections by the user-agent, in fact on behalf of the user. Web application is just simply nudging the user to have a closure on ongoing interaction. Consider following interaction which depicts one request-reply. Request POST /orders
Host: example.org
Content-type: application/vnd.example+xml
Accept: application/vnd.example+xml

<order xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/”>
 <item qty=“2”>ITEM-1</item>
</order> Reply HTTP/1.1 201 Order created
Location: http://example.org/orders/1234
Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml

<order xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/”>
 <item qty=“2”>ITEM-1</item>
 
 <next xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/state-machine” 
 rel=“payment”
 uri=“http://example.org/orders/1234/payment”
 />

 <next xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/state-machine”
 rel=“self”
 uri=“http://example.org/orders/1234”
 />
</order> Lets see what user-agent is sending as a request Request Method One of HTTP verbs in above request it is POST Request URI URI of the resource. In above request it is /orders Request Headers Accept lets the server know what media type user-agent is interested in Content-Type tells the server the data, being sent in the request, is in what format Request Body And finally the data which is being sent to the server. Let’s breakdown the response received from the server User-agent coordination It talks about the consequence of the request HTTP/1.1 201 Order created 201 is a status code telling the user-agent that request has been successfully executed and as a consequence a is being created. Now resource may sound too technical but in reality what it simply means a is created on the server. resource new object Location: http://example.org/orders/1234 Location is a . It tells user-agent, if interested, it can follow the link in the header and redirect the user-agent to, in this case, to newly created resource. response header Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml It simply tells the user-agent that the data which is being sent to it is using media type. application/vnd.example+xml The media or the data itself. Rest of the bytes sent by the server are simply the actual data. Now since the media type in this case is a custom one, it all depends on user-agent to make sense of it. In the example, user-agent may be smart enough to parse the response data and Proceed to payments Or simply interact with the new created order resource. In either case user-agent may use various HTTP verbs to interact with these resources. Server is simply the user, via the user-agent, to finish up the workflow of placing an order. nudging Since there are two outcomes of the decision taken by user-agent there are two possible interactions. Say user wants to cancel the order Request DELETE /orders/1234
Host: example.org
Accept: application/vnd.example+xml Reply HTTP/1.1 200 Okay
Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml


<order xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/”>
 <item qty=“2”>ITEM-1</item>
 <status>Cancelled</status>
</order> Or user wants to proceed with payment Request POST /orders/1234/payment
Host: example.org
Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml
Accept: application/vnd.example+xml


<payment orderId=“1234” xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/”>
…
</order> Reply HTTP/1.1 201 Receipt generated
Location: http://example.org/orders/1234/receipt
Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml


<order xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/”>
 <item qty=“2”>ITEM-1</item>
 
 <status>Not Ready</status>

 <next xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/state-machine”
 rel=“self”
 uri=“http://example.org/orders/1234”
 />
</order> In all these interaction user is presented with enough coordination and the media itself to be able to proceed with successfully completing the workflow. In case user-agent followed payments and it was successfully processed, as a side-effect receipt would be generated. Coordination data says so by 201 and gives uri to receipt as Location header. Client can now the self uri to see if order is ready. poll may sound stupid, but it is extremely effective with use of caches. These caches lessen the burden on the server as more often order is simply not ready immediately as it takes time to work with the order. Polling Curious case of POST Important point is client has some part of application state locally cached or cached along the chain. Now about the POST which was introduced in subtly different way. I am treating it other verbs. Creations are mostly associated with POST, when in fact GET followed by a PUT can do the job. post For example creating a new order can be a series of operations as Get last order Create new order locally and Put back the new order Then why POST? Answer is quite obvious, I am merely making it explicit now. One important thing to note is that it’s application multi-user Let's say new order-id is a function of number of orders in the collection + 1. Since it is multi-user application there can be more than one users simultaneously wanting to create new order. All these users ask, , for last order-id and all will end up with same. When these users new order, last person to do so wins. Users come to know about failure or success only by ting the order by order-id and verify it with locally created order. Failed users simply must redo the same sequence till they succeed. Rather if users just let the server know of their intention of creating a new order and the almighty server having wholistic application state would be in better know-how to process the requests. GET / PUT / DELETE or any sequence of it would not be sufficient to express such intent so . No wonder it sounds and feels alien. GET PUT GET POST Cache Consistency Caches introduce a consistency problem though. Say, client has been told to cache a response for few seconds and meanwhile order is ready. Client, based on the cached response, decided to cancel the order. In this case client and server state has diverged. To make it safe to cancel, client can add a condition in the form of If-Match header. Server, in case where the condition does not match simply refuses to process the request telling client that the precondition to honor the request has failed. In the unlikely event, client did not send the If-Match headers, server can still report it as . Or 409 conflict 406 not acceptable. Request DELETE /orders/1234
Host: example.org
If-Match: status=Not Ready
Accept: application/vnd.example+xml Reply HTTP/1.1 412 Precondition failed.
Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml


