insights from a blockchain developer, researcher & investor
exploring emerging opportunities in decentralized finance
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3 Reasons Why Bitcoin Outperforming Everything Else In Crypto?
Over the last year, since the release of the ETF’s Bitcoin has outperformed the rest of the crypto market on a risk adjusted basis. This has led to more maximalism and less attention to DeFi and Web3. There are negative opinions on why alts are failing to compete, whether it’s the Ethereum Foundation’s management or…
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Building a SEP41 Token on Stellar Soroban with OpenZeppelin
OpenZeppelin has just launched the first few contract libraries for the Soroban ecosystem. Let’s take a look and build out a token using their fungible token module. James On YouTube Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/2Ak_nHyfrEU | Subscribe Deploying a Fungible Token on Soroban Prerequisites Ensure you have the following installed: You’ll also need some testnet tokens…
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Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Imminent
The upcoming Pectra upgrade, scheduled for March 2025, aims to make ethereum more efficient and lay the ground work for further scaling and development. Pectra is a significant update that merges two planned upgrades, Prague and Electra, into one comprehensive overhaul. This combined effort is designed to streamline improvements and accelerate Ethereum’s evolution. Account Abstraction…
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Vibe Coding
What Is Vibe Coding? An Introduction To Next Gen AI Development Is vibe coding an overhyped trend or a real threat to your job security? Vibe coding is an AI first approach to software development. Instead of meticulously structuring code, debugging line by line, and sweating over syntax, developers now interact with AI models like…
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Ark’s Big Ideas For 2025 Summary
Always a Cathie Wood fan so here’s a condensed version of the research report at:https://www.ark-invest.com/big-ideas-2025 Multiomics, Genomics, and AI-Driven Drug Discovery Robotics and Automation Aerospace and Reusable Rockets Energy and Infrastructure Overarching Themes and Takeaways
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DeepSeek vs ChatGPT | Is The Future Of AI Open-Source & Chinese?
Let’s start with how these AIs are trained. ChatGPT goes through pre-training, learning from an enormous amount of text scraped from the internet, the model then completes supervised fine-tuning for better instruction following, and then reinforcement learning with human feedback. Basically, it’s learning what we like and don’t like, improving its responses for all kinds…
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10 Worst Web Hacks
The 18th annual “Top 10 Web Hacking Techniques of 2024” highlighted web security research through community nominations and expert panel voting. From 121 initial nominations, 103 qualified entries were evaluated, culminating in the selection of the most innovative web security findings. Confusion Attacks in Apache HTTP Server Researchers found ways to make the Apache web…
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Deploying An NFT Using Stellar Soroban
Today I’m going to show you how I deployed a simple NFT contract to Soroban, Stellar’s smart contract platform. Whether you’re an artist, a developer, or just curious about blockchain, this tutorial will guide you through the process step-by-step. Let’s get started. You’ll need a few things to get started:- James On YouTube Watch On…
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Soroban Token Deployment + React dApp Tutorial (Stellar SDK)
In this tutorial, we’ll walk through the process of deploying a fungible token on the Stellar network using Soroban smart contracts, and then build a decentralized application to interact with it. We’ll cover everything from setting up your development environment to creating a user interface for token transfers. James On YouTube Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/oF624m5b384…
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Using ChatGPT To Monitor The Silk Road Bitcoin
In this video I demonstrate how to monitor a Bitcoin address using NodeJS James On YouTube Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/rZ5TnPkO86Y | Subscribe Here is a quick script (full code below) that was knocked up using chatGPT to play an mp3 alert file if any Bitcoin moves from the SilkRoad address. I set this up because…
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Crypto Market Thesis 2025
It’s that time of the year again, I have published my thoughts and musings on the blockchain sector in the annual crypto market thesis for 2025. Full document has been published here: https://jamesbachini.com/resources/CryptoMarketThesis2025.pdf Previous years: 2023, 2024 Summary below: 2024 Year in Review Macro Trends Market Outlook for 2025 Sector Insights Emerging Trends to Monitor…
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Soroban Data Locations & State Management
In this tutorial, we’ll explore how data is stored on Stellar’s Soroban smart contract platform, focusing on Soroban’s state management and the types of storage available. Understanding these concepts will allow you to manage data optimally and keep your decentralized applications efficient. James On YouTube Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/cw-TPSCqtSU | Subscribe Introduction to Soroban State…
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Best Practices for Storing Large Data in Solidity
