Please refer to this section if you would like to know more about which parts of the course are for teachers, which are for students and / or entrepreneurs.
Press the grey arrows on the image to the left and right to navigate through this explanation.
A lot of us have heard about decentralization, blockchain and bitcoin, ethereum and many other cryptocurrencies (cryptos). Putting some of these ideas into context, many of us have a hard time explaining the different kind of decentralizations, such as Deconcentration, Delegation, Devolution, etc., and the reason why decentralization is a good idea and why decentralization makes sense in some areas and why it does not in other ones.
First of all, decentralization in general is not a new idea. We had human civilization for ten thousand years and over these years we had many examples of centralized things such as centralized governments, centralized companies, centralized cities. There is some evidence that even before we had computers and other information technologies (IT), we also had a various instances of decentralized economies, decentralized ways of interacting.
For example, democracy is a decentralized way of governing when power of authority does not belong to a king but to everyone. Another example is the invention of the printing press - it is hard to understand the impact of the printing press nowadays. We are so used to having a world's worth of information at our fingertips - it is hard to understand the little amount of information people in medieval Europe had access to. Printing press allowed ordinary people to cheaply record and communicate an ideas freely without any censorship.
Watch the video to find out more about the decentralized world.
Blockchain is the technology that allows digital information to be distributed, but not copied. That means each individual piece of data can only have one owner.
You may have heard it is described as a “digital ledger” stored in a distributed network. Here is a good example, anology that helps to understand how blockchain works:
The information is constantly reconciled into the database, which is stored in multiple locations and updated instantly. That means the records are public and verifiable. Since there is no central location, it is harder to hack it since the information simultaneously exists in millions of places. (Doughi, 2018)“Picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet and you have a basic understanding of the blockchain.”
In 2017 Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
released Memorandum of Understanding – the finance ministries for Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania agreed to cooperate on a number of actions to expand and
develop their economies – a process which would include the promotion of
distributed ledger technologies to aid in capital market innovations. The
Financial Capital Market Commission of Latvia also expressed its readiness to
advise blockchain initiatives on the various authorizations that may be
necessary.
According to the report issued by Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia in 2019 “On examples, prospects and further actions to promote the development of blockchain technology” there are more than 25 startups in Latvia that are working in gamification, identification and crypto asset fields and are successful players in the global market. For example, company “Digipulse” that has raised approximately 1 million euros via Initial Coin Offering (ICOs), company “Notakey” which offers identification and authentication solutions for businesses, company “Monetizr” that has developed special IT solution - blockchain protocol and cryptocurrency reward system for game developers.
To inform public about opportunities, news, trends in blockchain technology area, promote collaboration between government and private sectors, provide support for development, inspire research and deployment of blockchain technology the Latvian Blockchain Association was established in March 2017. Association unites 5 blockchain technology related companies and cryptocurrency enthusiasts unites: “Paybis”, “Blockvis”, “CryptoLab”, “ToTheMoonLab” un “AXIOMA”.
An important role in the blockchain ecosystem of the country has platforms and support centers that educate developers on the possibilities for using blockchain technology-based solutions. For example, -
Also, conferences, discussions and different networking activities are being organized by local IT communities (for example, Techchill, Startin.LV, LIAA, Riga TechGirls, TechHub Riga). For example, annual conference “RIGA COMM” where service providers and product developers from Baltics and number of foreign countries discuss the impact of blockchain technology and its use-cases.
In order to develop blockchain technology-based solutions, companies have access to support instruments provided by existing aid programs in country, including accelerator and venture capital funds.
Europe is one of the world’s leaders in the development of blockchain technology, with large amount of blockchain start-ups of the world.
On 21 April 2018, European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) was established for development of European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).
EBSI is a joint initiative from the European Commission and the EBP to deliver EU-wide cross-border public services using blockchain technology. Four initiatives are being developed within the framework of the EBSI: notarization, diplomas, European self-sovereign identity, trusted data sharing.
More about the EBSI: 
Video:
In 2018 EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum was established to accelerate blockchain innovation and the development of the blockchain ecosystem within the EU, and so help cement Europe’s position as a global leader in this transformative new technology. Its tasks:
The European Commission also established a program called “Block.IS” to accelerate the use of blockchain technologies in food, logistics and finance sector. Small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as IT companies are welcome to submit their ideas for the use of blockchain in one of mentioned sectors. The best ideas are offered support in three levels from development to commercialization of the idea. The maximum amount of funding that companies can receive for their idea realization is EUR 60 000. For example, Latvian data storage platform “Failiem.lv” have received EU support via this program in order to implement blockchain solutions into their business processes.
More about this program:
Video:
Material teachers can use in the lectures together with tasks and theoretical learning materials on the platform