<order xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/”>
 <item qty=“2”>ITEM-1</item>

 <status>Ready</status>

 <next xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/state-machine”
 rel=“self”
 uri=“http://example.org/orders/1234”
 />
</order> Cancelled the order but Why? As a business user, wouldn’t you want to know why was the order cancelled? These reasons are beyond api designing and delve more into business asks. If the api has implemented to cancel the order a typical interaction may look as bellow. DELETE Request DELETE /orders/1234
Host: example.org
Accept: application/vnd.example+xml Reply HTTP/1.1 200 Okay
Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml


<order xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/”>
 <item qty=“2”>ITEM-1</item>
 <status>Cancelled</status>
</order> Problem with above interaction is that does not accept any body. How can we solve this? DELETE Let’s try using POST Request POST /orders
Host: example.org
Accept: application/vnd.example+xml


OrderId=14
&Operation=Cancel
&Reason=Just to annoy you Reply HTTP/1.1 200 Okay
Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml


<order xmlns=“http://schemas.example.org/”>
 <item qty=“2”>ITEM-1</item>
 <status>Cancelled</status>
</order> This does not even look right from the get-go. Feels like we are performing a business operation specified by Operation. Operation is now a keyword which needs to be handled beyond limited set of HTTP verbs. This way the api would keep on adding more and more verbs which need special handling. Can we do better? Once we start constraining ourselves to only four verbs which HTTP provides, we can definitely do better. Lets revisit the same problem with the api designing constraints. Do not forget that you have . And we are naturally wired to produce random names all the time. limitless supply of nouns Request POST /CancelledOrders
Host: example.org
Accept: application/vnd.example+xml


OrderId=14
&Reason=Just to annoy you Reply HTTP/1.1 200 Okay
Content-Type: application/vnd.example+xml

<order xmlns=“http://shemas.example.org/”>
 <item qty=“2”>ITEM-1</item>
 <status>Cancelled</status>
</order> Though it sounds simple to come up with names, it is very tedious. No wonder diehard proponent of ReST, , suggested to not add any meaning to URI and making them opaque. Mark Baker or Tim-Berners Lee Opaque URIs relieves us from the need to produce new nouns every now and then at the cost of comprehensible api. This also makes documenting the api difficult as api end-points are decided at run-time. Also, security and relevant features can only be useful once the opaque uris are established. Roy Fielding, on the other hand, has an opinion that uris are meaningful and it sort of makes more sense. Opaque URIs are for lazy folks. Representations Now lets focus on . It’s not the resource which is sent to the user-agent. User-agent asks for specific type of media it can understand. Let’s consider following HTTP interaction. Re of ReST Request GET /orders/1234
Host: example.org
Accept: text/plain Reply If the web-application does not understand the requested media type, it can simply state this inability as HTTP/1.1 415 Unsupported Media Type.

Or if it does indeed supports the requested media type

HTTP/1.1 200 Okay
Content-Type: text/plain


Order 1234 is not ready If user-agent requests for media types which are supported by the web application, it can send the resource data fitting the requested media type. Here it is the same resource but formatted as different media types and all these variations of same resource is called representations. Since the data which flows between the user-agent and the server can be different representations, it is known as presentational tate ransfer or simply ReST. Re S T Further Reading Roy Fielding’s dissertation

