Inverting The Pyramid

Category: Crypto

Talks about Crypto, Blockchain

  • Solutions to the Trilemma (BT.2)

    Picking up from the last post let’s look at some of the solutions to this trilemma. All solutions try to optimize one or more of the 3 elements- decentralization, security, and scalability.

    One solution comes from optimizing the nodes. But first, what is decentralisation?– Blockchain networks like Bitcoin are designed in a decentralized nature such that there is no central authority, organization, or body in charge of network functioning. The network layer is available for anyone who wants to participate in the Blockchain. Thus the control of the network is fully distributed among participants rather than a single entity. Everyone on the Blockchain has access to the data on the chain, and if anyone tries to change the functioning or records to cheat, the participants have the vote to reject the data found at fault. Let’s take the example of the Bitcoin network to avoid technicalities in understanding decentralized architecture. No third party controls the Bitcoin network, unlike the traditional financial system in conventional banks. The third-party controls record to ensure that data is managed correctly and that transactional parties keep their transaction records safe.

    On the other hand, the Bitcoin Blockchain allows everyone on the chain to access the data and cross-check transactional records before these records are added to the digital database. This way, Blockchain technology creates a system without intermediaries to control the network and enforce trust between participants. However, transaction time increases in Blockchain networks as all the participants on the chain do data validation, and sometimes it can be slow due to how data is processed and shared on the Blockchain. (Source: https://www.blockchain-council.org)

    In a typical blockchain, all the nodes should be full nodes i.e. all nodes should have a complete independent replica of the chain and validate blocks and transactions. This is key to the chain being truly trustless and decentralized. We have already seen that since a blockchain, unlike an internet database is an append-only architecture, with time it becomes too large to have lots of nodes committing that kind of disk space. (for eg: a node of blockchain required about 400GB of disk space as per Statista, by mid-2022). To overcome this developers have come up with a solution where in instead of a full node you have a lightweight or partial node. Such nodes only keep the block headers instead of full blocks, to save on disk space but of course at the cost of decentralization (optimization problem..remember?). It is desirable to have more full nodes than light nodes in a blockchain. There are other variants and all types of terms which are some variant of a light node- such as Pruned Node, Sharding, etc. In the next one we will look at some other such solutions.

  • The Blockchain Trilemma (BT.1)

    BLockchain Trilema

    Like most things in life, Blockchain too has an optimisation problem which is known as the Blockchain Trilema. What is the problem?

    The blockchain trilemma is the concept that decentralization, security and scalability can’t all be represented in one blockchain. The term blockchain trilemma was coined by Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum. Developers worldwide are experimenting by applying different scalability solutions and consensus mechanisms, including sharding and state channels.

    The three elements of the blockchain trilemma are decentralization, security, and scalability. The perfect blockchain boasts all three elements, but finding a balance between the three is difficult and presents a problem. For instance, it would be fantastic to have all credit card transactions flow on the blockchain network but why haven’t that happened already? Simply because, while maintaining Decentralisation and Security the Scalability suffers and suffers massively!. For perspective, the most common decetralised & secure blockchain application- the Bitcoin blockchain had a disk size of 406.05 gigabytes on July 10, 2022!!. Just imagine the problems such huge disk and data requirement this poses for Scalability. Every node that you add to the network, thereby improving the network’s security will require that diskspace. It is not easy to have such a distributed large network where every node can spare that kind of hardware resource. Also, it makes things painfully slow. For eg the block time (Time it takes to add a bloick in a blockchain) is about 10 minutes forBitcoin blockchain. Just imagine how slow would it be if we wanted to have all credit card or banking transactions on something like a Bitcoin blockchain.

    Now, ofcourse there are optimisation solutions for this problem. Some possible solutions include sharding, sidechains etc where one can focus on the more critical requirements, while kind of compromising on others. In essence, a simple Blockchain is not the solution to all use cases. Will talk about a few of these solutions in the next one.

  • What is ‘Consensus mechanism’ in a blockchain?

