Tech Leader Speak Series

Techgig

In this edition, we interacted with Sylvain Aubé, Chief Metaverse Officer / Co-Founder FINSTORM. He works as a leader in emerging technologies, ?nance, web 3.0 and blockchain. Sylvain believes that the rising need for blockchain awareness is necessary around the world which is anticipated to have a beneficial impact in the upcoming years.

What is the basic idea behind a blockchain and how it is changing the landscape of digitalisation?

The issue with a blockchain right now, it's a big evolution. There are many terminologies out there. Many people are still in the web 2.0 world, where people are using cards. So now the vast changes that are happening in a Web 3.0 world, or Blockchain or DFI or Gamify, all those different acronyms out there. This technology is decentralized where you could do transactions from one person to another without dealing with any banks. It's a world without any central bank involved. So you don't have any financial identity in the middle that must do so. You're just part of your smart contract. You're able to exchange funds and extend digital assets. It's a peer-to-peer connection with someone else with a digital wallet. That's really the big difference between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, I would say 80% is still out there. Web 3.0 is transitioning now because of what's happening in the stock market. It's going to be a little bit slower, but that's similar to the evolution of what you must think happened back in 2000 when the internet had a big boom. So it's the same thing that will happen to the blockchain world.?

Can it be said that the blockchain will be the future of technological transformation because a blockchain has potential?

Yes, I believe, Blockchain will replace fiat currency. Fiat is the money that you transition when you buy something. So it's already happening in Panama, it's happening in other countries that adopt their currency as blockchain.

Do you think that in the future, blockchain technology will become the core of the currency of the nations?

Yes. I was in Dubai last year and Dubai will be the hub of blockchain. I don't say Dubai doesn't have any regulations, but they're working towards building the hub to be a bigger part of the blockchain revolution. Let's say you look at New York City as a big stock market centre, or you look at the UK as the other stock market hub in Europe. So Dubai will be the central point of focus in the world for blockchain.?

What are the different types of blockchains? Is the blockchain a single thing or there are different types of versions of it?

There's only one blockchain. You have different protocols. Like ETH and Dogecoin, there are thousands of different protocols in which tokens are created. So the blockchain is the central point of this technology because this is layer one where all the protocols are running on.?

Can you shed a little bit of light on how a blockchain works?

There are too many words out there, but at the end of the day, it's your platform to be able to transition, sell, put payment, investment and all that stuff. That blockchain is your foundation.

It's all based on the protocol. So there are three layers, layer 1 is the layer of all the protocol and security. On top of that, you could add layer 2. Then, you have got all the different aspects. ETH is one of them. So you got all the different companies, like Polygon in India, that are sitting at layer 2. It's your app, it's your transport. It's like an ERC 20, that's one protocol. ERC 1755, those are all that layer 2. And then on top of that, your layer 3 is the people who build their app, mobile app or digital app or web app, then you would be able to transition, buy, sell, exchange, and token.?

Give us an overview of the current blockchain space, including terms and trends.?

Gamify is used if we are gaming, it's like fintech. Fintech is only a financial term. You got gamify, fintech, and you got DeFi, for decentralized finance. There are many terminologies which keep on evolving every day.

I still call it the Wild, Wild West because there's no extent of, how can I say this phrase. There's no compliance, there's also no adaptation. So everybody uses their own technology, uses their own different tools, and some terminal tools will not be there in the next two to three years. So a company will decide or will disappear because of the business. So it's just right now everybody's working in all different spaces, but there's just not per se regulation, compliance related to this. Right now, it's an open space where people do whatever they want. There's no such regulation like when the Internet started and then I said they were compliant about what to do, how to transition, how to put a credit card on that. So that's still not there. The evolution is not there yet.

We often hear the term decentralization in connection to the blockchain, can you explain what this actually associates to?

It is a decentralised computer network. This minimises the possibility of prejudice or poor judgement by ensuring that control and decision-making are not concentrated in the hands of a single person or group but rather are dispersed fairly across a network.

