Blockchain and Web3 E-Book

Winston Ma

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 551

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

An in-depth and authoritative treatment of one of the most pressing topics of our time In Blockchain and Web3: Building the Cryptocurrency, Privacy, and Security Foundations of the Metaverse, two tech and finance experts deliver a comprehensive and accessible guide to the present and future of blockchain technology and how it will form the foundation of a new, better internet. To support a concept as bold as the Metaverse, we need several orders of magnitude more powerful computing capability, accessible at much lower latencies, across a multitude of devices and screens. You'll discover how blockchain can accelerate data flow, exchange, and transactions to create and transfer value around the world and, at the same time, how it can be used to protect user data privacy and security with decentralized web infrastructures. The book also includes: * Discussions of how sovereign governments are entering the blockchain fray and how their entry, especially with CBDC digital currency, shapes the conversations around Web3 * Explorations of whether we will ever realize the holy grail of blockchain tech: interoperability to compete with Big Tech platforms Discussion of new security and privacy issues rising from the intersection of Blockchain, Web3 and Metaverse.A fascinating and eye-opening treatment of the past, present, and future of blockchain and the role it will play on the internet and metaverse, Blockchain and Web3 is a truly original and engaging discussion of a timely and critical topic.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Foreword

Great Leap Forward into Web3

The Opportunities and Challenges of Metaverse

Blockchain: The Building Blocks of a Trusted Metaverse

Acknowledgments

Winston Ma

Ken Huang

About the Authors

Winston Wenyan Ma, CFA & Esq.

Ken Huang

Preface

Terminology in This Book

Part I: Mega Convergence of Digital Technologies in Metaverse

Part II: Blockchain Breakthroughs

Part III: Three-Way War among Open Metaverse, Big Tech Walled Gardens, and Sovereign States

PART I: Mega Convergence of Digital Technologies in Metaverse

CHAPTER 1: Metaverse: Convergence of Techand Business Models

Metaverse, Omniverse, and Human Co-Experience

Big Tech vs. Web3

Seven Layers of the Technology Stack

Business Models Converging in Metaverse

Building a Better Internet for the Creator Economy

CHAPTER 2: Blockchain, the Backbone of Web3

Basic Blockchain Concepts

Blockchain's Four Key Components

Mega Convergence of Data Technologies

Blockchain and Cybersecurity

Five Challenges of Blockchain Adoption and Possible Solutions

Why Blockchain Is Essential for Metaverse

PART II: Blockchain Breakthroughs Set the Transaction, Privacy, and Security Foundation for the Digital Economy

CHAPTER 3: Cryptocurrencies and Tokenomics

Virtual Lands, Virtual Currencies

Why Metaverse Needs Crypto and Blockchain-Based Transactions

Bitcoin: The Beginning of Cryptocurrency and Trust

Ethereum: Smart Contract Execution Platform

Bitcoin versus Web3 (Pure Decentralization vs. Modified Decentralization)

Visa and Mastercard: Tokenomics Going Mainstream

Metaverse Outlook: Crypto Beyond Currencies

CHAPTER 4: DeFi (Decentralized Finance): Bankless Metaverse

Fintech 2.0: DeFi vs. CeFi

Governance Tokens and Revenue Sources

Stablecoins: Bridging DeFi and CeFi

Layered Protocols and DeFi Security

Bumpy Road to Mass Adoption

Conquering New Territory: DeFi + NFT, Game, and Social Network

CHAPTER 5: NFTs, Creator Economy, and Open Metaverse

2021 – The Year of the NFT

Co-Evolution of Art and Tech

NFT and Generative Art

Creator Economy: Beyond the Bored Apes

Going Mainstream with Brands and Fashion

Challenges to the NFT Metaverse

CHAPTER 6: Blockchain Gaming in Metaverse

From Gaming into 3D Interactive Metaverse

Tech Convergence, Media Convergence

Epic Games and Fortnite

Roblox Human Co-Experience

P2E Blockchain Gaming – GameFi with NFT

Blockchain Gaming: Gaming First? Crypto First?

Gaming, the Foundation of Metaverse

CHAPTER 7: Metaverse Privacy: Blockchain vs. Big Tech

Privacy in a Parallel Digital Universe

Future Data Privacy Model in Metaverse

WEF Data Governance Model

Zero-Knowledge Proof and Secure Multiparty Computation

Homomorphic Encryption and Federated Learning

NFT “Cookies”: When Web3 Tech Meets Web2.0 Legacy

Surveillance Economy and Dystopian Society

CHAPTER 8: Metaverse Security

Blockchain and Metaverse: Marriage in Heaven?

Identity in Metaverse: Wild Wild West?

Metaverse Data Security: Chronic Pain

Smart Contract Security: Maybe Not So Smart

Ransomware Attack in Metaverse: Is It Possible?

Supply Chain Software Risks: A Real Danger?

Quantum Computing: Challenges and Opportunities

Extended Reality (XR): Novel Security Risks

PART III: Three-Way War among Open Metaverse, Big Tech Walled Gardens, and Sovereign States

CHAPTER 9: Public Crypto, Government CBDC, and Big Tech Coin

Three-Way Currency War in Metaverse(s)

China's e-CNY Push at 2022 Winter Olympics

Crackdown on the World's Largest Crypto Market

Digital Rupee, Digital Ruble, and Britcoin

US Bellwether: CBDC R&D and Crypto Regulation

US–China Consensus: Stablecoins in the Regulatory Spotlight

Big Tech Coin: The Rise (and Fall) of Libra

CHAPTER 10: Web3 Creator Economy on Blockchain

Constitution DAO and Web3 Governance

Redesign Corporations in the Metaverse

YGG and Open Metaverse vs. Big Tech Platforms

Challenge 1: Interoperability and the “Internet of Blockchains”

Challenge 2: State-Backed Metaverse

Challenge 3: Will Web3 Startups Become New “Big Techs”?

Creator-Verse: Future Creator Economy

Glossary (alphabetical)

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 4

Table 4.1 DeFi vs. CeFi

Chapter 5

Table 5.1 Differences between Fungible and Non-Fungible Tokens

Table 5.2 Co-Evolution of Tech and Art

Table 5.3 Different Industry Ecosystems at Different Phases of Art History...

