The rise of big tech firms in the last two decades has produced tremendous results for the global economy. More people have been connected with each other via social media platforms that have driven e-commerce around the world as well, from YouTube to Facebook, Amazon, and Shopify. Google alone has helped onboard billions of users to the internet.
Amidst these advantages, there has also been a rise of faulty and untrusted systems where users’ data is frequently stolen by malicious users from these big tech firms. In other instances, since they have access to this data, the big tech firms tend to control the narrative for the users whose data is in their systems. The development of decentralized systems and platforms is one way to end this cycle.
Obi Nwosu, co-founder of Fedi, spoke at the Bitcoin and Lightning for Corporation event, expressing his belief that third parties should be removed from the system to return control to users. “Instead of third parties taking control of our money” and data, Fedi is creating a Federated Operating System on which communities and organizations can “take control of their money and their data so that we don’t make the same mistakes as the existing systems and existing regimes.”
Fedi is a technology company that’s developing the Fedi mobile app on the Fedimint protocol. The goal of the company is to use a federated OS to develop a new method for communities and organizations to protect and use their money and data. Part of the company’s project is focused on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.
How Fedimint works
Fedi, as a decentralized application, uses the Federated Operating System which is built on top of and scales the Lightning Network. This solves the problems of cost, custody, privacy, and security. Fedi makes it possible for users to create “community custody federations run by trusted members of your community” called Guardians.
Obi noted that this process incorporates privacy and scalability as it is integrated with the Charmian eCash protocol, which allows transactions to be processed with or without the internet.
Describing how Fedi works, Obi Nwosu, who is also a board member of Jack Dorsey’s and Jay-Z’s ₿trust, said that the utilities that can be created by this global Federated OS are limitless, ranging from simple activities done on the OS of mobile and desktop devices. However, the advantage of Fedi is that there is no single point of failure like today’s systems have.
For companies, he noted that they could easily create a federation on the protocol which can be used “to safely keep their Bitcoin.” Thanks to the Bitcoin multi-sig function that is integrated into Fedimint, these firms can also lock up other assets such as USD and stablecoins using the protocol.
He went ahead to say that this will be more useful for organizations with multiple locations, employees, and customers to serve around the world. This will also bring about doing business in multiple currencies. Because processes can be slow and expensive in such a situation, corporations can extend their federation allowing “individuals and employees in different countries to lock their Bitcoin to the value of the local currency.”
The co-founder added that, in the same way Bitcoin can be secured with privacy on the protocol, data can be managed similarly and access to the data can be kept under the control of the organization.
A breakdown of the Fedi app
Obi revealed that there are exciting features that were added to the Fedi app, which the company has been developing. The first is the Wallet, via which users can take control of their money, including accessing their Bitcoin and other currencies at any time and from anywhere around the world. With its integration with the ecash protocol, transactions can be done with or without the internet.
The next feature he mentioned is Chat. This gives users the ability to initiate “private one-to-one encrypted chat” with extra advantages such as being able to send money in the same way they reply to a chat, and creating groups for organizations.
Obi noted that bots will also be introduced into the app in the near future. These bots “can be trained on the data of your company to allow your team members to get information and empower them in a natural and intuitive manner.”
The third feature is the Browser, which allows users to access the internet while giving community leaders or company leaders the privilege to “showcase the sites and services they think make sense for their team members and employees.”
Obi also noted that Fedimint, as a protocol, is being designed as a smart contract system. This means that developers can easily integrate and run smart contracts in specific communities designated by the community leadership. It could help with “things like integrating with back-office, cloud compliance, and accounting systems” for enhanced operations of your community.
The future of Fedimint
The co-founder noted that after its recent $17 million round, which was led by a group of Bitcoin investors, the first Fedi app will be launched in May 2023.
The application will be targeted at builders so they can build an incredible ecosystem of Fediverse modules in preparation for the public launch expected at the end of the year.
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