    The consensus mechanism is a crucial component of a blockchain project as it ensures the integrity and security of the network. It is responsible for reaching an agreement among all participants on the current state of the blockchain and the validity of new transactions. This is important for maintaining the trust and reliability of the blockchain network. In essence, consensus mechanisms are what impart the defining characteristics of a particular project/network. There are several types of consensus mechanisms that are used in different blockchain networks, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The two most popular and widely used consensus mechanisms are: Proof of Works (PoW) & Proof of Stake (PoS) – more on them in detail, later.

    This is just a simple primer on the consensus mechanisms I have heard of. I cannot guarantee that all of the below mechanism make sense! But anyways, here they are-

    1. Proof of Work (PoW): This is the most widely used consensus mechanism, and is the foundation of the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks. PoW is a computational process that requires miners to solve complex mathematical problems in order to add new blocks to the blockchain. The first miner to solve the problem gets to add the next block and receives a reward in the form of new coins.
    2. Proof of Stake (PoS): This mechanism allows participants to “stake” or lock up a certain amount of their coins as collateral in order to validate transactions and add new blocks to the blockchain. The validators are chosen based on the amount of coins they have staked, and they are rewarded with transaction fees.
    3. Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS): This mechanism is similar to PoS, but allows token holders to vote for a select group of validators, who are responsible for maintaining the blockchain. DPoS is designed to be more efficient and scalable than PoS, but is also more centralized.
    4. Proof of Authority (PoA) : PoA is a consensus mechanism where a group of validators is pre-approved by the network’s creator. These validators are responsible for verifying transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain, and are often chosen based on their reputation or identity.
    5. Proof of Burn (PoB): In this mechanism, miners burn or destroy a certain amount of their coins in order to prove their commitment to the network. This process is used to determine which miner gets to add the next block to the blockchain.
    6. Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET): This mechanism is specifically designed for permissioned networks, such as consortium blockchains. PoET uses a random wait time to determine which miner gets to add the next block to the blockchain, but unlike PoW, it doesn’t require significant computational power.

    Since the technology is relatively new, new consensus mechanisms are still being developed and experimented with. As you would have heard already, the most common ones are PoS & PoW. More on them in the next post!

  • e-Rupee (e₹) or e-RUPI? (e₹UPI)

    Not being a wordsmith and these 2 are very different things! Short note on what’s what.

    So, first e-Rupee or e-₹; this is what has been the talk of the town for over a month now. Simply put, it is India’s CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) launched by RBI, which is currently undergoing its pilot. {If you still wondering what is that, welcome to the blog and may I implore you to go through last few posts here. I beleive, that will be sufficient for you to gain a decent undertsanding of e₹. }. With e-₹ out of the way, what the hell is e-₹UPI!

    Continuing with our long national tradition of creating clutter as much and wherever possible we have done it again! Jokes apart and to be fair, there wasn’t much room for having a better nomenclature for these 2. Anyways, this Seeta-Geeta business has got more than a handful mixing the two and serving it to people. The very reason I wanted to write on this, was because a few days back I came across this on youtube- https://youtu.be/My5pXiDCtU0 from Mr. Akshat Shrivastava. Great channel, superb content, and 1.35 mn Subs on Youtube alone! 10 days later this video has 304K views and 1500+ comments appreciating the content. The only hitch is that he has got it wrong, confusing e₹UPI as India’s CBDC.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love his content and general take on life but this was a reason enough to make an effort to limit the misinformation. Enough digression, back to the subject.

    e₹UPI was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2nd Aug 2021. Long before the e-Rupee (e₹) came into being.

    So what is e₹UPI? It is something which is intended to bring efficiency to Direct Balance Transfers (DBT) by the goverment. IT uses the UPI infra and hence the name e₹’UPI‘. Below is a simple 6 stage flowchart of how it will work.

    (Ignore the colours, they don’t denote anything)

    The process will start with a government, ministry, or department coming on board as a sponsor for a program. Let’s assume, the Dept of Basic Education for Uttar Pradesh decides to adopt e₹UPI for distributing the money they spend on each student to provide them with Books for each academic year. The department will provide the details of all such student beneficiaries, along with a mobile number, amount, validity, approved vendors etc to the Bank. The Bank’s portal integrated with NPCI, will issue SMS based, UPI-prepaid voucher to each beneficiary. Upon receipt of the voucher, the student can only redeem it at a pre-approved book-seller in the area.

