With all the latest developments taking place in the general Crypto market, I would like to talk about something rather interesting that I found while trying to research for projects leveraging the Hedera Network. The below is from a Hedera Introductory Deck from April 2022 (source) and it maps out potential use cases being built on the network.
**EDIT: Alternate link to the source PDF file.
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A few observations:

• For context, there were 16 Governing Councils (apart from Swirlds) at the time of this presentation - Avery Dennison, Boeing, DLA Piper, Deutsche Telekom, Dentons, eftpos, FIS, Google, IBM, LG, Magalu, Nomura, Tata Communications, UCL, Wipro, and Zain.
• Governing Council Members, listed with names, building on the network:
  • Avery Dennison under Data Integrity and Supply Chain (this must be the Atma.io use case)
  • DLA Piper under Security Tokens/ Tokenization (this must be TOKO)
  • Deutsche Telekom is listed under IOT/ Device Data Integrity. Really interesting to see this. Perhaps, DT has been building on Hedera after all. Would be great to find out more on this as well as the current status of this project.
  • eftpos is mentioned three times - under Stablecoins/ Tokenization, Decentralized Identity and Micro Payments. While I understand that these may very well be the same project which falls under all the sections, I am still highlighting all the mentions here for visibility.
  • Tata Communications comes up under the Decentralized Identity section.
  • Wipro also comes up twice - under CBDC/ Tokenization and Decentralized Identity. I remember reading about a potential decentralized Identity use case by Wipro on this sub a few months ago. However, if Wipro is also working on a CBDC project on the Hedera network, it could be HUGE.
• Apart from the above named members mentioned, there are three Hedera GC members listed without their names in the infographic:
  • Two potential use cases involving Hedera Governing Council Member(s) related to Data Integrity. Looking at how these have been placed, it appears that these projects are related to either Content Authenticity, Fraud Mitigation, Health Data Integrity and/or Product Authenticity.
  • One more potential use case involving a Hedera Governing Council Member on a Decentralized Identity project - possibly around Asset Management.
• The image also references multiple Fortune 500 companies building projects on Hedera:
  • Supply Chain - possibly Shipment/ Logistics
  • Payments - possibly Payment Network
  • Decentralized Identity - possibly Credential Management
  • Data Integrity - possibly Content Authenticity

Reading through all these projects is exciting indeed. I find it pretty cool to see most of the council members building on the network; with some potentially working on multiple ideas. However, as with all discussions around potential use cases, it remains to be seen if these projects did go past the POC/ testing stage and when will we start seeing these live on the mainnet. Here's to hoping that we start hearing about at least a few of them very soon!