Chapter 10

Table 10.1 Unprecedented Gaming M&A and Partnership Transactions in 2022...

Table 10.2 Monopoly Power by Web3 Dominant Players

List of Illustrations

Preface

Figure 1 Ukraine's Vice PM Tweeted Crypto Wallet Addresses for Donations

Figure 2 Ukraine's Vice PM Urged Crypto Exchanges to Sabotage Russian Users...

Chapter 1

Figure 1.1 Big Techs' (Different) Visions for the Metaverse

Figure 1.2 Personal Data – Key Resource for the Digital Economy

Figure 1.3 From Basic Internet to Web3 (Token Economy)

Figure 1.4 The Seven-Layer Architecture for Metaverse

Figure 1.5 Meta – AI, AR/VR, Big Data, Social Network, and UGC Converging...

Figure 1.6 Roblox – 3D Communication, Social Network, AR/VR, and NFT Converg...

Figure 1.7 Soul – Social Network, AI, and Digital Coin Converging

Figure 1.8 Loot – NFTs, Creative Ideas, Art, Derivatives, and Games Convergi...

Figure 1.9 SocialFi – Social Network, Game, Finance, Payments, and NFTs Conv...

Figure 1.10 The Metaverse “Creator Economy”

Figure 1.11 Users Controlling Data Privacy, Security, and Value in Metaverse

Chapter 2

Figure 2.1 Blockchain's Four Key Components

Figure 2.2 Public Key Encryption in Bitcoin Transaction

Figure 2.3 Blockchain Converging with AI, Cloud, and IOT

Figure 2.4 Ethereum Scaling at Three Layers

Figure 2.5 Blockchain Technology Empowers Metaverse

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1 Historic Price of Bitcoin

Figure 3.2 Key Milestone Events of Bitcoin

Figure 3.3 Blockchain Myths vs. Reality

Figure 3.4 Market Cap of Major Cryptocurrencies (2013–2022)

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1 DeFi Innovation vs. CeFi Establishment

Figure 4.2 Total Value Locked in DeFi System (March 2022)

Figure 4.3 Wall Street Embraces DeFi

Figure 4.4 Decentralized DeFi Players Emerging

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1 Major NFT Projects (by the end of 2021)

Figure 5.2 Example of Sharing Income from a Digital Artwork

Figure 5.3 Amateur Creators (instead of Professionals) Dominate Metaverse...

Figure 5.4 NFT example – The Creator Evolution Timeline

Chapter 6

Figure 6.1 1.3 Billion Gamers, Globally

Figure 6.2 Gaming Is the Next Social Network

Figure 6.3 GameFi Empowers Free Trading of In-Game Cryptos

Figure 6.4 Axie Infinity's P2E Ecosystem

Figure 6.5 Axie Infinity Popular in Emerging Markets

Figure 6.6 Gaming Is the New Technology Paradigm

Chapter 7

Figure 7.1 Different Degree of Privacy Protection of Four Governance Models...

Figure 7.2 Metaverse Privacy and Governance Reference Model

Figure 7.3 Leading Privacy-Preserving Computing Methodologies

Figure 7.4 Zero-Knowledge Proof Algorithm Illustration

Figure 7.5 How Homomorphic Encryption Works

Figure 7.6 Federated Learning Architecture

Chapter 8

Figure 8.1 The CIA of Blockchain

Figure 8.2 Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)

Figure 8.3 Creators of CyptoPunks Apologize for V1 NFT Sales

Figure 8.4 Illustration of Ransomware

Figure 8.5 Illustration of AR/VA/MR/XR

Figure 8.6 XR Smart Hardware Market Grows Rapidly Post-Covid

Chapter 9

Figure 9.1 Crypto-Based Payments link Virtual and Physical Worlds

Figure 9.2 Three-Way Currency War in Metaverse

Figure 9.3 How Is DCEP Designed?

Figure 9.4 Timeline of China's Digital RMB

Figure 9.5 Stablecoin Empowers Meta Empire

Chapter 10

Figure 10.1 DAOs Formed for Various Purposes

Figure 10.2 Corporations vs. DAOs in Creator Economy

Figure 10.3 Smart Contracts Expand the Implementation of DAOs

Figure 10.4 Internet of Blockchains – Cosmos IBC Hubs and Zones

Figure 10.5 Metaverse-related Trademarks Mushroomed in China

Figure 10.6 BSN – The State-Backed Network

Figure 10.7 Five Major Parts of BSN Framework

Figure 10.8 State-backed Metaverse Infrastructure has “3C” Advantages...

Figure 10.9 The Three Waves of “Creator Economy”

Figure 10.10 Game Value Shift – Top-down vs. Bottom-up

Figure 10.11 Evolution of the Decentralized Web, Web1.0 to Web3

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Foreword

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Preface

Begin Reading

Glossary (alphabetical)

Index

End User License Agreement

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Praise for Blockchain and Web3

“A thoughtful guide to the role blockchain and crypto assets play in the world-changing internet transformation – and how one accelerates the other.”

— Anthony Scaramucci, Founder & Managing Partner of SkyBridge

“Provides a colorful account of how things like gaming, blockchain, NFTs, AR/VR, DAOs, and DeFi have converged and ultimately presented to us this whole package called metaverse.”

— Clay Lin, Chief Information Security Officer(CISO), World Bank Group

“Ma and Huang provide the essential handbook on the transformative power of Web 3 – taking you on a ride from the basic fundamentals of the blockchain protocols to the vast possibilities of the metaverse – and the immense impact it could bring. An educational and entertaining must-read for anyone interested in the next, programmable and immersive, web.”

— Lila Tretikov, deputy Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Microsoft

“An essential breakdown of the most important recent developments in the blockchain space. Unlike many other writers, Ma and Huang look beyond mere financial speculation to uncover the true productive potential of blockchains, smart contracts, DAOs, DeFi, the metaverse, and more.”

