Over the past decade, crypto has disrupted the monetary consumption habits of millions of people around the world. When criticized today, everyone unanimously agrees on the benefits, impact and opportunity the blockchain offers. Alyra, the blockchain school, is aware of the importance of publicizing and better understanding this new sector and has developed several training courses in the different areas of blockchain. Here we are at the time of my blockchain training bimonthly summary titled “Leading an innovative project”. Two weeks ago, I talked to you about the progress of activities related to the training, while sharing my various concerns as well as my feelings about the general atmosphere. In this article I offer you a deep dive into weeks 7 and 8 of Alyra’s training.
Alya’s Conversations
As you know, Alyra’s speeches serve as an introduction to the key concepts covered in the training. Each week, an expert, analyst or crypto value chain personality is invited by the blockchain school to talk about their experience and share their knowledge on specific issues in their field. Knowledge that is then addressed and deepened as part of the training.
The place of Bitcoin in our society
On Monday, November 7, the Alyra talk of the week was led by Jacques Favier. He is a co-founder of the Cercle du Coin and Repas du Coin associations, two organizations dedicated to the development of Bitcoin and the adoption of the blockchain. Jacques Favier, who is also the author of several books on money, was not alone. We also spoke with Louis-Alexandre de Froissard, as part of this Alyra talk. Mr. Froissard is the founder and patron of Montaigne. These two experts spoke to us about Bitcoin’s place in our society.
Experts first explained that very few Europeans are willing to believe that Bitcoin will have real use in the real world in the future. However, it is necessary to define who the utility of the flagship crypto is aimed at. What to remember? In Europe, we tend to say that cryptos are useless, because the monetary system still works, but those who have never had an effective currency find great social benefit in it.
We then talked about the concept of faith. To this end, we have learned that every currency carries a belief: to have euros is to have a belief that the euro can reward the energy expended to acquire it. Currencies work because people trust them, and cryptos work in exactly the same way.
Jacques Favier does not see the division between money and state as the adherents of the Austrian school imagine, but he can become a measure of value. For Louis-Alexandre, Bitcoin is more of a common good that all users unanimously recognize as having a value.
A piece of advice from Jacques to those joining the blockchain: “Get your hands dirty. We don’t master everything in cryptos, but no one asks us to understand everything and it is necessary to experiment to come up with authoritative words. »
A revolution in the data market with the blockchain
That is the ambition of Jonathan LLamas. We had the pleasure of listening to it as part of the Week 8 Talk Alyra.
After 5 years in investment banking, Jonathan wanted to do something different. So he turned to entrepreneurship and went on to launch not one, but two companies. The first in gold trading and the second in audiovisual production. When the gold market crashed in 2013, he got into fintech. This adventure ends in 2017, when he makes the leap into the world of blockchain. After working as a blockchain consultant with large groups and banks, Jonathan left everything behind to focus on Vetri Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to a fair data economy.
Through an application that has been downloaded almost 300,000 times, Vetri Foundation gives its users full control over their data. Specifically, the application helps them to make their data anonymous by encrypting it and monetize it according to their preferences. This application will therefore play a crucial role in a market where users are increasingly resisting the processing of their data.
“We need to focus on the uses we can make of the blockchain today and not necessarily trying to figure out what tomorrow will bring… Currently it offers multiple opportunities so we just need to look for the added value we can bring ‘. it and that’s it’Jonathan advised.
A look back at the past two weeks
In my last post on training with Alyra, I addressed questions about the architecture and workings of a blockchain, the anatomy of a block, and why Ethereum is; by nature the most suitable network for the development of decentralized applications (DApps), because of the advantages it offers. Three key points that allowed us to improve our skills on the blockchain and better master the difference between the first two cryptos. Over the past two weeks, we’ve discussed some equally interesting concepts. These are smart contracts and other public protocols and blockchains.
Smart contracts
Smart contracts, or intelligent contracts, are self-executing contracts or computer programs with a specific function. Here, the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller are written directly into the code. More clearly, smart contracts are based on a computer program that automates business processes in a legally safe manner. They are based on blockchain technology and take advantage of the benefits of this technology, such as transparency, protection against counterfeiting and availability. That’s what the course teaches us “Smart contracts are to DApps what blocks are to blockchain. That is, the basic element, the essential stone, the building unit.”.
Later we talked about the types of smart contracts, the freedom and accessibility associated with smart contracts (anyone can create a smart contract), the design of a smart contract, etc. To capture the practical part of smart contracts, we discussed Uniswap, a decentralized protocol for crypto exchanges. It is widely cited as a benchmark for smart contracts.
Other public protocols and blockchains
After talking about Bitcoin and Ethereum, we looked at other protocols and blockchains. But before getting into these concepts, we talked about consensus, an essential, even fundamental, understanding of blockchain technology and cryptos.
Then we discussed the concept of Trilemma. Blockchains can only process a limited number of transactions per second. If blockchain technology is to be used globally, it needs to be able to handle a lot more data and at higher speeds, so that more people can use the network without it being too slow or too expensive. However, the basic design of many decentralized networks means that scaling weakens decentralization or security. This is known as the Blockchain Trilemma. So far, no blockchain has managed to tick all of these boxes.
Finally, we talked about the competitors of Ethereum and anonymous protocols and blockchains: Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC).
To conclude
I can confirm once again that the training is taking place in a great atmosphere. The trainers take the time to make sure the information is well understood for everyone and listen, listen to us. In short, the pedagogical approach is impeccable.
In my next post I will mainly talk to you about my graduation project. I am working with 5 classmates on a non-custodial, seedless & multiblockchain and secure mobile B2C wallet application that removes barriers to entry and democratizes access to digital property (documents and assets) and its management on the blockchain through an educational, ergonomic and simple interface, with full and scalable functionalities. See you very soon…
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Far from dampening my enthusiasm, a failed investment in a cryptocurrency in 2017 only added to my enthusiasm. I therefore decided to study and understand the blockchain and its many applications and to pass on information about this ecosystem with my pen.