What’s Coming Up?
New Money author, Lana Swartz, talks about Bitcoin as a meme.
We’ve lost too many hackers to suicide. What if Satoshi was one of them?
Some bites on what the future of CBDCs and DeFi might look like.
Image Source: Kyle Szostek for Noema Magazine
Bitcoin as a Meme and a Future
Lana Swartz, Professor at the University of Virginia, issued an article explaining to mainstream and potential new bitcoin investors the value behind digital currencies and new payment methods. When people strive to design new forms of money, it usually tells a new story about the future. Even the memes that arose from isolation and doom scrolling are future-making. Read more…
Image Source: vitalik.ca/general/2021/02/18/election.html
Prediction Markets: Tales from the Election
On the cusp of the 2020 US presidential elections, Vitalik Buterin saw many arguments from ‘brilliant people’, people he respected. These people argued that the prediction markets were irrational, which encouraged him to toss in his own bets. He leveraged his participation through an experiment on blockchain-based prediction markets, comparing the outcomes to traditional, centralised prediction markets. Read more…
Len Sassaman and Satoshi: a Cypherpunk History
Sassaman was on track to be one of the essential cryptographers of his time. But on 3 July, 2011, he tragically took his own life at the age of 31, following a long battle with depression and functional neurological disorders. His death coincided with the disappearance of the world’s most famous cypherpunk: Satoshi Nakamoto. Only two months before Sassaman died, Satoshi sent their final communication. Read more...
Top Headlines
🌍 Distributed-First Is the Future of Work at Spotify
💳 J.P. Morgan Creates Digital Coin for Payments
🔊 China's blockchain service network announces Cosmos integration
🗺️ Coinbase is a decentralized company, with no headquarters
Tweets of the Month
European Ecosystem News
Horizon in Europe
EU institutions reached a political agreement on Horizon Europe on 11 December 2020. Since then, the European Parliament and the EU Council proceeded towards the adoption of legal acts. The first Horizon Strategic Plan, spanning from 2021 to 2024, will be adopted in February 2021. Early research and innovation frameworks are expected to be published by April 2021, if not sooner. The European Commission announced that the first calls will open once the work programmes have been published.
EU must overhaul flagship data protection laws, says a 'father' of policy
One of the General Data Protection Regulation ‘fathers’, Axel Voss, thinks that Europe’s flagship data protection laws are out of date. They must be heavily revised for a post-pandemic world, to be ready for blockchain, facial recognition technology, and other emerging data uses and privacy concerns.
📺 The Future of Central Bank Digital Currencies
The Digital Euro Association, along with the Frankfurt School, hosted a panel to promote a better understanding of the potential of a digital, programmable Euro. In this webinar, the panellists focussed on the digital euro project and addressed questions such as - do we need a digital Euro? - among many other questions.
🗣️ Why Defi is the Future
Mark Cuban needs no introduction, but the entrepreneur and Shark Tank host has an impressive depth of knowledge of the crypto space. He has a particular ability to break complicated subjects into simple, digestible ideas. Listen to this Bankless podcast talking about DeFi, NFTs, Ethereum, and the future of finance with Mark Cuban!
🎙️ Are NFTs Just This Cycle's ICOs?
Coindesk's podcast host, Nathaniel Whittemore, looks at the explosion of interest in NFTs. He asks whether non-fungible tokens are this cycle's initial coin offerings by looking at five different comparison points: inflated prices, overpromises, celebrity hype, wheat-and-chaff, and competition with bitcoin. Are NFTs just a new version of the old ICO? Find out here.
Must-Read Reports 📚
Non-Fungible Tokens Yearly Report, 2020 by NonFungible
This February, NonFungible and L'Atelier BNP Paribas issued the 2020 edition of the NFT Yearly Report. This is the most comprehensive report about the on-chain Ethereum non-fungible token ecosystem in the past year.
Understanding Bitcoin White Paper by Fidelity Investments
Among an increasing number of investors and portfolio managers, bitcoin is considered a legitimate and distinct asset class, and some may wish to consider bitcoin, alongside other alternatives, as one component of the bond side of a 60/40 portfolio.
Bitcoin at the Tipping Point by Citi GPS
Where could bitcoin be in another seven or so years? This report notes the advantages of bitcoin in global payments, including its decentralised design, lack of foreign exchange exposure, fast (and potentially cheaper) movements, secure payment channels, and traceability. Combined with bitcoin's global reach and neutrality, these attributes could spur it to become the currency of choice for international trade.
dGen is a non-profit think tank based in Berlin for the responsible, inclusive, and accessible adoption of technology. If you enjoyed Future on Fridays, we would appreciate it if you share it with your friends and colleagues.