Blockchain has been recognized for its potential to transform finance and other industries that rely on data, but what happens when innovation meets the worlds oldest industry agriculture? It turns out that blockchain has a lot to offer to the food and agriculture sectors, especially when merged with other innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), satellites and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The agricultural sector can join the tech revolution to upgrade every aspect that has to do with transactions and data. For example, blockchain could streamline processes related to the supply chain by increasing traceability and bringing automation to the table.

A report from InsightAce Analyticsfound that blockchain in the agriculture and food supply chain is a market valued at over $280 million as of 2022, and is expected to grow to over $7billion by 2031, demonstrating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43.76% during that period.

Thanks to its unique architecture that involves decentralization, blockchain ensures the highest possible degree of transparency and traceability, which are key elements in the agricultural sector. Decentralized networks enable participants, including farmers, producers, retailers and exporters, to monitor and address major challenges showing up in the supply chain. Eventually, blockchain records can be used for analysis purposes to improve various aspects of the supply chain.

The adoption of blockchain in agriculture can also help regulatory compliance and reporting. By ensuring the provision of accurate, up-to-date, tamper-proof data, stakeholders can make better-informed decisions and implement proper corporate governance. Decentralized networks also simplify the distribution of certification data among relevant parties.

Besides transparency, blockchain can facilitate other advancements in the agricultural sector. For instance, it can enable better management of land rights, more efficient food safety tracking, and enhanced traceability of inputs like seeds and fertilizers.

Tech giants have realized the potential of decentralized ledger technology for agriculture. For example, IBM provides businesses with a permissioned blockchain platform called IBM Food Trust, which offers multiple features, including proof of origin, traceability, fraud monitoring and documentation, among others.

Agricultural companies can also leverage blockchain solutions that rely on public networks, which ensure a higher degree of decentralization and security. One example is Dimitra, an AgTech company that aims to help farmers reduce the amount of labor required to complete manual tasks by integrating its technology stack, which combines blockchain, AI, IoT, drones and satellites.

Source: Dimitra

Dimitra offers digital solutions to help farmers gather data to make smarter and faster decisions to improve their crop yields and increase sustainability.

For Dimitra CEO Jon Trask, the integration of blockchain and other innovative technologies into agricultural processes is natural and imperative. He said: Every smallholder farmer, regardless of economic status, should be able to benefit from simple, beautiful and useful technology, because when farmers thrive, economies thrive.

Dimitra offers four main AgTech applications:

Source: Dimitra

The Dimitra ecosystem is fueled by its proprietary Ethereum-based token, DMTR. It acts as a utility token for the Connected Farmer app that helps farmers worldwide increase sustainability and make informed decisions.

To spread its mission and technology, Dimitra is also working with governments, agencies, NGOs and for-profit organizations. The company was awarded a contract from the OBC Indian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture for deploying its Connected Farmer app to 1.3 million farms for soil assessment and remediation. Elsewhere, Dimitra partnered with an organization in the worlds third-largest fruit producing country, the Brazilian Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters. Its members represent more than 85% of the total fruit exported by Brazil.

Dimitra has demonstrated that integrating blockchain with other innovations like AI, satellites and IoT can revolutionize the agricultural sector. By increasing transparency, traceability and efficiency, these advancements offer major opportunities for improving supply chain management, regulatory compliance and land rights management.

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain in this sponsored article, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.

Continued here:

Unlocking agricultures full potential with blockchain and innovative tech - Cointelegraph

Three people have been elected to the Women's Development Committee (WDC)s of three islands without a vote.

The three candidates were the only candidates to apply to run in the annual by-election for the open vacancy on their respective islands' WDCs. Therefore, they were elected to the committees by default.

The members elected without a vote are Aishath Haneefa to Sh. Maaungoodhoo WDC, Waseema Ibrahim to R. Meedhoo WDC, and Liusha Ibrahim to GDh. Vaadhoo WDC. All three members are from the opposing Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

When the Elections Commission (EC) opened application to contest the annual WDC by-election for ten islands, no candidates applied from F. Nilandhoo. Therefore, the by-election for the remaining six islands will take place on April 17. The islands are HDh. Finey, K. Dhiffushi, M. Veyvah, Th. Gaadhiffushi, GDh. Hoadeddhoo, and Ga. Maamendhoo.

Under the Decentralization Act, elections were previously held within 60 days of the resignation of a WDC member. However, with the amendment to the Decentralization Act and the WDC election rules last year, the WDC elections will now have to be held once a year. However, if a WDC does not have a quorum, elections will be held within 60 days of the member's resignation.

The decision to hold the by-elections of the WDCs once a year was taken to find a solution to the high expenses incurred for recurrent elections.

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Three elected to WDCs without a vote - Avas.mv

Web3 interoperability is important to building a decentralized ecosystem that is scalable, secure and provides a seamless user experience.

Radix, a layer-1 protocol, has partnered with LayerZero, an interoperability protocol, to integrate LayerZero with the Radix Babylon public network. The integration encourages cross-chain communication and asset transfers to the Radix ecosystem, benefitting both platforms and their users.

Web3 interoperability refers to the ability of different decentralized applications (DApps) and blockchain networks to communicate with one another. Put simply, interoperability is a state where blockchains can listen to each other, allow users to transfer digital assets and data, and enable better collaboration.

LayerZeros technology enables decentralized applications to send messages between different blockchains. By integrating LayerZero into the Radix ecosystem, Radix users and developers will have a connected experience, making it possible for DApps and assets to unlock omnichain functionality.

Interoperability provides various advantages, one of which is the enhancement of functionality. With Web3 interoperability, various DApps can collaborate and integrate, broadening the scope of features they offer. This means that the integration of a decentralized financeprotocol with a nonfungible tokenmarketplace, for instance, enables users to utilize their NFTs as loan collateral.

Additionally, through interoperability, DApps can also leverage benefits such as increased liquidity sharing, which can result in a more comprehensive liquidity pool for the decentralized ecosystem. This, in turn, can minimize the fragmentation of liquidity across various blockchain networks. Moreover, DApps can exploit the security features of multiple blockchain networks, enhancing their overall security posture through interoperability.

Related: Web3 security: How to identify the risks and use protection tools?

Piers Ridyard, the Radix Foundations director, expressed enthusiasm about the integration, stating that it would showcase the potential of cross-chain interoperability. One of the fundamental principles of Web3 is decentralization, and greater decentralization is achievable with interoperability, as it can reduce the dominance of a single blockchain network.

