Ethereal Conference Notes: Morning Session
Amazing job presenting speakers: Shout out and thank you ConsenSys and Ethereal for the Live Stream and Open Information!! *Will update the formatting to for viewing and reading pleasure soon :)*
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How to Launch a Token: Matt Liston(Gnosis), Galia Benartzi(Bancor), Piotr Janiuk(Golem), Josh Quittner(Flipboard)
-Decentralized business or platform is only needed to generate a token -tokens as the fuel for a network (community, neighborhood, online/offline)
-collaboration between the network, promote participation in the network effect -A network is more valuable as the network grows -Community Currency: all get tokens for joining and earn as they use the network.
Can spend tokens as fuel to trade= creates affinity and trust between the community and ecosystem, (possibly not liquid with any other currency) Digital Vending Machines: -Usability is Key, cannot force using a different unknown currency-barrier to entry -Need for token is on the protocol and network level (oracle marketspaces, delegated staking) -Oracle: smart contracts aren’t smart if they cannot read the outside world
Steps for token launch:
1) White paper, Source code of the smart contract
2) Lawyers- buys a measure of utility not speculator, there is no regulatory framework-
3) Creating the entity that can allow token sale a. Switzerland (not for profit swiss foundation), offshore (caymans), government backed entities b. Operating in a way that reduces risk for when regulation comes c. Communicate but don’t hype
4) MVP/Prototype the product or platform- basic functionality and proof of concept a. Solicit feedback/ critical feedback
5) There are no rules: it’s very experimental right now, no blueprint for real innovation
6) Getting out there and going to conferences, meetups, blogs, online groups, AMAs
7) Multiple security audits, sizable awards in ETH/Token for debugging source 8) Need a token because it hold a specific use case and hold utility in the ecosystem a. Money is worth what we believe we think it is worth (why and how can you print money out of thin air) Belief of a system Best Practices 1) Venture: propose more projects raise less money and keep more tokens to reach checkpoints 2) Be cautious 3) Best incentive is to pay yourself in your own token- look at the long term Needs: 1) Developing a playbook and standardization for ICOs
How to Invest in Cryptocurrencies: Olaf Carlson-Wee(PolychainCapital), Mark David Bakacs(VentureOne), Kavita Gupta(ConsenSys), Gil Penchina(SuperAngel), Leigh Cuen(IBT)
-learn to recognize the tokens that bring short term happiness but not long term needs of the world -Experimental token sale mechanics: example of innovation- 0x, Omega, ConcenSys, Civic, tokenized venture fund -Token debt financing: Can turn token into project equity Due diligence of projects -Interesting and new technological features, a new sweet of tools for and value to users -Portion of project that is truly decentralized, does it need to be on the blockchain -Need great team, execution, strategy, does the token make sense and how its connected to the blockchain
Red Flags -Sandcoin in Russia- is the token actually adding value or just a mechanism for funding -Figuring out a way to use the utility token, should the project use the traditional route of funding -If you cant understand the business or token -understanding of the industry and technology
Liquidity or Holding: -If you are generating the token, liquidity is the incentive and what are the true intentions -Centralized exchanges dynamics- can you exchange the token after the token sale -decentralized exchanges allow for this liquidity and more tokens to be launched -If exchange is the only bottle neck for liquidity no good, need to create an ecosystem
How to diversify portfolio? -80/20 rule: BTC/ETH-80% Other projects-20% -Short term and long term positions -Portfolio theory has not changed
How to Evaluate Blockchain Assets? -3 Buckets -Core protocol -Asset backed projects (not as important currently) -Financial evaluation -Sector, Technology -Security token, Utility Token -the token is not the security -tokens that must use the p2p network and create an ecosystem -collateral held in tokens generated through asset back security tokens
What will Influence Token Generation?
