Mediaboss Marketing

Want to raise millions?

Insert generic industry in need of disruption. Slap AI and Web3 onto your pitch deck. Watch the funding frenzy begin. This approach has quickly become venture capitals version of the ol walks into a bar joke.

Like most great comedy, its funny because it feels true. Artificial intelligence, and what it could mean for crypto and blockchain technologies, has reached new heights of hyperbole. Both Twitter speculators and institutional investors are salivating at the promise of a better web run by AI and smart contracts.

Certainly, their vision of a fully automated and decentralized future will come. But the attention on it now is a tad premature, as such integrated technology is still likely a decade away.

Inordinately focusing on that future reality risks missing the tangible value AI can add (and is already adding) to our present reality.

Before photographs, the concept of capturing a moment in time with anything but memory was completely foreign. Before electricity, the idea of cities filled with light, even at night, was science fiction. Before the internet, the thought of sending meaningful content instantly across the world was pure lunacy.

You dont know what you dont know. Each new epoch of technology expands humanitys understanding of what is possible in practical, physical ways and only then do people realize what they were missing out on. Society has an immense need for more applications on the web, which is quickly becoming where many of us spend the majority of our time. But its difficult to know how much our app deficit has cost us in terms of our online experiences, because we dont know what the alternative looks likeyet.

AI will upend many sectors, in many ways. For programmers, much of its present-day value lies in its ability to help them build better applications, faster. This is already happening, with the help of dedicated AI coding assistants, such as Copilot, and generic ones, like Open AIs ChatGPT interface.

With coders able to offload the more tedious programming processes to AI including quality assistance, which for some developers can consume most of their working hours they can focus on solving deeper-level challenges and creating even more innovative solutions for security and scalability.

This stage will lead to immediate hyperbolic growth in application development, leading to a surge in AI-based tools meant to bridge the gap between the datasets that drive AI and the practical use cases that consumers are looking for.

That growth will assuredly include decentralized apps (dapps) as well, including Web3 games built on revenue-sharing blockchains and DeFi networks that democratize financial services to unbanked parts of the world.

An increase in Web3 apps powered by AI building tools will push the ecosystem forward. The next transformative phase will come in the form of Web3 apps that actually build AI into their systems, using automation as the lighter fluid fueling an explosion in new decentralized business models and technologies.

Blockchain technologies have already proven to be great tools for bootstrapping digital communities, encouraging virtuous cycles through aligned incentives, and creating greater network efforts through shared ownership. AI can help augment those natural strengths and further enhance them.

Some examples: Consider the potential of a music app where creators were programmatically rewarded for how well they could use AI to increase the quantity and quality of their compositions. Or imagine how Web3 networks could use public data available on blockchain to identify revelatory trends like connecting the work of charities building wells in Africa or Southeast Asia with DeFi applications expanding financial services to the estimated $1.4 billion people who remain unbanked across the world.

If Web3 scales community building, then AI more easily scales content production. Together, they create rapidly scalable content built by a rapidly scalable community. And that equals a massive upside.

Now, to the stage of AI and Web3 integration that everyone is talking about prematurely.

AI-empowered blockchains and protocols will stack the powers of machine learning capabilities with the decentralization and aligned incentivization of Web3. The vision: For AI to enable greater transparency, greater value exchange, greater decentralization, greater education.

Some more tangible examples are the evolution of NFTs from static to dynamic, as it becomes possible to produce them at greater scale and with more adaptability while incorporating machine learning capabilities. And perhaps the biggest application will be in virtual worlds, including Web3 games and metaverses, which will rely on AI to handle core network functions, everything from content creation and moderation to verification of hundreds of millions of users and their digital assets.

Read more from our opinion section: Blockchain can save the media

Eventually, I believe that AI will be incorporated in a way that it can essentially govern Web3 blockchains and networks.

Instead of a DAO voting on every small tweak or adjustment to the protocol, the AI model could be given wide purview to make decisions that keep the DAO working efficiently.