Blockchain storage is limited and block space is therefore expensive, especially at times of peak congestion. Solidity developers must employ strategies to optimise data storage whilst maintaining the integrity and accessibility of their smart contracts. One of the most effective approaches is to leverage off-chain storage solutions. Instead of storing large data sets directly on…
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Understanding The Fallback & Receive Functions In Solidity
Among Solidity’s essential features are the fallback and receive functions, which play crucial roles in handling Ether transactions and contract interactions. A thorough understanding of these functions is vital for developers aiming to create robust and secure smart contracts. The Fallback Function In Solidity, the fallback function is a unique, unnamed function that executes under…
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The Hidden Deflation of Digital Assets
The Inevitable Loss Facing Early Cryptocurrency Hodlers Substantial amounts of digital assets are going to be lost forever over the next few decades. The first generation of crypto hodlers will be dying off and many of their holdings will die with them. These losses, often caused by misplaced private keys or forgotten passwords, add an…
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Programmatic Stellar Transfers
In this tutorial we will be setting up scripts to send and monitor transfers on the Stellar network. James On YouTube Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/gVC5ijif2-0 | Subscribe I’ll be using Node.js and the Stellar-SDK library. All the code is open source and you can fork the repository here: https://github.com/jamesbachini/Stellar-Cross-Border-Test There are two scripts, send.js and receive.js, created to…
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Optimizing Smart Contracts For Layer 2 Chains
Layer 2 solutions have emerged as a crucial component in addressing scalability issues. Optimising smart contracts for these Layer 2 chains is essential to harness their full potential. This article explores key considerations for developers working with Layer 2 solutions, focusing on cross-chain interoperability, gas fees, and frontend considerations. Cross-Chain Interoperability When optimising smart contracts…
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How Often Should I Rebalance My Portfolio
In this tutorial I modelled the optimal rebalancing frequency for a digital asset portfolio holding: This is a 60/40 crypto portfolio which I’ve discussed before. You can run the code with different assets (anything with a historical price feed). Starting with a $10,000 initial investment, the code allocates the funds accordingly and tracks performance over…
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Creating Custom Solidity Libraries For Reusable Code
Solidity libraries enable blockchain developers to create modular reusable code. This shared usage avoids duplicating code, saves gas during deployment and promotes consistency within a code base. Let’s create a basic library that demonstrates how this works: This code defines a simple smart contract that utilises a library for basic arithmetic operations. The MyMath library…
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Building Smart Contract Event Filtering Systems for DApps
How events work in web3 Events in Web3 act as logs of significant occurrences within a smart contract. When a specific function is executed, the smart contract can “emit” an event, signalling to external systems that something has happened. These emitted events are stored on the blockchain, but they do not modify the contract’s state.…
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Automating Web3 Interactions In Rust | Minting Ethereum NFT’s With Ethers-rs
In this tutorial we are going to be deploying a simple NFT contract to Ethereum and then minting new NFT’s using a bot built with Rust and ethers-rs Let’s start by heading to Remix and deploying this contract to Ethereum’s Sepolia testnet. It has already been deployed here if you want to skip this step:…
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Building A Cross Chain Token Bridge With LayerZero v2
This tutorial will guide you through the process of building a token bridge using LayerZero v2, specifically employing the OFTAdapter on mainnet and the OFT.sol contract on all other chains. We’ll cover the setup and deployment workflow, ensuring you have a comprehensive understanding of the process. Before we delve into the deployment process, it’s crucial…
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Practical Applications Of Merkle Trees
Merkle trees are a useful tool for blockchain developers offering a myriad of benefits, chief among them being the efficient verification of large data sets and proof of inclusion. By leveraging Merkle trees developers can significantly optimise gas costs and enhance the overall performance of their decentralised applications. In this article we will look at…
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How To Connect An Arduino To A Soroban Smart Contract
This tutorial will guide you through the process of connecting an Arduino to a Soroban smart contract on the Stellar blockchain. We’ll create a system where blockchain events can trigger physical actions through an Arduino. James On YouTube Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/C4a9O7AFAVc | Subscribe All the code for this project is open source at: https://github.com/jamesbachini/Arduino-Soroban-Controller…