1) Regulation a. Many are complex legal structures outside of the US b. Self-nominate token as a security, alternative: token is a utility and never a security c. Multi-jurisdictional d. Regulation comes when it is worth something of tangible value e. Regulation and institution money is not always a bad thing
2) Community Engagement a. Adoption within the community, is there a need b. How does it benefit various groups of people c. What is in it for my community and what are the incentives/motivations i. Incentives are not only monetary 3) System Marketecture a. When something can plug into the web 3.0 network ex: twitter on a p2p network protocol i. Where do you store the tweets?
4) White Papers a. When you read a white paper and cannot stop thinking about the massive implications of the project is an early indicator b. The aha moment- visionary protocols i. Does it make sense: do the economics work c. Solving a problem that is different than anything before d. Looking for a reason to say no,
5) What tech outside of Ethereum a. Middleware built on top of Ethereum (i.e. Ox, filepoint, ETH Namesystem, PrizeToken)
6) It’s hard to be anonymous and have a big network and effect
7) Payments coming from the DAU not a legal entity a. Must have service providers surrounding such which brings new problems
8) New Innovations/Frustrations from VC Perspective a. Too many ideas and it is a lot to process from an investor standing b. Valuation based on bubble value of the token sale when company is not worth that much money in reality c. No company comes to VC firm fully formed and not needing help d. Not thinking Web 3.0(no revenue only value) and looking from a Web 2.0(Rent/Profit Seeking)
Interplanetary File Sharing: Juan Benet (IPFS, FileCoin, Protocol Labs)
1) Importance of the tech being built for the future a. Dependency of communication, data and the Internet i. Where is your data really being stored
b. Becoming not relied on 3rd parties i. Layers of computations that do this c. In Nazi Germany they went through private records to see who they wanted to put in concentration camps i. Control of your data, identity is the up most importance
d. The time is now to place a better infrastructure for the future of Web 3.0
e. You never value security until something bad happens i. Must think of our own data in the same way ii. Scalable storage, computation performance iii. Most of the tech being built today is infrastructure for developers but not the consumer 1. Need to get this tech into the hands of consumers and focus on computation and product
f. Future is in Danger i. It will not work unless we build on these systems and create calls to actions for the consumer ii. What impacts will this bring to you, family, friends iii. 2018 is the year we build real consumer and mobile products, massive applications for Web 3.0 built on the infrastructure laid down by Ethereum, Bitcoin, Fileshare
g. New Protocols for Data Storage i. Ethereum should not be treated as the data disk of storage ii. Data storage is relied upon today by Google, Amazon, and Asure h. IFPS, Swarm, Fileshare
i. What to look for if trying to store more than just files (i.e. databases) 1. Commoditizing file storage, not relying on single entity i. Distributed Identity Web of Trust i. Authenticate yourself without relying on 3rd party ii. How many PDFS have you sent through email with all of your personal information (SS#, address, birthdate)
j. Leverage Against Censorship i. Must trust Intel for hardware ii. Review of hardware exploits 1. Remote actors controlling your devices without your knowledge iii. Connectivity Layer 1. Not relied on ISPs that give route of information flows (example: Egypt) 2. Mesh Networks, Long-range ISPs a. Elon Musk’s satellite Internet
The Future of Crypto Trading and Exchanges: Michael Oved(AirSwap), Raine Revere(Prism), Alan Keegan(OmegaOne), Ayako Miyaguchi(Kraken), Matthew Leising(Bloomberg)
1) Decentralized Exchanges a. What is designed must really benefit society if losing latency b. Promises i. Control over info and assets ii. Can trade over a global network 1. Today exchanges are siloed c. Idea of who controls the assets (the person or the exchange) i. Giving custody to the user d. Smart contracts provide atomic swaps and non-custodial trades i. No settlements, brokers, it is a yes or no trade ii. No counter party risk and using the blockchain to gain institutional players iii. Trade disputes 1. You don’t want a firm to go bankrupt because of an error so there will need a creative solution
2) Centralized Exchanges a. Low latency and extremely efficient (40microseconds on Wall Street) b. For entire ecosystem, it is good for both centralized and decentralized c.