The community could adjust this purview based on their own values and interests. Importantly, it could also adjust the parameters by which the AI model makes decisions about the network and due to the transparency of the blockchain, these parameters could be public and easily accessible for all to see.

Having public, automated AI decision-making would be similar to having greater visibility and control over the algorithms that drive social media platforms like, say, Twitter or Facebook.

Dont like the parameters that dictate what content gets promoted (or censored) on your favorite platform? You can vote, together, to change it.

This final stage of AI and Web3 integration will be difficult to achieve, and costly, which is why it wont happen overnight. But once it comes, it opens up a whole new galaxy of apps and services that reward people with more ownership and control.

Jack OHolleran is Co-Founder and CEO of SKALE Labs, the team behind SKALE, the worlds fastest blockchain, designed for ultra-fast, secure, user-centric Ethereum scaling. Jack is a veteran Silicon Valley Technology entrepreneur with a deep background in machine learning/AI technologies and blockchain. Formerly, Jack co-founded IncentAlign (now Aktana) and held executive positions at Good Technology and Motorola. Jack first started working with digital currencies in 2008 when he was instrumental in building a digital currency platform for Enterprise Resource Allocation.

Get the days top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.Subscribe to Blockworks free newsletternow.

Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, cant-miss tweets and more fromBlockworks Researchs Daily Debrief.

Cant wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.Join us on Telegram and follow us on Google News.

Visit link:

It's way too soon for a marriage of AI and Web3 - Blockworks

How will the coalition partners reconcile their differences in approach towards resolving the long-running conflict in the predominantly Muslim deep South?In the second of a three-part series, our Political Desk analyses the challenges in pursuing a peace process.

The eight-party coalition expected to form the new government led by the Move Forward Party faces tough challenges mapping out a new peace initiative in the restive South, according to members of the working group.

Among the progressive ideas being considered are demilitarization and decentralization of the region.

Peace in the predominantly Muslim region has been earmarked as a priority by the new coalition and they intend to deliver some concrete outputs within the first 100 days of the new government taking office.

While many governments in the past have struggled to contain violence orchestrated by faceless insurgents since 2004, this will be the first major effort to resolve the southern crisis as the new coalition strives to translate the peoples mandate they got from the May 14 election to bring peace to the region.

The parties in the coalition have sent representatives keen on the peace process to join a working group that would formulate policies and plans for the strife-torn region. The members of the group include ex-journalist and peace activist Romadon Panjor from the Move Forward Party; former National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general Paradon Pattanatabut from the Pheu Thai Party; former Southern Border Administration Center (SBAC) secretary-general Tawee Sodsong from the Prachachat Party; and former UN official Kannavee Suebsang from the Fair Party.

The working group has been tasked with addressing all dimensions and aspects of the problems in the deep South, comparing and synchronizing policies of all parties as well as making policy recommendations to the new government, according to Move Forward MP Romadon. The violence in the region, which has left over 7,000 people dead, is only one part of the bigger problems in the deep South, he said.

After three rounds of meetings, the group has already considered the different policies of all parties in the coalition, the political issues, the security concerns, and economic matters, he said.

Differences within coalition

Although parties in the coalition share the same goal of seeing peace and prosperity in the southernmost part of the country, which is very unique in terms of religion and ethnicity, they all have different characters, styles, concerns, and priorities.

The Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in the May 14 election and led the formation of the new coalition government, has many progressive and radical ideas to deal with thesituation in the predominantly Muslim region. The party wants to demilitarize and decentralize the region as well as establish civilian-led operations on the ground. It wants to bring to an end the Martial Law, Emergency Law as well as Internal Security Law imposed in the region. The bold idea to end the role of the Internal Security Operations Command was broached by the Move Forward Party during its election campaign.