Reasons why 1998 borns are definitely Millennials

Life stages (these are not objective life stages but just what's going to be used for this analysis):
0-4 = Unconscious child
4-10 = Conscious child
10-18 = Adolescent (child by legality)
18-34 = Young adult
34-50 = Average adult (not needed since this cohort will not reach that stage until 2032)
Life Stage #1: Unconscious child = c. 1998-2002
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They were born during the baby bust birthrate drop during the mid-late 90s. They were also born in the midst of the Clinton administration, along with the Monica Lewinsky scandal, right in the middle of the DotCom Bubble internet boom, during the peak of the 90s prosperity and optimism that the US experienced. They were born during what many would call "the peak of human civilization". They didn't become conscious until George W. Bush was in office and 9/11 had already happened, as well as the War On Terror commencing.
Their unconscious childhood years took place at the turn of the millennium, during the final days of the post-Cold War "End of History" prosperous atmosphere in the United States, along with the launches of the Gameboy Color (1998), and Windows 98 came out the year this cohort was born. The 5th generation of gaming was still the priority as the N64 & PS1 were at its peak, but it was the beginning of the transition into the 6th generation of gaming as the Sega Dreamcast came out (1999 US release, 1998 in Japan), followed by the PlayStation 2 (2000), Nintendo GameCube, Gameboy Advance (2001). Not to mention that Sega dropped out of the console race and Microsoft entered the console race and debuted with the XBOX the same year (2001). Michael Jackson released his final album Invincible (2001). Shows like Dawson's Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Friends were the most popular shows during this timespan, right after Seinfeld had ended the year they were born and the Simpsons also started to suck then too.
In the scale of current events, their unconscious childhood took place during the impeachment of President Clinton (1999), Columbine shooting (1999), optimism/hype for the new millennium, Y2K scare (1999), colloquial turn of the millennium and its respective celebrations (1999-2000), the Bush v. Gore election (2000), the actual turn of the millennium (2000-2001), the inauguration of GWB (2001), the September 11th attacks (2001), Anthrax scare (2001), Afghanistan War and beginning of the War on Terror (2001), TSA & Patriot Act (2001), No Child Left Behind Act (2001), the introduction of the Euro, DC Sniper shootings (2002), Iraq War WMD rumors (2002), and Department of Homeland Security formation (2002). This is a pretty Millennial time to be born, contrary to popular belief.
Age 0 - 1998/1999
Age 1 - 1999/2000
Age 2 - 2000/2001
Age 3 - 2001/2002
Age 4 - 2002
Life stage #2: Conscious child = c. 2002-2008
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They were a conscious child during the Aughts. They became conscious during the post-9/11 pessimistic atmosphere and national patriotism being at an all-time high. Their first vivid memory probably involved something related to WMDs or international affairs in the Middle East in general, or probably watching either Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network or some kids-related program, whether it was Rugrats, Spongebob, Fairly Oddparents, Arthur, Lizzie McGuire, Powerpuff Girls, etc.
They were children during a not so good time in America, let alone the whole world. 9/11 had just happened, and because of that, it caused a huge lockdown on airport security, and it's been that way ever since. Events that happened were the establishment of DHS, DC Sniper attacks (2002), Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, DVD overtaking VHS and becoming the hottest attraction, the birth of social media with MySpace and Facebook (and arguably Friendster), 2004 election, Web 1.0 becoming Web 2.0 (2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005), 7/7 London bombings (2005), Pluto no longer being a planet (2006), Housing bubble burst (2006ish), introduction of Blu-Ray (2006ish), HD-DVD (2006-2008), the commercial death of VHS (2006 officially, 2008 unofficially), the iPhone launch (2007), CRTs being overtaken by HDTVs (2007), and none other than the Great Recession (2007-2009) and Obama v. McCain election (2008).
They were also children during the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom era and the dying days of Pokemon's golden era, as well as the Silver and Bronze ages of Nickelodeon, the golden and silver ages of Cartoon Network (Powerhouse era, followed by the CN City and Fall eras), and the peak of Disney Channel (golden age of DCOMs, peak of Pixar, peak of live action sitcoms). They probably could've went with their parents to see movies like the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Daddy Day Care, The Cat in the Hat, Austin Powers, Are We There Yet?, Cars, etc. They were probably busy on their XBOX playing Halo, GameCube playing Super Smash Bros. Melee, or their PS2 playing GTA San Andreas. Speaking of video games, this was the prime 6th generation of video game consoles, as well as the early days of the 7th generation of video games, thanks to the releases of the Nintendo DS (2004), PSP (2005), Xbox 360 (2005), PlayStation 3 and Wii (2006).
Their childhood would be dominated by the rise of reality TV, thanks to shows like Survivor, The Osbournes, The Simple Life, Pimp My Ride, MTV Cribs, Punk'd, Keeping it Up with the Kardashians, etc. On a side note, in terms of kid shows, they would've been old enough to catch reruns of The Amanda Show and Even Stevens, but young enough for iCarly and Hannah Montana. Perfect age for Drake & Josh and Zoey 101. If they were watching the NBA, they would've witnessed the rise of the 2003 draft class (Lebron, DWade, Carmelo) and the primes of Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant. If they were watching pro-wrestling, would've caught the entire Ruthless Aggression era, and if they watched the NFL, witnessed the Patriots dynasty at work. They would've been some of the last to remember a world before social media and broadband internet. This childhood experience screams Millennial, but specifically second-wave Millennial, a.k.a. "Echo Buster" or "Zillennial".
Age 4 - 2002/2003
Age 5 - 2003/2004
Age 6 - 2004/2005
Age 7 - 2005/2006
Age 8 - 2006/2007
Age 9 - 2007/2008
Age 10 - 2008
Life stage #3: Adolescent = c. 2008-2016