    This is how it is working in the current phase. However, it is expected that in the next phase it will allow for easier vendor selection/appointment and might open up a wider set of institutions to come on board as Sponsors. Imagine a private sector employer wants to reimburse its employees for certain healthcare expenses (eg: COVID vaccination). While the employer doesn’t want to go through the hassle of processing reimbursement but at the same time has to reasonably ensure the money is not spent for other purposes. Such an employer can come on-board e₹UPI and issue vouchers to its employees, who can only redeem their vouchers with Hospitals in their city. It has certain limitations in its current form but I think its benefits far outweigh any limitations. More on this in the next post.

    Basic differences between the two

  • What does the future of e₹ look like?

    An AI engine's output to the text prompt- Central Bank Digital Currency

    Let’s try some crystal gazing with what we know and have seen so far for India’s CBDC.

    Given the limits of my knowledge and imagination, I only see a few use cases where e₹ could have some legit application, at least in the near future. Firstly, I do not see any notable adoption happening for e₹-R. There are no significant benefits that it brings to customers, in a country that has UPI and other such infra in place. So that’s out of the window and we are left with e₹-W. With e₹-W, I could see a few interesting use cases. I am sharing a few to trigger your imagination.

    A. Tax Payments– In the wholesale segment, RBI might offer companies to hold a certain e₹ balance, which can be used to make tax payments back to RBI (for Govt of India). The reason, this seems likely is that with the introduction of TIN 2.0, RBI seems to be ousting banks from the business of handling tax flows. It is a lucrative business for the Banks and all have been investing and developing tools to make it simpler and easier for wholesale customers. With TIN 2.0 however, it appears that the role bank’s have played in this transaction is being reduced. Offering companies an option to maintain an e₹ account to pay taxes might give them a 24hr flexibility and faster realization to RBI. On the other hand, it will have a relatively negligible impact on the corporates. This might pick up since it seems to be the simplest application to implement.

    B. Large value inter-bank transactions– I think the most interesting use cases will emerge in this space. Primarily because- given the quantum, settlement and liquidity risks are at play and e₹ might help mitigate those risks.

    In the world of Supply Chain Finance- often for large exposures Banks enter into what is called as ‘Risk Participation’. In a typical large value setup, one of the banks would also be acting as the ‘Agent Bank’, that is to facilitate the disbursement and repayment to/from the Borrower to/from the participating banks. In the chain of transactions, typically for repayments from the borrower, the participating banks will run a settlement risk on the Agent Bank. If such a transaction happens through CBDC/e₹ teh agreement between banks could be made in such a way as to minimise this elemnt of settlement risk on the Agent Bank. Of course this same logic could be extended to a simpler consortium banking setup as well, to reduce the risk particpating banks run on the consortium leader bank.

    On the other hand, a whole new world of possibilities will open up for large escrow-based transactions, only if a Bank/Fintech could come up with a solution to operate an e₹ account with RBI under an escrow mechanism. Innovation from the private space will be needed since I don’t think RBI will ever be interested in managing such messy setups.

    So may be Escrows will be the way e₹ realises it’s true potential- who knows!

    P.S: Have been trying #ChatGPT and here is its response on the future of CBDCs. As good as almost anyone has to say!!

    Do try, if you haven’t already- #ChatGPT. Also, if you think that e₹ has applications in Direct Benefit Transfer- in my next, I will share why I don’t think so and there is a better solution already available for that.

  • e₹- CBDC- How? Part-3

    e₹- CBDC- How? Part-3

    Significant development since the last post- RBI has been surprisingly on schedule, with the pilot for e₹-R which was kicked off on Dec 01, 2022.

    All hullabaloo around the more public pilot would have raised more, rather than answer questions. Let me contribute to your confusion (remember, the devil is in the details!). So, moving to the third dilemma which Central banks around the world and RBI closer home need to address before this new idea can earn some significance.

    Dilemma No 3RBI’s AnswerRationale
    Should the e₹ be interest bearing or not? e₹ balances will be non-interest bearing RBI wants the e₹ to taste and smell like fiat currency to the extent possible. Since, currency notes (in your wallet or vault) dont earn any inerest, so will be e₹.

