What are Bull and Bear markets?...

The terms Bull and Bear are used to describe the trend of markets, understanding this as the direction in which a market (or certain sectors and securities) moves in a time interval.

Bull Market:

Specifically, the Bull Market refers to an upward trend, that is, in which asset prices are rising or are expected to rise in the future. This trend is characterized by optimism and investor confidence. A Bull market can occur for several reasons: the mood of investors, recovery after a crisis, political stability or an economic boom.

Bear Market:

On the other hand, in the Bear Market the trend is bearish: prices fall and expectations about these prices are also negative for the future. There is no common agreement on this trend, but it is generally accepted that a market is down when its price drops by 20% or more within at least two months. The main reasons for encountering this trend may be: an economic crisis or the collapse of a financial bubble. Contrary to Bull markets, investors show distrust and uncertainty.

Origin of Terms:

The exact origin of the terms is unknown, although there are two generalised explanations. According to the former, the terms bear and bull come from how each of these animals attack their opponents: the bull lifting its horns and the bear clawing down or trying to crush its prey. Thus, in a metaphorical way, these actions explain the direction of the market trend.

The second explanation has a historical background: the intermediaries in the sale of bear skins sold the skins that had not yet reached them. This speculation by intermediaries about the future purchase price was linked to the falling markets.

* Photo of the square where the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is located.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 17, 2022

What is DeFi, or Decentralized Finance?...

DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, is the name that is defining a great trend, which is taking place around blockchain technology in recent years.

DeFi seeks to develop small traditional financial pieces but with an extra degree of transparency and decentralization. These small pieces, as if they were Lego pieces, are combinable with each other, in order to develop an entire ecosystem of small solutions that together form a great solution for finance that invalidate the need for centralized and opaque financial financial institutions that no longer add value.

That is the idea that has driven the creation of the term “DeFi”, and that has taken its evolution to the present point. In fact, at present it is impossible to overlook the very high impact that DeFi has on the crypto world. For that reason, we open a space to know what DeFi is and how this idea is changing the global financial world.

DeFi, the idea that is changing the financial world:

Imagine a world where anyone could create transparent, fair and efficient financial products, making banks, big financiers, lenders and insurance companies take a back seat, or better yet, become completely unnecessary and disappear. But also a world where anyone can interact with those products freely.

Well, this is what DeFi is. That is, it wants to convert the centralized finance structures that we have now, in decentralized structures, without trusted third parties, executed on smart contracts or smart contracts, within a blockchain where a written and unalterable record of each action is reflected in a transparent way.

The impact of a trend like this is gigantic. We are just in its early years and already the creativity of the global community is shaping alternative versions of almost all existing financial products.

Imagine that you have the need to get a credit to start a business. Instead of going to a bank, you can go to a DeFi platform and apply for a loan. This loan has quite clear and transparent conditions (except for technicalities). All this thanks to the fact that this loan will be controlled by a public and immutable smart contract.

Not only that, all actions performed on the platforms are visible and recorded immutably also on the blockchain. Perhaps you do not have the knowledge to verify the reliability of the DeFi service, but due to its transparency feature, thousands of eyes will be able to analyze and question it, alerting you of its malfunction if so. And in the future, given the impact of this technology, surely in school children are taught to read transparent smart contracts.

Thanks to DeFi, you won't need to be bancarized, you won't need to carry dozens of papers, line up to turn them in and wait weeks for a response. Instead, from the comfort of your sofa, with your smartphone you can do the whole process by receiving the money in your possession.

However, DeFi can be much more, they can be the vehicle for the economy and finance of that increasingly present world that with the help of Blockchain technology begins to be decentralized. The vehicle that opens the doors to international investments without so much bureaucracy, costs and time and with higher levels of trust and transparency. A vehicle for unbanked people to access services without the dictatorships of banks, having equal conditions to evolve personally in their development.

Without borders. Access to a DeFi platform has no borders. You can be in any country in the world and access their services without problems.

Benefits and non-benefits of technology:

Of course, as every technology has its benefits and no benefits, and for that reason we will examine some of them.

Benefit:

It enables access to financial services for millions of unbanked people. This is undoubtedly a golden opportunity to bring development and financial freedom to those who for various reasons have not been able to enjoy these services.

It makes the international financing of companies and projects much easier. DeFi platforms can be tailored to the needs of a target audience in order to bring development and investments where they are needed. And such investments can come from anywhere in the world safely.

It creates a new point of economic diversification and development. In fact, defis can mean an important point of economic development in the medium term due to the enormous economic potential of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

No Benefits:

Safety is still a point to polish inside DeFi platforms. While blockchain has proven to be a very secure technology, there are still many things to improve, especially with the level of security and security audit of smart contracts. A failure in a smart contract means a failure in the platform, as demonstrated by The DAO.

Protocols of action against the volatility of cryptocurrencies. Many DeFi platforms have created operating mechanisms that guarantee their economic stability against the volatility of cryptocurrencies. However, these mechanisms often seem inadequate. Or they simply do not fully protect the ecosystem from sharp fluctuations. A situation that leads to millions of losses. A case of this type is MakerDAO and DAI, whose fluctuations and correction actions have shown that decentralization and poorly adjusted protocols of action can often be a weakness for these platforms, if not handled correctly.

DeFi and FinTech What are their differences?

Now we have in our hands three models of finance that to some extent have a common goal that is to offer us powerful financial tools to help us strengthen our finances and portfolios. However, the way in which they achieve this is completely different for each of those models. If we are talking about traditional finance, new FinTech and of course DeFi.