The Hidden Language of Computers and the Need to Talk

This rundown has been compiled using data from several reports and databases, including Pitchbook, Galaxy Research, CryptoRank, InnMind, and Cointelegraph. Major Highlights Funding Continues to Decline: The Crypto VC market is still facing headwinds as investors are cautious, with Q2 2023 attracting $2.32 billion in funding, slightly lower than the previous quarter. Mixed Valuations: The number of completed crypto VC deals increased in Q2, but pre-money valuations continued to decline, reaching $17.93 million, while the median crypto VC deal stood at $3 million in Q2 2023. Web3 Dominance: Web3 Gaming, NFTs, and the Metaverse are high-interest segments, this nascent crypto niche recorded the highest number of deals in Q2 2023. Crypto VC Landscape: Despite headwinds in 2023, the US remains the leading destination for venture capital funds in the digital asset industry, with over $2 billion invested this year. Crypto Winter Continues: 46% of respondents in a survey carried out by InnMind believe that the crypto winter will persist throughout 2023, with market recovery expected in 2024. Crypto VC Funding Overview The has continued to face headwinds this year, with more investors shying away from the digital asset industry. According to the latest data from , Q2 2023 attracted $2.32 billion in funding, down from the previous quarter, which was slightly higher at $2.6 billion. crypto VC landscape Pitchbook Valuations and Number of Deals Show Mixed Trends The number of completed crypto VC deals increased from 439 in Q1 to 456 in Q2. This is the first time the figure has gone up since the market peaked in Q1 2022 when over 1,200 deals were completed during that quarter. However, on the other hand, the pre-money valuation for deals in the digital asset industry has continued on a downtrend, reaching $17.93 million, while the median crypto VC deal stood at $3 million in Q2 2023. Top 5 Crypto VCs by Capital Invested in Q1 2023 According to a Q1 2023 from the InnMind Web3 startups and VC platform, the same players from last year are still dominating the action. Here are some of the VCs that have invested the most funds into crypto startups this year: report - Invested $136.2 million in Q1 funding 10 startups, including EigenLayer, Term Labs, Avalon Corp, Chaos Labs, MSafe, Azra Games, Alongside, Architect, Obol Labs, and Alkimiya. Coinbase Ventures - Invested $131.5 million in Q1, some of the projects funded include Voldex, Alongside, Towns, Believer, Capsule, and CCP Games. a16z - Invested $107.8 million in Q1 to fund 9 projects: Mask, YGG, Inverse Finance, Beldex, Conflux, Tonstarter, Radix, So-Col, and Alchemy Pay. DWF Labs - Invested $75 million in Q1 into 6 projects namely Alkimiya, Caldera, Monad, Kaito, OP3N, and Econia Labs. DragonFly Capital - Invested $53.5 million in Q1 funding 10 projects: MSafe, Quasar, Open Forest Protocol, Quantum Temple, Sleepagotchi, Cedro Finance, OrbLabs, Monad, 3RM and Strider.’ Shima Capital Crypto VC Fundraising is at its lowest since Q3 2020 Evidently, crypto VCs have not invested a lot of funds into the market this year. This is due to a sharp decline in the amount of newly injected capital and new funds. Data from Galaxy Asset Management reveals that the number of new funds in Q2 2023 was only 10, with the total amount raised falling below $1 billion. Source: Galaxy Asset Management As expected, the decline in fundraising amounts has affected the average fund size, which currently stands at $236 million compared to $343 million in 2022. Meanwhile, the median fund size has halved from $100 million to $50 million. High Ticket Crypto VC Funding Rounds in 2023 While 2023 might have started on a low note for both the global and crypto VC industry, there have been several notable raises this year: Blockstream, a company specializing in digital asset infrastructure, $125 million in January through a convertible note and secured a loan to fund its mining co-location services. secured In March, Ledger, the prominent crypto hardware wallet provider, successfully $109 million in a series C funding round extension. attracted Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider serving financial institutions in Europe, $65 million in a Series B capital raise with Credit Suisse leading the funding round. raised Scroll, a Layer 2 Ethereum network working on a zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) scaling solution, a $50.0 million late-stage VC round in March from prominent investors, including Polychain Capital and Sequoia China. secured Funding Rounds by Investor and Category As for the number of funding rounds, data from CryptoRank shows that Polygon Fund has participated in 29 funding rounds this year, closely followed by DWF Labs and Coinbase Ventures, both at 28 rounds each. It is also noteworthy that most of the funds were allocated toward blockchain service and blockchain infrastructure projects. Seed Stage Rounds Accounted for the Lion’s Share Seed-stage funding rounds have attracted the most capital this year, accounting for 33.82% while pre-seed and series A raises stood at 8.97% and 7.5% respectively. Crypto VC Investments by Segment & Region , NFTs, and the are still an area of high interest, this segment of the crypto market recorded the highest number of deals in Q2 2023 followed closely by Lending, Investing, Exchange, and Trading companies. Web3 Gaming Metaverse However, when it comes to the amount of capital invested, it was vice versa: trading and investing companies carried the day, while Web3 infrastructures came in second. The US Leads in Crypto VC Raises and Funding Rounds Despite regulatory uncertainty, the US remains the leading destination for venture capital funds targeting the digital asset industry. This year alone, over $2.1 billion has been invested in crypto startups based in the US. Undisclosed locations follow at $1.2 billion, and in third place is the United Kingdom with $602.93 million. InnMind Survey: Web3 Most Potential Niche and Crypto Winter to End in 2024 A recent survey conducted by InnMind, involving 147 professional VCs in the digital asset industry, reveals that the majority of participants believe Web3 infrastructure startups hold the most upside potential. More interestingly, 46% of the respondents believe that the crypto winter or the period of 'nothingness' will continue for the rest of 2023, and it is unlikely that we will see the market bouncing back until next year. Closing Thoughts The crypto bear market has undoubtedly impacted the availability of venture capital over the past year. However, it is essential to highlight that there remains notable activity in value-based projects focusing on Web3, especially in the metaverse and NFT segments. As we look ahead, the outlook on whether substantial capital will flow into the digital asset industry this year remains uncertain. That said, there is a higher likelihood that many investors will remain cautious and stay on the sidelines for the rest of 2023. Also published here.