    If you don’t see any problem with the above approach, consider the following-

    Why would you hold any significant amount in e₹ balance? Remember, despite RBI’s wish for e₹ to compete with Cash, what it is really up against, is the digital rupee and services such as UPI/IMPS/RTGS, etc.

    On the other hand, if it was an interest-bearing option, it would lead to pricing pressure on commercial banks. In other words, banks will have to offer a higher delta to make their deposits look attractive. If that happens, the Cost of funds for banks will go up, and consequently, the cost of lending too will have to be increased, and there lies RBI’s dilemma. RBI does not want CBDCs to lead to increased cost of borrowing for the industry.

    Moving on, dilemma no 4– If RBI pushes the USP of ‘Finality of settlement’ too much (which btw is the most important feature of e₹) it will in some ways undermine the Banks which RBI has spent so many years developing. The finality of settlement becomes prominent only if there is significant risk perceived in the financial standing of the Commercial banks involved in a transaction. If that is the case, RBI will have a bigger problem at hand. I don’t think they would want to disenfranchise banks that they have worked so hard to build by overplaying the finality of settlement (which btw is only relevant to e₹-W).

    In the next and hopefully the last of this series, I will try to share my take on the future of e₹.

  • e₹- CBDC- How? Part-2

    Picking up from where we left off in the last post. The indirect model
    will pose certain challenges for the e₹-R such as the following:

    1. It will have almost no difference compared to the current rupee in
      digital form (read your account balance in a savings account with any
      commercial bank).
    2. Your e₹ balances will not be updated with RBI in real-time thereby taking away one of the biggest USPs, i.e finality of settlement (the user will run the Settlement Risk in this model).

    To overcome these challenges the model most likely to be implemented for the retail pilot is a Hybrid model. Before you ask what this hybrid model is, let’s see in some detail about all three models- direct, indirect & hybrid.

    AspectDirectIndirectHybrid
    IssuerRBIRBI issues to Intermediary for retail distributionRBI issues to Intermediary for retail distribution
    LiabilityRBIRBIRBI
    OperationsRBIIntermediary Banks/InstitutionsIntermediary Banks/Institutions
    Who maintains the Ledger?RBIIntermediary
    Banks/Institutions    		Intermediary
    Banks/Institutions & RBI
    Settlement Finality YesNoYes
    The Three Distribution Models

    The reason I think a Hybrid model suits better is that the indirect model does away with almost all the benefits that a Retail user might want from e₹. So what is
    even the point? The Hybrid model, simply put is an indirect model with a messaging layer with it. Using this messaging layer, RBI will be able to keep a real-time ledger for each retail user. You can think of this as an e₹ account with a Commercial Bank along with a UPI-like layer to it which will update any transaction with RBI.

    Now, dilemma no 2- this pertains to the token design. Should the e₹ have a token-based design like all major cryptocurrencies or should have an account-based design that enables book-keeping as well?

    Dilemma No 2 RBI’s Answer Rationale
    Should the e₹ have a token-based design or an account-based design Account-Based for the Wholesale segment for
    now and probably it will be Token-based for the Retail segment.     		e₹ should offer the level of anonymity Cash offers. In the retail segment, RBI is trying to achieve lower Cash circulation by introducing e₹. To that end, a token-based e₹ will offer the holder, the right to spend without having to maintain a trail of the transactions.

    This is easier said than done! Such an approach (token-based) will also have lots of decisions to be made- such as whether should there be an amount ceiling for e₹-R, given the anonymity. More in the next post.

  • e₹- CBDC- How? Part-1

    Now the big question-How?

    This is probably a multi-million-billion dollar question. There are so many dynamics at play here to keep in mind that it will require a very careful, deliberate, and intelligent approach to get this right. I will try to cover some of the dilemmas RBI will have and will also share some questions to which we don’t have the answers now. Would love to know your thoughts on this. I will try to make this a series of shorter, bite-sized nuggets.

    Let’s get started with the first of few. I guess you are aware by now that RBI kicked off the first pilot of e₹ with 9 Commercial Banks on the 1st of Nov 2022 (more about it here: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/save/rbi-cbdc-digital-rupee-pilot-to-start-from-november-1-sbi-hdfc-7-other-banks-to-participate/articleshow/95205659.cms).