— Neel Mehta, Author of “Bubble or Revelation?: The Future of Bitcoin, Blockchains, and Cryptocurrencies”

“A remarkable convergence of digital economy with blockchain and Web3, depicting the true merits of the metaverse in relinquishing the impending daunted horizons of the information technology.”

— Mehdi Paryavi DEA®, Chairman, the International Data Center Authority (IDCA)

“A clear picture of the complex ecosystem that enables the next-generation internet. Readers will become “Web3 smart” netizens, educated participants, and even adept game changers.”

— William Zhang, Security Architecture Lead, World Bank Group

“Provides a valuable window into metaverse and covers the important building blocks for a trusted metaverse.”

— Yale Li, Chairman, Cloud Security Alliance – Greater China Region (CSA GCR)

“Metaverse, Web3, and blockchain are among the cutting-edge technologies of the new digital economy. Focused on security, privacy, and data governance, this book discusses the paramount aspects of how these new technologies are used in the real world.”

— Yao Qian, Ex-Head of China's Digital Yuan Effort, now Director of the Science and Technology Supervision Bureau of China Securities Regulatory Commission

WINSTON MA

KEN HUANG

BLOCKCHAIN AND WEB3

BUILDING THE CRYPTOCURRENCY, PRIVACY, AND SECURITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE METAVERSE

This edition first published 2022

Copyright © 2022 by Winston Ma and Ken Huang. All rights reserved.

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The right of Winston Ma and Ken Huang to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.

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To Angela – I love you dearly.

– Winston Ma

To Queenie Ma, Grace Huang, and Jerry Huang, for your unwavering love, support, and encouragement.

– Ken Huang

Foreword

Great Leap Forward into Web3

In September 2017, JPMorgan Chase (America's largest investment bank firm) CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin a “fraud.” “It's worse than tulip bulbs. It won't end well. Someone is going to get killed,” Dimon said. Now, its wealthiest clients can invest in the asset on the bank's own platform. The dramatic shift of JPMorgan is a significant milestone for the Bitcoin, as well as broad cryptocurrencies, as an asset class.

Various financial institutions like JPMorgan, both on Wall Street and in international governments, have had a very complicated relationship with cryptocurrency as a whole since Bitcoin (together with blockchain technology) first crashed onto the world stage 10 years ago. But as digital finance has accelerated by the pandemic, institutions actively explore new avenues to get involved in the crypto space. This institutional adoption has benefited not only Bitcoin but also the entire crypto asset industry, helping break barriers all across the board.

For example, Morgan Stanley, which has the country's largest wealth management unit with nearly $5 trillion in assets under management and advisement, has created Bitcoin products on its platform for ultra-high-net-worth investors. U.S. Bank, which is part of U.S. Bancorp, the fifth-largest bank in America announced a new cryptocurrency custody product. Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks have started looking into how to use bitcoin as collateral for cash loans to institutions.

Going beyond crypto investments and trading, Bank of America recently released a major research report, stating that they see a massive opportunity in the Metaverse, and that it could spur the wider adoption of the crypto industry. One of their top strategists said that he expects large traditional financial companies to enter the space once crypto assets gain wider adoption and usage in the metaverse, and it will finally cause cryptocurrencies to start being used widely for transactions.

In short, Bitcoin, crypto assets, and decentralized technologies (including blockchain) are much more than its financial origins, and this is becoming apparent around the world. Instead, it's about a new, better internet known as Web3. Digital assets and Web3 projects are radically changing how we invest, strategize business models, and deploy products and services. These projects have not only disrupted the thinking of institutional and professional investors, but also have inspired global brands and entrepreneurs to develop new products and services for both the physical and virtual worlds.

Blockchain is the backbone of Web3, which may be the next major platform in computing after the World Wide Web (Web1.0) and mobile internet (Web2.0). It is poised to revolutionize every industry and function, from finance and health care to media entertainment and real estate, creating trillions in new value – and the radical reshaping of society.

Ma has produced a terrific and highly accessible field guide to understanding how the digital economy is accelerating in the Web3 metaverse. A nationally certified software programmer as early as 1994, Ma has published many books on global tech revolution, including The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy (2020) and The Digital War – How China's Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain, and Cyberspace (2021). For both, I made similar book recommendations to major financial institutions, asset managers, hedge funds, as well as other key players and stakeholders.

As an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global digital economy, Ma addressed the crypto-based Web3 metaverse from various perspectives, together with his co-author Ken Huang, a blockchain security expert. The authors’ extensive, hands-on involvement in the deals and operations of this mystical world lends vibrancy as they recount practical, illustrative examples in a non-pedantic style. Together, their unique perspectives and differing approaches have produced a nuanced roadmap to the little-known past and exciting prospects of blockchain internet.

Sometimes a book sheds light on a little-known but powerful force. Sometimes it is timely because it catches the world at an inflection point. Rarely does a book accomplish both. With the arrival of Blockchain and Web3 from Winston Ma and Ken Huang, we have that rare beast: a book that, against the backdrop of the world-altering coronavirus epidemic, provides a thoughtful guide to the role blockchain and crypto assets play in the world-changing internet transformation – and how one accelerates the other.

Anthony Scaramucci

Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge

The Opportunities and Challenges of Metaverse

Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation across the globe, from virtual meetings and electronic signatures to digital payments and remote supervision, just to name a few. In the meantime, another strong force is shaping up the next-generation internet, or Web3. We often hear the ingredients of Web3: blockchain, decentralized finance or DeFi, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and most recently the metaverse. We hear the opportunities as well as challenges these emerging technologies bring about to individuals, organizations, and regulators, and become anxious every day.

As a fast-evolving field, Web3 and its enabling technologies are developing very rapidly. This makes it hard for people to stay current and make informed decisions as to how to take advantage of the opportunities, how to manage the risks, or simply, how to participate.

Luckily, Winston Ma and Ken Huang have provided readers of this book a very detailed picture of the current Web3 landscape. Having been practitioners in this space for many years, Winston and Ken give us a vivid account of the major events and players in each of the fields in the Web3 ecosystem, from technology innovation, new business models, participation by established companies whose current business may be disrupted, the various types and stances of cybersecurity hacks, to reactions from government regulators. This holistic view is beneficial for people to understand the development of this dynamic and complex ecosystem before they can take informed actions.