3) Regulation a. A decentralized exchange is not completely decentralized, it is a p2p trade (me selling something to you) and it is cleared through the protocal and atomic swap on the platform, similar to ebay- miuns the fees b. It is not a new idea, how does finance create a better world and not centralized wealth
4) Opportunity to reboot the ethos and outcomes of future a. Not to shoehorn what is being built with blockchain technology b. 2008 all money flows stopped when AIG and Lehman Bros failed and that was fucking scary to the world c. Education to all about centralization and decentralization, but are necessary
5) Frustrations and walls faced a. Communication to efficiently speak of the problems. It is very multi-disciplinary, especially with regulators, institutions, partners and not understanding all aspects b. So much awareness of decentralized economy but decentralizing culture and increasing access to other cultures is the largest challenge
Deconstructing and Reconstructing Our Universe: Bill Tai(The Man,The Myth, The Legend)
1) We create our future. Example: Las Vegas- Started a desert, now is what we see it as today the world’s playground a. If there was 1 million people in a circle and a one dollar poker chip that was passed around 1 million times and everyone took a little bit from it every time the velocity of money would make everyone a millionaire
2) Case Study: Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson a. Virtual and real world became one b. Linden Dollar
3) IF TTT: If This Then That a. Breaking down everything into singular granular elements b. Logic flow of electrons c. 3 waves i. Atomic logic ii. Information bits iii. Trust and Communication d. Noise to signal ratio today is extremely high i. How to turn signal to noise and noise to signal
e. Transmitting of Data and Information Flow i. Case Study: Earbuds 1. Information travels through wires 2. Voice patterns into 1,0s and voice becomes a data packet sending IfTTT statements around the world f. We can break human behaviors down into smart contracts and IfTTT statements and granularize these behaviors i. Turning everything into atomic elements flowing over the network
4) Blockchain is to Banks what TCP/IP is to Telcos a. A proxy
5) The Mystery of Capital a. People don’t have clear access to clear title to their assets
b. 2 billion of 7 billion people on earth do not have access to title/ownership i. Blockchain and digital identities provides this
6) Similarities of Power Companies and Internet Companies
a. Case Study: Hurricane in Puerto Rico
i. Central point of failure cause months of no power
ii. Energy is tokenized and traded p2p
1. A virtual battery
b. Carbon Credits
i. Tokenization of carbon credit marketplace
c. Music: MyCelia
i. CDsàDigitalàRemakes
1. How to track and Identifying music genealogy
d. Conservation
i. Data repository for genotypes
ii. Data being connected to one fabric and finding patterns which connect each
7) Noise vs Signal
a. Like being on a wave surfing
i. Trust your instinct and do not chase noise
Can We Build a Surveillance Free Internet? By: Steve Waterhouse
1) History of Security a. 50BC: Julius Ceaser and the Rotational Cipher
i. Frequency analysis on the word b. 1940s WWII: Turing and Enigma
i. If you acted upon the information you are telling the enemy that you know what they are doing it
c. 1989: Email i. Interface was all command line
d. 1991: PGB and Phil Zimmerman i. “Pretty Good Privacy” ii. Public Key Privacy- a web of trust
e. 2013: Snowden’s NSA Leaks i. NSA went against what we thought were rights
ii. The Bill of Rights does not say we have privacy, we just assume
f. 2017: Orchid Project
2) Cultural References a. 1984- The two-way screen
b. The Circle- Dystopian Idea that corps are more powerful than governments
c. The Three Body Problem- Alien race doesn’t have secrets, in order to have strategy you must be able to hide things from people
d. Internet= Modern Day Panopticon
i. UK has most closed-circuit camera than any other country e. The Internet is Broken: Surveillance via AI and Blockchain
i. China’s Social Credit System 1. Exposing certain things at certain times through a blockchain
ii. Don’t take laptop to China, use a burner and a VPN!
1. Tor doesn’t work in China iii. Bahrain 1. Journalists being killed for not hiding information
3) Orchid Protocol
a. A privacy enhancing overlay network b. Mission is to open the entire internet to everyone
i. Tor is full stack, Orchid is routing and network layer only c. Open access to information creates economic and social progress
d. Hides ip, Ethereum address
e. Releasing early next year 2018