The integration is set to launch in the second half of 2023, and it is expected to benefit the users of both platforms.

Magazine: Web3 Gamer: Shrapnel wows at GDC, Undead Blocks hot take, Second Trip

Read more from the original source:

Web3 interoperability highlighted in RadixLayerZero partnership - Cointelegraph

Web3 is like the internet's cool younger sibling, all about decentralization, security, and empowering its users. Constructed on the solid foundation of ultra-secure blockchain ledgers, it offers a more transparent and secure method for storing data, without any single puppet master pulling the strings.

These Web3 companies are the trailblazers, harnessing blockchain technology to create innovative products and services, all while staying true to the principles of decentralization and user autonomy.

Powered by blockchain technology, the decentralized spirit of Web3 has the potential to rewrite the rules of internet engagement. Picture this: users owning their data, being true masters of their own privacy, and having a say in online platform governance. Web3 could be the key that unlocks a fairer and more open digital playground for everyone -- and it's a game-changing idea that spells "business opportunity" in 30-foot-tall letters of fire.

So let me show you two companies that are ahead of the Web3 game in 2023. Investing in these stocks today should set you up to make serious money as the Web3 revolution plays out and the companies below reap the benefits of their ambitious planning.

Let's start right at the epicenter of the action. You can't really talk about the Web3 market without including cryptocurrency trading expert Coinbase Global (COIN -7.27%).

Here's how Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong discussed the Web3 market in last November's third-quarter earnings call:

"We're leaning into Web3 usage, building a lot of this functionality natively into our app," Armstrong said. "We're trying to make crypto easier to use, and that's how we're going to get one billion people and eventually half the world onto using crypto and benefiting from it. So I think Coinbase has been a leader in terms of ease of use and design."

Coinbase's popular and sophisticated platform for cryptocurrency ownership also forms a fantastic basis for Web3 solutions. Once you're logged in to your Coinbase account, you have dozens of crypto coins and tokens at your command and other decentralized applications can build their own Web3 tools around that treasure trove. From logins and financial transactions to asset-tracking and digital wallet management, Coinbase can help with everything.

The target market is literally billions of people; the business opportunity is massive.

If you know where your towel is, Coinbase should be one of your first investments in the Web3 space.

Did you know that FedEx (FDX 0.75%) has had a blockchain strategist on its payroll since 2018? Well, it's true. The global logistics and shipping veteran started exploring this space years ago. Dale Chrystie still runs that office five years later.

And that makes perfect sense, of course. Blockchain ledgers are perfect tools for keeping track of goods across the transport and delivery process. These ledgers are decentralized, meaning you can access and update them on the fly from anywhere. They are also incorruptible thanks to several layers of secure encryption and sophisticated networks that confirm every new transaction or event that is recorded on the blockchain.

So of course FedEx had to dive into this technology early on, leading the charge toward digital asset-tracking on the blockchain. Company founder and chairman Fred Smith said as much in the 2018 edition of the Decentralization Deciphered (D2) conference:

"We're quite confident that blockchain has big implications in supply chain, transportation, and logistics," Smith said. "It's the next frontier that's going to completely change worldwide supply chains."

And when it comes right down to it, the blockchain ledger is at the heart of the Web3 philosophy. As our old friend Dale Chrystie said at the same D2 conference last summer:

"We believe that peer-to-peer technology, smart contract, and other attributes from a blockchain or Web3 scenario are going to be transformative" in the logistics industry.

This sector stands on the threshold of a huge sea change, where Web3 ideas will disrupt old industry standards and age-old business tenets. FedEx has no intention of missing the boat, with all-in support from experts like Dale Chrystie and absolute top-level leaders including Fred Smith. This makes FedEx a mover and a shaker in the upcoming Web3 era.

With FedEx shares trading at just 12.5 times forward earnings right now, the stock is a low-priced bet on the Web3 future. You shouldn't let this opportunity hang in the air in much the same way that bricks don't.

As Web3 rewrites the rules of internet engagement, allowing users to own their data, control their privacy, and participate in online platform governance, you wouldn't want to miss out on this game-changing opportunity. The day may come when Web3 dominates the digital landscape, and the centralized internet we're so used to nowadays becomes a distant memory.

If that day arrives and you're left empty-handed on the sidelines, there's not much left to say, except we apologize for the inconvenience. I'm trying to warn you.

So, take action and invest in Web3 stocks today. Embrace the decentralized future and ensure your portfolio isn't left behind, missing out on the countless opportunities that Web3 promises to deliver.

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2 Top Web3 Stocks to Buy in April - The Motley Fool

Gnosis co-founder and COO Friederike Ernst doesnt like seeing decentralization thrown around as a superficial marketing term.

Its why she takes such pride in the fact that its very affordable right now1 GNO token, about $108 at the time of writingto become a validator on the Gnosis Chain. For context, it costs 32 ETH, worth almost $58,000, to become a validator on the Ethereum network.

That low bar to entry has helped the Gnosis Chain, one of the earliest Ethereum sidechains, amass more than 115,000 validators.

Thats 20% of what Ethereum has, she said on the latest episode ofDecrypt's gmpodcast.

Being a validator on a blockchain means verifying transactions and adding them to the ledger. On proof-of-stake blockchains like Gnosis, validators need to stake tokens to show they have skin in the game. They earn rewards for participating in a way that helps the network and can be penalized if they dont.

Ernst said the focus on true decentralization is what sets Gnosis Chain apart from other Etherem layer-2 scaling solutions.

If you go to the likes of Solana and Polygon and Avalanche, and so on, it's super, super small numbers of validators, Ernst said. I think it's really easy to forget about the benefits of decentralization until you need them. And then it's too late.

As of Wednesday morning, Solana had about 10,000 validators, Polygon intentionally keeps its validators capped at 100, and Avalanche had 1,200 validators.

We have the exact same L2s on Gnosis Chain, by the way. So yeah, definitely not knocking them, she added about the other L2s. They're super useful for many kinds of applications.

Ernst left a career as a physicist to join Gnosis in 2017, two years after it was founded by CEO Martin Koppelman and chief technology officer Stefan George. At the time, Gnosis had just spun out from blockchain venture studio ConsenSys, which was started by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin.

Before she left academia, Ernst had earned her PhD in Berlin, completed postdoctoral work at Columbia University and Stanford, and was working as a professor at the University of Hamburg.

The decision to leave academia behind was hard, but ultimately she decided it was important to help build tools that would give agency back to people. And as passionately as she talks about the importance of decentralization, she knows that it comes with tradeoffs.

