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Tag: AMA

  • Cardano Founder Says Chainlink Quoted Them An ‘Absurd Price’, Here’s Why

    Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, has clarified why the blockchain platform was excluded from a prominent US government initiative meant to publish official economic data on public blockchains. Blockchain networks like Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Optimism made the cut; Cardano didn’t. Hoskinson revealed during a YouTube AMA that the reason wasn’t technical or regulatory, but it was grounded in economics. Specifically, he said the integration fee quoted by Oracle specialist Chainlink was absurd, which made Cardano’s participation really unfeasible.

    Chainlink’s Absurd Fee

    As one of the biggest blockchain ecosystems, Cardano’s inability to participate in the US government’s recent blockchain initiative to bring macroeconomic data onto the blockchain took many crypto participants by surprise. However, while speaking at a recent surprise AMA on his YouTube channel, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson says the reason boils down to money. 

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    According to Hoskinson, the main reason was due to its pending partnership with Chainlink’s oracle integration, which is yet to be finalised because of the absurd fee charged by Chainlink. Hoskinson did not shy away from strong language: “They gave us an absurd number for integration. I said ‘f– it, we’ll handle it. We’ll figure it out,’” he said.

    Despite the frustration, he tempered his critique with respect. He described Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov as “extremely smart” and “a very good businessman”, someone who “sees the future” and, in Hoskinson’s words, is “sitting on a golden egg”. 

    Chainlink’s oracle solutions are very important for connecting smart contracts to real-world data. As such, Hoskinson’s metaphor acknowledges Chainlink’s powerful position in the blockchain ecosystem. 

    How It Stalls Cardano’s DeFi Growth

    Without a cost-effective oracle integration, Cardano’s decentralized finance landscape has struggled to keep pace with other blockchain ecosystems. To put this into perspective, Ethereum’s integration with Chainlink has allowed large inflows into its DeFi ecosystem, with about $13.4 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) added from between August 2 ($78.222 billion) and August 31 ($91.595 billion), according to data from DeFiLlama.

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    Meanwhile, Cardano’s TVL broke below $400 million in August, and daily active addresses have also fallen massively. At the time of writing, Cardano’s TVL is sitting at $367.91 million. The result is a disconnect between Cardano’s on-chain activity and ADA’s price action, which witnessed a steady increase in August alongside the rest of the crypto market.

    Nonetheless, Hoskinson is still optimistic. Talks with Chainlink are ongoing, and he’s determined to find common ground with Chainlink. He also revealed discussions with the team behind the USD1 stablecoin and hinted at potential collaboration with Aave, which he described as part of a bundle. If USD1 (already launched on Ethereum, BNB, and Tron) comes to Cardano, it could become the ecosystem’s largest stablecoin. Combine that with oracle access and lending support from Chainlink, and Cardano could strengthen its DeFi foundations significantly.

    At the time of writing, Cardano is trading at $0.8307, up by 1.1% in the past 24 hours.

    ADA trading at $0.83 on the 1D chart | Source: ADAUSDT on Tradingview.com

    Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com

    Scott Matherson

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  • DEA Delivers Gut Punch To Marijuana Industry

    DEA Delivers Gut Punch To Marijuana Industry

    The DEA has worked hard to keep marijuana illegal – despite almost 90% believing it shouldn’t be.

    The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has work diligently to turn the tide of legal marijuana. An agency built on the “War on Drugs” is doing everything to stop cannabis being available to the population and undercutting a vast amount of their efforts. And now again the DEA delivers gut punch to the marijuana industry. The agency is swimming upstream in the process as it is being recommended by Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration to them to reclassify cannabis in part do to the medical benefits. This goes along the American Medical Association and  the American College of Physicians encouraging the federal government to change based proven, science based medical help to a variety of patients including cancer, chronic pain, inflammation and more.

    The  delay until post-election is do to the DEA’s inability to coordinate the next steps so they pushed the in-person testimony for the upcoming marijuana rescheduling until early next year. DEA director Anne Milligan is seen as anti-marijuana and more inline with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). When the current administration announced the move to reschedule, Director Milligan had a meeting with key DEA Leaders with “no note taking” and off the record. The DEA not rescheduling would go against the norm as they have always followed HHS and the FDA recommendations.