Another key member of the coalition, the Pheu Thai Party, has many years of experience in dealing with the deep South crisis. The current wave of violence erupted in 2004 when Thai Rak Thai Party, which became Pheu Thai many years later, was in power and was blamed for mishandling the issue. Pheu Thai revived peace talks in 2013 after a fresh mandate in 2011, under prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. It was Paradon, the then NSC chief, who signed a deal with the separatist Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN). It is widely expected that Paradon would regain the job.

The Prachachat Party, led by the charismatic and influential Muslim politician Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, has its strong base in the deep South with 9 MPs from the May election. The partys secretary-general, Tawee, is widely regarded as having a solid background on the South issue and is respected by Malay-Muslim leaders there. Tawee is focused on local governance, notably his former office SBAC, but reportedly simply wants to put his people in the agency, rather than restructuring as the Move Forward wishes, according to a source in the working group.

The Fair Party might have only one seat in the House of Representatives but its secretary-general, Kannavee, is popular in the restive region and has been dedicated to human rights protection for quite some time. The former UN official, who has experience in conflict-ridden countries, including Sudan, the Philippines, and Myanmar, is apparently not easy to work with, according to another source.

Furore over mock referendum could derail deep South peace moves

Talks with separatists?

While all the parties in the coalition agree in principle that the ongoing peace talks with the separatist BRN is a key component of the peace process in the deep South, they have reached no consensus on the way to proceed, according to Romadon.

Kannavee said he wanted civilians and politicians to handle the peace process. Other parties remain unclear on how to move the talks forward.

The Malaysian-facilitated peace process is now working on the Joint Comprehensive Plan towards Peace (JCPP), which is aimed at reducing violence and conducting public consultations. The latest round of meetings held on February 21-22 in Kuala Lumpur between a Thai delegation headed by the former chief of NSC General Wallop Rasanoh and representatives of BRN agreed on 2024 as the time frame for a final peace agreement.

Wallop said a week after the election that he wanted to see the new government continue working with the BRN and the Malay facilitators on creating the JCPP.

Security sources say the BRN is likely waiting to see if the new government will come up with any new ideas to proceed with the talks. The dialogue with the Thai authority over the past years was not exactly a peace negotiation as the military-backed government seemed to merely want a cease-fire pact, rather than a political dialogue for self-determination and perhaps independence from the BRNs perspective.

Outgoing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted that his successor needed to carry on the talks along this line. The right term for the dialogue ischeracha santisuk(happiness talk),notcheracha santiphabor peace talkper seas both sides are not at war, he furiously told reporters.

Say no to independence

The Move Forward-led coalition has been forced to pursue peace in the deep South within the parameters outlined by the conservative elite who fear any new peace initiative, together with the Move Forwards decentralization platform, could inspire the separatist movement to partition the Malay-Muslim region from the Thai kingdom.

PM candidate Pita Limjaroenrat told reporters clearly that his party and the coalition would uphold the constitutional principle of a unitary state. While the party wanted to push forward a decentralization platform, governance in the deep South would be similar to the rest of the country, he clarified.

Pita and parties in the coalition were forced to come out and explicitly reject separatism after a student group at Prince of Songklas Pattani campus held a mock referendum on the right to self-determination in early June, which ignited anger in security agencies and right-wing groups.

Romadon clarified that all political parties were required to uphold the Constitution and work within the legal framework, but it was the duty of the party to accommodate different ideas. We have to face the nature of conflict with political courage, he said.

By Thai PBS Worlds Political Desk

Read the original here:

Uphill task to demilitarize and decentralize Thailand's deep South ... - Thai PBS World

In downtown San Francisco, in a cavernous garage that was once a Honda dealership, a gleaming white-and-blue appliance about the size of a commercial refrigerator is being prepared for transport to a hotel in Los Angeles.

There, this unit, called a OneWater System, will be installed in the basement, where its collection of pipes will take in much of the hotels graywater from sinks, showers and laundry. The system will clean the water with membrane filtration, ultraviolet light and chlorine, and then send it back upstairs to be used again for nonpotable uses.

