Thanks to everyone who joined our Community Call on February 28th at 16:00 UTC in our Discord server. We had a great time answering your questions, and hearing more from our community member of the month.
If you couldn’t make it, or just want to catch up on what we talked about, you can find the recording of the session here. This blog will summarize the most important topics and announcements we covered.
Could you share with us what you’ve been working on in the last month?
Luke: The biggest change that people will be aware of is the Invite Program. This is where you can log into your Incentive Account and find your invite code, which you can then give to friends and contacts. When they use that code to register, you’ll earn some extra Minima.
And I’m happy to share that just today we improved the UI/UX on that one making it even easier for people to share their code, and for invites to register with a code. When using the link to register, the form will be pre-populated with the invite code making it a lot smoother to register with it.
On top of that, I’ve also been working on the Ambassador program, and you might have noticed some changes on our Discord Server already. Those are all part of getting it set up, full details will be coming soon.
Barry: We’ve seen some more tickets coming through our support, so I’ve been helping Minimalists get set up with their nodes, and resolve any issues. On top of that, I’ve been working in the background on the commercial side, promoting Minima and getting us ready for the exchange launches later this year.
Naomi: One more update from my side, since people have been asking for Merch, we’ve now opened our Merch store so you can run your node in style.
Are there any interesting trends you’ve observed in crypto in the last month?
Luke: It was interesting to see the further march of traditional companies, and financial institutions into crypto. The New York Stock Exchange registered a Trademark for trading NFTs, and banks like JP Morgan entered the Metaverse with a lounge in Decentraland. We also see more brands jumping into the space.
Barry: Not specifically in the last month, but definitely recently the conversations around decentralization are becoming more important. And the censorship-resistant properties that come with that. And as more regulation is coming into the space, a lot of the chains that are decentralized in name only (DINO) will come under the hammer. True decentralization means true censorship resistance, and that is at the core of our purpose.
Congratulations and a huge thanks to our community member of the month, who has been tirelessly helping new Minimalists onboard in our telegram channel: BearABull.
Could you quickly introduce yourself?
BearAbull/Michael: I’m Michael, I’m from the UK. I first came across Minima roughly six months ago, randomly on Twitter. So I followed and later went back to it, digging into what it is you actually do. From thereon I really became impressed with what you had going on and wanted to get involved.
Have you been involved in crypto & blockchain before or was Minima the first touchpoint?
BearAbull/Michael: It was March 2017 when I first had a Bitcoin transaction sent to me. And then I started researching and looking into different projects. Over the coming years, I got attached to some projects a bit too much, and unfortunately, they didn’t do what they had set out to do leading to constant disappointment for me. So I started focusing more on the trading aspect until I came across Minima. And now I’m back to really believing in a project again. It’s been a while since I felt that way about any crypto project.
What were the things you looked for when researching these projects?
BearAbull/Michael: More or less adoption really. The decentralization aspect has only in the last year become increasingly important and I believe that Minima fits all of that. To see the adoption we need, I think there is only one way and that is mobile-native.
What kind of things would you like to see built on Minima?
BearAbull/Michael: I was a bit too late for the dot-com when that happened. With Minima comes the possibility to do things like intellectual property better in a way that hasn’t been possible in the past. I’d like to believe that eventually, I will come up with an idea for a dApp. One thing potentially for me would be communications platforms. I deleted all my Social Media Accounts a few years ago because I don’t agree with the data harvesting done through Big Tech. That’s where I believe that decentralization will bring us into the future.
One of the big topics this month have unfortunately been hacks. Those that happened, and finding out about perpetrators from previous hacks reaching back as far as 2016. Have you ever been impacted by a hack or scam?
Luke: Has anyone heard of an exchange called Mt Gox? It was a famously hacked exchange, and unfortunately, I lost some Bitcoin in that hack. Just last week, I received an email from the Japanese legal team representing people who try to get coins back; all these years later. That was the first time a hack had a big impact on me directly and it taught me some lessons on looking after myself.
Barry: I’ve never been personally impacted by a hack. I’ve seen it happen to people around me and taken on board that I need to take care of my personal security. When you start going down the crypto rabbit hole, it’s a steep learning curve. And when you do, it’s important to take care of your own keys, and make sure you know how to protect these precious things. It’s very easy to become complacent and confirm things with your MetaMask without really knowing what you agree to. So you have to be careful out there.
What are you doing to stay safe?
Barry: I think everyone holding crypto should have a hardware wallet. There are various degrees of security on these wallets but I believe that the clunkier and harder it is to transact, the better. You don’t want to make it too easy even for yourself to do. I also use security keys for my computer and my telephone. I also removed all phone resets from accounts because that’s a common attack vector for SIM swap attacks. I’m using 2-FA wherever I can.
Luke: In my case, I was being the example for my friends on how to not do things. That lesson taught me to take my security much more seriously, including not leaving my assets on exchanges. That’s always risky because you might never get them back if something happens.
I also make sure that there is a division between your normal online persona, the one that’s tied to your banking and physical self, and your crypto persona. So that if one is compromised it has no impact on the one in the other world.
Barry: And another thing to consider is that it’s not always external forces working against you. Sometimes it’s also just people losing their passwords and access codes. It starts internally.
Luke: For tech-savvy people like on this call it’s probably all very familiar, but as we’re seeing exchanges and other crypto companies reaching more out to those who aren’t. When you do hear friends and family speak about crypto and blockchain, do them a favor and make them aware of all the cybersecurity risks that exist in the space and how they can stay safe.
What do you think will the future look like, is it multi-chain or cross-chain where projects bridge between different chains?
Barry: Bridges are great. They serve a great purpose, but they are ultimately a vulnerability as we’ve seen with the recent wormhole exploit; which is very worrying. Speaking to the multi-chain universe; in the last years, we’ve seen many projects launch with different goals they are trying to achieve. Some are about tps, others about cheap fees. But most have done so by sacrificing decentralization. I do think there is going to be more than one chain. It’s also down to the user and what they want.
Luke: There is also a possibility that chains will serve different purposes. There might be one that’s used primarily for data transfer, another one for value.
Barry: At Minima we’re working on building a trustless, decentralized network that can be used by anyone regardless of where they are, their status, or their financial situation. It’s open to everyone and everyone is equal.
Thanks to everyone who joined our call, and for all the questions asked. You can listen to the recording here.