For developers, the entire process of building applications gets much harder when infrastructure is decentralized. It's easier to just build on a centralized platformand a shortcut that too many crypto projects have taken, in Ernst's assessment.

If you think about building the exact same applications, just on AWS, it would be cheaper and easier and better user experience," she said. "And then you build it on a blockchain that is barely a blockchain in terms of decentralization, and you have the downsides of both worlds and the upside is mostly marketing. And to me, it's not a great state of affairs.

Visit link:

Why True Decentralization at Scale Is Hard and Rare: Gnosis Co-Founder - Decrypt

Ethereums developers have locked in a date for the networks next big upgrade, dubbed Shanghai: April 12. While ETH fans will laud the update for introducing the ability to unstake ETH, it couldnt be happening at a worse time.

SEC chair Gary Genslerindicated again this week that proof-of-stake modelslike those used by Ethereumare securities. Meanwhile, the NYAG filed charges against the KuCoin exchange for illegally selling securities and specifically named ETH as a security in large part due to the fact that Ethereum is not decentralized after all.

Add to that the fact that the past 12-24 months have seen legislators, regulators, and law enforcement all clamp down on illegalities within the industry in different ways. For instance, in January, theSEC took actionagainst lend-to-earn programs jointly operated by Genesis and Gemini on the basis that they amounted to illegal securities offerings. Nexo Capital paid the SEC a$45 million dollar settlement over its lend-to-earn program around the same time.

Most notable about these actions is that they confirm that the SEC is beginning to deconstruct themyth of decentralizationand the role it plays in determining whether a given asset offering amounts to a security. Look at the language used by Gensler in aninterviewwith The Block in 2021, right as the SEC began to look at lend-to-earn products:

I would note to your readers that if youre investing on a centralized exchange or a centralized lending platform, you no longer own your token. Youve transferred ownership to the platform. All you have is a counterparty risk. And that platform might be saying, as many of them do, well give you a four percent or seven percent return if you stake your coins with us or you actually transfer ownership and we the platform will stake your tokens. That takes on all the indicia of what Congress is trying to protect under the securities laws.

This should represent an enormous red flag for Ethereum and BTCtwo projects that the SEC has long considered the rare exceptions to its general position that most digital assets are, in fact, securities. Thats because these exceptions arise from the SECs assumption that both projects are decentralized: without a centralized body governing projects like these, according to the SECs logic, it cant be said that investors had a reasonable expectation of profits relying on theefforts of others, as is required by the Howey test for securities (their belief that BTC is not a security is also based on a misguided interpretation of that projects history).

These exceptions were always highly tenuous and at odds with reality. As time has gone on, they have become increasingly difficult to justify. Now, it seems, regulators and law enforcement have finally seen the lie for what it is.

Ethereum was always a securitybut now its obvious

The idea that Ethereum is anything but a security has always been a sham. This was obvious from Buterins own marketing at the time of the ETH ICO right through to the language used on Ethereum websites today. The point is made repeatedly: ETH production will slow dramatically over time, increasing scarcity and, as a consequence, value.

The Ethereum foundation website alsorefersto the fact that ETH is viewed as an investment.

But the biggest lie of all was that Ethereum is or has ever been decentralized. This was obvious back in 2016 when a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) holding almost 15% of all ETH in circulation was hacked. Ethereums developers, led by founder Vitalik Buterin, proposed, approved, and implemented the solution to fork the network and recover the stolen assets. There was the charade of a vote on the proposal, but just 6% of all ether holders participated, and 25% of the votes came from a single address, while the proposals at the heart of the vote were still authored by Ethereums core team. This can be seen again as recently as this week with the Shanghai update announcement: If Ethereum is decentralized, then who is designing, proposing, and implementing these radical upgrades? That would be the very same people that intervened after the DAO hack, of course. This is not decentralization by any realistic definition.

The notoriousEthereum 2.0 upgrade, which moved the networks consensus mechanism from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake, did nothing to change this reality. If anything, the migration to Proof-of-Stake moved Ethereum even deeper into security territory. In contrast to Proof-of-Work, where miners are at least undertaking work of their own in solving hash puzzles, those staking under a Proof-of-Stake system are relying entirely on the work of others to deliver profits on whatever coins have been staked. In fact, this week, Gensler again indicated that Proof-of-Stake networks are likely to trigger U.S. securities laws, saying:

Whatever theyre promoting and putting into a protocol, and locking up their tokens in a protocol, a protocol thats often a small group of entrepreneurs and developers are developing, I would just suggest that each of these token operators seek to come into compliance, and the same with the intermediaries, he said,reportedby The Block.

Authorities are already taking action on the basis that ETH is a security

This sea change by authorities is not just a speculation over some hypothetical future enforcement drive. Instead, the enforcement drive is already here.

Last week, the New York Attorney Generalfiledcharges againstexchangeKuCoin over failing to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer: ETH, which is listed by the exchange, was expressly labeled a security in the charges. The language used by the NYAG couldnt be clearer:

ETHs development and management is largely driven by a small number of developers who hold positions in ETH and stand to profit from the growth of the network and the related appreciation of ETH.

Further down:

Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation retain significant influence over Ethereum and are often a driving force behind major initiatives on the Ethereum blockchain that impact the functionality and price of ETH.

The language could have been taken straight fromHowey: ETH is not decentralized, and the continued development of the network is closely governed by a core group of developers who promote the asset on the basis that its value will increase over time. It is a classic security.

The NYAGs action is against KuCoin rather than anyone directly connected to Ethereum, but between Ethereums recent upgrades, Genslers public statements on centralization and the SECs recent enforcement actions, it seems that the SEC charges against Ethereum and its developers directly cant be far away. The ramifications of an SEC case against Ethereum can be much wider reaching: the SEC is empowered to levy fines and penalties against those violating the U.S. securities regime, including disgorgement of all profits made in connection with an unregistered securities offering and injunctions against carrying on further business. In short, it could spell the end of Ethereum altogether.

And if the myth of decentralization with respect to ETH has finally been pierced, then you can bet that BTC is up for the same treatment.

FollowCoinGeeks Crypto Crime Cartelseries, which delves into the stream of groupsfromBitMEXtoBinance,Bitcoin.com,Blockstream,ShapeShift,Coinbase,Ripple,Ethereum,FTXandTetherwho have co-opted the digital asset revolution and turned the industry into a minefield for nave (and even experienced) players in the market.

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeksBitcoin for Beginnerssection, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.