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Their adolescence began during the return of pop music being at the forefront of the mainstream music, thanks to the "electropop" club boom, with the likes of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga leading it. They would've caught the dying days of rock's relevance in the mainstream and emo being relevant. Later on in their adolescence, other musical genres like dubstep, EDM, indie pop, Chicago drill, trap/mumble rap, etc. would dominate. The internet had fully taken over at this point, and technology was at a massive transition at this time. Dial-up internet became fully replaced by broadband, fast-speed internet. Web 2.0 became the norm, social media was officially the norm now with MySpace's dominance, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Vine, Instagram, and Snapchat, most households acquired flat screen HDTVs and gradually got rid of all their CRTs, digital tech would fully replace analog tech, VHS would completely die, Blu-ray peaked during this time and DVDs were still very relevant. This would be the last era of dominance for cable television before streaming would take over. Blockbuster would go out of business thanks to the popularity of Netflix.
On the current event scale, their adolescence began with the 2008 financial collapse (killing off the era of ultra-consumerism and McMansions), a black president taking office, 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike, H1N1 crisis, death of Michael Jackson (2009), Affordable Care Act (2010), death of Osama Bin Laden, Occupy Wall Street, and end of Iraq War (2011), death of fellow 1995 cohort Trayvon Martin (2012) which launched the BLM movement (2013), KONY 2012, Aurora shootings, Hurricane Sandy, and the Sandy Hook shootings (2012), Mayan predictions of the 2012 apocalypse, the Crimean annexation (2013-2014), ISIS (2014), Ferguson riots (2014-2015), legalization of gay marriage in all 50 states (2015), Trump announcing his run for office (2015), Paris attacks (2015), Brexit (2016), and the Trump v. Clinton election (2016).
They grew up during the era of John Cena, Kanye West, Rihanna, Drake, Justin Bieber, Soulja Boy, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Jonas Brothers, Randy Orton, Batista, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Big Time Rush, One Direction, Lorde, etc. Their "coming of age" films probably would've been Easy A, Prom, 21 & 22 Jump Street, The Duff, and the Edge of Seventeen, and especially Diary of a Wimpy Kid would be the best representation of their middle school years in the late 00s-early 10s, as well as the "coming of age" shows like Degrassi, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Glee, 16 & Pregnant, Shameless, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, iCarly, Victorious, etc.
They would've still been old enough to experience COD during its peak from 2009-2013, and would be old enough to be in those Modern Warfare 2 lobbies on Xbox 360 (if you know, you know), as well as being relatively young enough to play some Minecraft in its early stages. They were the prime age of teenagers playing GTA V. Speaking of gaming, they would've been adolescents during the late 7th and early 8th generations of gaming, as gaming started to decline in quality as time went on. This adolescent experience is still pretty Millennial, to be honest.
Age 10 - 2008/2009
Age 11 - 2009/2010
Age 12 - 2010/2011
Age 13 - 2011/2012
Age 14 - 2012/2013
Age 15 - 2013/2014
Age 16 - 2014/2015
Age 17 - 2015/2016
Age 18 - 2016
Life stage #4: Young adulthood = c. 2016-present
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Their young adulthood was very radical, socially speaking. Their young adulthood would witness many social movements like a huge uptick in third wave feminism and women right's movements, #MeToo, a radicalization in political beliefs as things get wackier (think of Matt Walsh's "What is a Woman" for an example, pronouns, men participating in female sports, and woke culture in general), and of course cancel culture being a thing. This was the peak of polarization and everyday people became more divided then ever. Their young adulthood conveniently commenced around the time of the 2016 presidential election, being the youngest members to vote in that election. The Trump administration in itself was very interesting to witness as a young adult. Mass shootings increased with Isla Vista, Orlando nightclub, Las Vegas, and Parkland to name a few. Climate change started to become talked about as a problem or major issue by many political figures and talking heads. Trump would become impeached twice, which was never seen before in a presidency. Their young adulthoods would get even crazier as the Covid pandemic came about, with the threat of WW3, Kobe Bryant dying, BLM at its peak with the death of George Floyd, the infamous 2020 election, vaccine rollout, polarization increasing, Russia-Ukraine wars, death of Queen Elizabeth and coronation of King Charles, rise of AI with the launch of ChatGPT, popularity of NFTs and the rise of the "Metaverse", an incoming recession thanks to the Silicon Valley Bank going bankrupt and the rise of Central Bank Digital Currency with the FedNow releasing in July 2023, etc. And their young adulthood is still ongoing, being that they are currently 24-25 years old.
Since they are still young adults, they are in their "core prominence" and their main influence/impact in the realm of pop culture. Many musical genres like tropical house, EDM, trap, mumble rap, Soundcloud rap, emo rap, melodic rap, drill, bedroom pop, retro pop, and many more, emerged during this time period. Shows like The Middle, Modern Family, The Goldbergs, Empire, Power, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, Cobra Kai, Stranger Things, Riverdale, etc., were/are pretty popular shows and/or cultural powerhouses of entertainment, followed by the MCU. Most of this cohort are still prolonging to have kids but more of them are starting to get married and have kids, so eventually there will be an uptick of them raising families, however, not anytime soon.
Age 18 - 2016/2017
Age 19 - 2017/2018
Age 20 - 2018/2019
Age 21 - 2019/2020
Age 22 - 2020/2021
Age 23 - 2021/2022
Age 24 - 2022/2023 (currently)
Age 25 - 2023 (currently)
Good representations of the 1998 cohort:
MrBeast
Shawn Mendes
XXXTentacion
Brent Rivera
Juice WRLD
Peyton List
Tana Mongeau
Rudy Pankow
Ryan Trahan
Kylian Mbappé
Jaden Smith
Bretman Rock
Jack Harlow
Chloe Bailey
Thomas Petrou
China Anne McClain
Conan Gray
Chandler Hallow
Andre Swiley
Peyton Meyer
Tfue
Maya Hawke
Paris Berelc
Sofia Richie
Niko Omilana
Tanner Buchanan
Roddy Ricch
Aaron Carpenter
Khalid
Zachary Gordon
Robert Capron
Coco Jones
Damar Hamlin
Elle Fanning

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