Vive La Révolution - but let's do it together.

Another packed week of news, world leading discussions... and government protests too.?

Let’s first talk about Paris. I had the opportunity to attend Paris Blockchain Week, a fantastic global gathering of many incredible crypto minds.?

While innovation and blockchain were discussed at the Louvre - where the conference was taking place - the streets of Paris had “French Revolution” vibes. Protests broke out because of a change in the retirement law. Rubbish bins were littered all over the streets (in some areas bins haven’t been collected for days), strikes were taking place across many sectors, marches, cars on fire, shop windows broken down…. you get the picture.?

Yet these acts of deviance deflect attention from the hard truth: change is needed.?

The current French retirement system isn’t sustainable: 5 years ago the country had 10 million retired people. Today it’s 17 million and in 10 years at this current rate the financial gap incurred for retirement will be over EUR 150 billion.? After months of debate, President Macron passed a law increasing the retirement age by 2 years, triggering protests across the country.?

More than ever it feels like our current post war systems are crumbling.?

I am not an economist and won’t claim to be one, but the fundamentals of our financial system do not make sense - and we’ve got to do something about it.?

How can a retirement system built on a decreasing youth population which is paying? for an aging population be sustainable - especially now with rampant inflation??

How can printing money indefinitely and seemingly without limit -? be sustainable?

How can continuous increasing debt be solved in a world of growing inflation?

Against this backdrop I set out to make the most of the week. News wise, the crypto sector appeared just as eventful as the French protests.??

The SEC made headlines when it sent a letter to Coinbase, which rightly created a heated debate online. Circle also announced that it’s moving its European HQ to Paris.?

Then there’s the collapse of Silvergate and SVB, which will make it increasingly difficult and some say almost impossible for a project related or associated with crypto to be banked in the US.?

Companies who have been playing by the rules are being served.?

What’s going on? I don’t know about you but to me this feels hostile.

And yet we have to solve the problems we have, together. Technology can help. As Illia says, open source always wins. Let’s continue to open source finance and to solve problems with technology.?

I touched on this point and other matters related to blockchain and web3 during my talks at Paris Blockchain Week.?

Highlights include my stage appearance with Elisabeth Carpenter, COO of Circle. This felt like I was coming back home. I was in Paris - the capital city of my birth nation - and speaking?with my former employer, Circle, the company that gave me the chance to?take my first crypto steps.?During our talk, Elisabeth and I discussed the need for better UX and UI to get to mainstream adoption, and the importance of the Blockchain Operating System. We also brought to life the many real use cases we see in our worlds.?

At Cryptio’s event, I joined a panel with Antoine Scalia, Bertrand PEREZ, and Aymeric Monnier and spoke about the? importance of fundamental solid back office infrastructure for crypto.?

On the Paris Blockchain Week main stage with Erik Voorhees, Morgan McKenney, Nataniel Elkaim, Johann Bornman, Duncan Moir and I discussed the intertwining of TradFi and DeFi. My view on this matter is that: our financial systems are being redesigned under our eyes and there’s never been a better moment for the need for DeFi and the role it can play.?I also believe that there’s also a way for us all to find a path to build a better financial system together, it’s not one against the other (here, here and full video here)?

I also had the opportunity to join the ReFi community - and give a keynote about the state of the world, and the duty we collectively have to leverage blockchain technology to help find solutions to urgent problems.?

I met many incredible people and had the opportunity to meet Philippe Dousto-Blazy - a former French minister who is now looking to leverage crypto and blockchain to help solve what he calls our biggest problem - kids malnutrition.?

An under-fed kid’s brain won’t have the same chances to become fully developed, leading to 30% potential lower IQ. 40% of kids living in India and on the African continent are affected by malnutrition. Blockchain is transparent, traceable, and is the perfect technology to help raise the billions of dollars needed to help tackle the problem around the world.?

Amidst all of this madness, at Near we are making tremendous progress, and more than ever I am super proud of what we - as a Near ecosystem - are collectively achieving.?