The year 2021 was marked as the year of the NFTs, when it became a buzzword for the masses and brought us landmark deals worth multimillion dollars. But many people do not understand what exactly they are getting into when they purchase an NFT generated from things like digital art. The recent story of the avid NFT collector, who paid $2.9 million for an NFT in 2021 but was not able to even get a bid close to $10,000 a year later, shows that people have different perceptions of what an NFT represents and what its intrinsic value is. Chapter 5 of the book provides the audience with useful information on this topic.

As Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021, and Microsoft acquired gaming company Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in early 2022, many are puzzled about the value proposition of the metaverse, and what it means for them. The book provides a colorful account of how things like gaming, blockchain, NFTs, AR/VR, DAOs, and DeFi have converged and ultimately presented to us this whole package called metaverse. The chapters also present the challenges and opportunities that metaverse faces, prompting the audience to think about what these mean for their organization and for themselves.

Congratulations to Winston and Ken on a comprehensive and easy-to-read book that offers so much information and presents so many intriguing open questions for the audience to ponder and act on. Their research will elevate the level of understanding of Web3 by the blockchain and fintech communities and trigger actions that will help shape the next-generation internet for the benefit of humanity!

Clay Lin

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

World Bank Group

Blockchain: The Building Blocks of a Trusted Metaverse

Metaverse was predicted 30 years ago in Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash, where people interact as avatars within a high-definition virtual environment projected onto special goggles. Today, new digital technologies like blockchain will gradually join up and form the building blocks of the future metaverse, which could be the next generation of internet capable of transmitting 3D holograms and a lot more.

However, there are numerous potential obstacles – from technological and economical to political, security, and many other aspects – we must overcome to pave the way of the metaverse. From cloud computing's perspective, the majority of metaverse platform components will have to run on a secured cloud environment, which enforces zero trust and embraces blockchain innovations such as privacy preserving computing, decentralized storage, and decentralized identity as described in this book.

This book provides a valuable window into metaverse and covers the important building blocks for a trusted metaverse. Particularly, it explains blockchain as a critical technology to converge with metaverse. Cryptocurrencies, DeFi, NFT, gaming tokens, and other usage scenarios are discussed extensively in the book. Security and privacy have always been challenges to the internet and the digital world, and fortunately, they are paid full attention in the book as well. I have no doubt that you would enjoy state-of-the-art knowledge and insights on the metaverse from the book, whether you are a businessperson, tech investor, technical professional, government official, or student at college.

The authors of this book are senior experts Ken Huang and Winston Ma in the industry and academia. For many years, I have been very impressed with Ken's research leadership as VP of Research at CSA GCR. Being a recognized technology leader in blockchain field, Ken has published many standards, white papers, and training contents. In 2021, he won the award of “60 Blockchain Leaders” in China. I truly believe that no one else could share the convergence of blockchain and metaverse better than Ken and Winston.

Happy Reading,

Yale Yuhang Li

Foreign Member, Ukrainian Academy of Engineering Sciences

Chairman, Cloud Security Alliance – Greater China Region

(CSA GCR)

Seattle, Washington USA

Acknowledgments

Winston Ma

In the middle of 1990s, the early days of China's tech and internet boom, I majored in electronic materials and semiconductor physics at Fudan University in Shanghai. Aiming for graduate studies in the United States, I diligently studied English for the TOEFL and GRE exams, and I also took a national exam for a professional certificate that is no longer relevant two decades later – “software programmer.”

Back then, China had so few software programmers that the central government organized national qualification exams to encourage the young generation to study computer science. Sensing the tremendous potential of China's tech revolution, I sat in a one-day exam to solve coding problems in C, Fortran, and Pascal languages before I became a “nationally certified software programmer.” Today, however, those programming languages are “old” for coding, and there is no need for such a national exam because numerous college students graduate from computer science majors, driven by the mobile internet boom started last decade and the Web3 revolution emerging post-Covid-19 pandemic.

That's why my 2022 book focuses on Blockchain and Web3, after my pentalogy on China's digital revolution and tech power in the previous five years, because we are entering into a new global era of digital transformation. A book on such a complex and fast-moving topic would not have been possible if I had not been blessed to partner with an industry leader like Ken, who has over 20 years of cybersecurity and blockchain technology experience in cloud security, identity and access management, and PKI and date encryption.

*********

My deepest thanks go to Dr. Rita and Gus Hauser, the New York University (NYU) School of Law, and John Sexton, the legendary dean of NYU Law School when I was pursuing my LL.M degree in Comparative Law. My PE/VC investing, investment banking, and practicing attorney experiences all started with the generous Hauser scholarship in 1997. During his decade-long tenure as the president of NYU, John kindly engaged me at his inaugural President's Global Council as he developed the world's first and only GNU (global network university). My NYU experience was the foundation for my future career as a global professional working in the cross-border business world.

My sincere appreciation to both Mr. Lou Jiwei and Dr. Gao Xi-qing, the inaugural chairman and president of China Investment Corporation (CIC), for recruiting me at its inception. One of the most gratifying aspects of being part of CIC is the opportunity to be exposed to a wide range of global financial markets' new developments. The unique platform has brought me to the movers and shakers everywhere in the world, including Silicon Valley projects that linked global tech innovation with the Chinese market.

The same thanks go to Chairman Ding Xue-dong and President Li Ke-ping, who I reported to at CIC in recent years. Similarly, thanks to Linda Simpson, senior partner at the New York headquarters of Davis Polk & Wardwell, and Santosh Nabar, managing director at the New York headquarters of JPMorgan. Those two former bosses on Wall Street gave me a foundation to develop a career in the global capital markets.

Many thanks to Mr. Jing Liqun, president of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and formerly the supervisory chairman of CIC. He educated me about the works of Shakespeare, as well as guiding me professionally. The readings of Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear improved my English writing skills, and hopefully the writing style of this book is more interesting and engaging than my previous finance textbook Investing in China.