We already know traditional finance, the centralized model, highly dependent on banks, convoluted, complex and unattainable for the vast majority of the world's population. We are talking about a model that we see already entering its twilight, not only because of its inability to innovate, but because the same ones that support them have begun to understand that these tools no longer work in today's world.

From the attempts to renew and improve this old system, comes our second model, FinTech (Financial Technologies–. We are talking about an attempt to create a digital finance system that allows to reach more people that is fast, efficient, cheap, global and above all easier to manage. Since the 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium, fintechs were rising as the pinnacle of fintech and seemed to be the next evolutionary leap in global finance.

However, that was left behind with the departure of Bitcoin, the arrival of Ethereum and the first DeFi systems. The fact of being able to build decentralized, safer, more universal, borderless finance definitely changed the rules of the game, not only because of its operation but also because of the possibilities of DeFi.

So we can compile A small list can help us differentiate them:

A FinTech is a centralized entity, built on software and controlled and objectionable environments. On the other hand a DeFi, works deploys its software on a decentralized blockchain.

FinTech contracts are contracts that follow the legal construct we all know. While in DeFi those contracts are established equal for all, the heart of a DeFi and its services are the smart contracts in blockchain that we can see and audit freely.

The approval decisions of a FinTech are tied to a bureaucratic chain, long or short, that means time that as users we waste waiting for a response to our requests. On the other hand, in a DeFi the chain is reduced between you and the person who will give you the credit, sometimes, the chain does not even exist, because the approval is made automatically if you meet or exceed the requirements that the platform requests to access its services.

A FinTech uses banks and the entire traditional finance structure to get you the resources you ask for. That means that yes or yes, you need to be a bank account holder and registered in the system to participate with certain guarantees. It also means that that money can be censored or limited if they so wish. At DeFi, this is not something you need to worry about, you do not need to have a bank account, just a cryptocurrency wallet where you receive your funds and the rest you have freedom.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 17, 2022

Blockchain and cryptocurrency mining...

Money has always evolved alongside humanity. Commodity money, where real coins are made from a valuable material such as gold, dates back to around 700 B.C. Representative money may be even older, as a token representing some valuable material is used for trading, rather than the real material. Representative money was used until the last century, as most coins represented bars of gold that were safely stored elsewhere.

Today we all use what is called Fiduciary money, which only has value because the government decides it. Technology is evolving very fast in recent decades, and society is evolving with it. The Internet is now an essential tool, and along with smartphones is causing a profound change in the way we do things. Cash has begun to fall into disuse, and online shopping is now easy and widespread. The way we buy and pay for things has changed dramatically in recent years, but the currency itself has remained the same. Cryptocurrencies are trying to change this. A cryptocurrency is a digital currency that uses cryptography to ensure its security while broadcasting live on the Internet all transactions. The main idea of cryptocurrencies is to avoid centralization and trust in a few organizations that control all monetary transactions.

In other words, the goal of cryptocurrencies is to get rid of traditional banks and Fiat money, in favor of a decentralized and communal system where transactions remain secure and private. In order to achieve this, cryptocurrency networks save all transactions on what is called the blockchain. This is an important concept, so let's explain it in some detail. Since Bitcoin is the most famous cryptocurrency we use as the main example throughout this explanation. Blockchain is, in a few few, the cryptocurrency term for the general ledger. That is, the blockchain is a list of all transactions of a given cryptocurrency.

Individual transactions are grouped into blocks, which are the building pieces of the blockchain. For bitcoin, currently each block has around 2,500 different transactions on it, but this is not a fixed number; new blocks are created every ten minutes.

Everyone has a copy of the blockchain, and to make sure everyone has the same list of block transactions, and in order to prevent people from cheating (more on this later), cryptography algorithms are used to make this blockchain secure. That is, blockchains usually use a proof of work (PoW) system: for a block to be a valid candidate for the chain, it has to carry sufficient proof of its authenticity, and this proof is measured in terms of work.

What is meant by work is computer work: finding a certain unique number for each block that satisfies a certain cryptographic algorithm. The main point is that finding this unique number, called the hash number, is not an easy task, but a task that can be performed by anyone, though. This is where cryptocurrency decentralization starts: Ideally, anyone with a computer can validate the blocks, and therefore instead of having a central bank that controls all transactions, every computer in the world is keeping track of all of them and validating their authenticity. The search for this validation for a block is called mining.

This idea has many setbacks, but like Bitcoin and the other existing cryptocurrencies are showing that there are ways to overcome most of them. First, there could be conflicting blocks popping up on the chain, or someone could create a fake block with fraudulent transactions. The way PoW controls this is by temporarily allowing different versions of the string to exist, and relying on the longest (i.e., the one that got the most work done). This is the consensus algorithm. Since there are many computers around the world miner for this same chain, fake blocks will be quickly discarded, as they will only be mined by their fraudulent creator.

Certainly, if a group of people could control enough computers around the world, they would be able to add fake blocks to the chain and steal money from other users.

This is called a 51 attack, and while it can be a problem for small cryptocurrencies, for large networks like Bitcoin it is not feasible, as it is almost impossible to accumulate that amount of computing power. Now, for this system to work, the blockchain needs people extracting the blocks to validate the transactions.