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NYAG calls Ethereum a security and destroys decentralization myth - CoinGeek

REFORMS OVERVIEW

STARTING A BUSINESS (more info)

At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms.

ENFORCING CONTRACTS (more info)

Compared to some years ago when it was one of the lowest rankers under the Doing Business Enforcing Contracts indicator, Togo, leveraging many efforts to improve its business climate, was able to jump significantly on the index in the recent years... .

CONTRACT EXECUTION (more info)

Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks Establishment of commercial courts in Lom and Kara Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

TRADING ACROSS BORDERS (more info)

In comparison to previous years,Togo has significantly improved its ranking under theTrading across borders indicator by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the Trading across borders index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

CONSTRUCTION PERMIT (more info)

After moving from the 133rd to 127th place under the 2020 Doing Business construction permit index, Togo intends to reiterate this feat in the coming edition of the global ranking. To this end, it has introduced this year multiple reforms.

GETTING ELECTRICITY (more info)

Over the past two years, Togos ranking under the Doing Business Getting electricity and water indicator has increased consistently. Owing this performance to multiple reforms aimed at making it easier for businesses to access power and water, Lom plans to introduce even more reforms this year to keep up its improvements.

REGISTERING A PROPERTY (more info)

Out of all the 'Doing Business indicators, Property Registration is where Togo has improved the most since 2018. Indeed, after spending years in the lowest part of this ranking, the country now seeks to beat Rwanda which is the best performer on this index in Africa. To do so, Lom has been introducing many reforms, with the latest batch implemented this year.

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT(more info)

From professionalization to digitization, through legislative regulations, Togos public procurement framework is constantly being modernized. Several reforms have been implemented to improve the sector much to the benefit of the private sector, which is the focus of the National Development Plan.

PAYING TAXES AND DUTIES (more info)

To improve its business environment, Togo introduced some important reforms related to the payment of tax and duties. From the replacement of some taxes to the cancellation of others through exemptions, the country has only one objective: offer the most attractive tax framework to investors and economic operators. To achieve this, the authorities relied on digitization.

Originally posted here:

Decentralization: In Togo, Yoto III municipality adopts a CFA4 billion ... - Togo First

The Atlantic Journalism Award finalists were announced this morning, and the Halifax Examiner has three nominations.

It is very satisfying to see Examiner writers recognized for the good work they do. This work is made possible by your subscriptions, as the Examiner does not carry advertising of any kind. Please subscribe here.

Charles P. Allen high school will open late today, after two staff members were stabbed yesterday.

CBC reports:

Lindsey Bunin,a spokesperson for Halifax Regional Centre for Education, said earlier on Monday twostaff were taken to hospital after being injured in an incident with a student who did have a weapon.She said the third person who was injured was the student.

At the Chronicle Herald, Andrew Rankin writes:

Halifax Regional Centre for Education said later that two staff memberswere injured and taken to hospital following an incident involving a student with a weapon.

Spokesperson Lindsey Bunin said three individuals two staff members and one student were transported to hospital.

Rankin speaks with students at the school who are, of course, shocked by the events. He writes that one student said it appeared that the schools vice-principal and receptionist were being stretchered out from the school and placed in ambulances. The boy was also moved from the police car into an ambulance.

I learned about the stabbings on social media as, it seems, did many parents, some of whom were critical of HRCE communications. It seems inevitable though that word would get out first through personal networks. That said, our institutions seem to default to give the least information possible mode, which is often not helpful particularly in a crisis.

Again, from Rankins story:

The Chronicle Herald spoke to another parent who received two texts and two emails from HRCE about the incident. We obtained a copy of the texts showing that the first text was sent out at 10:07 a.m. It said: CP in hold and secure.

The second one came soon after, saying the school was closing for the day. Both texts indicated that an additional email would be sent. The woman asked not to be identified. She said the emails contained no information about what had happened at the school.

Classes at CPA are cancelled for today.

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The provincial government is finally putting some money where its mouth is by offering substantial bonuses to nurses, Jennifer Henderson reports:

Surrounded by nurses and therapists working at the Dartmouth General Hospital, Premier Tim Houston and Health Minister Michelle Thompson announced $10,000 retention bonuses aimed at stemming the rising tide of departures among burnt out front-line workers.

For 11,000 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nurse practitioners working in hospitals, nursing homes, and schools the cheque should be in the mail within the next month

In addition to the $10,000 the government is offering immediately, nurses who sign an agreement next March will receive another $10,000 if they promise to stay and work two more years, until 2026.

Henderson says to expect more health care announcements today.

Click here to read Nurses to receive $10,000 bonus, offered a second $10,000 if they stay two more years.

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Yvette dEntremont has a lovely story on the new documentary Raconte-moi un souvenir(Tell me a memory), about growing up in Pubnico between 1930 and 1950. The film is based on stories told by seniors in the community. dEntremont writes:

My father was born in Pubnico in 1941. He died in 2018, and this was the Acadian childhood he wouldve experienced. I have a connection to this place and its stories, but even without it Id have been hooked

The documentarys creator and artistic director, Yvette dEntremont, said the screening felt like a huge family picnic or reunion where everyone was watching family videos.

Lots of people from not even from that generation but maybe 10 or 20 years younger were nodding their heads in the theatre, recognizing themselves in some of their stories even though they werent that old, dEntremont said in an interview.

Its (the documentary) for generations to come. Its a legacy, and that is so important for our young people.

For the record, dEntremont is the second person with my name that Ive interviewed in my career, and we arent related.

Reading this piece, I realized I interviewed the director of the film several years ago, just after she retired from teaching, and one of her preoccupations was the decline of French among students. That concern certainly fits in with her goals for the film. From dEntremonts story:

One thing dEntremont hopes people take away from the documentary is the importance of preserving family and community stories.

I hope it triggers curiosity so that when younger people visit their grandparents or great grandparents, they will ask about these things, what life was like, tell me stories about when you were young. I hope this encourages that, she said.

Their stories become our history forever. We learn from the past, we learn that we were all kids at one point and we all have valuable stories to tell. These seniors have wonderful stories to tell, and they have something important and valuable to share with us. We should never forget that.

Click here to read Their stories become our history forever: Pubnico seniors share memories in new film.

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In a piece published last week, Mary Campbell of the Cape Breton Spectator compares how CBRM council deals with rinks vs housing.

In a dig at secrecy surrounding councils housing discussion, Campbell writes:

They are so much happier talking about rinks, they dont even mind doing it in public. They just relate more to rinks: they love the volunteer boards that oversee them, they respect the hard work of the people who operate them and they freely acknowledge the needs of the people who use them.

