The Three Pillars of Sustainability for Blockchain with Marieke Flament

book I want to talk about three pillars of sustainability it's amazing to be in Denver 25 000 people I think are here who knew it was going to be that big it's a bear market and we're still building so my hope is that I can share a little bit of how I think we should be building given the market and the conditions we're in before I start a little bit about myself so I'm married flamo I'm the CEO of the near Foundation I first got my first job in crypto was with circle where I was the was the managing director for Europe Middle East and Africa end of 2015 and I'm the CEO of the near Foundation since January 2022. near for those of you who don't know near as of yesterday is positioned as the blockchain operating system and basically we can enable to have a multi-chain from front-end to back end thanks to in particular our layer one protocol which is very very fast and also very sustainable the role of the foundation because that's the role that I lead and the entity that I lead the role of the foundation is basically threefold we exist to help raise awareness of near and actually what is near what is the blockchain operating system we exist to help also kick-start the support of a growing ecosystem and we exist because we champion decentralization and governance so uh with that over the next 15 minutes or so um I'd love to chat a little bit more about the state of the world and actually what we need to do about it it's a bit out there and we are at a turning point in history more than ever we need to take actually an act with Integrity for our planet and when we look at the climate condition we go from actually burning up to actually being completely melting down we seem to be using and taking our planet for granted and we use more resources than actually we can produce when we look at our society more than ever we are divided the left the right the East the west and there is a lack of trust in our governments and actually in our communities we're completely losing that the pandemic and covid has actually made marks beyond the millions of Lives who have been lost who knows what the next pandemic actually will be but it's also left us mentally broken and completely isolated and who knows what the next pandemic will actually be in terms of social rights for women actually the pandemic had a major impact because we were working from home and guess who most of the time took the Lion's Share of working from home and I'm seeing some women unfortunately smile but that looks like a known Factor yes it's women and so we got back decades backwards instead of going forward not only that but today with social media we are in our own Echo Chambers we don't talk with each other anymore how many of you are sitting on a sofa with their partner and yet not talking looking at their phone in your own Echo chamber the other major impact of kovid is actually that our governments have printed a lot of money and therefore we are now suffering major inflation and with that therefore the coming and the glooming of a recession whatever session mean is layoffs and those are starting to happen and who knows how long this is going to last and not only that but in our own industry what we have seen is actually a reminder of the fact that sometimes we actually don't even know what it means to work with ethics and integrity at heart I want any names you know what I'm talking about so it's pretty much bad news everywhere but it's not time to actually feel this aspiration or to feel that we cannot do anything about it because we absolutely can do something about it we can act and it's in our hands to do something about it in particular because as technologists we have in our hands the belief that what we can do with the technology that we have is to create a better place and a better world so it's not time to leave thank you it's time to act although if it's to act that's fine if you're here and at this conference it's probably because like me you believe in the power of web3 you believe that actually with Webster we can create better transparency better accountability and that we can actually get back in our hands the data and the governance that we should be owned that's what I believe in and more than ever I think there is an urging crime that more than ever we do need web3 and we need to realize the promises of web3 and we need to do that together so when we think about actually how do we do that there is two things that come in mind one right now yes we're in a better market and yes it's actually difficult but it's time to have convictions and to think through what we're building with conviction and the second part is actually thinking through sustainability and what does sustainability mean as we actually think through building for a better future so talking about convictions and again these are not sometimes easy especially when you go to a bear Market I have to admit that at times it's difficult to find either the energy or The Willpower to say we can go through that and we can actually do better conviction number one what we're building ultimately is for users and if we don't have that in mind that we need to build applications that have actually real engagement and that I could do something meaningful for users then we're losing track and so at near what we do actually is the metric that is our North Star is mostly active users because ultimately we believe that if we focus on that value will be derived and it might look that actually we might be missing out that there are things that we should be doing that we're not but ultimately a conviction that is about building and adding real value to end users will derive value to do that we need to have amazing usability it needs to be seamless it needs to be so easy to actually be on boarding and to do real things in that ecosystem near from day one has been focused on usability and what we announced yesterday with the blockchain operating system is pushing the boundaries of that even a step further usability for Developers usability for end users that's a must so conviction number one which I urge you to join us on is actually what we're doing is for users conviction number two we have to think long term we cannot continue thinking today and the price today and tomorrow and just that short-termism it is actually very important to think long term to think what is the impact of what we're developing and what's the value that will be derived longer term to do that to think long term it's actually important to make big bets it's important to have a strategic focus and to think through what can we do that will really move the needle forward and again the ways we're making with blockchain operating system are getting on that Trench the other part you think long term is actually having very solid fundamentals so solid Tech great people and actually also resources now we've talked about convictions let's talk about sustainability and of course when we talk sustainability everybody here thinking climate and there is a climate crisis and I'm sure we're all in our own way contribute helping and actually thinking about that and how we can actually help make that less a crisis but sustainability is not just about the environment nevertheless starting with the environment from day one near near protocol is actually a proof of stake and therefore they mean that from day one within carbon neutral from day one we've been audited from day one we've actually looked at how can we reduce our footprints we're super proud to have announced that we're actually partnering with flow carbon which will actually issue its token on year because we have these values of sustainability and carbon neutrality and that means that actually we're able to attract also projects to build on us because we had that at that core in our heart sustainability is also inclusion and what I mean by inclusion is diversity of thoughts is diversity of background it's actually also diversity of language because ultimately English is still very much a privilege and actually if we want to have an impact globally we have to think locally and so we have to speak local languages and we have to go in these local communities and of course inclusion is about having a diversity of thoughts and I think it's really important as Technologies what we're building has our biases into it and so as Technologies we need to think through how do I minimize the biases that I'm bringing how can I have more voices actually participate and help me lower my biases so that the technology that we're building is actually really for everybody and the last part of thinking sustainably sustainably is actually integrity and sometimes we forget about that and I was asked just before coming on stage how to qualify Integrity how do we know if we are acting with integrity and I think well think about your grandmother we should be proud of what you're doing I think that's a good lens for actually thinking if we're acting with integrity and not losing that aside because sometimes we can get carried away I think is extremely important so it's time to act I really truly generally believe that people who are here are Builders and if anything the 25 000 people who are joining here in a bear Market are showing that it's time to build but it's also time to act and as we build it's time to think of the broader consequences of what we are building we'll have actually on the world we're living in and I think each and every person who is here can carry that with himself or herself in his project now obviously if you want to do that we invite you to join us we really truly think inclusion multi-chain and how can we actually together get to build this better web3 world that we all envision and with that if you want to actually try what the blockchain operating system in please join us thank you foreign