Why would anyone want to do that? The answer to this question is block rewards: each transaction has an associated reward, which is a reward for the person who manages to mine that block. This ensures that people will try to mine blocks, as they will earn money by doing so. This is a problem for small transactions. In order to validate any transaction we need someone to mine it, and this mining needs to be paid for. Therefore, if I want to give a friend a few cents in bitcoins, I will have to pay a fee to validate the transaction that could be comparable or even higher than the real money I wanted to send.

However, mining fees are not a real problem for large transactions. On the contrary, they can be seen as a force of the system. Since the transaction is done securely through the blockchain there are no intermediaries ever, and in particular there is no central bank. So this is the only fee that needs to be paid, and potentially anyone has a chance to win.

One of the main problems of the system explained above is the lack of scalability. This lack of scalability manifests as a low limit on the number of transactions the blockchain can process. This also causes mining rates to increase considerably in busy periods. Related to all this, the scalability issue is also due to the high power consumption that the blockchain requires.

As we said, the idea of the Bitcoin PoW protocol is to have a lot of computers around the world to get that single number that validates the block. This means that there will constantly be a lot of computers calculating the same thing, and most of this work will not be used in the end.

This, of course, is extremely expensive in terms of computational power or, in other words, in terms of power consumption. The Bitcoin network currently uses about the same amount of electricity as a country like Greece.

Market volatility is currently another issue for cryptocurrencies as it is extremely high. This means that currency price fluctuations are huge and very unpredictable. Typically the price of a cryptocurrency varies by 10 daily, and there have been cases in the past where the change has been much larger than that, as we can see in the figure below.

An important point to note is that cryptocurrencies are quite new and therefore remain a constantly evolving market and a very active area of research. New cryptocurrencies are being created regularly, and existing ones are being updated. Some of them introduce revolutionary new ideas within the cryptocurrency community, as Ethereum did. We discussed more about Ethereum at the end of this post.

Finally, related to the amount of computational power, there is the problem of specialized computers built just to mine a cryptocurrency in a very efficient way. They are called ASICs, and although they also have their own limitations, they are a very powerful tool, which has caused Bitcoin miners to mostly own ASIC. Thus, ASICs can be seen as a centralization of the bitcoin network, which goes against the original cryptocurrency idea. That's why a large part of the cryptocurrency community is putting their efforts into avoiding ASIC dominance of the market. To do this, some ASIC-resistant algorithms are being tested, with varying degrees of success.

There are two main strategies for making a resilient ASIC currency. The first, used for example by Ethereum, is to have a hard-memory hash algorithm. This means that instead of having an algorithm that is entirely solved by trial and error calculations, like bitcoin's SHA-256, it uses an algorithm where memory is the limitation. They are usually extracted via GPU. Check out our ASIC vs GPU Mining Post for a detailed explanation.

The other option to create an ASIC-resistant coin is to use hash algorithm combinations instead of just one. Since an ASIC is optimized for a single algorithm, it is very difficult and expensive to have an ASIC that can solve any combination of hash algorithms. An example of this second case is Ravencoin, with the X16R algorithm. This algorithm uses a number, unique for each block, to choose sixteen hash functions in a row from a set of sixteen, with repetition. So, there are potentially 16! = 20,922,789,888,000 possible combinations of hash functions that can happen.

As we said earlier, some cryptocurrencies have introduced novel concepts into the blockchain community. The Ethereum network was a big step forward for example. This network not only allows crypto-money transactions, but also allows you to run code (computer programs) on it, to create assets that can be linked to the real world, for example. This is done with smart contracts.

Another innovation that Ethereum will implement shortly is a modification of the PoW protocol. As we said, having all of mine the same is very inefficient and energy consumption is very high, so many alternatives are sought. One alternative that some coins are already using and that will be tested soon by Ethereum is the proof of stake (PoS) protocol.

The idea behind this protocol is not to have all the mining blocks on the chain and rely on the chain with more work, but rather to choose random miners from the network, and asking only the mining blocks. This selection is not intended to be completely random; features such as cyber age or currency possession would also be taken into account.

Smart contracts are very exciting as they can be seen as the beginning of a new era in computing. Stay tuned for related posts on our blog on this topic.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 16, 2022

La minería blockchain y criptomoneda...

El dinero siempre ha evolucionado junto a la humanidad. El dinero de las materias primas, donde las monedas reales están hechas de un material valioso como el oro, se remonta hasta alrededor de 700 A.C. El dinero representativo puede ser aún más antiguo, ya que un token que representa algún material valioso se utiliza para el comercio, en lugar del material real. El dinero representativo se utilizó hasta el siglo pasado, ya que la mayoría de las monedas representaban barras de oro que se almacenaban con seguridad en otro lugar. 

Hoy en día todos usamos lo que se llama dinero Fiduciario, que sólo tiene valor porque el gobierno lo decide. La tecnología está evolucionando muy rápido en las últimas décadas, y la sociedad está evolucionando con ella. Internet es ahora una herramienta esencial, y junto con los smartphones está causando un cambio profundo en la forma en que hacemos las cosas. El cash ha comenzado a caer en desuso, y las compras en línea ahora es fácil y generalizada. La forma en que compramos y pagamos por las cosas ha cambiado drásticamente en los últimos años, pero la moneda en sí ha permanecido igual. Las criptomonedas intentan cambiar esto. Una criptomoneda es una moneda digital que utiliza la criptografía para garantizar su seguridad, mientras que la radiodifusión en vivo en Internet todas las transacciones. La idea principal de las criptomonedas es evitar la centralización y la confianza en unas cuantas organizaciones que controlan todas las transacciones monetarias. 

