The age of CRISPR

"In early 2005 Rodolphe Barrangou and Philippe Horvath were staring at some very odd bits of repeating genetic code on a computer screen in France. The sequences came from Streptococcus thermophilus, a bacterium that, like other bacteria, often skirmishes with viruses. Rumour had it that these sequences of DNA might help bacteria gain the upper hand in the fight. If they did, the researchers wanted to know all about it. S. thermophilus is one of the microbes used to make yogurt. Stopping it from falling prey to viruses would save Danisco, the foodmaker they both worked for at the time, millions of euros.

They compared the strange sequences from varying strains of S. thermophilus which were resistant to different viruses. In every case, the bits of DNA between the repeated sequences were identical to DNA from the virus to which that strain of bacterium was resistant. The researchers then took bits of DNA from a specific virus and stuck them in between the repeats in a non-resistant strain of S. thermophilus. Remarkably, the strain became resistant. It seemed as if bacteria which survived a viral attack kept chunks of the attacking virus’s DNA in their own genomes. These functioned as a rogues’ gallery in preparation for future fisticuffs: if the same piece of DNA were seen again, the cell would know it was under attack.

The discovery of this bacterial immune system was big news for the dairy industry, which suddenly had a new way to select bacteria based on desired immunity. Such strains are now the norm in most yogurt and cheese production, a nice commercial pay-off for microbiology. But in 2012 Emmanuelle Charpentier at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and Jennifer Doudna at the University of California in Berkeley took the practical implications of the work much further. The strangely Clustered, Regularly Interspaced, Short Palindromic [1] Repeats, or CRISPR, could be hacked to make cuts at precise sequences in the genome of any organism: yeast, fish, pigs. Or humans.

Their technique worked by introducing into cells the means of making a protein called Cas9—responsible for making cuts in DNA—and a piece of CRISPR-like RNA that tells it which bit to cut. RNA, like DNA, carries a sequence of “bases”, and if you know a particular sequence of DNA you can easily design a “complementary” sequence of RNA to put at the end of a piece of CRISPR RNA to which Cas9 will attach itself. When the RNA-plus-protein mechanism finds the matching piece of DNA in the cell’s genome, Cas9 makes its cut.

The beauty of imperfection

From there CRISPR takes advantage of the cell’s DNA-repair mechanisms. Because cells usually fix damaged sequences imperfectly, the repair process often “knocks out” the targeted gene. This ability to knock out genes sits behind the first wave of CRISPR medicines advancing towards clinics. More sophisticated techniques which make precise edits, or insert new sequences, are now commonplace in labs, and will migrate into clinics as well as seed companies and farms.

Manipulating genes to correct diseases or improve crops are not new ideas. But (especially in medicine) earlier technologies struggled due to being unsafe or prohibitively cumbersome. Building a gene editor took months. With CRISPR even high-schoolers can get hold of editing systems in the time it takes to order RNA sequences online and have them shipped by FedEx.

In a short while this technology has been adopted by pharmaceutical giants and become ubiquitous in laboratories, spawning biotechs and inspiring innovations that may prove still more powerful. Governments are tweaking regulations to exploit its potential.

Everything about the technology screams “world-changing”. CRISPR offers ways to achieve biological goals—not just medical goals like curbing heart disease, but also agricultural and environmental goals—in ways never before dreamed possible. As yet, though, the world seems largely unchanged. Might CRISPR fall prey to the same pitfalls and disappointments as its predecessor technologies? Or is the transformation it promised within scientists’ grasp? This Technology Quarterly will offer answers to these questions." [2]

1. Palindromic means something reads the same forward and backward, like the word "madam" or the number "121".

2.  The age of CRISPR. The Economist; London Vol. 454, Iss. 9437,  (Mar 1, 2025): 3, 4. 

 

Kaip susikurti savo „Memecoin“

 

 „Sukurti savo skaitmeninę valiutą nėra sunku. Tačiau yra teisinių spąstų, dėl kurių galima lengvai padaryti klaidų.

 

 Skaitmeninė valiuta Bitkoinas buvo sukurta daugiau, nei prieš 15 metų. Vargu ar kas gali suskaičiuoti, kiek yra kriptovaliutų. Crypto.com nurodo, kad šis skaičius yra daugiau, nei 25 000. Tuo tarpu savo skaitmenines valiutas kuria daug daugiau ar mažiau žinomų žmonių: influenceriai, sportininkai ir net Amerikos prezidentas Donaldas Trumpas.

 

 Šios valiutos dažnai kuriamos pramogai ir kriptovaliutų bendruomenėje vadinamos „memecoins“: Pats terminas „meme“ kilęs iš interneto, o dabar tapo popkultūros reiškiniu: memai iš esmės yra vaizdai su tekstu, kurie paprastai komentuoja situaciją humoristiniu ar satyriniu būdu. Priešingai, nei nusistovėjusios skaitmeninės valiutos, turinčios gilų techninį pagrindą arba naudingų funkcijų, memekoinai dažniausiai yra nenaudingi. Jų vertė pagrįsta tam tikra bendruomeniška dvasia, ažiotažu ir daugybe spekuliacijų. Dėl šios priežasties daugelis „memecoinų“ dar vadinami „šūdkoinais“.

