After the postmodernity — Technology and Finance — Part 2/3
As emerging technologies begin to reach their maturity levels, significant improvements in terms of access to good financial products take shape.
In 2019, despite trade tensions, global wealth increased 2.6% driven by the U.S. and China. However, it is unacceptable that only the 26 richest people accumulate the same as the 50% poorest.
Another fact that concerns us, in addition to extreme inequality, is which slice has become richer or poorer, an anomaly that we will propose solutions to. In 2018, the wealth of the world’s 2,200 billionaires grew by 12%, while the poorest half fell by 11% — this large mass of citizens who move the economy with the production of goods and services is coerced by aiming for a minimum of financial stability. for their families.
However, it is clear that we need to strive to create a financial system accessible to anyone, regardless of the size of their reserves.
The dynamics of traditional institutions that leverage account holders’ money by up to 100x and deliver a yield of 1% to 6%, constitute an abyss in the face of the opportunities that the small privileged portion has access to. Obviously, some defenders of the status quo will try to counter this logic with the arguments that institutions absorb the risks linked to financial operations, as well as investors capable of speculation. Which does not make sense, since only a single institution reaches net profits of around 100 billion annually.
In the wake of the workforce that reaches the peak of its potential, the generations that make up the driving force of the present economy, already hampered by the 2008 crisis, added to the current one that intends to be even greater recession and associated with weak job prospects, high property prices and especially low interest rates and yields, legitimize the promise of a future in which we still have to live with this extreme inequality.
On the other hand, there is still hope: in the last 10 years, cryptography has shown us how it is possible to create digital money with extreme efficiency. From now on a set of innovations will show us how it is possible to create representations of digital assets of the most varied classes, resulting in an unprecedented leap. A rare opportunity for the world to witness an entirely new industry flourish.
The money
Money and finance have been around since the dawn of human civilization, and even if a global pattern is rooted in society, changes are part of an inevitable evolution of consciousness. Money, a simulacrum that covers “public secrets”, proved to be a key part in the function of perpetuating the relationships of submission between humans. An abstraction that has been structuring most of our society, at the same time that we feed the idea that everyone can earn it and generate liquidity from individual efforts or ideas and even worse, under equal conditions of opportunities and circumstances.
It is against the contempt for a social, psychological, historical truth, which every now and then, the most lucid ask themselves: How did we get to this point?
There is no empirical material to support this type of social situation. But some well-founded theses defend the logic that money was created through debt, and undermines Adam Smith’s view of a spontaneous process of interaction through the need to replace barter.
Therefore, credit came first and a limited class of powerful people today still settle their debts only when it suits them. Take, for example, tax debts, which crush a central part of the economy. Where the small dodges through a mostly informal economy, the big beyond offshore architectures, shell companies and negotiations with politicians, are exempt from their debts, and the burden is on the medium, who are crushed by heavy tax burdens and are exposed to risk and raises the bankruptcy rate.
Obviously, the myth that money was a harmonious invention, the result of our willingness to exchange, has traversed the perverse interests of governments and financial institutions. Obviously taking into account another myth — that the debtor is a failure, there is a margin of society and that deserves punishment. Being in debt is like being stuck, but in a peculiar way. A “debt” to the universe mitigated by the church. But above all, an exchange of favors that has become an instrument of enslavement and domination used commonly by oppressors.
Accessibility and financial inclusion
Financial transparency begins to be discussed not only as an alternative to financial services built in opaque silos, but also as an opportunity to access a huge market where global financial institutions have no interest — since it is precisely this opacity that leverage trillions of dollars a year .
It is through the precepts of transparency of financial information at the market level, that fairer financial products will be built, bringing to light opportunities to face inflation, global crises, among others, for a large portion of citizens in the world, without affecting their privacy individual.
There is an emerging belief in the future, which now begins to be designed more effectively, with the possibilities that the Blockchain protocols bring us. Be the issue of bonds with costs around 10 times lower than the current standard, in accessing global markets in seconds, reducing the need for intermediaries and allowing smaller projects to issue bonds, or even interoperability between platforms, which become more valuable each time they connect with other platforms, making an ecosystemic and integral vision in the business sphere — contributing to a significant change in the capital market.
The alternative financial products of the new sustainable digital economy, subvert the logic that most of the profitability is retained without transparency for traditional financial institutions.
Scaling assets and subverting the notion of capital through digital blockchain-based infrastructures
The first generation of DeFi (Decentralized Finance) applications was heavily based on loans with collateral in crypto currencies. However, it is evolving into a wide range of services to implement a broader framework of applications supported by: history-based scores, open finance or a transparent financial reputation system.