And again. And again.

"There is no reason to only use water once," said Peter Fiske, executive director of the National Alliance for Water Innovation, a division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in Berkeley. Just as natural systems use and reuse water repeatedly in a cycle driven by the sun, he said, "we now have technologies to enable us to process and reuse water over and over, at the scale of a city, a campus and even an individual home."

While centralized water reuse for nonpotable purposes has been around for decades, a trend called the "extreme decentralization of water and wastewater" also known as "distributed water systems," or "on-site" or "premise" recycling is emerging as a leading strategy in the effort to make water use more sustainable.

Proof of concept is unfolding in San Francisco, which in 2015 required all new buildings of more than 100,000 square feet to have on-site recycling systems.

The concept is to equip new commercial and residential buildings as well as districts, such as neighborhoods and universities, with on-site recycling plants that will make water for nonpotable use cheaper than buying potable water from a centralized source. By driving down demand for potable water, which is costly to filter, treat and distribute, the units will help manage water more efficiently. It is, many experts believe, the future of water. Eventually its hoped that buildings will be completely self-sufficient, or "water neutral," using the same water over and over, potable and nonpotable, in a closed loop.

Its not just a pipe dream. Proof of concept is unfolding in San Francisco, which in 2015 required all new buildings of more than 100,000 square feet to have on-site recycling systems. So far, six blackwater and 25 graywater systems are using the technology, and many others are in the works. (Blackwater comes from toilets, dishwashers and kitchen sinks; graywater comes from washing machines, showers and bathtubs.) The headquarters of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has a blackwater system, the Living Machine, that treats its wastewater in engineered wetlands built into the sidewalks around the building, then uses it to flush low-flow toilets and urinals. The process reduces the buildings imported potable supply by 40 percent.

Recycling graywater alone can save substantial amounts of water. Using it to flush toilets and wash clothes reduces demand for new water by about 40 percent. Using recycled water for showers would eliminate another 20 percent of water demand, though the safety of that practice is being researched and is not yet permitted in San Francisco.

A fully circular system, in which water is reused on-site for both potable and nonpotable uses, is at least 5 years away.

To demonstrate its technology, Epic Cleantec, a water recycling company, has even brewed a beer called Epic OneWater Brew with purified graywater from a 40-story San Francisco apartment building.

With the megadrought and water crisis on the Colorado, the Rio Grande and other Western rivers, "extreme decentralization" is making its way to other places in the American West, including Colorado, Texas and Washington state. And decentralized projects are ongoing in Japan, India and Australia. There are serious pressures on fresh water supplies around the world, with climate change exacerbating shortages. A recent study found that more than half the worlds lakes have lost significant amounts of water over the last 30 years. By 2050, the UN estimates that 5 billion people could be subjected to water shortages.

"This is the future of water for everybody," Newsha Ajami, director of Urban Water Policy at Stanfords Water in the West program, said of decentralized water systems and recycling. "Its a slow-moving process, but at the end of the day considering all the scarcity a lot of communities are going to pick this up as a way of having economic development while having water security."

The technology to do this has been around for a long time. What has prevented [its] adoption has been regulatory hurdles.

San Franciscos recycling systems are not water neutral. The largest building with an on-site system is the Salesforce Tower, a 61-story office tower that opened in 2018 and is the tallest building in San Francisco. Built by the Australian company Aquacell, the system cleans 30,000 gallons of sewage, sink, shower and other wastewater each day and uses it for irrigation and toilet flushing, saving an estimated 7.8 million gallons of water a year. Thats the equivalent of the annual use of 16,000 San Franciscans, the company says. Outside water is still needed for potable uses. (In New York, the Domino Sugar Refinery redevelopment project, under construction on the Brooklyn waterfront, will recycle 400,000 gallons of blackwater a day.)