En otras palabras, el objetivo de las criptomonedas es deshacerse de los bancos tradicionales y el dinero Fiduciario, en favor de un sistema descentralizado y comunal donde las transacciones siguen siendo seguras y privadas. Con el fin de lograr esto, las redes criptomoneda guardar todas las transacciones en lo que se llama el blockchain. Este es un concepto importante, así que vamos a explicarlo con algún detalle. Dado que Bitcoin es la criptomoneda más famosa que usamos como el ejemplo principal a lo largo de esta explicación. Blockchain es, en pocas pocas, el término criptomoneda para el libro mayor. Es decir, la cadena de bloques es una lista de todas las transacciones de una criptomoneda determinada.

 Las transacciones individuales se agrupan en bloques, que son las piezas de construcción de la cadena de bloques. Para bitcoin, actualmente cada bloque tiene alrededor de 2.500 transacciones diferentes en ella, pero esto no es un número fijo; se crean nuevos bloques cada diez minutos.

Todo el mundo tiene una copia de la cadena de bloques, y para asegurarse de que todo el mundo tiene la misma lista de transacciones de bloque, y con el fin de evitar que las personas de engañar (más sobre esto más adelante), algoritmos de criptografía se utilizan para hacer esta cadena de bloques seguros. Es decir, las cadenas de bloques suelen utilizar un sistema de prueba de trabajo (PoW): para que un bloque sea un candidato válido para la cadena, tiene que llevar suficiente prueba de su autenticidad, y esta prueba se mide en términos de trabajo.

Lo que se entiende por trabajo es el trabajo informático: encontrar un cierto número único para cada bloque que satisfaga un determinado algoritmo criptográfico. El punto principal es que encontrar este número único, llamado el número hash, no es una tarea fácil, pero una tarea que puede ser realizada por cualquier persona, sin embargo. Aquí es donde la descentralización criptomoneda se inicia: Idealmente, cualquier persona con un ordenador puede validar los bloques, y por lo tanto en lugar de tener un banco central que controla todas las transacciones, cada ordenador en el mundo está haciendo un seguimiento de todos ellos y validando su autenticidad. La búsqueda de esta validación para un bloque se denomina minería.

Esta idea tiene muchos contratiempos, pero como Bitcoin y las otras criptomonedas existentes están mostrando que hay maneras de superar la mayoría de ellos. En primer lugar, podría haber bloques conflictivos apareciendo en la cadena, o alguien podría crear un bloqueo falso con transacciones fraudulentas. La forma en que PoW controla esto es permitiendo temporalmente que existan diferentes versiones de la cadena, y confiando en la más larga (es decir, en la que se puso más trabajo). Este es el algoritmo de consenso. Dado que hay muchos ordenadores en todo el mundo minero para esta misma cadena, bloques falsos serán desechados rápidamente, ya que sólo serán extraídos por su creador fraudulento.

Ciertamente, si un grupo de personas pudiera controlar suficientes ordenadores en todo el mundo, serían capaces de añadir bloques falsos a la cadena y robar dinero de otros usuarios. 

Esto se llama un ataque 51, y aunque puede ser un problema para las criptomonedas pequeñas, para redes grandes como la de Bitcoin no es factible, ya que es casi imposible acumular esa cantidad de potencia de computación. Ahora, para que este sistema funcione, la blockchain necesita que las personas extrayendo los bloques para validar las transacciones. 

¿Por qué querría alguien hacer eso? La respuesta a esta pregunta son las recompensas por bloques: cada transacción tiene una recompensa asociada, que es un premio para la persona que se las arregla para minar ese bloque. Esto asegura que la gente tratará de minar bloques, ya que van a ganar dinero al hacerlo. Este es un problema para las transacciones pequeñas. Para poder validar cualquier transacción necesitamos a alguien que la Mine, y esta minería necesita ser pagada. Por lo tanto, si quiero darle a un amigo unos centavos en bitcoins, tendré que pagar una cuota para validar la transacción que podría ser comparable o incluso más alta que el dinero real que quería enviar.

Sin embargo, las tarifas mineras no son un problema real para las transacciones grandes. Por el contrario, pueden ser vistos como una fuerza del sistema. Dado que la transacción se realiza de forma segura a través de la cadena de bloques no hay intermediarios nunca, y en particular no hay banco central. Así que esta es la única cuota que necesita ser pagada, y potencialmente cualquier persona tiene una oportunidad de ganar.

Uno de los principales problemas del sistema explicado anteriormente es la falta de escalabilidad. Esta falta de escalabilidad se manifiesta como un límite bajo en la cantidad de transacciones que la cadena de bloques puede procesar. Esto también hace que las tasas de minería aumenten considerablemente en periodos ocupados. Relacionado con todo esto, el problema de escalabilidad también se debe al gran consumo de energía que requiere la cadena de bloques. 

Como dijimos, la idea del protocolo PoW de Bitcoin es tener una gran cantidad de computadoras en todo el mundo para obtener ese único número que valida el bloque. Esto significa que constantemente habrá una gran cantidad de computadoras calculando la misma cosa, y la mayoría de este trabajo no será utilizado al final.

Esto, por supuesto, es extremadamente costoso en términos de potencia computacional o, en otras palabras, en términos de consumo de energía. La red de Bitcoin actualmente utiliza aproximadamente la misma cantidad de electricidad que un país como Grecia.