They get to talk about volunteers who put their heart and soul into rinks and reminisce about their own time coaching Major Bantam hockey. They get to shudder imagining what would happen if the community rink closed. And then they get to vote to take the rink over, at a cost of $250,000 annually.

How does spending a quarter of a million dollars on the rink compare to spending a quarter of a million in a couple of other areas? Campbell writes:

District 5 Councilor Eldon MacDonald, who expressed something akin to horror at the mere possibility the CBRM might be on the hook for cost over-runs or operational expenses associated with a supportive housing project proposed by New Dawn and the Ally Centre, agreed to take on the quarter million dollar subsidy for a rink without batting an eye. (Not to mention the general consternation caused by the estimated operating costs for a new central library which, at up to $240,000 would belessthan the rink subsidy.)

Campbell discusses the history of the rink, and how it got into financial trouble, and she makes clear shes not against rinks! I think the end of her piece nicely sums up the issues, though:

Council will probably argue that the difference between this debate and the debate over supportive housing is that recreation is clearly a municipal responsibility and housing is not, but I have two things to say about that.

First, recreation may be a municipal responsibility, but the Emera Centre was not a CBRM facility, so taking it over involved going above and beyond the municipalitys responsibilities.

And second, when the federal government gives you $5 million for housing, housing becomes your responsibility, and if you are not capable of accepting that responsibility, if you cannot rise to that challenge, then you should not be in government.

I dont actually begrudge the Emera Centre this lifeline and I do understand the value of rinks to communities but if you can see the value in a rink, then you should also be able to see the value in housing for your most vulnerable citizens. How can the Emera Centre be a gift to the CBRM and $5 million from the federal government a burden?

Recreation and access to recreation are core municipal services and they should be run that way.

Like the Halifax Examiner, the Cape Breton Spectator is supported by readers like you and me. You can subscribe here.

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At CBC, Paul Palmeter reports that Sustainable Marine Energy Canada has given up on its Minas Passage tidal generation project.

The companys project would have used floating turbines. Previous projects involving turbines on the ocean floor have failed.

Sustainable Marine Energy Canada CEO Jason Hayman tells Palmeter the company is withdrawing because it hasnt been able to get regulatory approval from DFO:

We have been working for about three years to get an authorization from DFO to deliver our project, but we are basically coming up against a brick wall.

DFO did not get back to Palmeter, but others he interviews use the term clear path in terms of whats lacking for regulatory approval of tidal power projects.

I have no idea if DFO is being obstructionist, cautious, incompetent, short-sighted, or rightly concerned about impacts. I do know that whenever I see businesses complain about red tape at least some scepticism is warranted.

Palmeter also published a story earlier this month on the BigMoon Power tidal project, which is still in its early stages.

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Last week, Tim Bousquet wrote about media running pieces for rage clicks:

The rage-inducing is intentional: it gets the article shared on social media, with people saying stuff like can you believe these assholes? and thousands more people click on the article, upping the all-important CPMs, the cost per million impressions on which advertising revenue is based

Anyway, just something else to be aware of: if an article pisses you off, its probably doing so intentionally.

This is the world we live in. Everything, even our anger, is commodified.

You can find examples of this pretty much any day of the week. The middle manager at Meta (which owns Facebook) pissed off that they may not be making $1 million/year soon, as they had planned. Or the NYU student who spent a year in Florence and hated it, for incoherent reasons, including that the locals didnt fit her stereotypes, her house was too crowded, and when her roommates went away for the weekend her house was too empty.

The NYU student story was terrible and painful to read, and it followed a typical trajectory: publication posts story, story gets shared around by people hating on it, other media pick it up and write about how people online are mad about this story. The NYU students story got an extra bump because Amanda Knox (who was convicted of murdering her roommate while on a student exchange in Italy, before being exonerated) retweeted a link to the story.

There was a time when I would have gleefully piled on too, but Ive seen so many of these by now that I mostly feel anger at the editors who are willing to let young writers hang themselves out to dry for the benefit of a days notoriety and bunch of clicks.

I became aware of the NYU student story because a Greek sociologist I follow on Mastodon shared a link to it. (He seems to have since deleted the post.) I was tempted to share it and say something snarky thereby helping to perpetuate the rage-click economy but Mastodon disincentivizes this, because there is no equivalent to the quote-tweet feature, making it harder to just dunk on people. Curious, I logged in to Twitter, where, of course, the NYU student was the main character of the day (and, subsequently, had locked her account.)

Over the weekend, Mastodon passed 10 million users. Last November, it seemed like a big deal when it broke one million. (These numbers are the source of some debate, but whats undeniable is that the network is growing rapidly.)

This is interesting, insofar as Mastodon is expressly designed to suppress features that drive other social networks. It deliberately makes searching posts difficult, shows you a purely chronological timeline (meaning the most rage-inducing content isnt pushed to you) and it limits the number of times you see boosted posts. So if people are sharing the same link say, to a story by an NYU student over how she hated Florence over and over and over, you only see a small fraction of those boosts.

Mastodon is part of what is called the Fediverse: a collection of decentralized, non-commercial services that can connect to each other (also known as federating). Some have analogues to the world of commercial social media. Pixelfed allows you to share photos, BookWyrm is the non-commercial Goodreads, Friendica is designed to fulfill some of the same functions as that other behemoth whose name starts with F, and so on.

During my time in the Fediverse (basically, since last November), Ive been struck by how difficult it is for people to wrap their heads around the idea of a non-commercial, decentralized internet even though this is exactly how the internet started out. Ive seen Mastodon referred to as a website, and its creator, Eugen Rochko, referred to as its owner. One notorious article said Twitter had blocked links to John Mastodon, the founder of a competing social media company named after himself. Needless to say, there is no John Mastodon.

But Mastodon, by its nature, cant be owned by anyone. The best simple explanation Ive seen of the Fediverse (of which Mastodon is a part) is by Matthew S. Smith, writing in the IEEE Spectrum. (IEEE is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.)

Smith writes:

The Fediverse, unlike the social networks that rose to dominance over the last two decades, is a decentralized collection of servers that communicate over an open protocol

Mastodon, unlike Twitter, is not hosted as a singular service but instead a collection of independent servers that communicate through [the] ActivityPub [protocol]. Joining Mastodon means joining a server with its own community and code of conduct. Users can interact with users on other servers, but their account is hosted on the server they choose

The Fediverses connected but independent servers give users more control. Everyone has the option to join the server they think best, and moving to a new server is relatively simple. Servers can also block other servers, providing more power to respond against harassment or objectionable content.

