BlockchainGandalf

We all know that social media platforms use complicated algorithms to determine who gets shown what.

What exactly is a seed phrase? Or an HD wallet?

In this video, I explain how a seed phrase is converted to a "master key" for your crypto-wallet, and why as long as you have your seed phrase (and no one else does) you can use it to set up and use a wallet on any device.

This is what non-custodial wallets are all about - your seed phrase is the key to accessing and controlling your blockchain addresses, and hence your digital assets (crypto, NFTs, or other) and ultimately your identity on the blockchain.

Anywhere, without any one else being able to block you.

Provided you're careful with that seed phrase.

I don't stand by the smart contract principle that is espoused by some, that is summed up in three words: code is law.

As a former test engineer, it's all to clear to me that there will always be bugs in any computer program that does something complicated or contains more than ten lines of code. Or in the platform, interpreter, or operating system running underneath it.

Behind all computer programs there is an intent, and the code is an attempt to capture that intent.

In specific cases where DeFi protocols move large amounts of digital assets to a particular wallet following some contract interaction, of course there are grey areas, and there is room for arguing whether or not the interaction was "reasonable" or not.

But if the conclusion is that it's not reasonable, and that this was understood prior to the interaction, then I don't see "code as law" as a defense.

What do you think?

Most important to me?

The potential for web3 and a digital wallet (browser or otherwise, but probably browser to begin with) to be used as a replacement for OAuth or other identification systems. No more "log in with Google/Facebook/Twitter". Instead, I can have accounts on many platforms and servers where IAM is handled using my decentralized controlled-only-by-me (if I'm careful with my keys) identity.

Some people may take a very reductionist view would be to consider your identity as "data", thereby considering data ownership to be the most important thing. But identity is more than that. It is about control.  Because it is how that data is interpreted that is important. Just as "code" can be viewed as merely data - but there's more to it than that.

It's data, plus an infrastructure that interprets and takes action on the basis of what's in the data.  And in a ledger or platform-based world, without identity, you can't own things.

There need to be a specified owner.

Smart contract projects that want to use the Ethereum system have a well-known problem.

Ethereum has all the brand recognition, but it costs a fortune to use.

Layer 2 solutions such as Polygon or Binance Smart Chain are a lot cheaper, have the same functionality, but involve awkward contortions to move people from the main network onto them.

And the clunky bridges that exist between Ethereum and the other chains aren't getting any easier to use.

What's a DeFi or NFT project to do?

Trust. Such a short simple word.

Well, it's short. Not so simple.

The problem with the word trust is that it has different meaning in different contexts. And no more so than in security, cryptography, and by association, blockchain.

In this episode, I talk a bit about what people mean when they describe blockchain as "building or engendering trust", and at the same time describe it as moving towards a "trust-less system".

I trust that at the end of the episode you will have a better understanding of all of this.

And why two of them are a waste of time.

Three years ago I recorded a video where I talked about the gaming token projects built on blockchain that I've looked at over the last few weeks.

 In the end, there was even enough material there for an article (to be found here: https://lnkd.in/eScHejs ), but if you prefer a guy talking in the freezing cold about it instead of reading, then all the key stuff can be heard here.

Summary: these days a blockchain token needs to offer more than just decentralized transferable unforgeable digital assets because they're just too easy to spin up. You either need a new innovative associated business model or a worthwhile technological advance.

That's token 2.0 in a nutshell.  Amazing that the need for it has arrived so quickly.

Have you ever lost 31 million dollars because you didn't think someone would do something both stupid and brilliant?

That's what happened to the DeFi protocol MonoX a couple of days ago.

In this video I explain, through the use of an analogy (that anyone who has ever bought a bag of potatoes can understand, or indeed Samson Williams) how an eight figure sum was lost to a hacker who thought like a test engineer rather than a software developer.

DeFi - it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Unfortunately, not to the people you want it to be giving to.

If you've invented something and are looking to get a patent, one of the costs you'll be looking at is the "prior art search".

That's patent speak for "find if something has been made public that describes your invention".

Professional patent searches cost money.

And if you're a pro se inventor (an inventor prosecuting your own patent application), then it's a cost I think you can avoid.

In this episode I explain why.

I am told that storytelling is often a better way to get your point across than explaining, especially when the story is authentic and comes from personal experience.

So here is such a story.