Ep. 104: Guardian of the Galaxy (Weekly News)

Dec 7

Recorded live on 𝕏 Spaces December 6th, 2023

I have an enlightening conversation with Matt Smithies, CTO of Dovu as we unpack all the news from COP28 so far regarding the Hedera Guardian and finding out what all this stuff means for hashgraph enthusiasts. We also chat about Calaxy adding Solana to their ""send crypto via DM"" feature, the marketing and optics struggles that frustrate the Hedera community, some exciting coupon updates, Shayne's talk at the NYSE, my gripes with the Hedera subreddit, opportunities in memecoins and Leemon in the Swiss Alps!

Tune in live on 𝕏 Spaces Wednesdays at 12pm ET / 9am PT for the weekly news. Recordings available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube and other major platforms the following day.

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Top Stories of The Week

1. Guardian & COP28
The Hedera Guardian platform, enhanced by AI and hashgraph technology and supported by UN Climate Change, is revolutionizing carbon markets by improving credit tracking, reducing double counting, and simplifying verification processes. HYPHEN's collaboration with Hedera Guardian in Indonesia and Demia's Zero-Trust Data Model integration signify major strides in ensuring accuracy and security in carbon credit management. These innovations, alongside California's $100 billion investment in climate solutions by 2030, signal a transformative shift towards greater transparency and trust in global carbon markets and environmental sustainability... with Hedera at the center during COP28.

2. New DOVU ELV Credits
I chat with Matt Smithies, CTO of Dovu to make more sense of all this carbon credit, COP28 Guardian stuff... and we share some great realizations! Also Dovu announces pre-ordering of future End of Life Vehicle (ELV) credits in India, which support eco-friendly vehicle recycling by incentivizing scrapping centers to meet environmental standards, with each credit representing one ELV and including government validation and detailed traceability.

3. Calaxy Adding Solana
Solana suggests that things like Venmo and PayPal would be great use cases for crypto, and Calaxy responds to let them know that this is already happening on Hedera! With their recent launch of ""send crypto via DMs"", Calaxy announces they will be adding support for Solana on their platform in a surprise to the Hedera community. Ultimately, it's exciting to see interoporability and this is a big win for both ecosystems. Plus we talk about Coinbases own ""send crypto via DMs"" feature and how it's different but also important.

4. “We Do Not Pump”
We talk about the infamous clip of Mance Harmon, Hedera co-founder, saying ""...we do not pump and we never will..."" and how it's resurfaced recently as altcoins begin their own respective pumps. Initially, this clip was taken to mean that HBAR would ""never pump"" but the community has learned that there's a different meaning behind this and a little more nuance is required. When watched in full context, in this clip on Reddit, you can see how this paints a pretty clear picture of Hedera's outlook on the retail crypto space.

5. Shayne Speaks at NYSE
This is the clip to show family members curious about crypto, but skeptical that crypto has any real world use cases. We now have the full recording of Shayne, CEO of the HBAR Foundation, giveing his presentation at the NYSE, giving an overview of some of the most critical real world successes that Hedera has brought to market. This is a very grounded approach to explaining Hedera and showcasing the capabilities... keep this one in your back pocket for the holidays!

6. Coupon Updates & News
We finally get some updates regarding the new 8112 coupon standard being ushered in by The Coupon Bureau and what we can expect in 2024. This includes information from a slide presentation that details new point-of-sale system integrations (including Toshiba) and tens of thousands of independent grocery stores and convenience stores. We also get a demo of the AutoStar POS leveraging the new 8112 coupons running on Hedera.

7. Leemon in the Swiss Alps
On a panel titled ""Layer 1 Superpowers: Consensus & Execution at Scale"", Hedera co-founder Leemon Baird will be speaking on the topic of opportunities and challenges Layer 1s are currently facing. The panel will take place in-front of an intimate circle of selected opinion leaders and investors in the truly private and unique setting of the Swiss Alps. During three days, opinion leaders and high-ranking representatives from governmental and supranational bodies, the private sector, academia, and decentralized organizations exchange their knowledge on digital assets, blockchain and traditional finance in various formats on- and off-stage.

8. I Miss Old Hedera Reddit
I get nostalgic for the early days of the Hedera subreddit community and talk through some of the issues I see unfolding with the over 30 thousand group that can sometimes stifle important discussion and topics. Now, I highly value /r/Hedera and see it as a great wealth of information, but it exists well within the ""Hedera bubble"" and it needs to break free!

9. HTS Meme Tokens
We talk about Hedera memecoins, why they're important and how discrediting them could be a disadvantage to the Hedera ecosystem. Sure, memecoins have risks and most end up worthless, but they act as a gateway for network adoption; an incredibly effective marketing tool. With recent conversations regarding the ""lack of marketing"" in Hedera, memecoins could be another tool at our disposal waiting to be used more openly...

10. You Forgot Hedera!
I have to give a shoutout to Hedera community member Zepzi for having an important article on Coindesk corrected. The article talks about some exciting things abrdn is doing, but what the article misses is the fact that abrdn is a Hedera governing council member and all these ""cool things"" are built on Hedera. The problem is that the article didn't even mention Hedera... this is a PR problem that continues for Hedera.