For such a dynamic book topic, I benefited from the best market intelligence from a distinctive group of institutional investors, tech entrepreneurs, and business leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF), especially the fellows at the Council on Long-Term Investing, the Council for Digital Economy and Society, and the Young Global Leaders (YGL) community. Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, has a tremendous vision of a sustainable, shared digital future for the world, which is an important theme of this book.

The WEF Council on Long-Term Investing has gathered the most forward-thinking leadership from major sovereign wealth funds and public pensions, and I learned so much from the dynamic discussions with them for this book's coverage on the sovereign digital currency. They include Alison Tarditi (CIO of CSC, Australia), Adrian Orr (CEO of NZ Super, New Zealand), Gert Dijkstra (chief strategy of APG, Netherlands), Hiromichi Mizuno (CIO of GPIF, Japan), Jagdeep Singh Bachher (CIO of UC Regents, USA), Jean-Paul Villain (director of ADIA, UAE), Lars Rohde (CEO of ATP, Denmark), Lim Chow Kiat (CEO of GIC, Singapore), Reuben Jeffery (CEO of Rockefeller & Co., USA), and Scott E. Kalb (CIO of KIC, Korea).

My gratitude goes to many other outstanding friends, colleagues, practitioners, and academics who provided expert opinions, feedback, insights, and suggestions for improvement. For anecdotes, pointers, and constant reality checks, I turned to them because they were at the front line of industry and business practices. I would particularly like to thank my partners at CloudTree Ventures (a VC fund focusing on the technologies driving interactive entertainment and the metaverse), Trevor Barron, Jeffery Schoonover, and Adam Smith, as well as the friends at Capgemini, where I am a member of its advisory board, including Cornelia Schaurecker (Global Group Director AI & Big Data of Vodafon), Lila Tretikov (deputy CTO of Microsoft), and Mishka Dehghan (SVP Strategy, Product, & Solutions Engineering of T-Mobile).

On its journey from a collection of ideas and themes to a coherent book, the manuscript went through multiple iterations and a meticulous editorial and review process by the John Wiley team led by the book commissioning editor Gemma Valler. Our long-term collaboration started with my 2016 book, China's Mobile Economy. During the pandemic, we released The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy (2020) and The Digital War– How China's Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace (2021). The managing editor Purvi Patel and copyeditor Cheryl Ferguson contributed substantially to the final shape of the book. Special thanks to Gladys Ganaden for her design of the book cover and figures.

And last in the lineup but first in my heart, I thank my wife, Angela Ju-hsin Pan, who gave me love and support. You are a true partner in helping me frame and create this work. Thanks for your patience while I wrecked our weekends and evenings working on this book.

Ken Huang

At the end of 2016, I resigned from my role overseeing blockchain technology strategic research and fintech product development at Huawei. The main reason for my resignation is that decentralization technology and its associated innovation cannot happen inside Big Tech companies.

That is the main theme of this book. As I worked with my co-author, Winston Ma, to develop the contents of this book, it became even more clear that blockchain technology innovations will happen in a metaverse, led by many small startups.

I am very thankful for Winston Ma, who has come up with the initial idea of the book and developed the book contents as decentralization technology and tokenomics innovations have sped up during the global pandemic.

I am also very much indebted to Sally Gao, an alumna of McKinsey and Company, Chinese tech VC Sinovation Ventures, and Columbia University. She has contributed all figures of the book, created the Glossary section, and translated some of my contents from Chinese to English.

I certainly enjoyed long walks and deep discussions of Blockchain, DeFi, NFT, and Metaverse ideas with my daughter, Grace Huang, who is a product manager of PIMCO, an American investment management firm. This upcoming generation is promising, as lots of the good points from this book were the results of discussions with my daughter. Thank you to my wife, Queenie Ma, and my son, Jerry Huang (who is completing his master's degree and is also working as a teacher assistant for a blockchain course at Georgia Institute of Technology) for their love and encouragement as well as insightful discussions about the book.

I am also very grateful to the following individuals for forming my view of decentralization, blockchain security, privacy, DeFi, and metaverse applications in the past few years, including and in no particular order:

Michael Casey, chief content officer of CoinDesk, for insightful discussion on privacy and self-sovereign identity

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, for discussion on blockchain scaling solution, privacy, sharding, layer 2, and many other topics

Dr. Xiao Feng, chairman of Wanxiang Blockchain, for his support and comments on my previous book on blockchain security and continued discussion afterward

Dr. Yao Qian, ex-head of China's Digital Yuan (CBDC) Effort and now director of the Science and Technology Supervision Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, for many discussions on the original CBDC design and related issues and concerns

Professor Whitfield Diffie of Stanford University, for good discussions on cryptography and privacy

Professor Jim Waldo of Harvard, who taught me at the Harvard Kennedy School executive program on Cybersecurity: The Intersection of Policy and Technology

Clay Lin, CISO of World Bank Group, for many discussions on blockchain and his support for my previous book

Yale Lee, chair of Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)-GCR, for collaborative works on blockchain security white papers published by CSA

About the Authors

Winston Wenyan Ma, CFA & Esq.

Winston Ma is an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global digital economy. He is a co-founder and managing partner of CloudTree Ventures, a seed-to-early-growth-stage venture capital firm empowering interactive entertainment companies. He is currently the board chairman of Nasdaq-listed MCAA, a European tech SPAC, an advisory board member of Capgemini, and an adjunct professor at NYU Law School.

Most recently for 10 years, he was managing director and head of North America Office for China Investment Corporation (CIC), China's sovereign wealth fund. At CIC's inception in 2008, he was among the first group of overseas hires by CIC, where he was a founding member of both CIC's Private Equity Department and later the Special Investment Department for direct investing (head of CIC North America office 2014–2015). He had leadership roles in global investments involving financial services, technology (TMT), energy and mining sectors, including the setup of West Summit Capital, a cross-border growth capital fund in Silicon Valley – CIC's first overseas tech investment.

Prior to that, Ma served as the deputy head of equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, a vice president at JPMorgan investment banking, and a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

A nationally certified Software Programmer as early as 1994, Ma is the author of the books China's Mobile Economy (2016), Digital Economy 2.0 (2017 Chinese), The Digital Silk Road (2018 German), China's AI Big Bang (2019 Japanese), and Investing in China (2006). His new books are The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy (2020) and The Digital War – How China's Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain, and Cyberspace (2021).