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Implementing RBAC Patterns in Solidity
We can implement role based access control or RBAC patterns in Solidity using OpenZeppelin’s AccessControl.sol library. This allows developers to manage different roles and assign permissions dynamically. Here’s a step by step guide based on the information provided. Understanding Roles in Access Control The essence of RBAC in Solidity involves defining roles, where each role…
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The Future Of Prompt Engineering | Best Practices For LLM Models
This article will explore how prompt engineering for LLM models like ChatGPT is evolving and how you can stay ahead of the game. Prompt Design Principles As large language models (LLMs) continue to evolve, the art of prompt engineering has become increasingly crucial. At its core, effective prompt design hinges on clarity, specificity, and context…
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Tokenomics 101 Designing Effective Token Models
Tokenomics Fundamentals Tokenomics refers to the economic model and framework that governs the use, distribution, and value of tokens. At its core, tokenomics is the study of the supply and demand of tokens, how they incentivise users and developers, and the role they play in driving network effects. Unlike traditional currencies, tokens are highly versatile…
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Why Inflows Into Spot Bitcoin ETFs Don’t Push Prices Up
The Bitcoin Spot ETFs are a gateway for institutional inflows into Bitcoin, potentially driving up prices. However, on the 29th and 30th October over $1.763 Billion USD flowed into the Bitcoin ETFs*. During this period the BTC/USD price barely moved. Here’s a closer look at why spot Bitcoin ETF inflows don’t always translate into an…
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Marketing Psychology in Web3
This article delves into the key aspects of marketing psychology that are unique or particularly relevant to the Web3 ecosystem, exploring how trust, community engagement, scarcity, fear of missing out, attention economy, and behavioural economics intersect with this innovative space. Trust and Credibility The blockchain sector has been plagued by numerous fraud & scams, making…
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Meridian 2024 Takeaways
Key Innovations and Infrastructure Developments from Meridian 2024 The recent Stellar Meridian conference and its preceding hackathon showcased significant developments in the Stellar Network’s ecosystem, highlighting how the platform is revolutionizing blockchain infrastructure and smart contract capabilities. From innovative on/off-ramp solutions to ground breaking smart wallets, Stellar is positioning itself as a formidable player in…
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Creating MultiSig Wallets with Solidity
MultiSig wallets have become increasingly popular due to their enhanced security features. In this article, we will delve into the key components of a MultiSig wallet, how to write a MultiSig wallet contract using Solidity, deploying the wallet, and handling deposits and withdrawals. Note that the code provided here is for educational purposes only. If…
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Simple Example Of Rust Struct & Importing Modules
One powerful feature in Rust is how it organizes code into modules and allows the reuse of code with structs and methods. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through a simple example to illustrate how to define and use a struct in Rust and how to import modules for organization. Step 1: Define the Module and…
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Prediction Markets Solidity
Prediction markets are decentralized platforms where participants can bet on the outcome of future events. For example, people could bet on the outcome of a presidential election or a sports game. In this tutorial, we will walk through a smart contract built on Ethereum, which allows users to create and participate in prediction markets. The…
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Incorporating Bitcoin In A Treasury Strategy
Cash Savings in Treasuries Treasury managers face a significant challenge in preserving the value of their reserves. Traditional cash savings, once considered a safe haven, have become increasingly unsuitable for long-term corporate savings. This shift is primarily due to the ongoing dilution caused by money supply growth, as central banks worldwide engage in quantitative easing…
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A Simple Browser Resource Monitor
This single index.html file can be uploaded to any web server, run locally, or accessed here: https://jamesbachini.com/misc/browser-resources.html It enables web developers to monitor browser resources over time and test different devices processing abilities. The dashboard first collects and presents fundamental system information, providing context about the environment in which the application operates. This data includes:…
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Stellar Soroban Boilerplate
In this tutorial I’m going to go through the code for a boilerplate which connects a Soroban smart contract to a React dApp. Note that for a more full featured demo app you can check out the excellent Scaffold Soroban at: https://developers.stellar.org/docs/learn/interactive/dapps/scaffold-soroban There is also this from the guys at Palta Labs:https://create-soroban-dapp.paltalabs.io/ James On YouTube…
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AI Predictions | How Close Are We To AGI?