La volatilidad del mercado es actualmente otro problema para las criptomonedas, ya que es extremadamente alta. Esto significa que las fluctuaciones de los precios de las monedas son enormes y muy impredecibles. Típicamente el precio de una criptomoneda varía por 10 diariamente, y ha habido casos en el pasado donde el cambio ha sido mucho más grande que eso, como podemos ver en la siguiente figura.

Un punto importante que debe tenerse en cuenta es que las criptomonedas son bastante nuevas y, por lo tanto, siguen siendo un mercado en constante evolución y un área de investigación muy activa. Las nuevas criptomonedas se están creando regularmente, y las existentes se están actualizando. Algunos de ellos introducen nuevas ideas revolucionarias dentro de la comunidad criptomoneda, como lo hizo Ethereum. Comentamos más sobre Ethereum al final de este post.

Por último, relacionado con la cantidad de potencia computacional, existe el problema de las computadoras especializadas construidas sólo para minar una criptomoneda de una manera muy eficiente. Se llaman ASICs, y aunque también tienen sus propias limitaciones, son una herramienta muy potente, que ha provocado que los mineros de Bitcoin sean en su mayoría propietarios de ASIC. Por lo tanto, ASICs se puede ver como una centralización de la red bitcoin, que va en contra de la idea original criptomoneda. Es por eso que una gran parte de la comunidad criptomoneda está poniendo sus esfuerzos en evitar el dominio de ASIC del mercado. Para ello, se están probando algunos algoritmos resistentes a los ASIC, con diferentes grados de éxito.

Hay dos estrategias principales para hacer una moneda ASIC resistente. El primero, utilizado por ejemplo por Ethereum, es tener un algoritmo hash de memoria-dura. Esto significa que, en lugar de tener un algoritmo que se resuelve enteramente por los cálculos de ensayo y error, como el SHA-256 de bitcoin, utiliza un algoritmo donde la memoria es la limitación. Normalmente se extraen mediante GPU. Echa un vistazo a nuestro Poste de minería ASIC vs GPU para una explicación detallada. 

La otra opción para crear una moneda resistente a ASIC es utilizar combinaciones de algoritmos hash en lugar de uno solo. Dado que un ASIC está optimizado para un solo algoritmo, es muy difícil y costoso tener un ASIC que pueda resolver cualquier combinación de algoritmos hash. Un ejemplo de este segundo caso es Ravencoin, con el algoritmo X16R. Este algoritmo utiliza un número, único para cada bloque, para elegir dieciséis funciones hash en una fila de un conjunto de dieciséis, con repetición. Por lo tanto, hay potencialmente 16! = 20.922.789.888.000 combinaciones posibles de funciones hash que pueden ocurrir.

Como dijimos anteriormente, algunas criptomonedas han introducido conceptos novedosos en la comunidad blockchain. La red Etereum fue un gran paso adelante por ejemplo. Esta red no sólo permite transacciones de cripto-dinero, pero también le permite ejecutar código (programas de ordenador) en ella, para crear activos que se pueden vincular al mundo real, por ejemplo. Esto se hace con contratos inteligentes.

Otra innovación que Ethereum pondrá en práctica en breve es una modificación del protocolo PoW. Como dijimos, tener a todos los míos lo mismo es muy ineficiente y el consumo de energía es muy alto, por lo que se buscan muchas alternativas. Una alternativa que algunas monedas ya están utilizando y que será probada pronto por Etereum es el protocolo de prueba de participación (PoS).

La idea detrás de este protocolo es no tener a todos los bloques de minería en la cadena y confiar en la cadena con más trabajo, sino más bien elegir mineros al azar de la red, y pidiendo sólo a los bloques de minas. Esta selección no se propone ser completamente aleatoria; características como la ciberedad o la posesión de divisas también se tendrían en cuenta.

Los contratos inteligentes son muy emocionantes, ya que se pueden ver como el inicio de una nueva era en la computación. Manténgase atento a las publicaciones relacionadas en nuestro blog sobre este tema.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 16, 2022

Blockchain: Tecnología disruptiva con el poder de revolucionar los servicios financieros...

Blockchain es una tecnología que debes conocer.

Debido a su inmenso potencial, más de 70 instituciones financieras de las más grandes del mundo (incluidas Barclays, JP Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, State Street y UBS, por nombrar algunas) forman parte de un consorcio que investiga y desarrolla tecnología blockchain.

Además, el equipo Global de Blockchain de PwC ha identificado a más de 700 startups en el espacio y la tecnología blockchain es vista por algunos como el quinto paradigma de computación, después del mainframe, la computadora personal, Internet y finalmente la revolución de las redes móviles y sociales.

¿Aún no estás familiarizado con blockchain?.

No estás solo, de hecho, según una encuesta de 2016 a altos ejecutivos de algunas de las principales instituciones financieras del mundo, menos del 20% de los encuestados se describieron a sí mismos como "muy familiarizados" o "extremadamente familiarizados" con la tecnología. Dicho esto, el 56% de los encuestados reconoce su importancia.

¿Por qué ese desconocimiento de una tecnología que tiene el potencial de revolucionar el comercio tal como lo conocemos?.

Creemos que esto se debe, en parte, al hecho de que muchas industrias todavía están centrando sus esfuerzos en aprovechar Internet y la tecnología móvil para mejorar las experiencias de los clientes.

Las industrias de servicios financieros y de seguros, en particular, se están poniendo al día en este ámbito. Con tanta atención centrada en las plataformas de front office, se ha prestado poca atención a los sistemas arcaicos de back-office y mid-office, donde la tecnología blockchain es más aplicable.