Ma earned his MBA from the University of Michigan Ross Business School (Beta Gamma Sigma) and his Master of Law from the New York University School of Law (Hauser Global Scholar). He earned bachelor of science and bachelor of law degrees from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. He was selected a 2013 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum (WEF). In 2014 he received the NYU Distinguished Alumni Award.

Ken Huang

Ken Huang is CEO of DistributedApps and chair of Blockchain Security Working Group for Cloud Security Alliance in the Great China Region (CSA GCR). Over the past 18 years, he has worked on application security, identity access management, cloud security, and blockchain for the fintech industry and health care industry. He is a certified CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) since 2007 and authored a Blockchain Security Technical Guide, published by China Machine Press in 2018.

As CEO of DistributedApps, he provides cybersecurity consulting services on blockchain and AI for startup companies globally. Prepandemic, he has been nominated to judge blockchain and AI startup contests organized by Google, Softbank, and Stanford University in 2018. As part of W3C Credentials Community Group Member, he provided his comments for NIST 800-63 documents on identity management.

As chair of CSA GCR, he has worked with top security experts in the blockchain space to create more than 10 white papers or technical guides on blockchain security. As a devoted member of Cloud Security Alliance, he was a reviewer of Blockchains in the Quantum Era published February 2021. He was also the lead author of the Cloud Security Alliance document titled Crypto-Asset Exchange Security Guidelines published April 2021.

He is a blockchain advisor for Timeraiders.io, an NFT game project in the UK. He is also an advisor for KnownSec, a Hong Kong–based cybersecurity firm. In January 2021, he completed his Harvard Kennedy School Executive Program on Cybersecurity.

He has been invited to speak at numerous conferences globally covering blockchain, AI, and security, including Davos World Economic Forum, CoinDesk Consensus, IEEE, ACM, Worldbank, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Bank of China, and Huawei. His speeches on layers of new technology and their convergence during Davos WEF 2020 were widely reported in many Chinese crypto media and used as original input in the first two chapters of this book.

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The authors can be reached on Linkedin for comments and feedback on Blockchain and Web3: Building the Cryptocurrency, Privacy, and Security Foundations of the Metaverse.

Preface

For the vast majority of those watching the rapid rise of cryptocurrency (with blockchain), its emergence has been something of a curious novelty. The Russia–Ukraine war that started in February 2022 unexpectedly shines a spotlight on cryptocurrency, illustrating distract concepts like fast payment, decentralized network, and nonfungible token (NFT) in live, dramatic contexts.

In a March 2022 news article, Yahoo Finance noted that the Ukrainian government and nongovernmental organizations supporting the Ukrainian military effort have collectively raised $59.2 million from crypto donations. Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, stated that crypto donations are crucial, especially due to the fast turnaround time: “In times like these, response time is crucial. Crypto is playing a role to give us flexibility to respond really quickly to deliver the army's required supplies.” Crypto donations to Ukraine's government began to spike when Mykhalio Federov, Ukraine's vice prime minister, posted a Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet address via his Twitter, soliciting crypto donations worldwide (see Figure 1).

Crypto donations like Bitcoins and Ethereum tokens (including NFTs) have helped Ukrainians in a massive way by providing a source of monetary support in a secure fashion, from anywhere in the world to Ukrainians in urgent need. In March 2022, Ukraine government legalized the crypto sector as digital currency donations continue to pour in. It passed a law that creates a legal framework allow foreign and Ukrainian cryptocurrencies exchanges to operate legally. Banks will be allowed to open accounts for crypto companies. Although Ukraine did not make any cryptocurrency legal tender, “virtual assets” becomes legal assets.

Figure 1 Ukraine's Vice PM Tweeted Crypto Wallet Addresses for Donations

On crypto-based donations, Tom Robinson, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic's chief scientist, noted in a March 2022 CNBC article that cryptocurrencies also have the advantage of being suited toward international fundraising, due to their decentralized nature: “Cryptocurrency is particularly suited to international fundraising because it doesn't respect national boundaries and it's censorship-resistant – there is no central authority that can block transactions, for example, in response to sanctions.”

“No central authority”? Maybe. After the war broke out, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that the US would monitor cryptocurrencies as a channel (for Russia) to evade sanctions from the US and Western nations. The International Monetary Fund warned in a report that bitcoin could allow countries such as Russia to monetize energy resources, “some of which cannot be exported due to sanctions.” In April 2022, the US Treasury Department began to take action against companies in Russia's virtual currency mining industry, because “these companies help Russia monetize its natural resources.” (According to data from Cambridge University, Russia is the world's third-biggest destination for bitcoin mining.)

Figure 2 Ukraine's Vice PM Urged Crypto Exchanges to Sabotage Russian Users

Decentralized? We will see. (This book will address how “decentralized” the blockchain-based internet can be throughout all chapters.) Whereas Ukraine's vice prime minister tweeted crypto wallet addresses for donations, he also urged crypto exchanges to block the addresses of Russian users. “It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians but also to sabotage ordinary users,” he tweeted (see Figure 2).

One crypto exchange, DMarket, quickly responded to the calling. According to Axios reports, DMarket is a Ukrainian startup that sells NFTs and virtual items for games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. DMarket soon blocked new user registration from Russian and Belarus on its platform as a manner of protest against Russian invasion, even though approximately 30% of DMarket's customers are from these two countries. Besides the ban on new user registration, DMarket has also frozen assets of Russian and Belarussian users and prohibited transactions involving the Russian ruble.

The crypto community, however, regarded this as a controversial move. Many were greatly displeased with DMarket's actions, expressing via Twitter that Russian users have become the scapegoat caught in the middle of a war they did not cause. Other users have commented that DMarket's move to freeze Russian and Belarussian assets on their platform is stealing value from innocent users who are merely targeted due to their nationality. Furthermore, Twitter users have commented that DMarket's move is a violation of the idea of cryptocurrency and Web3, which heralds decentralization as a core value.

