Motherland: digitalization or death! Part two
Once again, the article, in this case, the chapter, is not a blockchain theory. For this there are primary sources, for example [1, 2]. This chapter discusses the potential of the blockchain, its obvious impact on the entire spectrum of socio-economic relations and stimulation of the modernization of government functions.
The first, in chronology, advantage of cryptocurrency, and they were Bitcoin, was the ability to exchange money quickly, safely and without intermediaries in the face of banks and other financial operators, bypassing the borders. There is no commission to banks in the blockchain. Of course, there are also beneficiaries here: miners, stock exchanges, operators of crypto groceries. But the end user can also act as a beneficiary, and the maintenance fee is much lower due to automation and reduction of infrastructure maintenance costs. Moreover, in some cases, the user himself can assign an increased amount of commission to speed up his transaction.
The main, so to speak, “boil up” on the part of states and banks with the advent of the blockchain, has risen due to the fact that the issue of cryptocurrency is not controlled by them. So, farewell sovereignty and sweet monopoly. After all, anyone can download an application for free, run it, or use it to create their own applications. This fact alone opens the “Pandora's box” of real democracy in a number of important relations in society and its relations with the state.
Traditional banking principles, unchanged since the end of the 19th century, have been shaken, because the low cost of peer-to-peer networks will make hard hierarchical structures unprofitable, undermines the foundation on which they stand - the centralized status of the network owner and the proprietary software that manages the network. Such attributes of the members of the Network as the value of the contribution of the participant and his reputation, which can not be erased or changed, will come to the fore. As the ancestors used to say: “Take care of honor from an early age”.
The global banking network, with trillions of dollars a day, is the most powerful economic force in the world. Banks dictate to us the conditions under which we take loans from them, banks set commission fees and other types of rewards for operations carried out with their help, banks “twist” our money in loans and in the interbank foreign exchange market, making money on customers' money.
This applies to any payment, even if you paid a check at the store, this does not mean that money was received on the store’s account - the money will come in a few days (without interest for using the bank). The store only receives a transaction confirmation. Likewise, with pensions, public sector wages - having received money from the treasury, banks immediately put them into circulation. And pensions and salaries are paid in a few days. This is at best.
You will never change the terms of the mortgage agreement with the bank, you will not achieve the truth even in a court against the bank. If you do not believe, look at the messages, how fraudsters get loans from banks through on-line services for other people's names, and then bailiffs come to pensioners and confiscate their property, even if the loan was issued from a city in which the pensioner has never been.
Now we are waiting for a new attack from the banks. They intend to introduce remote identity identification. You can imagine how this system will work, and how many hackers and scammers will profit from simple customers, possibly in collusion with banks. Your humble servant almost every month lodges a complaint with Sberbank about the unsatisfactory performance of auto payments, and “it is still there”. After all, for the Russian bank there is no concept of "the client is always right."
Well, if the developers of banking software are not able to bring the simplest service “to mind”, how are they going to implement reliable client recognition by means of communication on 100 percent? Maybe they are not aware of the factors by which the neural network is mistaken even when recognizing road signs? What about human faces to interpret. Even the most powerful face recognition systems provide reliability of just over 90 percent. I do not exclude that some joker will receive a loan remotely, presenting the cow's face to the bank. But banks persistently, bit by bit, cut the coupons from customers, not noticing their flaws and trampling the interests of their customers.
As the saying goes: “The hen pecks at the grain ...” However, the bankers did not know the second part of popular wisdom - “... and then the whole yard was littered.” That "dock". There were intelligent and decisive people who set out to monopolize the dictatorship of bankers to eliminate.
I am sure, when discussing the article, “advanced” users will write that the author, they say, is a naive idealist, believes in justice, and Nakamoto is a globalist project of world banks. However, the facts speak for themselves. Firstly, if Satoshi Nakamoto is really a backstage project of world banks, then he got out of control - there are already about 1,500 cryptocurrencies in the world, and platforms such as Ethereum, Waves, Omni have become Bitcoin's main competitors.