In recent years, the field of artificial intelligence has witnessed remarkable advancements, particularly in the domain of large language models. These sophisticated systems like ChatGPT have demonstrated impressive capabilities in natural language processing, coding, and problem solving. However, the question remains “how close are we to achieving true artificial general intelligence?” James On YouTube Watch…
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Decentralized Lending Pools | Blend Capital
Overcollateralized lending has emerged as a cornerstone in the decentralised finance ecosystem, providing a secure and efficient way for users to borrow and lend digital assets. Blend Capital leverages this mechanism on Stellar’s Soroban smart contract platform, introducing a robust protocol for overcollateralized lending and borrowing. This article delves into how overcollateralized lending works, explores…
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Encrypting Private Keys in .env
It has become very normalised to store Ethereum private keys in plain text within .env files. While this is convenient, it’s a disaster waiting to happen when working in production with wallets that contain real funds. Today, I’ll show you a better way to manage your hot wallet keys using AES encryption. Full code for…
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Balancer v3 Hooks
For the Balancer v3 Hookathon (yep it’s a hackathon to create DeX hooks) I had the idea to try and create a fair launch memecoin platform. It’s the kind of thing that could bring utility to the ecosystem as we’ve seen recently with the wave of memecoin trading on Solana. The target is to create…
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Creating WASM Files Using Rust and Running Them in the Browser
In this tutorial we will be writing some code in Rust, compiling to web assembly (WASM) and then running that code in a browser. This enables high performance applications to be run within a web dev setting. In this tutorial I’ll be using windows subsystem for Linux. Let’s first install Rust and wasm-pack (more instructions…
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Understanding ABI Encoding: A Guide to abi.encodeCall and encodeWithSelector
What Is ABI Encoding Application Binary Interface (ABI) encoding is a crucial concept in Ethereum smart contract development. It serves as a standardised method for encoding function calls and data, enabling seamless communication between different components of the Ethereum ecosystem. ABI encoding ensures that data is consistently formatted and interpreted across various platforms and programming…
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How to Host Your Own Generative AI Model with Flux
Why Host Your Own Flux Model Hosting your own AI model offers significant benefits, particularly for users who demand fine control over image generation, privacy, and customisation. Unlike public cloud-based APIs, which may impose usage limitations or fees, self-hosting gives you full control over how the model operates. You can adjust hardware configurations, implement optimised…
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Enums In Solidity
Enums are one of the most useful and underused data types in Solidity. I think because they aren’t widely used in Javascript and web dev, they often get overlooked in contract development. In this article I’ll make my case for why enums deserve a place in your tool kit and smart contracts. Enums in Solidity…
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WebAuthn PassKey Smart Wallets
In this article we will take a glimpse into the future of account abstraction where web3 can offer walletless, passwordless authentication to web applications. I’ll be connecting a Stellar Soroban smart contract to a web3 frontend and verifying signatures from biometrics on your phone. Welcome to the future. The full source code used in this…
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React Hooks Tutorial | The 7 Most Important React Hooks
React Hooks provide a way to manage state, side effects, references and more in functional components. In this tutorial, we’ll look at the seven most commonly used React hooks When You Would Use These React Hooks useStateImagine you have a piece of data in your component that might change, like a number for a counter…
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Value Investing In DeFi
For value investors the goal is to find assets priced below their intrinsic value, providing a margin of safety and potential for significant future growth. Could applying this principle to DeFi help identify underappreciated projects that are gaining significant traction. Let’s find out… Market Cap, TVL & FDV Market capitalization is the total value of…
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7 Problems That DeFi Solves
Last month Vitalik caused a stir when he suggested that DeFi “can’t be the thing that brings crypto to another 10-100x adoption burst” In this article I’m going to share my thoughts on why DeFi is still the no.1 most important use case for Ethereum. Lack of Financial Inclusion In a world where millions remain…
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3 Ways AI Will Change Software Development by 2030
As a developer who wrote his first computer program on a Commodore64, I’ve seen my fair share of technological shifts. But nothing quite compares to the seismic changes I anticipate large language models will bring to software development in the coming years. Let me take you on a journey through my vision of the future,…
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Building Rust Smart Contracts On Stellar Soroban
Soroban is the smart contract platform that allows developers to write and deploy smart contracts on the Stellar network. This tutorial will guide you through the process of building a simple smart contract using Rust and deploying it to Soroban. I recently took on the role of Developer in Residence with Stellar and this is…