Crypto VC Landscape in 2023: Adapting Strategies Amidst the Winter

Blockchain technology has permeated the modern world and is radically transforming the financial ecosystem.  Inspired by the dream of a decentralized and democratized method of dealing with financial services (to prevent recurrent overexertion and even outright malpractices by centralized financial institutions), blockchain technology has evidently made giant strides over the last couple of decades. From the creation of digital currencies, to their integration with the blockchain digital ledger (i.e, Bitcoin), to the introduction of smart contracts on blockchains (i.e., Ethereum), to the more recent introduction of decentralized exchanges (DEX) and the proliferation of decentralized applications (Dapps), blockchain technology has come a long way and it seems like it’s here to stay. However, though the dream of completely decentralized finance (DeFi) seems to have become very popular among tech enthusiasts who keep developing this infrastructure, it is yet to be achieved. So, more DeFi innovations are still being developed. Smart contracts are at the heart of the decentralized finance infrastructure as they manage the execution of transactions on the blockchain. Smart contracts play the important role of interfacing between the business and technological aspects of the blockchain as they are basically financial management protocols written in code format to regulate transactions on a decentralized record system like the blockchain. However, smart contracts on currently available and widely used blockchains like and , have a centralized management method which limits the current capabilities of blockchain technology. Bitcoin blockchain Ethereum blockchain Currently, smart contracts need to be triggered to function. This means that the smart contract code lies dormant on the blockchain until a specific event (e.g., transactions, update or configuration requests etc.,) are initiated by users of a blockchain and that causes the appropriate smart contract to awaken and execute tasks (i.e., triggering). This reactionary ideology results in blockchains being managed by centralized servers or bots (to coordinate the functioning of users’ requests and smart contracts), and this centralized control limits available blockchains because it makes them less secure and ultimately defeats the purpose of decentralization. Together with other factors like architecture and consensus protocol , this centralized management of smart contracts results in a well-established problem in blockchain technology known as , which basically means that blockchains currently have to sacrifice scalability, security or decentralization in their operation. Several approaches are being explored in an attempt to fix this trilemma issue but a breakthrough has recently been presented with the introduction of on a new blockchain known as Massa blockchain. ( ) proof of work vs proof of stake the trilemma autonomous smart contracts Autonomous smart contracts tackle this trilemma issue by being able to operate independently of external triggers, hence minimizing the need for a centralized means of managing them and therefore promoting all three factors of scalability, security and decentralization, instead sacrificing any. This was the main idea behind the development of Massa blockchain by three French scientists who have already released a beta version of the blockchain (testnet) for public access. We further explore autonomous smart contracts and their implications for the future of blockchain technology. Understanding the Trilemma Blockchain technology is currently limited by the trilemma, a long-established problem in computer science which involves the restrictions that security, scalability and decentralization place on one another. According to , this problem was first discovered by early computer scientists as the CAP (Consistency, Availability and Partition tolerance) theorem. The CAP theorem describes how decentralized data stores can only guarantee a maximum of two out of those three important features listed i.e., Consistency, Availability and Partition tolerance. Because a blockchain is essentially a decentralized data store, this CAP theorem also applies to it and this is what results in the trilemma. Cryptopedia.com The established blockchain premise that a public chain will have to choose between scalability, security, and decentralization in its operation is known as the trilemma. For instance, with well-known blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the tradeoff is mostly between scalability and decentralization. This problem is mostly due to the architecture of existing blockchains which validate on-chain activities using proof-of-work consensus protocol and also in a slow linear, node to node method in Bitcoin. Validation of activities (e.g., transactions) on a blockchain by consulting numerous nodes on the chain (i.e., consensus) is necessary to ensure security and decentralization. An issue then arises as more nodes are added to the blockchain because it takes more time to validate transactions with the nodes, which compromises scalability. However, fixing this problem by validating with fewer nodes will compromise decentralization and security (i.e., hackers can easily trick the few nodes and manipulate the blockchain). Hence, the trilemma. This already existing problem is further magnified by the centralized management of smart contracts through a server or centralized bots as the server can be hacked, bots can make mistakes, the centralized system has limited scalability and ultimately such centralized control limits the goal of decentralization. This tradeoff between scalability and decentralization in a blockchain is measured using the (NDC). The concept of autonomous smart contracts was specifically introduced to tackle this problem of decentralization and scalability in existing blockchains. The image below shows that with autonomous smart contracts, Massa