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the water provider, estimates that there are a total of 48 reuse systems in operation and 29 more projects being planned in the city. By 2040, the agency says, its Onsite Water Reuse program will save 1.3 million gallons of potable water each day.

The technology for these buildings to capture and treat all their water to potable standards already exists. But the safety of direct reuse of recycled wastewater is still being studied, and U.S. regulations so far do not allow that. A fully circular system, in which water is reused on-site for both potable and nonpotable uses, is at least five to 10 years away in this country, experts say.

Centralized recycled water systems, by contrast, have been used for decades, although they too have rapidly grown as a solution to water shortages. Orange County, California, for example, is home to the worlds largest water recycling facility. It cleans 130 million gallons of blackwater a day in a process called indirect potable reuse. Highly treated wastewater, which would normally have been discharged into the ocean, is put through an advanced three-step purification process that includes micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and disinfection with ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide. The output is injected into nearby groundwater, to be pumped up and treated to drinking-water standards by local utilities.

In water-short Singapore, the massive Changi Water Reclamation Plant cleans and purifies 237 million gallons of wastewater a day to potable standards.

But the new reuse paradigm fundamentally rethinks water systems, localizing them in much the same way that households and districts with rooftop and community solar have transformed energy systems away from centralized power plants.

New buildings and neighborhoods, said Fiske, of the National Alliance for Water Innovation, may someday no longer need to hook up to sewer lines and water supplies. People will be able to build without regard to connections to water infrastructure, simply by using the same water again and again in a virtually closed loop. "The water that falls on the roof in most places in the world will be enough to sustain a home," predicts Fiske, citing a recent study that found that this approach could save at least 75 percent of water demand.

'Extreme decentralization' is making its way to other places in the American West.

Premise recycling not only saves water, it can also save the cost of pumping water over long distances and the costs associated with digging up streets for replacement and installation of pipelines. "Water is heavy," said Fiske, "And we live on a planet with gravity. So use water where you live over and over again."

While in some situations decentralized systems are expected to save money by reducing the energy needed to pump water, in others situations they could require more electricity to pump water through a building.

The increased prevalence of water recycling will allow water to be cleaned to varying standards or different "flavors" according to its intended use, a concept called "fit for purpose." Water to flush toilets, for example, doesnt need to be cleaned as thoroughly as drinking water.

The recycling systems being built in San Francisco are widely considered a success, and representatives from water-stressed cities around the world have come here to study the approach.

Epic Cleantec has designed a system that will provide 30,000 gallons a day for the Park Habitat office building, under construction in San Jose. Its blackwater system will be used to irrigate a living green wall on the towers 20-story exterior. The system collects water from rain, cooling towers, showers, toilets and sinks, then circulates it through a multistep treatment process in the basement. The solids are separated, sterilized and turned into a soil amendment.

This is the future of water for everybody.

"San Francisco has written the playbook and de-risked the whole process" by smoothing the regulations needed to build these systems, said Aaron Tartakovsky, who founded Epic Cleantec with his father, Igor, and is its CEO. "The technology to do this has been around for a long time. What has prevented the adoption of the technology has been regulatory hurdles. Without any established framework there was no way to get this done. What cities and states are doing is coming up with a clear playbook for how these systems can be operated safely and efficiently."

Tartakovsky said the systems Epic Cleantec is building cost from a few hundred thousand to a few million dollars. The return on investment takes about seven years, he says. After that, there are considerable ongoing savings on water and sewer costs that vary from building to building.

Heather Cooley, director of research for the Pacific Institute in Oakland, an independent organization that studies water sustainability, and an author of a report on distributed systems and water resilience, believes premise systems are essential for Californias water future. These on-site and distributed systems are an exciting addition to the range of tools to meet weather challenges, she said. "They will help build resilience." However, she added, "theres no silver bullet. Theyre not going to be applied in every building everywhere."

The water that falls on the roof in most places in the world will be enough to sustain a home.