As the war between Russia and Ukraine rages on, it has brought into focus cryptocurrencies and their use. The public attention to the crypto assets is also fired up by the fact that year 2021 has been blockchain and crypto's biggest year ever. Bitcoin and Ethereum hit new all-time highs, NFTs rose from obscurity to front-page news, and we've seen more tech innovation, capital infusion, and institutional buy-in from major companies than ever before. Such crypto debate, however, is merely a tiny part of the confusion around blockchain and Web3, the next generation of the internet.

Terminology in This Book

Web3 advocates suggest blockchain and cryptocurrencies will play a key role in the future of the internet characterized by decentralization. For them, it is a world-changing opportunity to make a better version of the internet and wrest it away from the Big Techs like Facebook and Amazon. At the same time, Web3 has met strong pushback, mostly from voices that are fundamentally skeptical of crypto as a whole. Is Web3 the future, or a scam … or both?

The reality is that Web3 is hard to define, blockchain is often confused with bitcoin by many, and the integration of blockchain and Web3 is a nascent idea floated by a mix of buzz, optimism, confusion, theological battles, and pure speculation. As TV show anchor John Oliver put it, these concepts are about “everything you don't understand about money combined with everything you don't understand about computers.”

The term Metaverse was first coined in 1992 in Snow Crash, a book by Neil Stephenson. Bitcoin, a decentralized peer-to-peer electronic currency, emerged in 2008 as the first and now most popular cryptocurrency. As is the case with so many “tech terms,” capitalization is in flux. In this book, we use Metaverse as the macro concept virtual-reality-based successor to the internet, and metaverse as a general term much like saying “a virtual universe that, in theory, anyone could create.” We use Bitcoin to describe the concept or entire Bitcoin network, and bitcoin to describe the currency.

We put together this book to provide readers a comprehensive and deep dive into how the Web3 metaverse will be generated and built around the world. We dive into use cases that will impact our very existence – art, banking, gaming, payment, trading, music, social media, and more. It aims to provide a detailed guide distilling the complex, fast-moving ideas behind blockchain and Web3 into an easily digestible reference manual, showing what's really going on under the hood.

This book is organized as follows.

Part I: Mega Convergence of Digital Technologies in Metaverse

To support a concept as bold as the Metaverse, we need several orders of magnitude more powerful computing capability, accessible at much lower latencies, across a multitude of devices and screens. Blockchain, the backbone of Web3, is critical for the world awash with data.

Chapter 1: Metaverse – Convergence of Tech and Business Models

This chapter describes that the future of metaverse is built with seven layers of protocol like ISO internet standards, with blockchain technology at the heart of each layer to serve many functions, including governance protocol, incentive mechanism, global payment rail, trustless participation, and global immutable ledger for crucial activities in the metaverse. Value creation and distribution of data are being taken away from centralized actors (like Big Tech companies and sovereign nations) and put into the hands of decentralized groups of individuals.

Chapter 2: Blockchain, the Backbone of Web3

As the decentralized data technology, blockchain will be the foundation of the next generation internet – Web3. This chapter introduces blockchain's four key components: smart contract, public key encryption, consensus algorithm, and peer-to- peer networking. Then it covers the convergence of blockchain with other advanced digital technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), decentralized storage, AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity.

Part II: Blockchain Breakthroughs

Just like blockchain is (way) more than bitcoin, Web3 is expanding beyond its financial origins to become the new internet based on ownership and decentralization. The interplay among crypto, DeFi, NFT, gaming, and social work are driving more tech innovation and user cases in the blockchain-based creator economy.

Chapter 3: Cryptocurrencies and Tokenomics

If the growth of crypto as an asset forced everyone to pay attention to the multitrillion market capitalization of the crypto world in 2021, it is the growth of crypto beyond currencies that has the potential to reverberate across industries. This chapter introduces Bitcoin and Ethereum as the origin of cryptocurrencies before diving into more diverse tokens that are emerging in recent years. Diversification means more use cases, and with more use cases comes greater adoption. Because of this positive escalation effect, the crypto industry is branching out.

Chapter 4: DeFi (Decentralized Finance) – Bankless Metaverse

DeFi is the next frontier in finance for the decentralized metaverse. This chapter explains the governance tokens and revenue sources of DeFi, the security issues of layered protocols, and the challenges of DeFi mass adoption. In addition to compete and collaborate with “centralized finance” in traditional finance, DeFi is expanding into completely new territories, such as NFTs, games, and social networks.

Chapter 5: NFTs, Creator Economy, and Open Metaverse

NFTs are playing a major role in bringing blockchain to the mainstream. This chapter explains why NFTs have led to a digital renaissance taking place in the world of art and content creation. While the NFT market started initially with the digital art side, it is going to have broader applications in the creator economy. NFT will become a new tool for consumer businesses, at a time when the line between physical and virtual experiences is blurring. But the NFT market must overcome major challenges to succeed going forward, from speculation to mainstream adoption.

Chapter 6: Blockchain Gaming in Metaverse

This chapter examines how the gaming world, with the new addition of blockchain technologies, has already shown some key elements as to how the metaverse might evolve. Blockchain and digital assets represent the cutting-edge infrastructure level revolution within gaming. The crypto and blockchain technologies are set to disrupt the games and digital entertainment space in a profound way, as gaming content creation and in-game digital assets will broadly move onto the blockchain, as illustrated by play-to-earn (P2E) NFT models.

Chapter 7: Metaverse Privacy – Blockchain vs. Big Tech

Consumer data is going to be at the very heart of the metaverse, and the big tech companies' extensive data gathering in the metaverse will become an even bigger data privacy issue than today. This chapter discusses a few data governance models for metaverse applications, as well as new technologies that can be integrated to provide better privacy protection, including zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), secure multi-party computation, homomorphic encryption, and federated learning.

Chapter 8: Metaverse Security

Blockchain's encryption, immutability, and decentralization attributes make it a great choice for securing data. However, blockchain itself is not free of security risks. As illustrated by the identity security issue and other security topics in this chapter, any metaverse application faces two basic sets of security problems: familiar challenges technologists have been dealing with for decades, and brand new ones built specifically for metaverse settings. This chapter examines the latest cases of security breach in detail.