blockchain has highly improved decentralization and scalalability when compared to Bitcoin blockchain, Ethereum blockchain and other blockchains. Nakamoto Decentralization Coefficient Hence, the introduction of autonomous smart contracts to solve the trilemma is a major game changer in the decentralization of blockchain technology. Solving the Trilemma A number of have been considered on different blockchains, in an attempt to solve the trilemma. Some of them are identified below. solutions Bitcoin introduced the lightening network which involves a second layer for off-chain transactions with multiple payment channels. Ethereum proposed a dual Proof-of-stake model with an execution layer for smart contracts and a consensus layer for transactions. Algorand is reported to have successfully solved the trilemma using its Pure Proof of Stake model The massa project is reported to have successfully solved the trilemma using autonomous smart contracts. Our focus here is on autonomous smart contracts which not only solves the trilemma but presents a new layer of automated decentralization in blockchain technology. The Massa Project reports that the Massa project was initiated in 2017 by Sébastien Forestier (CEO), Damir Vodenicarevic (development and technology leader) and Adrien Laversanne-Finot (company strategy leader). Their goal was to solve the trilemma by creating autonomous smart contracts. Beincrypto.com According to , the team accomplished this goal by creating a new blockchain (Massa) which combines consensus (proof-of-stakeconsensus gives paramount consideration to value staked on a blockchain in validating activities) and a multi-threaded blockgraph (facilitates parallel block creation), into an effective new system of blockchain functionality known as the blocklique. Then they developed autonomous smart contacts which are triggered by information stored onchain, and these characteristics enable their blockchain to run thousands of low energy cost operations within a second. massa.net proof-of-stake With autonomous smart contracts, the massa project succeeded in promoting decentralization and scalability in blockchains, with reporting it to be the first blockchain with up to 1,000 NDC, together with other perks like decentralized web hosting. The testnet phase of Massa blockchain was launched in 2021 and is reported to have successfully attracted over 7000 actively running nodes and crossed a throughput mark of 4,000 transactions per second. The mainnet (the official blockchain), is to be released with improvements on weaknesses in the testnet and targets a throughput of about 10,000 transactions per second. This is a massive step up for blockchain technology. Cryptonews.com Smart Contracts Versus Autonomous Smart Contracts According to , a smart contract is a decentralized program which executes business logic in response to certain events which trigger it. Smart contracts are generally developed by business professionals and programmers to manage activities like value exchange, service delivery, unlocking of protected content etc., on a decentralized data store like the blockchain. Due to this reactive ideology, smart contracts need continuous management for their operation and existing blockchains rely on centralized systems like a bot network or cloud infrastructure to automate them. However, this centralized management magnifies the trilemma problem. TechTarget.com Due to the obvious problem caused by centralized management of the smart contracts, the Massa team who developed autonomous smart contracts are to have asked this question; recorded " Why would you advocate for decentralization when you continue relying on obviously centralized means of interacting with your Smart Contracts?" Hence, they developed the idea of autonomous smart contracts to solve the trilemma issue through a new layer of decentralization. An autonomous smart contract can therefore be defined as a smart contract that doesn’t necessarily require external management for its automation i.e., it is capable of independent execution of a pre-assigned operations on the blockchain. It operates with blockchain data and can also request external information without need of additional management. Massa blockchain alone, currently has this smart contract functionality. This functionality is achieved through the storage of data alongside transactions and smart contracts on the blockchain. The data can then be accessed at any time by smart contracts for autonomous operation. Autonomous smart contracts are becoming more recognized in the decentralized finance world. The CEO of Dusa (an Automated Market Maker built with Massa blockchain) has this to say; " " Thanks to the autonomous smart contract and the blockchain hosting of our web application, we are able to offer the first 100% decentralized DeFi experience. Such technological innovations allow us to provide fully autonomous execution of our users' latent trading orders plus optimal liquidation management, all coupled with increased security for our users. Conclusion We conclude by analyzing the implications of autonomous smart contracts for the future of the blockchain. Considering how blockchain technology has been developed on an incremental basis, and the massive improvements autonomous smart contracts have been shown to make to blockchains, it is reasonable to state that existing blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum may also implement autonomous smart contracts to break loose of the trilemma. Though other methods of tackling the trilemma are available, autonomous smart contracts stand out because in addition to tackling the trilemma, they also promote decentralization which is the  fundamental principle for the creation of cryptocurrencies, in an automated way. Hence, while it is impossible to predict the future with certainty, autonomous smart contracts seem like a breakthrough technology which has come to stay, and will transform blockchain technology to a large degree.