It might seem counterintuitive that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission requires new buildings to reduce their consumption of city water: After all, the commission is in charge of selling that resource. But San Francisco has a policy of densification in the urban core. As three- and four-story buildings are replaced with 10- and 12-story buildings, the cost of building new water infrastructure and finding new water sources is soaring.

Premise recycling is also taking place in what are known as districts. The University of California, Davis, has a blackwater system used for irrigation, and new neighborhoods are rising with their own closed-loop recycling systems. In San Diego, for example, developers are building a large district system to recycle blackwater at a shopping center thats being converted into an office campus.

"Neighborhood scale is the right scale for sustainability" for recycled water, said Claire Maxfield, director of the San Francisco office of Atelier Ten, a London-based engineering and design firm.

What are the barriers to wider-scale residential changes [on water reuse]? The yuck factor, experts say.

Maxfield led the sustainability team that helped design an 11-acre mixed-use district system for Mission Rock, a neighborhood under construction next to the San Francisco Giants ballpark. It will collect blackwater from a main sewer, filter it, then send it to all 17 of the neighborhoods buildings to be used for irrigation and toilet flushing. "It works really well, and it works really cost effectively" at the neighborhood scale, said Maxfield. "It shares the cost, its good for resilience and environmental justice. Its better than telling everybody to solve this on their own."

A recent study found this approach to water recycling adds about 6 percent to the cost of a single home and 12 percent to the cost of a multifamily dwelling. But as the number of people using these systems increases, economies of scale come into play, making recycled water far less expensive than city water.

The Hydraloop, created in Holland, is one home-based technology on the market, a kind of "water washing" machine. It recycles up to 95 percent of a households water, disinfecting shower and washing machine flows to irrigate lawns, flush toilets and fill swimming pools. Overall water consumption declines by 25 to 45 percent. A company in Vancouver makes a product called RainStick, which recycles shower water over and over while you shower.

What are the barriers to even wider-scale residential changes? The yuck factor, experts say. "When we talk about reuse, theres a lot of fear" among builders and architects, said Maxfield, although she believes they can be overcome.

Thats why, she said, decentralization of water and waste systems appears to be destined to play a major role in a water-stressed world. "No one talked about carbon 20 years ago" in the design of buildings, Maxfield said. "And now everyone does. Water is going to have that moment."

See the article here:

Beyond the yuck factor: Cities turn to 'extreme' water recycling ... - GreenBiz

Cryptocurrency has created a flurry of conversation and activity around the world, drawing investors and tech enthusiasts alike with its decentralized structure and potential for large returns on investments.

Cryptocurrency is a bank-independent digital currency that uses a decentralized technology called blockchain to record and verify transactions in a digital ledger. The transactions are facilitated by cryptography, and a virtual wallet is used for sending and receiving money to ensure the safety and anonymity of transactions.

Popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have developed as alternatives to established financial structures, promising decentralization, security and greater financial independence.

In addition to its widespread adoption, the digital landscape is witnessing an influx of new cryptocurrencies regularly. Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, more than 21,000 different cryptocurrencies have been created, according to Bankrate. However, as with any emerging technology, these digital currencies come with both benefits and challenges.

Even with the cryptocurrency crash of 2022, it is still a highly attractive investment for many business owners.

The following are the most common benefits of cryptocurrency:

The biggest advantage of cryptocurrency is that it's not owned by a single financial or government entity. This eradicates the monopoly of money and ensures cryptocurrency value isn't dictated by a central bank or authority.

The fees for transacting in cryptocurrency are very nominal and sometimes zero. This is because third parties and intermediaries, such as VISA and PayPal, are eliminated in the process. Additionally, cross-border transactions using cryptocurrencies are accelerated without challenging foreign exchange procedures, increasing their efficiency and lowering their cost.

Due to its limited supply, cryptocurrency is often seen as a way to protect against inflation. For example, the number of coins that can be minted for Bitcoin is capped at 21 million, after which no new coins will be released. Other cryptocurrencies also use techniques to limit supply and help protect against inflation. Theoretically, if demand for cryptocurrency grows, their values may too.