 

 Jei vis tiek norite dalyvauti ir patys susikurti memecoin – ar tai būtų pramoga, ar dėl to, kad tikitės patys užsidirbti daug pinigų – tam tikras elementarus techninis supratimas nėra trūkumas.

 

 Šiuo metu iš esmės yra dvi pagrindinės blokų grandinės, kuriose veikia trečiųjų šalių skaitmeninės valiutos: Ethereum ir Solana.

 

 Galų gale skirtumus galima supaprastinti į du dalykus: „Ethereum“ siūlo sudėtingesnes skaitmeninės valiutos sąlygas, tačiau operacijos išlaidos yra didesnės.

 

 Kita vertus, „Solana“ yra nebrangi, žaibiška, jos mokesčiai mažesni ir yra lengviau padidinti skalę.

 

 Yra ir kitų blokų grandinių, tokių, kaip „Binance Smart Chain“ ar „Polygon“, tačiau šiuo metu jos turi mažiau vartotojų.

 

 Šiais laikais jums nebereikia mokėti programuoti, kad sukurtumėte savo monetą, net jei programos kodas nebėra labai sudėtingas. Pagrindinės funkcijos gali būti sukurtos, naudojant tik penkias programavimo kodo eilutes. Nemokama „Open Zeppelin“ programa „Wizard“ šį kodą įrašo automatiškai, kai tik sugalvosite keletą dalykų: pavyzdžiui, pavadinimą „Petro gimtadienio moneta“, santrumpą „PGM“ ir kiek monetų turėtų būti pabaigoje.

 

 Tačiau yra daug daugiau galimybių: pavyzdžiui, kiek skaitmenų po kablelio turi turėti kriptovaliuta (tai nulemia, kiek ji turi būti išsami), kas turėtų kontroliuoti operacijų skaidrumą, ar vartotojai turėtų turėti galimybę patys sunaikinti savo skaitmenines monetas – tai taip pat gali turėti įtakos vertei.

 

 Be to, galima pagalvoti, kaip monetos turėtų būti išdalintos žmonėms. Galimybės yra įvairios ir kviečia su jomis žaisti. Nustačius šią informaciją, žetonas turi būti sukurtas ir įkeltas į jūsų piniginę. Open Zeppelin taip pat padeda tai padaryti. Čia turite pasirinkti tinklą ir pateikti savo skaitmeninę valiutą. Tada gausite adresą iš tinklo, tačiau prieš kitiems pasitikėdami Petro gimtadienio moneta, žetonas turėtų būti patikrintas platformoje, pvz., Etherscan, kuri tikrina kodą.

 

 Tada ateina sudėtingoji dalis: sukurti likvidumą. Kad kiti galėtų prekiauti su žetonu, turi būti kažkokia vertė. Šiuo tikslu pačiai monetai sukuriamas likvidumo fondas. Tai iš esmės susideda iš dviejų krūvų: 1 krūvoje yra gerai žinoma kriptovaliuta, tokia, kaip Solana arba Ethereum, o 2 krūvoje yra naujas memecoin. 1 krūvos dydis lemia 2 krūvos vertę. Tai reiškia, kad norint, kad „Petro gimtadienio moneta“ būtų iš tikrųjų prekiaujama, į 1 krūvą reikia įdėti didelę sumą nustatytos skaitmeninės valiutos. Vienas Ethereum vienetas šiuo metu kainuoja 3 310 dolerių, taigi, jei norite įnešti monetą su 100 eterio, tai kainuos daugiau, nei 300 000 dolerių – iliuzija visiems, kurie jau ilgą laiką neprekiauja skaitmeninėmis valiutomis.

 

 Nepaisant to, yra teisinių spąstų. Kai tik žetonas bus vertinamas, kaip perleidžiamas vertybinis popierius, „turėtų būti parengtas vertybinių popierių prospektas viešam siūlymui ir jį išnagrinėtų BaFin“, atsakydamas į F.A.Z. prašymą, nurodė Vokietijos Federalinis finansinių paslaugų biuras. „Kalbant apie memekoinus, dar reikia ištirti, ar jie atitinka kriptovaliutų turto apibrėžimą pagal MiCA direktyvą“, – taip pat sakė atstovas. Tai taip pat taikoma memecoin savininkų teisėms. Gali praeiti šiek tiek laiko, kol išeisime iš šios teisinės pilkosios zonos.