Are Autonomous Smart Contracts the Future of Blockchain Technology?

API design and development is the most crucial task for a backend developer. Even when an API has been developed and is in use, changes in it are inevitable over the use as the knowledge and experience of the developers improve and requirements advance. This could be a challenging problem as the threats involve breaking the existing integration for your clients. API versioning is one of the most common solutions to this problem, however, most of the time it’s an afterthought during the development process whereas it should be the foremost part when starting to design an API. In this article, we will be discussing some of the best practices for API versioning for ease of user consumption and flexibility. However, the first question that you might have is when to version your APIs. Let’s discuss this in detail before moving on to API versioning best practices. When to version your API APIs need to be versioned when there are chances that any new change may complicate or break the existing system. Breaking changes might include any of these cases: Change in the format of request/response for one or more API calls Change in the request/response content type (i.e. change in the data type such as int to float) Removing any old endpoint To understand it better, take the following considerations: If post your API release, the users witness any issue with the output of the API call, API versioning can help you to accommodate the change in response data and help you inculcate user feedback in the next release. If any old endpoint is no longer required and is removed without notice, there are chances that a user might be trying to hit it and will have to deal with a 404 error status code, which isn’t so fun for anyone. Proper API versioning can save you and the user from all this hassle. If there’s a case where the new API endpoint call requires an additional key that wasn’t required on the original endpoint, it’s bound to break the API if the key isn’t passed. Hence, again leading your user into trouble. But API versioning can save you big time here as well. There could be many more such cases, but the crux of the matter is that it is necessary to always version your APIs to ensure that the developers have a clear and concise way to consume your ever-changing and up-to-date APIs. How to version your API REST APIs don’t have any specific API versioning guidelines, however, the most common approaches are as follows: URI Versioning Using the URI versioning technique is the simplest and the most commonly used way to version your APIs. Although, it violates an important principle of REST that says that a URI should refer to a unique resource. It looks something like this: http://api.example.com/v1
http://apiv1.example.com Here, v[x] is the API version, where x can be any number. However, the version need not be a number or in the exact format. Alternatives to this format are including dates, project names, or other meaningful identifiers for the team developing the APIs. These should be flexible, short, and concise enough to change as versions change. Also, it helps the user to refer to the correct documentation. Versioning via Custom Request Headers The burden of serving different versions of the same resource or content can be handled by the API controller or server, which will be responsible for identifying the version of the resource to send as per the request headers. This tends to result in a more complex API as the users have to know which headers have to be specified before requesting a resource. API versioning via custom request headers may look like the below: Accept: application/vnd.example.v1+json
Accept: application/vnd.example+json;version=1.0 This is good as it can also parse the incoming payload on the fly. However, this method can be tricky as it requires an overhead on the server to parse the version prior to sending a response, which could introduce latency. Query String Parameter API version by using query strings as parameters would look like this: http://api.example.com/:foo?version=v2 This isn’t considered good practice for API versioning as once again, we are violating the principle that says that query strings should be used only for querying data as their name suggests. If you have some type of version control on your data, it wouldn't be incorrect to add a version in the query string depending on what your API is accountable for. Conclusion When in doubt, URI or route versioning is the way to go as it will simplify your development process moving forward and keep your users happy. A word of advice would be to start small and move gradually, especially if you already have an API. Choose an area, examine the data coming in and out of your API platform, and try to standardise it. Create a set of schema documents that describe the characteristics that comprise each version and explicitly outline the criteria that may be used to validate that data structure. Then, ensure that this information is easily accessed and shared across API users. Finally, read through resources like the and . They offer some excellent structural concepts that can assist you in identifying qualities, structuring rules around your schema, and developing an uniform style for delivering this information. OpenAPI standards Schema.org You can also read this for more insights from the community. StackOverflow thread That was all for this article, I hope you found it helpful. Do let me know your thoughts on the topic.

A Guide to API Versioning Best Practices

What Will be the Major Factor of User Adoption of Blockchain Technology in 2020?

What Can We Do to Spur Mass Blockchain Adoption in 2020?