    While both presidential candidates have expressed support for marijuana, a YOUGOV poll has indicated more people have faith in Harris to support the industry. The surprise is the fact is both Democrats (65%) and Republicans (31%) believe her administration would follow through. Pew Research, who has followed the mainstreaming of cannabis, has it at 88+% of the population is for some form of federal legalization.  Even AARP has moved toward legalizing marijuana, a key voting block for both parties. But, it seems, the DEA, is against the move and is hoping there is a change of heart in policy making.

    In another slap to the cannabis industry, Milligan and the DEA have tried to stack the deck against cannabis. NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said that he was disappointed but hardly surprised by the DEA’s decision to disproportionately include groups opposed to marijuana policy reform as designated participants. “The fight to end our nation’s outdated and failed cannabis prohibition laws has never been fought on a level playing field,” he said.

    Terry Hacienda

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  • The Perfect James Bond Martini

    The Perfect James Bond Martini

    Did James Bond make the martini famous? Or did the martini help make Bond cool?

    The classic line of “shaken or stirred” has been used by men for decades.  Bond instructs the bartender in the phrase “shaken and not stirred” in Diamonds Are Forever and Dr No and it has been in our lexicon ever since. But did Bond make the martini famous – or did the martini help Bond. And what is the perfect James Bond Martini?

    The history of the martini is murky, “Professor” Jerry Thomas, a famous and influential 19th century bartender, invented the drink at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, sometime in the late 1850s or early 1860s. As the story goes, a miner, about to set out on a journey to Martinez, California, put a gold nugget on the bar and asked Thomas to mix him up something special. Thomas produced a drink containing Old Tom (sweetened) gin, vermouth, bitters and Maraschino, and dubbed it the “Martinez” in honor of the customer’s destination.

    Related: California or New York, Which Has The Biggest Marijuana Mess

    The big question is gin or vodka? Purist insist it be gin for the classic martini, but numbers say vodka is preferred. Vodka sales are about $7.5 billion annually while gin is around $5 billion. If you order a classic martini, you will probably be served gin unless you say vodka. Bond seems fairly fluid in his choice, he orders 19 vodka martinis and 16 gin martinis throughout Fleming’s novels and short stories.

    Like Bond’s creator Ian Fleming, James Bond prefers his cocktails shaken and not stirred. A traditional martini is stirred rather than shaken, but Fleming’s biographer Andrew Lycett shared the author preferred martinis shaken since he believe it preserved the flavor.

    Internationally known celebrity chef Justin Khanna has his take on the martini.

    “The perfect Martini, to me, takes advantage of the “blank canvas” nature of this timeless cocktail. “Many cocktails restrict you to specific garnishes, and even fewer allow the liberty to swap the base spirit.

    With the Martini, a vodka base that’s heavy on the olives and light on the vermouth is just as “right” as one made with gin and a twist of lemon, even though they couldn’t be more different once you take your first sip. Accompanied by a bowl of olives, bleu cheese or salty potato chips to snack on, and I’ll savor this iconic cocktail in bliss.

    I personally love the body, complexity and herbaceous kick of vermouth, often making it a co-star in my version”

    The Khanna Martini

    Ingredients

    • 2 1/2 oz vodka
    • 3/4 oz dry vermouth
    • Ice
    • Lemon zest twist

    Create

    • Combine vodka and vermouth in a shaker with ice.
    • Shake for 10-20 seconds.
    • Strain into a chilled martini glass.
    • Garnish with a lemon twist, first rubbing it along the rim for a burst of citrus aroma.

    RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life

    Dean Martin, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis’s Margo Channing, FDR, Frank Sinatra, and Jessica Walter’s Lucille Bluth are all noted martini fans. One of the most fun is the great Megan Mullally’s Karen Walker from the show Will & Grace.

    The Karen Walker Martini

    Ingredients

    • 2.5 oz. High-end vodka
    • .5 oz. Dry vermouth
    • .5 oz. Olive brine

    Create

    • Pour all ingredients into shaker with ice cubes.
    • Shake well
    • Strain in chilled cocktail glass

    The Perfect James Bond Martini

    Ingredients

    • 2 ¼ ounces dry gin
    • 1 ounce dry vermouth
    • 1 lemon twist, for garnish
    • 1 olive (for garnish)

    Create

    • Combine vermouth and gin in a mixing glass filled with ice
    • Fill glass with ice and stir rapidly. Continue adding ice and stirring until the additional ice has been submerged within the cocktail
    • Strain the cocktail into the chilled martini glass
    • Express the lemon twist over the cocktail
    • Place expressed lemon twist and the skewered olive on the chilled rim

    As famed writer and wit Dorothy Parker shared about martinis:

    “I like to have a martini,
    Two at the very most.
    After three I’m under the table,
    after four I’m under my host.”