    We need answers to a lot of different questions before we can begin to visualize how the future looks to be. The larger questions are around the Distribution, Technology, Value proposition, Security, and Privacy of e₹.

    Let’s see what we know and what to expect on these fronts. In terms of the market for e₹, RBI will have 2 avatars of its CBDC- e₹-Retail (e₹-R) & e₹-Wholesale (e₹-W). The pilot is underway for the e₹-W. As mentioned in the last post, under how e₹ is different from the rupee balance you see in your savings bank account (or payment wallet)- it is issued by the RBI and is their liability. Let’s run with that idea for a minute, if RBI decides to allow me & you to have e₹ account, that account needs to be opened with RBI directly! Can you imagine the kind of infrastructure (digital & physical) such an undertaking would require? Also, it would be so redundant, given that for all these years the Govt & RBI have been trying to get Banks to expand their franchise and now by offering e₹ they will essentially be leaving out Banks from the transaction flow. So this is Dilemma No. 1- if to keep the distribution central or distributed

    Dilemma No 1RBI’s AnswerRationale
    Should Distribution be Direct or Indirect?Both; Direct for Wholesale Segment and Indirect for Retail.Wholesale will not require the kind of infra a Retail distribution will need, in terms of Account/Wallet creation, KYC, AML Checks, etc.

    Image Source: RBI’s Concept Note on CBDC

  • e₹..CBDC?.. what’s that!

    CBDC has been a buzzword with RBI kicking off the pilot. I will try to explain the What, Why & How of RBI’s CBDC, which would be true for most CBDCs globally. In this first part, we will explore the What & Why of it and will do the How part in the following post. These posts will mainly refer to the concept document from RBI, released in October 2022 (https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/PublicationReport/Pdfs/CONCEPTNOTEACB531172E0B4DFC9A6E506C2C24FFB6.PDF), because that’s all there is when it comes to e₹.

    The first major mention of e-Rupee was in the Union Budget presented on 01st Feb, 2022. CBDC which stands for Central Bank Digital Currency is a global term used for legal tender issued by a central bank in digital form. e-Rupee is the name given to India’s CBDC.

    Let’s start with Why RBI considered coming up with its own CBDC. I see two primary reasons- the first is to bring about a reduction in cash circulation. Cash management- right from Cost (printing, distribution, etc) to logistics, is a costly and inefficient method that RBI is trying to disrupt (remember demonetization?..eh). The second and more pressing reason I am quoting it right from RBI’s note referred to in the opening para- As of July 2022, there are 105 countries8 in the process of exploring CBDC, a number that covers 95% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 10 countries have launched a CBDC, the first of which was the Bahamian Sand Dollar in 2020 and the latest was Jamaica’s JAM-DEX.
    Currently, 17 other countries, including major economies like China and South Korea, are in the pilot stage and preparing for possible launches. China was the first large economy to pilot a CBDC in April 2020 and it aims for widespread domestic use of the e-CNY by 2023. 

    There is a reason why all countries are lining up in a hurry to come up with their CBDCs and it is what lies at the heart of the Blockchain/bitcoin revolution. The key word here is ‘decentralization’. As you might know, the primary motivation behind blockchain technology was the 2008 financial crisis and the general despise of the public against the ‘System’, which includes Banks- both commercial and central, Governments, etc. Thus, the idea of a decentralized currency was born of which Blockchain is the best-known example. While Bitcoin and many other such cryptocurrencies had a wild run since then, I have held a very strong opinion that no Sovereign will ever allow loss of control over Money! It is probably the most important control they have over the lives of their citizens and they will just not let it happen. Having said that, Blockchain technology will change the world (it already is..). I will save the larger discussion of Blockchain, Bitcoin, etc for another day. So in a nutshell, Governments/Central Banks don’t want a decentralized Crypto to grow which undermines their control. If you read the RBI concept note, there are more than sufficient words dedicated to explaining the oh! so very important functions the central banks undertake and how private cryptocurrencies pose a risk. Hope you can read what’s not spelled out. So that concludes my point on Why.