While cryptocurrencies come with potential risks, such as volatile market conditions and potential fraud, most cryptocurrency investments yield a high rate of return. According to reports in 2022, the size of the worldwide cryptocurrency market reached $4.67 billion and is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12.5% between 2023 and 2030.

Cryptocurrencies boost the accessibility of financial services as they operate on decentralized networks and can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection and crypto wallet. In contrast to typical bank accounts, opening a cryptowallet does not need identity verification, background checks or credit checks. Cryptocurrency can also make cross-border transactions easier and faster as it doesn't involve high fees, long processing times and intermediaries that typically come with traditional banking systems.

While cryptocurrency transactions are anonymous, the data recorded on a publicblockchain ledger, such as the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchain, is publicly available for anyone to view. Every cryptocurrency user gets access to apublic key, which can be used to identify an investor. This means that even though the investor names aren't shared, the transactions can still be tracked for transparency. Users may follow live transfers using the blockchain explorer on the cryptocurrency platform.

However, not all cryptocurrencies use public blockchain ledgers. Therearealso private and permissioned ledgers. Private ledgers are exclusively accessible to a specific group of users, while permissioned ledgers are a combination of public and private blockchains, granting access to anyone with permission from the administrators.

Despite numerous tales of cryptocurrency investments resulting in people becoming overnight millionaires, cryptocurrency also comes with its share of challenges.

The following are some common disadvantages of cryptocurrency:

Cryptocurrency prices can often fluctuate. While this volatility can lead to quick profits, it can also cause significant financial losses for investors under certain circumstances, such as when the price of cryptocurrency dips suddenly. This unpredictability can be a risky investment choice, especially for individuals looking for steady returns.

Even though cryptocurrency is legal in many developed countries, it isn'tlegally regulated by central governments. This absence of control and regulation in the cryptocurrency market increases the risk of cryptocurrency scams and market manipulation. Until federal governments adopt and regulate cryptocurrencies in the same way that they do fiat currencies, such asthe U.S. dollar, there will always be a higher risk associated with investing.

Although blockchain technology offers a robust security architecture, security lapses and hacking attempts are on the rise in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Cybercriminals have attacked cryptocurrency exchanges and digital wallets, causing significant financial losses for both people and businesses. Moreover, because Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, it's difficult to recover funds once they have been stolen.

To access the virtual wallet where the cryptocurrency tokens are stored, several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, require the owner to have possession of a private key. However, should a private key ever be lost or stolen, it is impossible to demonstrate another proof of ownership or to recover the cryptocurrency tokens.

Depending on its type, mining cryptocurrency may require a large supply of electricity and other resources. For example, most Bitcoin-related costs are associated with the energy required to create the currency, according to Harvard Business Review. This increased power usage may result in local pollution, noise and other consequences -- such as increased greenhouse gas emissions -- forcommunities living near the mining sites.

Cryptocurrency is nonrefundable. This means that it can't be refunded to the sender in cases where there is a disagreement between the parties involved or when money is inadvertently sent to the incorrect wallet. As such, people may use it to defraud others. Since there are no reimbursements, it's simple to fabricate one for a transaction where the products or services were never delivered.

The price of Bitcoin surpassed $30,000 in April 2023, generating a frenzy of stories saying the crypto winter had finally ended. There have also been speculations that cryptocurrencies and IoT may support micropayments in the near future, letting enterprises share IoT data. Businesses, for example, might pay expert reviewers in cryptocurrency to provide honest and useful reviews of real-time IoT data products on decentralized data marketplaces. This would help IoT data buyers avoid low-quality or falsified data.

While the cryptocurrency market might be on an upward trajectory, the reality is that this market tends to be unpredictable. The best bet for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors is to build a strong and diversified portfolio that can withstand setbacks in the long run.