Ive seen a few good examples of how this setup disincentivizes going for outrage. Last year, Raspberry Pi created its own Mastodon server and soon after began essentially trolling people who were upset that one of its employees had bragged about being a former cop and using Raspberry Pi devices for surveillance. On Twitter, this trolling strategy would probably have worked, because people would have shared the tweets in outrage. On Mastodon, by contrast, the organizations server simply wound up being de-federated, or blocked, by many users, meaning hardly anyone saw their posts.

When I described Mastodon to someone I know a few months ago, he quickly replied with, If youre not a paying customer, youre the product. Ive used this adage myself, many times, but the fact is it is simply not true. We can actually create relationships and networks in which we are neither customer nor product. Worse, with many services we are now both the customer and the product. You can provide a whole bunch of content to Facebook for free, and it will want to charge you 15 bucks a month to verify you.

The internet was built on decentralization the reason the US military funded its development was so that a nuclear attack couldnt knock out a centralized system but over the past couple of decades weve come to see a venture capital backed ecosystem, centralization, and scale as the primary ways to approach it and to measure success.

Back in 1999, science fiction writer Neal Stephenson (who coined the term metaverse) wrote an essay called In the beginning was the command line. Stephenson draws an analogy between the makers of operating systems and car dealerships:

One of them (Microsoft) is much, much bigger than the others. It started out years ago selling three-speed bicycles (MS-DOS); these were not perfect, but they worked, and when they broke you could easily fix them.

There was a competing bicycle dealership next door (Apple) that one day began selling motorized vehicles expensive but attractively styled cars with their innards hermetically sealed, so that how they worked was something of a mystery

Eventually the big dealership came out with a full-fledged car: a colossal station wagon (Windows 95). It had all the aesthetic appeal of a Soviet worker housing block, it leaked oil and blew gaskets, and it was an enormous success.

Across the road are two other dealerships, the now-defunct BeOS, and Linux:

Linux is not a business at all. Its a bunch of RVs, yurts, tepees, and geodesic domes set up in a field and organized by consensus Anyone who wants can simply climb into one and drive it away for free.

Customers come to this crossroads in throngs, day and night. Ninety percent of them go straight to the biggest dealership and buy station wagons or off-road vehicles. They do not even look at the other dealerships.

Stephenson later became a fan of Macs, but I still like this analogy as a way to look at not just operating systems, but also the organization of the internet.

Many of the complaints about Mastodon its hard for businesses to reach an audience because you cant advertise, its too easy to block users and whole servers, its hard to go viral seem like advantages to me.

Sure, Mastodon is far from perfect. And it is only one of many Fediverse services. But I think the most important thing is that it, and the rest of the Fediverse, represents a new approach at a time when we desperately need new approaches.

As Molly White (best known as a cryptocurrency sceptic) wrote after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank:

We are coming to a point, I think, where the shine is wearing off. People are realizing that despite the hundreds of billions of dollars being deployed each year by venture capital firms in pursuit of innovation, the world doesnt really feel hundreds of billions of dollars better off for it. For all the talk of unbridled innovation, venture capital services only very specifictypesof innovation: those that stand to produce large exits for investors, and with relatively low risk, regardless of whether the business itself holds much promise or provides any societal benefit. As Edward Ongweso Jr.writesforSlate:

For the past 10 years venture capitalists have had near-perfect laboratory conditions to create a lot of money and make the world a much better place. And yet, some of their proudest accomplishments that have attracted some of the most eye-watering sums have been: 1) chasing the dream of zeroing out labor costs while monopolizing a sector to charge the highest price possible (A.I. and the gig economy); 2) creating infrastructure for speculating on digital assets that will be used to commodify more and more of our daily lives (cryptocurrency and the metaverse); and 3) militarizing public space, or helping bolster police and military operations.

We are overdue as a society for seriously questioning what has become, but what has not always been, the dominant model of innovation. Recent weeks have drawn a bold underline beneath what has been clear to many for a long time: that those controlling massive amounts of capital and power in our society are not the smartest, or most level-headed, or most altruistic among us. Venture capital may be the best way to serve the interests of capital, but we need to consider alternative models that prioritize the interests ofpeople.

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Everyday items encode and embody all kinds of assumptions, ranging from the personal to the broadly cultural. And they can carry meanings for some to which others are completely oblivious.

Take pinball machines, for example. From the representation of women in backglass and playfield art, to the Winners dont use drugs messages scrolling across the screens of 1980s and 1990s machines, the machines tell us a lot about the cultures from which they emerged, and about assumptions about their target markets.

The Dolly Parton pinball machine is interesting in this regard. I was at the Propeller Arcade on Gottingen twice recently, and noticed they had a Dolly Parton pinball machine. I last saw one of these four years ago in Athens, and I was intrigued enough to look up its history.

Wouldnt you know it, the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College in Kentucky has an interesting virtual exhibit on this pinball machine. Its called Dolly Parton Pinball Machine in the Appalachian Collections: A virtual exhibit about the 1979 Dolly Parton pinball machine and its backstory one Appalachian womans wrestling with fame, her image, and her mountain identity.

In 1977, pinball manufacturer Bally decided it wanted to feature Dolly Parton on a pinball machine. Parton was very much a country singer at the time, and had not crossed over to become a bigger phenomenon yet. The original design of the backglass art reflected this down-home country image.

But this image would not wind up on the backglass. Parton was leaving her country roots behind and going more mainstream. In 2013, the Appalachian Centers curator wrote to artist Dave Christensen and asked about the changes to the art requested by Partons team. Christensen replied:

The initial finished prototype showed Dolly in a typical Blue Ridge country setting. She was wearing a sexy, low cut plaid gingham blouse, cut-off blue jean shorts, a big fancy hair-do, playing a country guitar. It was approved by Dolly herself. Just as it was scheduled for production hernewHollywood Ca. MGR. . . . wanted her to be portrayed more cosmopolitan, a crossover artist

But it wasnt just the manager. Parton herself very much wanted to change her image. The exhibit quotes her from a 1977 interview with Barbara Walters:

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Mastodon hits 10 million users: Is decentralization the future? - Halifax Examiner

The blockchain trilemma: optimizing for security, scalability, and decentralization, has been raging for years. Its kept the industrys brightest minds awake at night, inspired an array of new chains sporting novel consensus mechanisms, and spawned a thriving multi-chain universe.

