The new year begins with technological shocks. Starting with the topic of cybersecurity.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the virtual attack by the United States is on a gigantic scale and will be one of the key challenges facing the Biden administration. Several systems of government have been compromised. Microsoft itself announced that hackers had access to part of the source code of its programs (a secret as protected as the Coca-Cola formula).
The United States will have to invest heavily in renewing its main networks and until then it will have to live with a permanent crisis of confidence. The case is a lesson for other countries. In addition to the pandemic, they must curb the viralization of digital attacks.
Another shock is the rising value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin opened in 2020 and cost $ 7,000. On the first day of 2021, the value was $ 29,000 per unit.
Several factors explain this increase. One of them are institutional investors who buy stocks in the currency and companies like PayPal who are opening up to cryptocurrencies. Another is a technical problem. The supply of bitcoins is expected to decrease over time.
Another explanation is the return of unsuspecting investors who fled cryptocurrencies since the collapse of 2018 and 2019. Bitcoin is once again the subject of family dinners and holiday celebrations. It is good to be careful.
In Brazil, the central bank has an active study group on cryptocurrencies. The institution’s president said in an interview with Bloomberg in September that central bank digital currency (CBDC) is a trend. One of the measures assessed by the group is the possible creation of a Brazilian stablecoin that is constructed to digitally reflect the value of the real.
In Germany, for example, one of the country’s oldest banks, the BVDH, launched its stable coin linked to the euro on the market in 2020.
Another problem for our country is the implementation of 5G. This will be the key year for that.
There will also be the challenge of applying the General Data Protection Act. In August the penalties of the law become applicable. In this area, the discussion on specific data protection laws for the public security sector should also gain strength.
A personal novelty is that the Institute of Technology and Society (ITS) has worked with the organization RadicalxChange (RxC) to conduct studies on the use of square voting in Brazil.
RxC was founded from the book “Radical Markets” by Eric Posner and Glen Weyl (who lived in Brazil) and proposed a new model of collective decision-making known as “square voting”. This model can be more representative and allow reorganization of different types of institutions and possibly democracy itself.
One small experiment that ITS suggests is to use the model to determine the voting order of the legislative houses in Brazil such as city councils and legislative assemblies. It’s a small step, but with enormous potential for transformation.
Among all the problems we have to deal with in 2021, boredom won’t be one of them.
reader
Pay for everything with paper money
It is already the consolidation of Pix as a digital means of payment in Brazil
More and more central banks are interested in issuing their own stablecoin
PRESENT LINK: Did you like this column? The subscriber can release five free hits of each link per day. Just click the blue F below.