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China’s Walled Garden

Continuing our theme of speaking with people in the world of finance and technology we asked insiders at ByteDance in Shanghai their views about blockchain technology. The results give some useful insight into one of the likely narratives of the next bull run. In previous cycles narratives have ranged from Bitcoin being digital gold to NFTs being the cutting edge of the art scene. These topics pull new users into the space and with their added liquidity the value of the market begins to rise. The present decline in value

Secreteum: A decentralized encrypted messaging app

Messaging apps are ubiquitous – more than 3.6 billion people worldwide use them, with the average person sending up to 72 messages every 24 hours. Every day WhatsApp alone channels over 100 billion messages, while WeChat transmits 205 million video messages. With this popularity has come a darker side: that of hacked personal data, cybertheft, and government violations of privacy. The way messaging apps are designed, work, and are managed exposes them by default to many risks: Most messaging apps require the user to input sensitive personal data, including name,

TikTok Ban: The Beginning of a New Age in Social Networks?

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that forbids American companies to transact with Tencent and Bytedance. The ban comes after a long debate involving alleged data mining from apps like WeChat and TikTok. Following the ban, Tencent shares fell 5%. American companies will effectively have 45 days to stop transacting with these companies. The ban is sparking worldwide debate regarding the boundaries of national security. Is this an opportunity for decentralized social media platforms to step up? Tencent and the Yuan Plummet The announcement was immediately felt on