Cryptocurrency trading is becoming more complicated day by day. Only a few years ago any centralized platform for trading was good enough for everyone. But now traders want to use decentralized exchanges, which is very reasonable considering the of centralized exchange hacks that have occurred over the past five years. A decentralized exchange is a safer way to trade, not handing over your funds to a third party who may not be responsible enough to keep them safe. You keep your funds to yourself, and you may lose them only through your own volition, not by someone else’s incompetence. very long list With the increased demand, decentralized exchanges started improving themselves. When the first DEXs went live it was a mess, at best. Some of them even left their users with large due to the imperfection of their structure. Also, they allowed for trade only on one particular blockchain, mostly Ethereum, because it was the most popular and had more tokens than any other platform. It still has more tokens than any other platform, to be precise, but the environment is already changing. It’s not enough to support one single network anymore, traders want to be able to trade any assets across multiple blockchains. That’s where the technology of cross-chain mechanisms can help fulfill that desire. $1.1 million losses 1,163 Source: dilbert.com How does cross-chain interaction work Cross-chain protocols, or so-called atomic swaps, allow you to exchange one cryptocurrency for another, even between two different blockchains, without the help from a third party. It’s basically a variation of smart contract technology and hash time locked contracts ( ). HTLC When two parties who don’t trust each other want to exchange coins or tokens, they can create such a contract. This contract acts as a temporary escrow for the funds of both parties. When funds are sent to complete the exchange, both parties have to confirm the receival of funds within a limited timeframe. If one of the parties fails to do it, the transaction is cancelled. If both parties confirm the transaction, the swap happens. This completely removes counterparty risk of exchanging tokens across blockchains. Source: blocktrak.com Why is this great? We have talked about this previously - the current blockchain and cryptocurrency industry is extremely fragmented right now. Those who want to trade in a decentralized way may find themselves in a situation where they have to create multiple accounts on various exchanges and make 2-3 trades instead of one because they can’t trade between two cryptocurrencies directly. The cross-chain functionality on DEXs solves this problem. So, what DEXs support this technology? The most advanced DEXs Currently, many startups are now developing cross-chain swaps. Even Lightning Labs, the developers behind Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, are their own solution. No wonder some DEXs have already incorporated this feature. creating The exchange was a pioneer of atomic swaps. One year after Tier Nolan the algorithm of atomic swaps in 2014, their lead developer implemented it and allowed to actually swap cryptocurrencies between each other. They were also the first to conduct the swap between DOGE and Ethereum blockchains. DOGE is based on the Bitcoin code, so that means Bitcoin can be exchanged to Ethereum too. It’s hard to underestimate the importance of this test. Komodo proposed VDEX by . It features the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) proofs, which are designed to simplify interaction with other blockchains. Those chains that can’t process IBC proofs can rely on trusted oracles and escrows. With an EOS-based smart contract, a trusted multi-signature wallet holding the asset in escrow can be used to sign the transaction on the originating chain. Thus the exchange is able to handle any cryptocurrencies and support atomic swaps between them. Volentix - It supports swaps between Ethereum, EOS, and NEO blockchains. All trades are matched initially on the ledger of the exchange itself to improve speed and then sent onchain for settlement. Sadly, they have a very limited variety of tokens for trading. Dex.top - This exchange started as a DEX for the NEO ecosystem to allow trading NEO-based tokens, but it has grown beyond that. Now it supports Ethereum, EOS, and NEO trading, as well as limited BTC trading via the token. It doesn’t provide any extensive ecosystem, but it may be very convenient for those traders who are interested in NEO or EOS tokens and want to find them all in one place. Switchneo Wrapped Bitcoin Will it change the landscape of trading? Cryptocurrency is still a developing industry. These tokens are traded in their own space, on their own platforms, with their own rules - or is it better to say without any rules? There are no established tools for trading, nor any standard for inter-blockchain communication. Luckily, blockchain technology attracts many brilliant developers and scientific minds, who are constantly coming up with new ideas and new ways to improve the user experience. (Source: xkcd.com) The cross-chain mechanism is not a fully-developed technology yet, however. In the future, it’s possible that all trades will be performed between the two owners of funds and not through a third-party platform. And the cross-chain function will be crucial in such interaction, because over time it’s likely that more and more blockchain platforms will emerge. But it shouldn’t be the problem of end users, it will be the problem of blockchain architects, and they are already active, developing, and experimenting on each of these platforms. : The author is not associated with any of the projects mentioned. Disclosure

Are there any DEXs with a good cross-chain mechanism?

