BitDigest March 30 · Issue #625

• Crypto markets show slight improvement but are down 6% since Friday morning
• Multidisciplinary supergroup formed to share coronavirus data on blockchain
• Singapore provides short term grace period to companies not yet licensed under new Payment Act

What I Read This Weekend?

The Coder and the Dictator

Gabriel Jiménez, a Venezuelan programmer, agreed to create a digital currency for the Maduro govenment. He though he could develop a ‘Trojan horse,’ a national currency to stem hyperinflation while “stealthily introducing technology that would give Venezuelans a measure of freedom from a government that dictated every detail of daily life.” Jiménez disregarded the advice of his friends and family and began working on the new digital asset but quickly encountered difficulties when the government chose to peg the currency to barrels of oil, prohibiting its ability to trade freely. “A Petro whose price always reflected oil reserves would essentially be a bond,” he warned. In the end, the decision by Jiménez was ill fated and he was named a traitor and investigated for “treason against the homeland.” Fortunately, he was able to flee Venezuela and is now working in the US.

Neural Science Meets Crypto

I recently have become fascinated by the study of neural science and the ability to control motor skills using brain waves. I saw results from a study that took a former violist with late stage Alzheimer and by installing a brain-control interface, similar to a cochlear implant for the hearing-impaired, he was suddenly able to play the world greatest concertos as he had done many years early. In another test, a paralyzed man was able to walk again. These tests are only the first steps and I am excited to see where this technology can take us.

Microsoft has filed a patent for a new digital currency and consensus mechanism that uses neural science. According to the patent titled Cryptocurrency System Using Body Activity Date, “instead of massive computation work required by some conventional cryptocurrency systems, data generated based on the body activity of the user can be a proof-of-work, and therefore, a user can solve the computationally difficult problem unconsciously.” If the defined activity is satisfied, the user is awarded a cryptocurrency.

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