Secondly, in 2013 a new phenomenon appeared in the procedures for attracting investments - ICO. During the very first ICO project, Mastercoin raised $ 5,0 million in investments. Many similar crowdsales have passed since then. And their growth goes along a hyperbola in time. Compared to 2014, the number of projects increased 2017 times in only three quarters of 18. And in money, the growth of attracted investments grew 142 times, almost to $ 4,0 billion! [3].
Who can stop this phenomenon? Maybe someone is capable, but very big money is earned here. Sometimes the return on investment is in the thousands of percent, which will never be in the traditional procedures. It would be foolish to stop such a profitable business.
What to do "unhappy" bankers in this situation? And they are already doing. The first chapter describes the international payment protocol Interledger and the national platform of the Central Bank Masterchain. Apparently, the authorities and the banks chose the path that was once well presented in Eldar Ryazanov’s film “The Forgotten Melody for the Flute”, where the prototype of the “bulldozer exhibition” was shown. At this exhibition N.S. Khrushchev, who called free artists "pederasts" (as in the original [4]), instructed his party workers to take action. Meru, through the words of M. Shirvindt, was suggested by the party functionary whom this artist played: “If the phenomenon cannot be stopped, it must be organized and headed” (close to the text). Following this path, both the international consortium R3 and our Central Bank create quasi-blockchains (“quasi” because they have the function of centralized user access control).
In the words of the wise and now deceased VS Chernomyrdin: "Whatever organization we create, the CPSU always turns out."
We do not know whether they are planning to destroy the promotion of a pure blockchain to the world economy (and any project on the blockchain is potentially global), but this will not work, as it was impossible to stop many inventions.
Below are the seemingly stupid arguments against global inventions. Here are some of them:
Steam locomotives
“... if trains begin to run faster than 12 miles an hour on rails, then at such a crazy speed, the oncoming air pressure can easily kill passengers traveling in open landau cars, breaking their lungs” ...
Bicycles
“... permanent use of a bicycle, in the end, after several generations should lead to a change in the appearance of people. Y ... "led sapiens" excessively develop legs, but then their hands will begin to gradually shorten, thinner ... As a result, people will strongly look like a kangaroo "...
Electric lamp
“... Artificial electric light, with prolonged exposure to the skin of the face, can cause irritation and even burns. And the retina will probably be damaged due to the light of such a light bulb. ”
Cinema
“Pictures flickering on the screen can literally reduce a person’s visual acuity in just a few sessions, and also develop color blindness”
Phone
"Using the phone causes diseases of the brain, lungs and nerves," and therefore the mortality rate among telephone subscribers will be three times higher than usual. " [5]
You can add historically closer facts:
• The Internet is the "background noise" of human intellectual activity.
• The Internet is a means of uncontrolled propaganda, planted by lovers of pornography, low-quality advertising and easy money.
• The Internet is an information dump…[6].
In fact, all of the above regarding the Internet is true, but its negative impact directly depends on the viciousness of specific users.
To these statements, one should add the skeptic’s widespread opinion at the outset that the Internet will “fall” as soon as millions of users connect to it. Not easy. Even when billions of users connected to it.
History goes on as usual, and the founder of “Ethereum” V. Buterin says: “In the future, when the blockchain will be used everywhere, the role of the state will change - just like other intermediaries. They, most likely, will form the rules of the game, but there will be a program code that will monitor the implementation of the rules. And human intervention, such as an official, will be minimized. ”[7] In the same source you will find his other statements, where he indicates not only obvious benefits for ordinary people, but also soberly assesses the “childhood diseases of growth” of such a new phenomenon as the blockchain.
We will not weigh the arguments for and against the blockchain. The reader may find alternative opinions, for example, here [8]. We can only state the obvious fact - the blockchain has come seriously and for a long time. At the same time, the blockchain revolution was stimulated by the exorbitant greed of world banks and the dictates of the rules of the market game on their part.
With regard to Russia, you can add factors such as the inaccessibility of investments for start-ups of small and medium-sized businesses that are not included in the pool of structures defined by the authorities, arbitrariness on the part of supervisory and control bodies, insecurity of ownership, violation of the rules of the game by market participants dominating .