 

 Todėl daugumai žmonių, bent jau šiuo metu, memecoins yra techninis triukas tiems, kurie gali susidoroti su skaitmeninėmis valiutomis. Kur gali nuvesti šis žaidimas, jei nesupranti, ką darai,  rodo influencerės Haliey Welch pavyzdys. Gruodžio pradžioje ji išleido savo memecoin „Hawk“. Rinkos kapitalizacijai pasiekus 490 mln. dolerių, tą pačią dieną ji sumažėjo iki 40 mln. Investuotojai apkaltino Welch sukčiavimu, todėl Welch komandai buvo iškelta byla. Pati influencerė pareiškė: „Aš į šią situaciją žiūriu labai rimtai“. Ji pabrėžė, kad dirbs su aukų advokatais, kad išaiškintų tiesą, ir neigė ką nors žinojusi apie bet kokį tariamą sukčiavimą. Nuo tada Welch dingo iš jos socialinės žiniasklaidos kanalų. Tai rodo, kad užsidirbti daug pinigų su savo Memecoin nėra taip paprasta." [1]

 

  
 1. So erstellt man sich selbst einen "Memecoin". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 24 Jan 2025: 29.   Von Franz Nestler, Frankfurt
 

How to create your own "memecoin"

"It is not difficult to create your own digital currency. But there are legal pitfalls that you can easily fall into.

 

The digital currency Bitcoin was created more than 15 years ago. Hardly anyone can count how many cryptocurrencies there are. Crypto.com puts the number at more than 25,000. Many more or less famous people are now creating their own digital currencies: influencers, athletes and even the American President Donald Trump.

 

These currencies are often created for fun and are referred to as "memecoins" in the crypto community: The term "meme" itself comes from the Internet and has now become a pop culture phenomenon: memes are basically images with text that usually comment on a situation in a humorous or satirical way. In contrast to established digital currencies, which have a deep technical background or useful functions, memecoins are mostly useless. Their value is based on a kind of community spirit, hype and a lot of speculation. This is also why many "memecoins" are also called "shitcoins".

 

If you still want to take part and create a memecoin yourself - whether for fun or because you're hoping to make a lot of money yourself - a little basic technical understanding is not a disadvantage.

 

There are currently two major blockchains on which third digital currencies run: Ethereum and Solana.

 

The differences can ultimately be simplified into two points: Ethereum offers more complex conditions for a digital currency, but the transaction costs are higher.

 

Solana, on the other hand, is inexpensive, lightning fast, the fees are lower and the scalability is higher.

 

There are other blockchains, such as the Binance Smart Chain or Polygon, but these currently have fewer users.

 

Nowadays you no longer have to be able to program to create your own coin, even if the program code is no longer very complex. Basic functions can be created with just five lines of programming code. The free Wizard program from Open Zeppelin writes this code automatically as soon as you have thought of a few things: for example, a name like "Peter's birthday coin", an abbreviation like "PGM" and how many coins there should be in the end.

 

But there are also many more possibilities: for example, how many decimal places the cryptocurrency should have (this determines how detailed it should be), who should have control over it, how transparent the transactions are or whether users should be able to destroy their digital coins themselves - also something that can influence the value.

 

You can also think about how the coins should be distributed to the public. The possibilities are varied and invite you to play around. After setting up these details, the token must then be created and uploaded to your own wallet. Open Zeppelin also helps with this. Here you have to select a network and provide your own digital currency. You then receive an address from the network - but before others trust Peter's birthday coin, the token should be verified on a platform like Etherscan, which checks the code.

 

Then comes the difficult part: creating liquidity. Because in order for others to trade with the token, there must be some kind of value. For this, a liquidity pool is created for your own coin. This basically consists of two stacks: Stack 1 contains a well-known cryptocurrency, such as Solana or Ethereum, and Stack 2 contains the new memecoin. The size of Stack 1 determines the value of Stack 2. This means that in order for "Peter's birthday coin" to actually be traded, you have to put a large amount of established digital currency into Stack 1. One unit of Ethereum currently costs $3,310, so if you want to deposit the coin with 100 Ether, this will cost more than $300,000 - illusory for anyone who hasn't been trading in digital currencies for a long time.

 

Regardless of this, there are legal pitfalls. As soon as the token can be seen as a transferable security, "a securities prospectus would have to be drawn up for a public offering and examined by Bafin," the German Federal Office of Financial Services said in response to a request from the FAZ. "With regard to memecoins, it remains to be examined whether they meet the definition of crypto value according to the MiCA directive," a spokesperson also said. This also concerns the rights of the owners of the memecoin. It may take some time to get out of a legal gray area here.

 

Therefore, for most people, at least at the moment, memecoins are a technical gimmick for those who can deal with digital currencies. Where this gimmick can lead if you don't understand what you are doing, is just one example of influencer Haliey Welch. She launched her memecoin "Hawk" at the beginning of December. After the market capitalization reached 490 million dollars, it fell to 40 million dollars on the same day. Investors accused Welch of fraud, and a lawsuit was filed against Welch's team. The influencer herself stated: "I take this situation very seriously." She emphasized that she was working with the lawyers of the victims to bring the truth to light and denied knowing anything about any alleged fraud. Since then, however, Welch has disappeared from her social media channels. This shows that it is not that easy to make a big profit with your own memecoin." [1]

  
 1. So erstellt man sich selbst einen "Memecoin". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 24 Jan 2025: 29.   Von Franz Nestler, Frankfurt