What’s Coming Up?
Could the voting systems themselves be the greatest threats to our democracies?
Crypto, blockchains and CBDCs ended up as major players in 2020 - Get ready for the future of money.
Biden or Trump, who’s better for crypto?
A Note from Us
In the past month, we released two reports centred around remote work and the future of voting. Both of these topics will come to define 2020 and we hope our research can contribute to the discourse around each theme.
If you have just entered another phase of lockdown, we wish you all the best from Berlin.
Jake Stott, dGen Founding Board
Latest dGen Report
The 2020 global pandemic compromised the natural course of democratic elections globally, stressing the need for new remote voting systems. While waiting for one of the most observed elections in the world, dGen team explored potential new solutions coming from the blockchain community, to address major common problems of our voting systems and governance models.
An Internet for Humans: Proof-of-Personhood Explained
In the era of rising surveillance capitalism, authentication systems led to a monopoly of identity. Although popular awareness increased lately, the architecture of those protocols exposed society to surveillance, political manipulation and data theft. Blockchain has not deviated from this either. Proof-of-personhood protocols might be the solution to preserve privacy and shield digital networks from identity fraud. Read more...
Why Work From, Home When You Can Work From Barbados, Bermuda or … Estonia?
Albeit with some barriers, new types of visa specifically designed for remote workers might be a workable solution for countries with fragile tourist economies. A substantial decrease in tourism, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has already pushed some countries such as Bermuda, Estonia, Georgia and Barbados to offer similar options. Read more…
Why European Commission Regulations Won’t Kill Crypto in Europe
Despite the criticism on MiCA and the Pilot regime, Tom Lyon explains how the EU doesn’t intend to stop crypto or blockchain from advancing in the region. On the contrary, the EU’s proposals want to provide legal certainty for crypto-assets to allow the industry to scale while ensuring adequate protection. Read more…
Top Headlines
🆕 Ethereum 2.0 Countdown Begins With Release of Deposit Contract
⛓️ Coinbase, Gemini and others join forces to combat human trafficking
👂 Christine Lagarde invites public comments on eurozone CBDC
🦠 Sleepy Swiss town launches Tezos-backed Coronavirus aid program
🚀 Blockchain Could Make Dismantling Nuclear Warheads More Secure: UK Report
Tweets of the Month 🐤
European Ecosystem News 🗞️
A model for central bank digital currencies: Do CBDCs disrupt the financial sector?
Jonas Gross and Jonathan Schiller developed a New Keynesian DSGE framework to study potential benefits and issues related to CBDCs adoption. The analysis focuses on CBDCs effects in times of financial crises, on bank funding and their interaction with the zero lower bound (ZLB). They found out that proper bank policies would avoid threats to financial stability and economic disturbances. Read more...
Report on a Digital Euro
The report outlined the ECB perspective on the issue of a digital Euro. It would be designed to provide a digital form for use in retail payments, taking into account necessary legal and technical considerations related to its applicability and to avoid possible undesirable implications. In addition, the report includes different approaches to the back-end infrastructure, both centralized and decentralized. Read more...
Five European Union Countries Team Up to Block Libra: Report
A united front against Libra seems to be emerging in Europe. According to Politico Europe report, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands intend to prevent the launch of Libra in the Eurozone. However, the EU Commission cannot ban Facebook's cryptocurrency without a reasonable legal reason. Read more...
dGen Thought Leader of the Month
Alessandro Rossi, Italian dGen Fellow and member of CESINTES of the University of Rome Tor Vergata explained to us what is innovation intelligence, outlining major latest changes and future developments in this field. Given his continued interest in distributed technologies and extensive experience in the financial field, he shared valuable insights on the potential benefits of technological advances to the whole population. Read more...
This U.S. Election Could Be the Most Secure Yet. Here’s Why. | 2020 Elections
After the Russian hacking and the Covid-19 crisis, the US governments want to reassure voters that their ballots will be counted as cast. The New York Times’ video outlines why this year’s US Presidential elections might be more secure than ever.
Who Is Better for Bitcoin, Trump or Biden?
In a chaotic year of duelling recriminations and very different visions of the future, the real question of this U.S. presidential election is: Who is better for bitcoin?
Blockchain Won't Save the World with Anthony Day
Sheila (former Joe Biden campaign manager) and Jason (ex-FBI cybersecurity agent) give us a detailed view into how Blockchain is already being used in state and local elections in the US, what the key capabilities are for mobile voting platforms, and how they have overcome bias and challenges around security, UX and standards to drive transformation in the US and Europe.
Remote Work in Europe, 2030
Home office and remote work have entered our lexicon and thoughts at an unprecedented rate. But, as most of the conversations focus on how remote working looks today, we want to explore how this large shift might change our lives in Europe by 2030. How could a remote working revolution shape the future of work and impact our lifestyles in the next decade? 🤔 💭
Join Our Ecosystem and Contribute to Research
dGen is an independent non-profit research institute focusing on how emerging technology can contribute to a decentralised future in Europe. We envision what this might mean for people, society, private entities, and the public sector.
We are always looking for new corporate and start-up partners and contributors from across the globe.
Thanks again to Jiya Sharma of Closet on the Cloud for her editing help on this newsletter. If you enjoyed Future on Fridays, we would appreciate you sharing it with decentralised friends. Otherwise, check out Jiya’s newsletter here! In case you are more into dropping a comment or giving a like, that would also be helpful.
dGen is a non-profit Think Tank based in Berlin focused on how emerging technologies might contribute to shaping a decentralised future in Europe. Our research reports aim to educate and foster discussion among decision-makers in the ecosystem.
Please, give some love to our different channels!