Otro factor que contribuye a la falta de conocimiento en este espacio, suponemos, que puede ser por aquellas personas que aun tengan dificultades para comprender lo que equivale a un cambio de paradigma, en la forma en que los humanos siempre han hecho negocios.

Creemos que la tecnología blockchain y sus posibles implicaciones para los sectores de servicios financieros y seguros merecen una atención especial. Como tal, hemos formado un grupo de trabajo interno de blockchain para comprender mejor la tecnología y cómo nuestros clientes pueden aprovecharla.

La primera iniciativa del grupo fue la elaboración de la introducción básica al tema. Estamos seguros de que nuestra visión general le proporcionará cierta claridad y elementos en los que pensar con respecto a esta tecnología potencialmente revolucionaria.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 16, 2022

Topics about blockchain...

* Blockchain technologies:

- To learn more about blockchain, its underlying technology, and use cases, here are some important definitions.

* Decentralized trust:

- The main reason why organizations use blockchain technology, rather than other data warehouses, is to provide a guarantee of data integrity without relying on a central authority.

- This is called decentralized trust through reliable data.

* Blockchain blocks:

- The name blockchain refers to the fact that data is stored in blocks, and each block is connected to the previous block, forming a structure in the form of a chain.

- With blockchain technology, you can only add (append) new blocks to a blockchain. No block can be modified or removed once it has been added to the blockchain.

* Consensus algorithms:

- Algorithms that enforce the rules within a blockchain system. Once the participating parties set up the rules for the blockchain, the consensus algorithm ensures that those rules are followed.

* Blockchain nodes:

- Blockchain data blocks are stored in nodes - the storage units that keep data synchronized or updated.

- Any node can quickly determine if any block has changed since it was added.

- When a new full node joins the blockchain network, it downloads a copy of all the blocks that are currently on the chain.

- Once the new node syncs with the other nodes and has the latest version of the blockchain, it can receive any new block, just like other nodes.

* There are two main types of blockchain nodes:

- Complete nodes: They are those that store a complete copy of the blockchain.

- Lightweight nodes: These are those that only store the most recent blocks and can request older blocks when users need them.

* Types of blockchains:

- Public Blockchain: a public blockchain network, or without permission, is one in which anyone can participate without restrictions. Most types of cryptocurrencies run on a public blockchain that is governed by consensus rules or algorithms.

- Authorized Blockchain: a private or authorized blockchain allows organizations to establish controls over who can access blockchain data.

- Only users who are granted permissions can access specific datasets.

- Oracle Blockchain Platform is an authorized blockchain.

* The business value of blockchain:

- The use of blockchain technology is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. This revolutionary technology is considered both innovative and disruptive because blockchain will change existing business processes with optimized efficiency, reliability and security.

- Blockchain technology offers specific business advantages that help businesses in the following ways:

- Establish trust between parties doing business together by offering reliable and shared data.

- Eliminates data silos by integrating data into a system through a distributed ledger shared within a network that can be accessed by authorized parties.

- Offers a high level of data security.

- Reduces the need for external intermediaries.

- Creates tamper-proof records in real time that can be shared among all participants.

- Allows participants to ensure the authenticity and integrity of products placed in the flow of trade.

- Allows you to track and locate goods and services seamlessly throughout the supply chain.

* An emerging technology:

- Blockchain is an emerging technology that can work with other technologies such as artificial intelligence( AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and machine learning to help users gain valuable insights from data.

- Traditional IT systems are not designed to handle the huge amount of data of an IoT implementation. The volume, speed and variety of data produced by IoT networks could overload enterprise systems or severely limit the ability to trigger timely decisions based on reliable data. Blockchain distributed ledger technology has the potential to address these scalability challenges with greater security and transparency.

* What is Hyperledger?:

- Hyperledger is an open source project created by the Linux Foundation to promote global collaboration of blockchain technologies. Hyperledger's primary goal is to develop open-source blockchain implementations that address business goals of scale, performance, and security. Hyperledger supports a neutral and open community of members who have contributed code to develop Hyperledger Fabric, the software that many companies use as the basis for blockchain projects.

- Oracle is a member of Hyperledger and Oracle Blockchain is based on Hyperledger Fabric, so it leverages open source and maintains interoperability with core protocols.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 16, 2022

Temas sobre Blockchain...

* Tecnologías Blockchain:

- Para obtener más información sobre blockchain, su tecnología subyacente y casos de uso, aquí hay algunas definiciones importantes.

* Confianza descentralizada: 

- La razón principal por la que las organizaciones utilizan la tecnología blockchain, en lugar de otros almacenes de datos, es para proporcionar una garantía de integridad de los datos sin depender de una autoridad central. 

- Esto se denomina confianza descentralizada a través de datos fiables.

* Bloques de blockchain: 

- El nombre blockchain hace referencia al hecho de que los datos se almacenan en bloques, y cada bloque está conectado al bloque anterior, formando una estructura en forma de cadena. 

- Con la tecnología blockchain, solo puede agregar (anexar) nuevos bloques a una blockchain. No se puede modificar ni eliminar ningún bloque una vez que se ha agregado a la cadena de bloques.

* Algoritmos de consenso: 

- Algoritmos que hacen cumplir las reglas dentro de un sistema blockchain. Una vez que las partes participantes configuran las reglas para la cadena de bloques, el algoritmo de consenso garantiza que se sigan esas reglas.

