I am Luis Fernando Molina, CEO of bitDubai and founder of Fermat. Please Ask Me Anything.

[LuisFernandoMolina]

I am an entrepreneur. I started my career 20 years ago building banking systems. 16 months ago I founded Fermat : A peer to peer Financial Application Framework. We have been in stealth mode until just now, so it is quite logical that you have never heard about us.

Fermat in a nutshell is a P2P Network for transporting meta-data and a Plug-ins Framework to build P2P Financial Applications that are both crypto currency and digital assets enabled. The goal is to decentralize the full stack up until the GUI in order to enable an ecosystem of financial applications that do not require trust and are censorship resistant.

Here is and introduction taken from our white paper so that you can have a quick pick into what we are building:

Fermat
A Peer-to-Peer Financial Application Framework

Abstract

A peer-to-peer financial application framework could allow standalone crypto wallets to evolve into any kind of peer-to-peer financial applications.

Developing peer-to-peer financial applications is challenging. Crypto networks provide part of the solution as a system of electronic cash, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to transport meta-data, synchronize devices, hold wallets files or keys, manage identities, interface crypto networks or the legacy financial system.

We propose a peer-to-peer network for transporting meta-data and inter-connect network clients between each other. A synchronization scheme running on top of it transform a standalone app into a distributed application across several devices still owned by the same user.

We propose a framework to replace the standalone wallet application. This framework handles the full stack on top of crypto networks up to the user interface. In this way we enable the development of peer-to-peer financial applications that are both crypto-currency and digital-asset-enabled, and that does not require a trusted third party of any sort.


Introduction

Standalone bitcoin wallets were the first generation of trust-less financial applications since they didn't require to trust any third party, inheriting this property from the bitcoin network itself. As the ecosystem evolved, trusted third parties were introduced again and they took over the wallet space because of technical capabilities that are easier to build in a centralized way: communication between wallets, synchronization between devices, interfacing the legacy financial system, securing funds, etc., and they consistently took the biggest share of funding, leaving standalone wallets far behind and at the same time trashing the benefit of bitcoin of not relying on trust, one of its key features. Applications trying to use the blockchain to transport meta-data were considered spammers and standalone wallets were effectively left behind.

What is needed on top of all existing protocols is a layer that faces the end user and that finishes the job bitcoin started respecting its core principles of openness, decentralization and privacy. Using crypto networks for transporting value or as a registry for digital assets and the Fermat Network for transporting the required meta-data at a network client level, allows financial apps to run any user-level interconnected-functionality without ever going through a trusted third party.

By choosing a plug-in architecture for the Framework we make it possible for any developer to add their own reusable components. We define micro-use-licensing-scheme as the mechanism for plug-in developers to monetize their work. The Framework itself enforces these micro-use-licenses and guarantees developers a revenue stream.

OS dependent GUI components are built on top of the multi-layered plug-in structure to face the end user as wallets or financial applications in general. Apps and wallets with similar functionality are wrapped into what we call platforms, each one introducing new plug-ins, to the ever increasing functionality of the whole system.

A built-in wallet-factory allows developers to reuse the highest level components and create niche-wallets or niche-financial-apps by combining existing functionality and adding their own code to the combo. A built-in wallet-editor allows non-developers to reuse any of these niche-wallets to build new branded-wallets just by changing their look and feel. A built-in p2p-wallet-store allows end users to choose which wallets or financial apps to install from the ever growing catalogue.

To continue reading (it is not too long) please follow this link:

https://github.com/bitDubai/fermat/blob ... E-PAPER.md

To learn more about our vision, please check out the README at our github repo at:

https://github.com/bitDubai/fermat

We have a nice view of Fermat's Architecture at:

http://www.fermat.org

PLease, Ask Me Anything.

[Skin_in_the_game]

Hello Fernando

I was re-reading Antifragile by iconoclast thinker Nassim Taleb recently. He writes

"Never ask anyone for their opinion [...] Just ask them what they have -or don't have- in their portfolio"

Having met or read about a few people in the bitcoin community, I have come to think it's a very relevant question and you can better weight their opinions having an idea of how many Bitcoins they hold (or do not hold.)

I'm now asking every participants in the AMA the same question:

- Do you mind to tell us which percentage of your net worth and/or liquid assets you hold in Bitcoins ?

[Skin_in_the_game]

Hello Luis

I was re-reading Antifragile by iconoclast thinker Nassim Taleb recently. He writes

"Never ask anyone for their opinion [...] Just ask them what they have -or don't have- in their portfolio"

Having met or read about a few people in the bitcoin community, I have come to think it's a very relevant question and you can better weight their opinions having an idea of how many Bitcoins they hold (or do not hold.)

I'm now asking every participants the same question:

- Do you mind to tell us which percentage of your net worth and/or liquid assets you hold in Bitcoins ?

[LuisFernandoMolina]

Hello Luis

I was re-reading Antifragile by iconoclast thinker Nassim Taleb recently. He writes

"Never ask anyone for their opinion [...] Just ask them what they have -or don't have- in their portfolio"

Having met or read about a few people in the bitcoin community, I have come to think it's a very relevant question and you can better weight their opinions having an idea of how many Bitcoins they hold (or do not hold.)