The wide variety of crypto exchanges on the market today have always been overwhelming. Currently there are exchanges listed on Coinmarketcap, and that’s not even counting the unlisted ones. It’s a highly competitive industry, where the top players can earn profit counted in . Nevertheless, new players and new exchanges appear nearly every day. What can they offer seasoned traders? To answer this question, we have to understand what features a trader needs to be able to trade comfortably. 263 hundreds of millions of dollars Source: coinmarketcap.com What are they looking for Of course, every trader has his/her own list of necessary features, but they can be divided into three different categories: Security Variety of traded tokens Accessibility When we talk about security, it means that we hope to find our funds tomorrow in the place we've left them yesterday. Exchange hacks and security leaks happen very often. In fact, even after many years of security development, hackers to steal $927 million from crypto exchanges in 2018, according to the report by CipherTrace. According to another report by , 2018 became the record year for the number of hacks; each day $2.7 million is stolen from exchanges. So security is one very important trait. managed Ledger Another important trait is the variety of tokens listed on the exchange. Traders love having a choice; some of them trade small-cap tokens and soon it becomes very irritating to switch between exchanges to trade those rare tokens that are ready to pump. It's better to have them in one place. And the last one is the accessibility offered by the user interface. This one has a crucial role because it’s the first thing that’s visible while visiting the exchange. With so many competitors, every exchange must develop a very thoughtful approach to designing its interface. There are also several additional traits left undiscussed. For example, some people need fiat deposits/withdrawals, some need the support for trading bots or liquidity for large orders, and the list can go on. But the main features that every trader needs are the three presented above. What exchanges can fulfill these demands? Decentralized exchanges - it’s easier than it looks In reality, a DEX can be the perfect solution for every trader. A DEX is very hard to hack because it’s as secure as the blockchain it runs on. Unlike centralized exchanges, all funds belong to the trader, staying on his/her account. To steal them, you’d have to find a way to bruteforce the private key, but so far such technologies don’t exist yet. If a trader wants a large variety of tokens, a DEX is the perfect place to go. Because it's decentralized, it's easier for companies to list a token. In many instances, there's no need for approval, hence there’s no central authority. While many centralized exchanges take a large fee for listing, up to , listing on many DEXs, for example, on , is completely free. $2.5 million IDAX What’s stopping many traders from using a DEX is the myth that using it is a lot more complicated than trading on a centralized exchange. This myth comes from old outdated prototypes of DEXs that were really unfriendly. Nowadays, there's a lot of new modern DEXs whose developers care about usability. Let’s talk about these! Peer-to-peer trading with a friendly interface What are the best exchanges we can name? , , and . All of them have their perks. Volentix IDEX OpenLedger IDEX is the oldest exchange on this list. It’s specialized in trading Ethereum ERC20 tokens. It has 130 tokens listed and a pretty high daily volume for a DEX - more than 300 BTC. It can be used with MetaMask or a hardware wallet, such as LedgerNano. The only thing you need in order to trade there is the private key of your account. The exchange functionality is pretty basic; it matches two orders from a buyer and a seller, then the trade occurs on the blockchain. The rules for trading can be found . here The same principle is used by OpenLedger. It's a decentralized exchange, working on BitShares’ graphene protocol, which makes it very fast. In addition, it  requires no registration. OpenLedger allows the trading of more than 50 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, NEO, and DASH. It has an intuitive interface, and if you are already familiar with crypto wallets, it would be quite clear how to trade on OpenLedger. And the last one, easily the most advanced of the three, is Volentix. It's more than a DEX, it's a DAE (Digital Asset Ecosystem). That means that aside from an exchange it includes a multicurrency P2P wallet, a user-friendly tool for market analytics, and a community program. All the things that a trader usually needs to find by himself in one place. So why is Volentix VDEX the best choice among all other decentralized exchanges? First of all, it’s built on EOS.IO, meaning that it works as fast as OpenLedger, and a lot faster than Ethereum-based IDEX. Secondly, it offers a unique ecosystem, coupled with everything a crypto trader might need. Vespucci, an analytics tool, features all market data and news about many assets to help users make better informed decisions. And a third advantage is the improved liquidity, as VDEX uses Bancor algorithms to bring stability to its digital assets. Source: xkcd.com Of course, when trading on VDEX you still have to remember your private key. If someone gets access to your private key, you are exposed to the same risks you’d have while trading on any other exchange out there. The concept of a DEX is unfamiliar to many users, and it may require many years to pass until it gets really popular, but at least Volentix takes the extra step towards its users to make sure they have all the necessary tools and knowledge required. The decentralized exchanges have evolved a lot since the early days of crypto. Now they offer the same features as the large centralized exchanges. They allow to trade easily without any prior setup, all you have to do is to create a wallet. They offer a user-friendly interface, identical to common trading terminals, but more importantly, they leave you in full control over your own funds. You don't have to send them to an exchange's wallet, an easy target for hackers of all kinds. The only thing you should care for is keeping your own private key safe. If you know how to handle the keys, there's no reason not to try trading on a decentralized exchange, such as Volentix’s VDEX. Perhaps this new experience will change the way you look at trading. Disclosure: The author is not associated with any of the projects mentioned.

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