These factors are obvious, no matter how much the domestic media and forum participants, the number of which goes beyond what is reasonable, would not prove the opposite. At the same time, laws are passed every day, bills and regulations are put forward that create hemorrhoids for various segments of society, for ordinary people or the entire society as a whole. And where are the main objectives of the state and law: order and justice?
The table below shows some international projects that have recently attracted investment through ICO and are likely to affect the global economy in the near future.
FIG. HOMELAND-TABLE1-2
1The table contains excerpts from some ICO White Paper presentations conducted over the past 3-5 months.
2StealthCryptoTM is not based on quantum computing, here the original networking technology with a slant on the Internet of Things is named “quantum”. Given the confusion in terminology, the project can become an example of scam.
Even a quick glance at the extremely brief essence of the projects makes us think about the coming changes. With the implementation of these, and hundreds of similar projects on a global scale, fundamental changes will occur in the LOGIC of economic relations.
“Cryptocurrency can become an open programmable network for decentralized exchange of any resources - even without taking into account currency and payments. 1.0 Blockchain, as a cash settlement and payment technology, is already evolving into 2.0 Blockchain and may include smart contracts, smart assets, decentralized applications (Dapps), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), and decentralized autonomous corporations. The asset presented on the blockchain becomes a smart asset that can be traded through smart contracts ”[2].
Of course, effective implementation of projects on the blockchain will require development of the development environment of applications and components of the blockchain itself, such as storage, security, comprehensive reputation accounting, improvement of exchange protocols between wallets, solving the problem of network scalability and some other aspects. But it was always like this at the stages of introduction and growth of new technologies.
As for Russian realities, it is more expedient to speak here not so much about domestic projects, as about projects with “Russian roots”. According to [9], as of the end of 2017, such projects take the second place after the USA, $ 310,0 million against $ 1,0 billion (projects with American roots). Why should we talk about the "roots"? Because when developing a global project, entrepreneurs and developers choose hospitable for ICO jurisdictions, such as Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong or Holland.
If the project will have to earn in the territory of the Fatherland, then experienced lawyers should be involved in order not to fall under the eye of the supervisory authorities. Moscow region farmer M. Shlyapnikov fully in his “skin” felt the “support” of small business by the authorities, having passed instances of the prosecutor’s office, accusations of undermining the Russian financial system, deception of unidentified citizens, creating conditions for the economic crisis, courts, expertise, involvement in as affected by the Bank of Russia, the Ministry of Finance, the tax inspectorate (and this is all one farmer did!) In the end, the entire line of vessels, from the district to the Supreme, determined the debt receipts, “colions” used by the farmer, money surrogates and prohibited their use. But the persistent farmer got his way and released through ICO already cryptocolonies worth about $ 0,5 million, and now his farm is successfully developing.
Similarly, the noise was raised around the Moscow farmers' cooperative “LavkaLavka” that had come out on the ICO, but here people had already carefully prepared for the visit of the prosecutor’s office and got rid of the charges of violating the laws. However, in general, the situation in the sphere of regulation in the field of ICO in Russia is not so difficult, but sometimes goes beyond a reasonable framework.
And that's why. The Ministry of Communications is developing a bill in the ICO field. According to the project, an organization that has decided to attract investments through ICO must meet a number of criteria. From reading some of the “criteria” on the head, the cap rises: the authorized capital of at least 100 million rubles (!), The license for the development, production and distribution of encryption (cryptographic) means (this is issued by the FSB - author) and a special bank account for selling digital tokens (this is correct - auth.). The Ministry of Communications and Mass Media will make a decision on accreditation or refusal of accreditation within 30 days after receiving the application (red tape! You can do it on the blockchain for 10 minutes - note aut.).
According to the document, tokens and other digital financial assets can be changed to rubles, foreign currency and other property only through the operator of the exchange of digital financial assets. The bill also limits the amount for which unqualified investors (ordinary consumers - auth. Note) will be able to buy tokens within one ICO - no more than 50 thousand rubles.
Earlier, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media prepared a program for the development of the digital economy for 2018 – 2024 years and presented it at a meeting of the Presidential Council on Strategic Development. This year, federal and regional governments will spend almost 200 billion rubles on information technology ... True, Minister N. Nikiforov audited the expenditure figure of about 100 billion rubles annually [10].