     

    Anthony Washington

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  • Biden’s Weed Tweet Got Numbers and Feedback

    Biden’s Weed Tweet Got Numbers and Feedback

    His mentioning marijuana at the State of The Union was historic, but boy did he get some feedback when he tweeted.

    The State of the Union address for many years was referred to as “the President’s Annual Message to Congress“. It is believed George Washington started the tradition and the term “State of the Union” first emerged in 1934 when used by Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). President Biden mention of marijuana was historic and also showed how the plants reputation has come a long way from the war on drugs.  And when he tweeted about it, things got spicy. Biden’s weed tweet got numbers and feedback – and the administration might be wise to pay attention.

    Related: California or New York, Which Has The Biggest Marijuana Mess

    The tweet on cannabis reached 14 million and had 12,000 comments and 104,000 likes.  The President mentioned his marijuana pardons which drew a significant amount of feedback. According to BDSA, a leading analytics firm covering cannabis, the industry generated $29.5 billion in revue in 2023.  When talking about a need to grow the economy and taxes, here is a fresh industry the public wants, but antiquated laws are punishing small businesses.

    When you subtract comments not relating to weed, they fall in three categories.  The first is the remaining resentment toward Vice President Harris for her historic stance on marijuana.  The industry was at first excited when Biden was elected as he indicated he would move opening up legalization for cannabis. His slow pace along with VP Harris’s previous role has frustrated the industry and it shows by the sharp remarks.

    Another large batch of comments were just about making a move already!  Science, the American Medical Association, and the federal departments of the Healthy and Human Services (HHS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have all said there are benefits.  People are clamoring for him to act and act quickly. But, it seems to the public eye, the administration has been very slow in fullfilling this promise from over 2020.

    RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life

    The third big conversation is his perception his pardons did more than they actually did for prisoners.  Again, there is hard feelings about it and the online community want him to understand what he did and did not do.

    While the industry is expanding, it is still in growth mode and needs basic help in continuing to grow. Rescheduling would allow state cannabis operators to take federal tax deductions they’re currently barred from under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.  This would give immediate benefits to the cannabis industry which is 50+% small businesses.

     

    Sarah Johns

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  • Medical Marijuana Reduces Opioid Use

    Medical Marijuana Reduces Opioid Use

    Opioids and fentanyl driving a crisis in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the public’s abuse of the drug. The crisis has also become a major U.S. foreign policy issue.  Massive lawsuits have been filling the courts due to the addictive and damaging nature of some opioids and patients have been left in shambles.  Now, data shows medical marijuana reduces opioid use.

    RELATED: 8 Ways to Enjoy Marijuana Without Smoking It

    A new study from New York State and CUNY researchers suggests receiving medical cannabis for thirty days or more may help patients on long-term opioid treatment to lower their dose over time.

    Photo by beusbeus/Getty Images

    Another study conducted by the American Medical Association showed positive data.  The study, published in JAMA Oncology, analyzed the results of thousands of patients with different types of cancer. ound an association between receiving medical cannabis for chronic pain for a longer duration and a reduction in prescription opioid dosages among patients on long-term opioid therapy. Patients who were on higher baseline dosages of prescription opioids when they started receiving medical cannabis experienced larger reductions in opioid dosages.

    Researchers explained that the study was conducted in order to explore the links that exist between marijuana legalization and opioid use. They concluded that medical marijuana curbed opioid use and provided an alternate route for treatment.

    RELATED: Marijuana And Prostate Cancer

    “Findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that medical marijuana legalization implemented from 2012 to 2017 was associated with a lower rate of opioid dispensing and pain-related hospital events among some adults receiving treatment for newly diagnosed cancer,” they wrote.

    “The nature of these associations and their implications for patient safety and quality of life need to be further investigated,” researchers added.

    Medical marijuana has less of an impact on the body and mind. Cannabis can be an effective treatment for pain, greatly reduces the chance of dependence, and eliminates the risk of fatal overdose compared to opioid-based medications. Medical cannabis patients report that cannabis is just as effective, if not more, than opioid-based medications for pain.

    With medical marijuana available in 40 states, this is indeed good news for most patients.

    Amy Hansen

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