    Now let’s get to the What part. To understand what is CBDC/e-Rupee better, we should delve a bit into what is Currency/Rupee. Our fiat currency-Rupee acts as the following three-

    •        Store of Value
    •        Medium of payment
    •        Unit of Account

    So any new offering that tries to undertake functions of the Rupee, must fulfill the above 3 roles. I will straight get to the biggest question that I have had when I heard e₹ for the first time and I presume most other people would have the same question as well- How is it different from the money in my Paytm wallet or my savings account balance in my Kotak Mahindra Savings account? The key difference between the two is-

    CBDC is issued by the Central Bank just like the physical rupee, whereas the balances we see in our accounts with Banks or wallets are provided by the Commercial entity we are dealing with. Simply put, the balance in Paytm wallet is as good as Paytm whereas the e₹ is as good as RBI. You can extend the logic to answer your specific case. All other differences stem from this key difference-

    1. e₹ is the liability of RBI whereas others are the liability of their respective institutions. 
    2. e₹ will only carry sovereign credit risk, whereas the other also carries counter-party risks (Settlement risk, solvency risk, etc).
    3. e₹ account will be maintained with the Central Bank whereas the other (digital rupee) is held with commercial banks. (There is one finer point to keep in mind that we will note in the next post on How.  

    Hope I have been able to answer some questions about the Why & What that you had. Will follow up with How, in the next post. 

    Side note- the most unimpressive way to depict an impressive feat is straight from RBI’s concept note:

    Screenshot_20221112_204720

  • What is this Card Tokenisation?

    You would have come across this term ‘tokenisation’ on all e-commerce checkout pages. In case you, like me need some visual anchors to develop understanding and still don’t know what is this card tokenisation- this might help.

    In its bid to improve security of Card transactions, RBI rolled out tokenisation norms on Jan 08, 2019 (Ref: RBI/2018-19/103 DPSS.CO.PD No.1463/02.14.003/2018-19). It came into effect finally on 1st Oct 2022.

    So let’s understand first what is tokenisation. In simplest of words it is sort of having an alternate code generated for your card details so that they can be transmitted from merchant, Payment gateway to Card network more securely. Basically, preventing your actual card details travelling over the network between various entities (Merchant, Banks, Payment Network etc) every time you make a payments.

    Now with the basics out of the way, let try to understand- How does Tokenisation happen?

    The information that every time your merchant transmits through the Payment Gateway includes the following identifiable: Card holder’s name, 16 digit Card no, Expiry/Validity, CVV no, Merchant/platform. Through tokenisation all these information are converted to a single code using an algorithm by process called Hashing (very similar to the world of Blockchains & Bitcoin..more on that in posts later).

    As simple as this!

    One such algorithm is SHA-256; just land on this page https://emn178.github.io/online-tools/sha256.html and have fun with it. If you spend some time playing around you might notice some of the most important facets of this process and why is the world so enamoured by this new tech. Will come back to this later in the post; for now back to tokenisation. Now in the process lets assume, you agree to tokenise a Visa Card with Amazon.in. Amazon will request for the token with the card information that you entered on the website. From now on Amazon will only store the last 4 digits of teh card to help you identify in case of multiple tokens and the Token itself. In short, merchants will no longer store your card details and it will only be available with the issuing bank. The issuing bank will be able to match the token coming in from a merchant with the token they have on file and if both match, the transaction goes through..Simple!

    Now coming back to the features of this Token and what makes it so secure:

    • You can generate token from the card details but you can’t get back the card details from the token; isn’t that fantastic!!
    • A very small change in the input makes a significant change in the token, thereby making it very easy to identify tampering during transmission.
    • Irrespective of the input data, teh output in SHA-256 is always 256 bits long, equivalent to 32 bytes, or 64 bytes in an hexadecimal string format.

    On the first feature, you might ask- well what if someone cracks it. So, hashing is not an encryption hence you can’t decrypt it. It is a simple one way process (hashing is ‘not injective’ is you want to get technical). Even then, let’s say you just love probability so much that you do need a number. So this is how it goes- assuming the output has only nos. and lower case alphabets and you could do a million tries every second, then how long it would take someone-

    36 character in set
    64 number of characters
    1,000,000 attempts/second
    ~315,36,000 seconds/year

    ((36^64)/100000000)/31536000= 12,700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.

    So let’s just agree that it’s pretty secure. Hope this answers some of your questions, feel free to ask if you have more- we will try to find the answers together.