Part III: Three-Way War among Open Metaverse, Big Tech Walled Gardens, and Sovereign States

Just like in the context of digital currency, where a three-way competition among the cryptocurrencies, Big Tech tokens, and CBDCs (central bank digital currency) intensifies, for Web3 infrastructure, the open metaverse must compete with both Big Tech corporations and government-backed blockchain networks.

Chapter 9: Public Crypto, Government CBDC, and Big Tech Coin

This chapter explains why the crypto ecosystem must fight a currency war on two fronts. On one hand, the war against the financial establishment of governments, including the national CDBCs, which competes with cryptocurrencies for transactions in the Metaverse, and crypto regulations that limits the usage and trading of crypto assets. On the other hand, Big Tech companies such as Meta are trying to provide unprecedented expansion of financial products on a single platform, facilitated by Meta's own coin (Diem) and digital wallet (Novi).

Chapter 10: Web3 Creator Economy on Blockchain

This chapter investigates the opportunities and challenges around the concept of “open metaverse” that operates on open, permissionless, blockchain architecture. The open metaverse is facing a three-way competition with the Big Techs (who are starting to fold Web3 ideas into their centralized platforms), as well as sovereign states that provide permissioned blockchain infrastructure that's cheap and convenient. In the Web3 world, crypto, DeFi, NFTs, and more blockchain-based technologies are converging for a paradigm oriented around the users and their sovereignty: their identity, data, creation, and wealth.

PART IMega Convergence of Digital Technologies in Metaverse

To support a concept as bold as the Metaverse, we need several orders of magnitude more powerful computing capability, accessible at much lower latencies, across a multitude of devices and screens. Blockchain, the backbone of Web3, is critical for the world awash with data.

CHAPTER 1Metaverse: Convergence of Techand Business Models

Metaverse, Omniverse, and Human Co-Experience

Big Tech vs. Web3

Seven Layers of Technology Stack

Business Models Converging in Metaverse

Building a Better Internet for the Creator Economy

Metaverse, Omniverse, and Human Co-Experience

In October 2021, Facebook, the company of the world's largest (and beleaguered) social network announced that it would rebrand its corporate identity to “Meta” in order to double down on its commitment on the promise of a “Metaverse.” The Metaverse, as Meta describes it, “is a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences using technologies like virtual and augmented reality.” Subsequently, the founder Mark Zuckerberg announced, in his new capacity as the Meta CEO, that Instagram will soon enable users to display – and “hopefully” mint – NFTs, the nonfungible tokens on blockchains.

The social network will no longer define the future of Facebook (Meta). The Metaverse will. But what is the Metaverse, exactly?

The Metaverse is the convergence of two ideas that have been around for many years: virtual reality and a digital second life. To hear Tech CEOs like Zuckerberg talk about it, the Metaverse is the future of the internet. Or it's about virtual and augmented reality. Or it's a video game. Or maybe it's a deeply immersive version of Zoom (not sure if that would be more uncomfortable)? A virtual world that mirrors our own physical world?

The truth is that the Metaverse may encompass all the above, and it's best understood as the broad term to cover whatever is coming next for the internet. In addition to Facebook, a new generation of major tech, internet, and gaming companies have joined the bandwagon, and they have their own vision for the Metaverse (see Figure 1.1). For example:

Nvidia

, the Californian chipmaker, instead calls the Metaverse the Omniverse. Its platform is connecting 3D worlds into a shared virtual universe. Omniverse can be used for projects such as creating real-life simulations of buildings and factories. It could be the building blocks of the Metaverse. “We waste a whole bunch of things to overcompensate for the fact that we don't simulate. We want to simulate all factories in Metaverses, in this omniverse,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in an interview with CNBC.

Figure 1.1 Big Techs' (Different) Visions for the Metaverse

Source: Official websites of Meta, Nvidia, Roblox. Decrypt.co. Washington Post

Roblox Corporation

is a videogame platform that only went public in the year 2021. But in November the same year, it announced plans for a Metaverse that is built around its players. The company says it wants to create a virtual space where people can “come together within millions of 3D experiences to learn, work, play, create, and socialize.” Roblox refers to that as a “human co-experience,” a term indicating that the Metaverse is bigger than gaming.

Epic Games

has long been in the Metaverse. The company behind the video game Fortnite has become more than just a shooting game. The Epic/Fortnite platform allows gamers to participate in dance parties and virtual concerts, such as one it held for pop star Ariana Grande. “We don't see ‘Fortnite’ as

the

Metaverse,” says an executive of Epic Games, “but as a beautiful corner of the Metaverse.”

Meanwhile, the traditional Big Tech companies are also exploring the world of Metaverse, hoping to create new growth opportunities from their existing internet platforms, for example:

Google made a Metaverse statement with its latest tool Google Lens, which enables users to use a device's camera to capture an object. The technology then uses image recognition and Google's search system to describe what the object is and provide information about it. Such a system could one day be used with headsets in a metaverse.

Microsoft has started developing a series of “metaverse apps” to help business users of its Azure cloud computing service combine virtual and physical elements. “Metaverse is essentially about creating games,” said its CEO Satya Nadella, “It is about being able to put people, places, things [in] a physics engine and then having all the people, places, things in the physics engine relate to each other.”

Tencent, the social media and gaming giant in China, is reportedly entering the Metaverse, and experts say the virtual world could shape up to be a battle between Meta and Tencent. Tencent has strategic partnerships such as with Epic Games and Roblox's gaming platform. Additionally, Tencent's empire spans virtual offices and mobile payments, so it would have a massive audience across multiple industries.

Huawei, the 5G and smart hardware leader in China, reached a strategic cooperation with Perfect World, a Chinese cultural and entertainment group, in November 2021. This partnership will integrate metaverse elements into the gaming industry. Perfect World's self-developed ERA engine will work with Huawei's Hongmeng OS (Operating System) to apply distributed computing and shading technology to break the hardware limitation of a single device, potentially providing better game experience.