I'm now asking every participants the same question:

- Do you mind to tell us which percentage of your net worth and/or liquid assets you hold in Bitcoins ?

Hi, thank you for your question. The answer is around 25% of my liquid assets are in Bitcoins.

[petersonpriest]

Hi, Luis.

The Fermat framework looks very promising, but, I think is a little complex to understand for the common user.

Which benefits I'll have, as an end user, using any app or platform working under the fermat framework?

Thanks in advance.

[nelsonalfo]

Hi Luis Fernando!

For what I can see, is REALLY big and amazing both, the idea and the platform itself, but I have some doubts/questions:

- In which mobile platforms Fermat is going to be available at first?

- How are you going to manage the theme of storage in mobile devices for the resources that are going to be downloaded from the platform? Because at being so big and having the possibility of install any number of wallets and plug-ins associated with them, how you make sure that the app is not going to transform in the Facebook app, that eats a lot of disk space in a phone?

- Will I have the chance to select which plug-ins stay in my device? Can I deactivate them or uninstall them o even install other for a installed wallet?

- I understand that the list of available wallets are going to be determined by the region or the place where I am, right?

- How you're going to offer this product to the people? Through the Play Store?


Well, that's all, thanks!

[LuisFernandoMolina]

Hi, Luis.

The Fermat framework looks very promising, but, I think is a little complex to understand for the common user.

Which benefits I'll have, as an end user, using any app or platform working under the fermat framework?

Thanks in advance.

Hi, good question!

In general, the benefits you will have as an end user just for using APPs and Wallets on top of Fermat are the following:

1 – Both crypto currency and digital assets you have are at your device, meaning you have control of the private keys and not third parties. This means that:

* You don't need to trust a third party your private keys.
* Nobody can freeze your funds or digital asset holdings.
* Nobody can know how much crypto currency or digital assets you have.

2 – The communication between APPs or Wallets running on top of Fermat on different devices is point-to-point encrypted and doesn't go through any trusted third party. They go through the Fermat P2P Network. This means that:

* Nobody can censure the use of your preferred Fermat APPs or wallets, because they are decentralized.
* Nobody can spy on your communications and know what APPs or wallets you are using or in which way.

3 – In Fermat you can define a private network of devices you own and they will be automatically synchronized. This means that:

* If a device is lost or stolen you can have access to your funds and assets from the other devices within your private network.
* You can eject a lost or stolen device from your private network at any time. You can also add more devices in any number.
* You don't need to manually back up private keys anymore, as they are synchronized within your private network.
* You don't need cold storage anymore, if you loose your device or if your device is hacked only pocket money is at risk, the rest of your funds are under a multi-sig vault. The keys are spread within your private network and nobody knows which devices are part of it.

4 – If you use branded-wallets chances are that you are going to receive free digital assets issued by the brand who owns the wallet you are using. These free digital assets might be: coupons, vouchers, discounts that you can go and redeem at whatever redeem points this brand set up.

5 – Within Fermat you can create multiple identities to present yourself to the rest of the users of Wallets and APPs on Fermat. All of them are pseudonymous, meaning that they are not tied to anything traceable like your mobile number, Facebook profile, email or similar. This gives you as an end user the ability to choose the privacy level that best works for you on an identity by identity basis. Identities are managed outside of wallets and APPs so as to prevent even Wallets or APPs developers to DE-anonimize your identities.

All the above benefits are just by using Fermat APPs and wallets. On top of them you have the specific benefits each Wallet or APP provides to you.

[LuisFernandoMolina]

- In which mobile platforms Fermat is going to be available at first?

The first platform we are targeting is Android. In this platform we are quite advanced. Besides this, most of Fermat code is portable, only the bottom most and the upper most layers are OS dependent.

[LuisFernandoMolina]

- How are you going to manage the theme of storage in mobile devices for the resources that are going to be downloaded from the platform? Because at being so big and having the possibility of install any number of wallets and plug-ins associated with them, how you make sure that the app is not going to transform in the Facebook app, that eats a lot of disk space in a phone?

Good question. The end users decide which Wallet or APPs to install. By doing so, is up to them to decide which wallets or APPs are worth the amount of space required.

[LuisFernandoMolina]

- Will I have the chance to select which plug-ins stay in my device? Can I deactivate them or uninstall them o even install other for a installed wallet?

End users controls what products they want to install: APPs and Wallets. Thes APPs and Wallets depends on a specific set of Plug-ins. The administration of plug-ins in automatically done by the Framework and the end user doesn't know or cares of what is happening underneath.

So the answer is no. You cannot replace individual plug-ins for others as an end user in the same way you can not change as an end user what plug-ins a Wordpress site is running.

[LuisFernandoMolina]

- I understand that the list of available wallets are going to be determined by the region or the place where I am, right?

Hi, not really. On the wallet store you can search for wallets that are accepted nearby (meaning that the digital assets issued by the publisher of that wallets are accepted nearby) but you can also download whatever wallet you like no matter where you are.

[LuisFernandoMolina]

- How you're going to offer this product to the people? Through the Play Store?

Hi, I wouldn't present Fermat as a product. Fermat is like an extension of the OS that enables the installation and execution of distributed financial application (including wallets). The real products are the APPs and Wallets running on top of Fermat.

Fermat for Android will be available at both the Play Store and at www.Fermat.org site.