* Nodos de blockchain: 

- Los bloques de datos de blockchain se almacenan en nodos: las unidades de almacenamiento que mantienen los datos sincronizados o actualizados. 

 - Cualquier nodo puede determinar rápidamente si algún bloque ha cambiado desde que se agregó. 

- Cuando un nuevo nodo completo se une a la red blockchain, descarga una copia de todos los bloques que se encuentran actualmente en la cadena. 

- Una vez que el nuevo nodo se sincroniza con los otros nodos y tiene la última versión de la cadena de bloques, puede recibir cualquier bloque nuevo, al igual que otros nodos.

* Hay dos tipos principales de nodos de blockchain:

- Nodos completos: Son los que almacenan una copia completa del blockchain.

- Nodos ligeros: Son aquellos que solo almacenan los bloques más recientes y pueden solicitar bloques más antiguos cuando los usuarios los necesiten.

* Tipos de blockchains:

- Blockchain pública: una red blockchain pública, o sin permiso, es aquella en la que cualquiera puede participar sin restricciones. La mayoría de los tipos de criptomonedas se ejecutan en una cadena de bloques pública que se rige por reglas o algoritmos de consenso.

- Blockchain autorizado: una blockchain privada o autorizada permite a las organizaciones establecer controles sobre quién puede acceder a los datos de la cadena de bloques. 

- Solo los usuarios a los que se les otorgan permisos pueden acceder a conjuntos de datos específicos. 

- Oracle Blockchain Platform es una cadena de bloques autorizada.

* El valor empresarial de blockchain:

- Se espera que el uso de la tecnología blockchain aumente significativamente en los próximos años. Esta tecnología revolucionaria se considera tanto innovadora como disruptiva porque blockchain cambiará los procesos comerciales existentes con eficiencia, fiabilidad y seguridad optimizadas.

- La tecnología blockchain ofrece ventajas comerciales específicas que ayudan a las empresas de las siguientes maneras:

- Establece confianza entre las partes que hacen negocios juntos al ofrecer datos fiables y compartidos.

- Elimina los silos de datos mediante la integración de datos en un sistema a través de un libro mayor distribuido compartido dentro de una red a la que pueden acceder las partes autorizadas.

- Ofrece un alto nivel de seguridad para los datos.

- Reduce la necesidad de intermediarios externos.

- Crea registros a prueba de manipulaciones en tiempo real que se pueden compartir entre todos los participantes.

- Permite a los participantes garantizar la autenticidad e integridad de los productos colocados en el flujo de comercio.

- Permite seguir y localizar bienes y servicios a la perfección a través de la cadena de suministro.

* Una tecnología emergente:

- Blockchain es una tecnología emergente que puede funcionar con otras tecnologías, como la inteligencia artificial (IA), el Internet of Things (IoT) y el aprendizaje automático para ayudar a los usuarios a obtener información valiosa a partir de los datos.

- Los sistemas de TI tradicionales no están diseñados para manejar la enorme cantidad de datos de una implementación de IoT. El volumen, la velocidad y la variedad de datos producidos por las redes de IoT podrían sobrecargar los sistemas empresariales o limitar gravemente la capacidad de desencadenar decisiones oportunas basadas en datos fiables. La tecnología de contabilidad distribuida de blockchain tiene el potencial de abordar estos desafíos de escalabilidad con mayor seguridad y transparencia.

* ¿Qué es Hyperledger?:

- Hyperledger es un proyecto de código abierto creado por Linux Foundation para promover la colaboración global de las tecnologías blockchain. El objetivo principal de Hyperledger es desarrollar implementaciones de blockchain de código abierto que aborden los objetivos empresariales de escala, rendimiento y seguridad. Hyperledger apoya una comunidad neutral y abierta de miembros que han contribuido con código para desarrollar Hyperledger Fabric, el software que muchas empresas utilizan como base para proyectos de blockchain.

- Oracle es miembro de Hyperledger y Oracle Blockchain se basa en Hyperledger Fabric, por lo que aprovecha el código abierto y mantiene la interoperabilidad con los protocolos principales.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, August 10, 2025

Blockchain and the cloud: is it possible to bet on both?...

Blockchain is the fashionable technology and the one that is causing the biggest stir today. The same thing happened a few years ago with the cloud and a large part of the companies bet on it. However, to what extent are both technologies compatible?

While in Cloud systems the services we use are hosted on third-party infrastructures, that is, we trust an external entity, the idea of blockchain technology is to create a decentralized database in which there is no trusted authority. So how do this new technology and the cloud get married?

Is it necessary to choose between the two or is it possible to integrate them?

Cloud systems have seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Beyond serving as an infrastructure to store data, it also provides applications to work on. Today, there are even services offered in this mode, such as "IBM Blockchain Cloud Services" or "Ethereum Blockchain as a Service" from Microsoft Azure.

However, isn't it a contradiction to offer blockchain services under this modality? Cloud services depend on the entity that hosts them, so when we use them, we are relying on that entity. Each of the nodes of our network depends on the entity that offers this service, that is, the system on which we are acting does not belong to us.

However, it should be noted that once the network is deployed, control over it passes into our hands. In addition, the architecture on which these networks are implemented follows the architecture of a distributed system, deploying each of the nodes of the network on different servers. On the other hand, the development and deployment of Smart Contracts is in our hands, so it is we who decide the logic that will be executed in our blockchain.

