Skip to main content

Featured

Researchers use AI to translate texts from 5,000 years ago into forgotten language; and the machine understands better decrees than poems

 The oldest known writing system is the cuneiform, invented in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians in the 4th millennium B.C. (a millennium before the Egyptian hieroglyphs) to write on clay tablets with punch or chisel (no paper and papyrus). Over the time it was in use (until the 1st century AD) it evolved from an ideographic system to a phonetic (syllabic) and underwent variations to adapt to the different languages that adopted it as their own, most of them unrelated to each other. This meant that the advances achieved in the translation of certain tablets could not always be applied to those found on other sites. Add to that the low availability of experts in such ancient and minority languages and you will have hundreds of thousands of boards in your hands waiting to be slowly translated. Most of these  documents remain untranslated and inaccessible due to their large number and limited number of experts able to read them. That’s until artificial intelligence is used to lend a h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Binance gives in to pressure on currency listings, marking a win for privacy

 



Privacy advocates had a big win in June with Binance’s announcement that it was backing down on a decision to remove privacy coins for users in several European countries.

As a result of the move, users in Italy, Poland, Spain and France will be able to continue trading tokens including Zcash 

ZEC

tickers down

R$157

, Monero 

XMR

tickers down

R$821

, Decred (DCR), Horizen’s ZEN, Verge (XVG), Dash 

DASH

tickers down

R$179,60

(SCRT), Firo, Navcoin (NAV), MobileCoin (MOB), Beam and PIVX.

Banning the coins would have been a big, big mistake. Privacy coins empower individuals against financial surveillance by offering enhanced transactional security, and crypto communities should be grateful that Binance no longer plans to remove them from its listings. In the modern climate of excessive surveillance and general lack of confidentiality for users everywhere, its importance cannot be underestimated.

These coins have fungibility, which makes each individual unit interchangeable and resistant to censorship, an advantage they possess over almost all other cryptocurrencies, and losing these additional layers of security and anonymity would have been an incredible loss for the community.

Privacy coins have gained traction in recent years due to the emergence of a number of strict regulations. Binance’s decision, in fact, comes in the wake of the European Union flattening its much-discussed standards for digital assets, the recent Crypto-Active Markets (mica) regulations. Having just sanctioned this law, July will also see the European Securities and Markets Authority launch a process of consultation of mica. It’s fair to say that there’s a lot of movement in space, and we may not have seen the last of what Europe has in store for the crypto industry.

The price of Zcash fell to $21.70 a week after Binance’s threat on May 31 dropped it - and shot back to $33 after the decision was reversed. Source: Binance


But the truth is that privacy is a fundamental human right protected by the United Nations. Article 12 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "no one will be subject to arbitrary interference in their privacy" and that "everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks"so why should the crypto market be different?

This concept is even more crucial in the digital age, as the risks of data exploitation increase exponentially and technology giants have all the tools at their disposal to try to prevent people from having control over their private information.

In fact, Binance’s decision reflects the complex balance between regulatory compliance and users' privacy needs that Exchanges must pursue all the time, even in the face of international regulations varying from country to country, even when some countries decide to apply stricter rules than others.

As for the future implications of Binance’s decision - but also those stemming from the intense regulatory pressure hovering over Europe - we could see a possible increase in demand and subsequently the development of the privacy currency sector. Ironically, the precedent set by Binance could well lead to more widespread acceptance of privacy coins as it could lead other Exchanges to rethink their stance on privacy coins, potentially leading to wider availability. We will see.

At the end of the day, this week’s news draws attention to the true power of community sentiment when it comes to shaping crypto policies and regulations. " We reviewed how we classify privacy coins, "read the official statement released by the cryptocurrency exchange, "after carefully considering feedback from our community". Reading between the lines, what is clear is that the reaction they received last month worked.

It’s hard to overestimate how much privacy is needed in the crypto industry, which is why we can’t back down when it comes to fighting for it at every opportunity we have.

At the heart of this, the community’s influence on Binance’s decision demonstrates its power to shape the future of the crypto industry - and we would do well not to forget that.

The crypto community must unite to continue fighting for privacy. It forms the very foundation of Web3. And, as the Romans used to say, ibi semper est victoria Ubi est Concordia: There is always victory where there is unity.

Comments

Post a Comment