Today, developers are blessed with a plethora of chains to choose from, most boasting greater security, scalability, and decentralization than their predecessors. With varying levels of throughput, speed, and interoperability, each new network offers differing features, benefits, and trade-offs.

DeFiChain is one such offering, providing an ecosystem for flourishing decentralized finance applications. Developers seeking a playground for deploying their dApps have a wealth of options on DeFiChain, combining Bitcoins security with the speed and scalability of a next-generation blockchain. Furthermore, with the upcoming DeFi Meta Chain (DMC), they will have all the tooling they need to easily build EVM-compatible dApps.

DeFiChain is a blockchain network thats designed for decentralized finance. It combines a highly scalable and high-speed protocol with a high degree of decentralization, making it suitable for routing high-value transactions and holding significant TVL. Use cases envisioned for DeFiChain include lending, trading, non-collateralized debt, and asset tokenization.

Keep Reading

Features include:

DeFiChains decision to anchor its blockchain to Bitcoin is unusual but not without precedent, RSK pioneered this move. DeFi on Bitcoin is an untapped market with massive potential if implemented properly. DeFiChain saves its most recent Merkle tree to the Bitcoin blockchain every few minutes, providing an immutable transaction record.

DeFiChain is not a general-purpose blockchain. This means that commands outside the basic set of functions are not allowed. This reduces the attack surface for smart contracts, creating a safer run-time environment.

Further information on DeFiChains architecture can be found in its technical whitepaper. As for the benefits of building on DeFiChain, take your pick from any of the following:

Developers interested in getting started on DeFiChain can find all the needed resources here.

Reasoning that two chains are better than one, DeFiChain is preparing to launch a second blockchain this year to push the limits of whats possible in DeFi. DeFi Meta Chain (DMC) is an upcoming layer-2 EVM blockchain with Proof of Anchor consensus built as an extension to the native non-Turing complete DeFiChain.

DeFi Meta Chain will allow for the expansion of use cases for the native DeFiChain while maintaining its core principles of fast, secure, intelligent, transparent, and decentralized financial services. It allows for the stability of the native DeFiChain while gaining the flexibility to achieve true Web3 compatibility. The DeFi Meta Chain is what makes building advanced dApps and smart contracts possible without limitations.

DMC will allow developers to access tools, infrastructure, smart contracts, and support from other ecosystems via the EVM environment. Whereas DeFiChain is non-Turing complete, DMC is a Turing complete L2. As a result, any code bases that have already been deployed within web3 can be used on the DeFi Meta Chain. A full stack of web3 services and projects will be integrated with DMC, including wallets, NFT projects, metaverses, and existing dApps.

As an L2, DeFi Meta Chain will support ultra-low cost transactions, ideal for high volume dApps, and will connect to the thriving layer-2 ecosystem. This year will see its constituent parts slotted into place, including a testnet, hackathon, launchpad, and, crucially, a $100M incubator program.

2023 is shaping up to be a big year for DeFi, whose developers have been significantly stung by accusations of failure to innovate over the last two years. Expectations are high that new use cases will emerge this year, including smarter liquidity protocols, better interoperability, safer bridges, and the return of yield farming, albeit in a more sustainable form.

Its also shaping up to be a big year for DefiChain, which will soon boast two interconnected networks where developers can put its capabilities to the test. In addition, the launch of DeFi Meta Chain, with its web3-ready credentials, will add yet another contender to the burgeoning L2 sector. With the promise of hackathons and incentivized developer programs, there will be plenty of reasons to consider building on DeFi Chain this year.

The blockchain trilemma: optimizing for security, scalability, and decentralization, has been raging for years. Its kept the industrys brightest minds awake at night, inspired an array of new chains sporting novel consensus mechanisms, and spawned a thriving multi-chain universe.

Today, developers are blessed with a plethora of chains to choose from, most boasting greater security, scalability, and decentralization than their predecessors. With varying levels of throughput, speed, and interoperability, each new network offers differing features, benefits, and trade-offs.

DeFiChain is one such offering, providing an ecosystem for flourishing decentralized finance applications. Developers seeking a playground for deploying their dApps have a wealth of options on DeFiChain, combining Bitcoins security with the speed and scalability of a next-generation blockchain. Furthermore, with the upcoming DeFi Meta Chain (DMC), they will have all the tooling they need to easily build EVM-compatible dApps.

DeFiChain is a blockchain network thats designed for decentralized finance. It combines a highly scalable and high-speed protocol with a high degree of decentralization, making it suitable for routing high-value transactions and holding significant TVL. Use cases envisioned for DeFiChain include lending, trading, non-collateralized debt, and asset tokenization.

Keep Reading

Features include:

DeFiChains decision to anchor its blockchain to Bitcoin is unusual but not without precedent, RSK pioneered this move. DeFi on Bitcoin is an untapped market with massive potential if implemented properly. DeFiChain saves its most recent Merkle tree to the Bitcoin blockchain every few minutes, providing an immutable transaction record.

DeFiChain is not a general-purpose blockchain. This means that commands outside the basic set of functions are not allowed. This reduces the attack surface for smart contracts, creating a safer run-time environment.

Further information on DeFiChains architecture can be found in its technical whitepaper. As for the benefits of building on DeFiChain, take your pick from any of the following:

Developers interested in getting started on DeFiChain can find all the needed resources here.

Reasoning that two chains are better than one, DeFiChain is preparing to launch a second blockchain this year to push the limits of whats possible in DeFi. DeFi Meta Chain (DMC) is an upcoming layer-2 EVM blockchain with Proof of Anchor consensus built as an extension to the native non-Turing complete DeFiChain.

DeFi Meta Chain will allow for the expansion of use cases for the native DeFiChain while maintaining its core principles of fast, secure, intelligent, transparent, and decentralized financial services. It allows for the stability of the native DeFiChain while gaining the flexibility to achieve true Web3 compatibility. The DeFi Meta Chain is what makes building advanced dApps and smart contracts possible without limitations.

DMC will allow developers to access tools, infrastructure, smart contracts, and support from other ecosystems via the EVM environment. Whereas DeFiChain is non-Turing complete, DMC is a Turing complete L2. As a result, any code bases that have already been deployed within web3 can be used on the DeFi Meta Chain. A full stack of web3 services and projects will be integrated with DMC, including wallets, NFT projects, metaverses, and existing dApps.