This network is scattered by sporadic "nodes" that check the legitimacy of new blocks before including them in the chain. Blockchain is now one step safer for users. A person would need to hack every node and tamper with every block of the blockchain, which is nearly impossible, in order to alter the blockchain. Due to decentralization, blockchain transactions are highly encrypted.?

How secure is this blockchain? Does the decentralized nature of the blockchain make it more secure?

No, I don't think there's a lack of security. There's a lack of knowledge on how to secure your protocol, and how to secure your smart contract. That's the big thing right now. People are learning about this new frontier.?

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There are many questions we have seen on quora and Reddit. Can anyone start a blockchain technology thing??

For this to happen, a person must have a background in technology and anything, but for normal people, for them, it's something that is beyond their understanding. If you're just a normal person and don't know anything about this, you probably will not know everything such as how to create an ICO, what's required to create your token and all that stuff. The answer is probably. I would say no.?

Is there any disadvantage of using blockchain technology?

I don't think so. To me, it's an advantage because you don't have to deal with the SEC, and you don't have to deal with banks. But again, there's still some risk about security, all that stuff. But this will evolve through time. Yes, there is a risk, like any technology, but as time goes on, it will be more secure, and more robust, and people will put better code out there. It's the same evolution as back in the days when we were working over the Internet. It's just a different technology that we're using now.?

Can a blockchain be used outside the cryptocurrency field, outside the financial domain to fields like the medical segment or retail space?

Retail is one segment where people sell whatever clothes, merchandise, shoes and all that stuff. Starbucks just launched NFT. This is all blockchain. So those are examples that are outside the blockchain domain, but it's sitting in other domains and financials. Let's just think of a blockchain that can replace credit cards. So, companies like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express would feel concerned about their technological services.?

There is this term called carbon-neutral NFPs. So what does this term mean??

Every product, service, and activity creates carbon, which is also called its carbon footprint or carbon intensity. This carbon "goes" into the air that we breathe and mixes with it. Decarbonization is the process of reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. This can be done in one of two ways: (a) by reducing the amount of new carbon made by a product, service, or activity, so that less new carbon is made and released into the atmosphere; or (b) by removing existing carbon from the atmosphere, which is also called "carbon sequestering."

So what Carbon-neutral NFP does, it allows it to be greener, and more robust and tries to reduce that footprint when people are using those types of technology. That's really what it comes out to. So it is beneficial for the world. It is all about the environment.

Let's discuss pricing, carbon-bagged NFTs and normal NFTs. Are they of the same price or are the carbon-bagged NFTs costlier?

It's all based on which technology you use. Items were roughly around 1800 per one token. BTC is at $18,000. So the prices are all based on the token. So the answer is no. They all have their own prices. It's like you're buying Apple or you buy Microsoft or you buy Salesforce. They all had different prices.

Recently the world has witnessed the Ethereum merger. After this merge, will Ethereum take on bitcoin??

They're in two different verticals. Ethereum is working with other vendors. It's truly different.? I'm anticipating it will become the number one token. But before reaching that level, they should reduce their footprint.?

In your opinion, is there any other technology that can compete with blockchain technology?

There's nothing out there competing with blockchains right now. So it is like a paramount of technology right now.

Technology evolves and it changes every six months. So who knows, two more things can come up. It will be a new thing. It's like a car. There's always a new car that comes up in the street that says this is the new thing. So it's the same thing in technology. Fifteen years ago Cloud technology didn't exist. Right now, there are fewer and fewer data centres around the world. Because why should I pay to have all that technology in place when I could use cloud technology that's distributed and have multiple clients in multiple data centres where you have your data centre with all your data and now you can share that with Amazon who's got like thousands of different clients sitting in their own data centre. It will be the same thing with blockchain and whatever the new product will come up with will be the next new thing. So that's what it is.?