Link:

Pros and cons of cryptocurrency - TechTarget

Cutting the Block: DogeMiyagi, Ethereum, and Bitcoins Approach to Network Congestion

As with the introduction of all new technology, one inevitable occurrence is the hoards of users all gathering on the servers at the same time, putting through multiple transactions and sometimes this can be very stressful for the server. In recent years, network congestion has become a significant challenge in the crypto space. As its popularity grows and more people jump into mining, high transaction volumes often result in delays and increased fees, hindering user experience.

Luckily, there are a variety of ways to tackle this whilst still leaving the user experience intact. Over the years, Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) have found solutions to address network congestion. Their approaches, trade-offs, and implications for transaction speed and user experience serve as a lesson for newcomers like DogeMiyagi (MIYAGI), who is slowly implementing its own strategy to combat congestion.

Ethereum, one of the most established cryptocurrencies, revolutionized the industry by introducing smart contracts and decentralized applications. Its blockchain has become a hub for innovation, enabling developers to create a wide range of decentralized solutions.

Ethereum has implemented and continues to explore various scalability solutions to improve transaction speed and alleviate network congestion. Ethereum 2.0, an upgrade for the network, aims to transition from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. This transition will enhance scalability and reduce energy consumption.

Additionally, Ethereum has integrated layer-two solutions, such as the Polygon network and Optimisms Optimistic Rollups. These solutions allow for faster and cheaper transactions by processing them off-chain and settling them on the Ethereum mainnet later. By offloading a significant portion of transactions to layer-two solutions, Ethereum reduces congestion and improves the overall user experience.

Bitcoin, the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, laid the foundation for the entire industry. With its decentralized nature and limited supply, Bitcoin has become a digital store of value and a widely accepted means of exchange.

Bitcoins strategy to address network congestion is primarily focused on preserving decentralization and security while maintaining its core functionality as digital gold. Its approach to network congestion focuses on security and decentralization. While Bitcoins transaction speed may not match that of newer cryptocurrencies, its robustness lies in its ability to process secure and immutable transactions.

Bitcoin has implemented the Lightning Network as a layer-two scaling solution to mitigate network congestion. The Lightning Network allows users to open payment channels off-chain, enabling fast and low-cost transactions. By leveraging these channels, users can conduct numerous transactions without burdening the Bitcoin blockchain directly, thus reducing congestion.

DogeMiyagi, a rising meme token in the crypto sphere, combines the popularity of Doge and Miyagi from the Karate Kid movie, infusing humor and a sense of community into the project. By leveraging the familiarity of meme culture, DogeMiyagi aims to create a unique and engaging space for cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

To enhance transaction speed, Dogemiyagi employs a multi-layered approach. Firstly, it utilizes off-chain solutions, such as state channels and sidechains, for faster and cheaper peer-to-peer transactions. By moving a significant portion of transactions off the main blockchain, DogeMiyagi reduces congestion and ensures quicker settlements.

Lastly, Dogemiyagi actively explores layer-two solutions, including the integration of various Layer-2 protocols like Optimistic Rollups and Plasma. These solutions allow for faster transaction confirmations and significantly reduce congestion by processing multiple transactions off-chain before settling them on the main blockchain.

In the quest to address network congestion, Dogemiyagi, Ethereum, and Bitcoin employ different strategies with unique trade-offs and implications for transaction speed and user experience. Dogemiyagi emphasizes scalability and transaction speed Ethereum focuses on protocol upgrades, including Ethereum 2.0 and layer-two solutions, to enhance scalability and reduce congestion. Bitcoin, while prioritizing decentralization and security, leverages the Lightning Network as a layer-two solution to alleviate network congestion.

Website: https://dogemiyagi.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_Dogemiyagi_

Telegram: https://t.me/dogemiyagi

Link:

Crypto Congestion | DogeMiyagi, Ethereum + Bitcoin - Analytics Insight