The integration of these technologies can also be approached from another perspective: cooperation. The biggest problem facing the Cloud mode is the reluctance on the part of users. In the case of blockchain, scalability is one of its main challenges. Although it is unthinkable to propose that each participant in the chain store all the information, it is true that it will require storing large volumes of data.

That is why both technologies could be integrated, enhancing the opportunities offered by each. Blockchain could serve as a guide to cloud content. Thanks to this, you would get a blockchain with relatively small data pointing to other records in the system, in this case the cloud.

Another solution would be to share the free storage space of each user, through such technology. That is, to create a system in which users ' computers replaced the cloud, using fashionable technology. Such solutions, like those mentioned above, will be addressed in subsequent articles.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 01, 2022

Blockchain y la nube: ¿es posible apostar por ambas?...

Blockchain es la tecnología de moda y la que mayor revuelo está causando a día de hoy. Lo mismo ocurrió hace unos años con la nube y gran parte de las compañías apostaron por ella. Ahora bien, ¿hasta qué punto son compatibles ambas tecnologías?

Mientras que en los sistemas Cloud los servicios que utilizamos se albergan en infraestructuras de terceros, es decir, confiamos en una entidad externa, la idea de la tecnología por cadena de bloques consiste en crear una base de datos descentralizada en la que no exista ninguna autoridad de confianza. Por tanto, ¿cómo se casan esta nueva tecnología y la nube?

¿Es necesario elegir entre una de las dos o es posible integrarlas?

Los sistemas Cloud han sufrido un gran crecimiento en la última década. Más allá de servir como infraestructura para almacenar datos, también proporciona aplicaciones sobre las que trabajar. A día de hoy, incluso existen servicios que se ofrecen en esta modalidad, tales como "IBM Blockchain Cloud Services" o "Ethereum Blockchain as a Service" de Microsoft Azure.

Sin embargo, ¿no es una contradicción ofrecer servicios por cadena de bloques bajo esta modalidad? Los servicios Cloud dependen de la entidad que los alberga, por lo que, cuando los utilizamos, estamos confiando en dicha entidad. Cada uno de los nodos de nuestra red, depende de la entidad que ofrece este servicio, es decir, el sistema sobre el que estamos actuando no nos pertenece.

No obstante, cabe destacar que una vez desplegada la red, el control sobre la misma pasa a nuestras manos. Además, la arquitectura sobre la que se implantan estas redes sigue la arquitectura de un sistema distribuido, desplegando cada uno de los nodos de la red sobre distintos servidores. Por otra parte, el desarrollo y despliegue de los Smart Contracts queda en nuestras manos, por lo que, somos nosotros quienes decidimos la lógica que se ejecutará en nuestra cadena de bloques.

La integración de estas tecnologías, también se puede abordar desde otra perspectiva: la cooperación. El mayor problema al que se enfrenta la modalidad Cloud es la reticencia por parte de los usuarios. En el caso de cadena de bloques, la escalabilidad es uno de sus principales retos. A pesar de que es impensable plantear que cada participante de la cadena almacene toda la información, sí que es cierto que se requerirá almacenar grandes volúmenes de datos.

Es por ello que ambas tecnologías se podrían integrar, potenciando las oportunidades que ofrece cada una. Blockchain podría servir como guía del contenido de la nube. Gracias a ello, se conseguiría tener una cadena de bloques con datos relativamente pequeños que apuntan a otros registros en el sistema, en este caso la nube.

Otra solución sería compartir el espacio de almacenamiento libre de cada usuario, a través de dicha tecnología. Es decir, crear un sistema en el que los equipos de los usuarios reemplazasen a la nube, utilizando para ello la tecnología de moda. Este tipo de soluciones, al igual que las mencionadas anteriormente, se abordarán en artículos posteriores.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 01, 2022

Blockchain: A disruptive technology with the power to revolutionize financial services...

Blockchain is a technology you should know.

Due to its immense potential, more than 70 of the world's largest financial institutions (including Barclays, JP Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, State Street and UBS, to name a few) are part of a consortium that researches and develops blockchain technology.

In addition, PwC's Global Blockchain team has identified more than 700 startups in the space and blockchain technology is seen by some as the fifth computing paradigm, after the mainframe, personal computer, Internet and finally the mobile and social media revolution.

Not familiar with blockchain yet?.

You're not alone, in fact, according to a 2016 survey of top executives from some of the world's leading financial institutions, less than 20% of respondents described themselves as "very familiar" or "extremely familiar" with technology. That said, 56% of respondents recognize its importance.

Why this ignorance of a technology that has the potential to revolutionize trade as we know it?.

We believe this is due, in part, to the fact that many industries are still focusing their efforts on leveraging the Internet and mobile technology to improve customer experiences.

The financial services and insurance industries, in particular, are catching up in this area. With so much attention focused on front office platforms, little attention has been paid to archaic back-office and mid-office systems, where blockchain technology is most applicable.

Another factor contributing to the lack of knowledge in this space, we assume, may be those people who still have difficulty understanding what amounts to a paradigm shift, in the way humans have always done business.

We believe that blockchain technology and its possible implications for the financial services and insurance sectors deserve special attention. As such, we have formed an internal blockchain working group to better understand the technology and how our customers can leverage it.

The first initiative of the group was the development of the basic introduction to the topic. We are confident that our overview will provide you with some clarity and elements to think about regarding this potentially revolutionary technology.

Alejandro O. Asharabed Trucido

Neura.Blockchain@aol.com

+54911 5665 60608

Buenos Aires, February 01, 2022