As an L2, DeFi Meta Chain will support ultra-low cost transactions, ideal for high volume dApps, and will connect to the thriving layer-2 ecosystem. This year will see its constituent parts slotted into place, including a testnet, hackathon, launchpad, and, crucially, a $100M incubator program.

2023 is shaping up to be a big year for DeFi, whose developers have been significantly stung by accusations of failure to innovate over the last two years. Expectations are high that new use cases will emerge this year, including smarter liquidity protocols, better interoperability, safer bridges, and the return of yield farming, albeit in a more sustainable form.

Its also shaping up to be a big year for DefiChain, which will soon boast two interconnected networks where developers can put its capabilities to the test. In addition, the launch of DeFi Meta Chain, with its web3-ready credentials, will add yet another contender to the burgeoning L2 sector. With the promise of hackathons and incentivized developer programs, there will be plenty of reasons to consider building on DeFi Chain this year.

Read the rest here:

DeFiChain Aims to Woo Developers with the Upcoming Meta Chain - Finance Magnates

Centralized crypto finance took a beating over the last year.

But the people and investors who relied on centralized structures like FTX also took a beating, mostly because they put their trust in these flawed organizations.

Our experience in the crypto space over the last 12 months reveals the need for more and better decentralization in crypto finance. We need more decentralized finance (DeFi), and the centerpiece for meaningful, widespread decentralization will be the rise of decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs.

Obstacles remain for DAOs, but the overall value proposition and world-changing potential remain exciting. The current crypto market provides an ideal landscape in which to nurture, prune and refocus DAOs so that they remain an important part of the future and find an edge over their predecessor, the traditional organization.

DAOs face some challenges that continue to prevent them from becoming a premier form of organization.

One is scaling. Democratic organizations work well up to a certain size, but at a larger scale, they can become slow and inefficient. This is usually solved through some kind of specialization, hierarchy or permissions in traditional organizations, and we dont know yet if, or how, DAOs can grow massively across borders, languages and cultures in a way that can be efficient, focused, functional and fair.

Another challenge is voting distribution. The jury is still out on how to distribute voting (or governance) tokens among DAO participants in a way to maximize the health and growth of these organizations over the long run.

Treasury management is also a sticky matter for DAOs. Our collective experience with DeFi over the past couple of years has shown that our reliance on multi-sig treasury deployment is both a security risk and can blunt efficiency. In that same basket is the issue of stable, predictable compensation for those who produce in a DAO. Most people dont want to be paid in a volatile, risky asset and this is usually the case with native project tokens.

Story continues

Its likely that, to attract talent from outside the existing DeFi-degen echo chamber, DAOs will have to start using reliable compensation and governance programs without devaluing project tokens.

But despite these challenges, there remains plenty of potential for DAOs.

In traditional structures like FTX, directors and board members tend to make all the key decisions and the rest of the employees are expected to do whats asked of them regardless of whether they agree or not.

DAOs create a structure in which the governance of an organization is democratized because participants, or token holders, have the right to submit and vote on proposals that determine the future of the DAO. In other words, DAO participants, for better or worse, decide on the future of the DAO as the majority vote prevails.

With greater transparency and democracy comes the potential for inefficiency. We have seen this with MakerDAO where members submitted a proposal suggesting that the DAO take temporary measures to increase centralization in order to increase efficiency. (The DAO voted against this.) Furthermore, the voting systems within DAOs are far from equal as participants with larger stakes in a DAOs token typically have greater voting rights. Unequal voting rights coupled with poor voting turnouts have led to 1% of token holders having 90% of voting power within a selection of certain DAOs, according to Chainalysis.

It is true that DAOs still have some ways to go to achieve democratic realities that are ideal. However, as a young innovation, there is plenty of room to improve as DAO participation grows.

By creating a structure in which all participants own the DAOs token, participants are invested in their own organization. In traditional organizations, growth matters most to VCs, shareholders and the people at the top of the pile. This can be demotivating for those lower down in the hierarchy who might work incredibly hard but not fully reap the rewards.

In DAOs, everyone is literally invested in the organization. It is thus in everyones interest to see the organization grow. Furthermore, as DAOs become more successful, their native tokens can increase in value, which inevitably motivates holders of the token to be more productive as individuals will be better off as their organization develops. This remains an exciting feature of DAOs.

Every organization requires some sort of capital to set up. However, fundraising can prove to be a roadblock no matter how innovative ideas may be. Typically, entrepreneurs depend on VCs who have the capital power to support these organizations. But there are drawbacks to this model including the lack of access to VCs, the expectation of an exit within a short time horizon, and funding with no strategic input.

DAOs show us that funding no longer has to come exclusively from VCs. Gathering sources from those who believe in a single mission could be more strategic as they do not have the same exit ambitions as VCs, and opens up participation to anyone who has access to the internet.

Were seeing a major leveling-up of on-chain DAO tools and services that could help.

Organizations of the future will be even more nation-agnostic than they already are. That means we need structures that can bring organizations to the global stage seamlessly. In a world where legal systems are still localized, start-ups face obstacles including having to identify presence within specific legal structures in every new country.

On the other hand, DAOs benefit from the blockchain that puts them on the global stage by default. With the correct tooling, DAOs can have a head start over traditional organizations by cutting out the legal and regulatory wranglings that most start-ups have to overcome. We have seen many DAOs and projects flourish as a consequence of their global nature, for example, Uniswap which has facilitated over 119 million trades worldwide.

When agreements are not honored by parties, instead of using courts for legal recourse, DAOs benefit from smart contracts, a more modern and potentially efficient form of enforcement. While currently imperfect, in the near future, oracles that provide blockchains with real-world data will help facilitate this.

This ecosystem will continue to require growth and maturity in the oracle space. That means developing and partnering with projects that make it easier, more efficient and more secure to get real-world data on-chain in a way that allows crypto developers to focus on their novel mechanisms and designs instead of belaboring data verification. We need our oracles to be flexible enough to handle ambiguity.

As oracle infrastructure matures, DAOs will become trustless and truly decentralized a system not possible with traditional organizations.

DAOs have already blown up within the Web3 space with more than 11,500 currently operating. We are seeing a shift in the Web3 space as DAOs are proving to be an alternative to traditional organizational structures.

DAOs are far from perfect as it remains to be seen how they will evolve and address their problems with inefficiency and unequal voting power. However, the use of appropriate tooling will allow these organizations to solve some of their issues.

As we peer into the future, it will be fascinating to watch which DAOs emerge and how they will disrupt the future of organizational structures.

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How DAOs can be remade to be more efficient and successful - Yahoo Finance