Later, our minister N. Nikiforov substantiated these requirements with such, from his point of view, reasonable, argument: “We should not have 10 thousands of different platforms. Well, there will be three, five, ten, some. It's okay that they will have such a share capital, this underlines the seriousness of the intentions of these organizations that they will not disappear tomorrow and build their activities for the long-term ”[11]. The phrase is incoherent and unfounded.
Thus, even a cursory overview of the status quo does not inspire optimism.
First, instead of creating CONDITIONS for the country's transition to the fourth technological order, the Russian Government intends to spend BUDGET money (that is, our taxes, and a lot) on digitalization, moreover, in the sense that officials understand it. Presumably, the first money has already been spent on regular economic forums.
By the way, at the February forum in Sochi there was a joke: “Digitize or die!” It seems that now is not a joke, and such a frivolous attitude to the situation does not inspire confidence in the forum participants.
At the same time, foreign countries create conditions for attracting PRIVATE investment without spending taxpayers' money. After all, project initiators use jurisdictions in which normal conditions for investment under the ICO procedure are created.
Secondly, the requirement for the presence of share capital in 100 mln. Rub. mercilessly cuts off all small and medium businesses from ICO. And not even every large business has a share capital of 100 million rubles. - there are not so many founders who are willing to risk such significant amounts in case of failure of a startup. So for whom are the conditions for sharing a sweet cake being prepared?
Thirdly, the condition of the need for a license to develop, manufacture and distribute encryption (cryptographic) tools enters the One Powerful Office into the business process. Next, do not comment.
I do not want to think that the digitalization of the economy proclaimed by the authorities is another way to enjoy the budget sinecure, although the blockchain is needed by the elite “like a tooth in the nose”.
What do people who have the desire and ability to take an active part in the revival of the country's economy, its rise to the level of world leaders, or at least earn decently?
The options are:
1. Join the orderly ranks of participants in endless forums, exhibitions, competitions, grant seekers, stick to the "business incubator" or other technologies for effective budget development.
2. Spit on everything and find a warm place with a good salary.
3. Sneeze on a sense of patriotic duty and leave for hospitable countries for talents.
4. Join the hacker community.
5. Engage in fraud, since it seems that domestic digitalization will allow this, in contrast to the correct one being implemented by the rest of the world.
6. Sit on the sofa and, sitting on the neck of the parents, troll on the sites materials of the next "Don Quixote", climbed with a wooden spear against windmills.
Calculate the probabilistic distribution of the potential number of developers of digitalization projects for a country on their own - even if using the classical theory of probability, even if using newer methods of fuzzy sets.
Continued about artificial intelligence and quantum computing, follows
1. D. Tapscott, A. Tapscott / Blockchain Revolution, - www.allmedialaw.ru, 2017
2. M. Swan / Blockchain. The scheme of the new economy, - "Olimp-Business", 2015
3. 4 facts about ICO based on the analysis of 269 cases, - https://firrma.ru/data/analytics/83523/
4. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%89%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%A5%D1%80%D1%83%D1%89%D1%91%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%BC_%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2
5. Trud newspaper, http://www.trud.ru/article/29-06-2006/105454_net_nichego_strashnee_parovoza.html
6. Shapiro K.V. / Internet - there is no morality?, - http://www.km.ru/referats/42B8E90043F540289BA9C3421DE38B2D
7. Ten quotes by Vitalik Buterin. https://probusiness.io/tech/3781-10-citat-blokcheyn-geniya-vitalika-buterina-kotorye-obyasnyayut-khayp-vokrug-kriptovalyut.html financial/news/212419000.html]
8. A. Genkin/Blockchain Skeptics: Are Threats and Risks Real? - https://www.if24.ru/blokchejn-skeptiki-realny-li-ugrozy-i-riski/
9. Projects with Russian roots grew on ICO/ - http://www.comnews.ru/content/111060/2017-12-20/proekty-s-rossiyskimi-kornyami-razroslis-na-ico
10. https://www.gazeta.ru/business/2017/07/06/10775234.shtml#page1
11. https://anycoin.news/2018/02/14/no100forico/
Information