Banks have traditionally been walled gardens even in their implementations distributed through DLTs. But it is worth mentioning that DLTs, mistakenly called Blockchain by financial institutions, have efficiencies very close to traditional centralized models. A mixed approach of solutions that demand efficiency in automation with DLTs, absolute transparency and immutability, seems the most suitable arrangement for this new generation with the ambition to deterritorialize a myriad of financial plateaus — mainly in facing the global liquidity crisis.
Improving the interaction between originators and investors of various sizes with the adoption of modular and instant solutions as they arise, constitute new places of access to democratized resources. A process of emancipation and a collective reconfiguration of worlds. Fundamental for agents to communicate on the thresholds between so many more or less [in] compatible worlds.
Open Finance
Open integrations in financial interfaces by APIs have evolved at a rapid pace in the different countries that have already realized the importance of making the financial system more transparent and competitive, in addition to empowering the customer, who becomes the owner of their data and can transact it in the way whichever is most convenient. A system that allows any company to access available micro services or customer base to offer financial products in general.
An ecosystemic logic that instead of startups or established companies spending time and money developing complementary services, they can resort to integrated solutions that have their business models based on consumption by API. The proposal is that financial institutions focus on their main operations and allow other companies to access their interfaces and develop new products from that.
Artificial intelligence
Although talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI) may refer some people to works of science fiction, this technology is increasingly present in our daily lives. In fact, it is quite possible that you already benefit from AI resources in the applications and websites you use daily without realizing it.
The principles are vast, ranging from peak or demand forecasting, language processing, integration with RPA, document identification, facial recognition, digital security, etc.
Biotechnology
Much has been discussed about the interdependence of everything around us. Technologies, people, companies and mainly the relationship in the market, science and state spheres. Society, whether in the public or private sphere, depends on academic knowledge and funding for innovation and state regulation to produce goods and services.
Cross-cutting and heterogeneous, biotechnology transits in different areas of the economy (private sector in health, bioenergy and agriculture), which come from different areas of knowledge (agronomy, biological sciences and health) and that need specific public policies (for medicines, biofuels and food), and not generic (such as “policies for biotechnology”).
The promotion of biotechnology as an empirical object of research and development provides an intelligible statistical basis in public debate.
Areas of intense importance for contemporary dilemmas such as the food industry, health and renewable energies, based on biotechnological techniques, are fundamental and need to be combined with other disciplines such as molecular biology, biochemistry, computer science, biophysics, engineering and different specialties of medicine .
Increased interoperability
Currently, interoperability between platforms is based on APIs and micro services, and even though it has years of development so far, we can aim for new forms of interaction between existing solutions, allowing models based on partnerships, temporary societies, fairer and more equal revenue share .
New stages of interaction begin to come true through tokens, specifically stablecoins (cryptocurrencies with stable value linked to fiat currencies). Stablecoins can be kept in custody by the user, in addition to allowing access to different platforms that are part of the same ecosystem.
Conclusion
Among the countless possibilities around this whole innovation panacea, some metrics are becoming clearer with regard to practical understanding.
Crucial elements that the Rhizom ecosystem presents as a result — fully automated applications, in accordance with the most varied business rules and above all, that deliver empirical value to society in the aspects of facing daily challenges and their complexities:
* Financial system: instant payment wallet based on high performance, fully auditable blockchain protocol. A secure, innovative and unmediated system — where transaction and operation costs drop dramatically. Tokenization of assets through Smart Contracts makes it possible to create multiple types of digital representation for financial assets such as: Money (cryptocurrency), Utility “Tokens” (utility tokens) and Assets (Security Tokens — shares, bonds, green bonds, among others), whether for assets backed by art, companies, solar or wind power plants, real estate and investment funds highly transparent and auditable in real time.
* Certification and traceability: more transparency and real-time auditing, authenticity and verifiability at various levels for industry 4.0, companies, institutions and organizations, with the origin and origin of products and services throughout the supply chain.
* Blockchain + IOT: the convergence between blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) has evolved rapidly in order to generate process automation through embedded Smart Contracts and interoperability between platforms and better standardization, combined with 25 billion objects connected to smart cities, cleaning air and water, farming for less food waste, connecting patients and doctors, fighting cancer and more.
* Digital I.D: automated management for an immutable constellation of data that can include username, password, purchase history, date of birth, social security number, online activities, electronic transactions, medical history, among others.
* Blockchain in public management: social and cultural promotion processes, mitigation of fraud in public services, transparent and verifiable bids, inviolable medical records, prescriptions and vaccine cards available with extreme security for the entire network, voting systems with a layer of trust and highly verifiable records prevent fraud of any kind.
* Logistics and customs operations: blockchain tracking results in efficiency gains, reduces labor costs and prevents errors and fraud.
* P2P Marketplace: direct negotiation between peers with network dynamics that promotes collaboration around projects and maintains support features with new business models.
“The global blockchain as a service (BaaS) market is estimated to reach $ 18 trillion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 70.63% during the 2018–2020 forecast period.” Market Research Future
