Latest news with #gatedcommunities
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Malay Mail
From ‘angkat ketiak' to ‘jalan terus', why I'm all in for plate recognition (if we do it right) — Henry Kau MS
JULY 28 — I went to a shopping mall yesterday and realised something strange about myself. I've started picking where to park based on whether I have to 'angkat ketiak' to tap my card at the boom gate. If I can just drive in and out without winding down the window or reaching for anything, that place gets an automatic five-star experience in my book. It sounds petty but it's real. The smallest frictions, like rolling down windows in the rain, mis-taps, or low card balances, shape how we move. That's why number plate scanning tech, officially known as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), the kind that lets you glide through without touching anything, has quietly become one of the most useful things we've adopted. You'll find it in more places now. Some malls use it. So do gated communities. PLUS is running pilot lanes with it on selected highways. But none of them talk to each other. The rollout isn't uniform but it's already changing how people experience everyday movement. Before all this, we were always tapping. Always queueing. Always wondering if the sensor would work, or whether we had enough credit loaded. I once had to email a car park operator to prove I'd actually exited, because the gate didn't record it. That's the kind of mess this technology solves in seconds. Sure, we have RFID, and yes, it links to an app and gets the job done, but it still needs a third thing: the tag and the e-wallet. ANPR doesn't. Your plate is the ID. The system sees it, matches it to your account, and charges you directly. It also has better detection rates. Now, I can drive in and out without thinking twice. The charges appear in the app. Receipts are there if I need them. The process fades into the background, which is exactly where it should be. Clean, fast, forgettable. I've started picking where to park based on whether I have to 'angkat ketiak' to tap my card at the boom gate. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin But for it to work at scale, we need more than just scattered upgrades. We need a proper system that links everything together, one that gives users a single view of their movements, payments, and any issues that come up. Right now, every mall, toll road, and operator is doing their own thing. As a technologist and, most importantly, a regular Malaysian who loves to drive, I find it hard to ignore how disjointed this still is. We've adopted the hardware, but not the logic of an ecosystem. The potential for smarter integration is sitting right there, not just smoother tolling, but safer roads, easier tracking, and real-time billing. Other countries have figured this out. Like in the UK, there's a national database that supports everything from traffic enforcement to congestion charges. In Singapore, you don't need physical tags or cards, the gantries pick up your plate, calculate the charge based on road conditions, and send you the bill. Parking is seamless. Disputes can be filed in-app. It all works because the systems are designed to speak to each other. We don't need to copy those models exactly but we should be asking the same questions. Why isn't there a single place to view our logs? Why can't we contest a wrong charge instantly, and perhaps, in a centralised system? Why are we still managing five separate platforms for things that involve the same car and the same road? This tech could do more than open gates, it could help track stolen vehicles, monitor congestion, prevent overstays at EV chargers, or simplify entry into restricted areas. But none of that matters if the ecosystem is fragmented and the user is locked out of their own data. We're already being scanned, that part is done. The next step is giving people access, to their movement history, to billing clarity, to some level of control. Without that, it risks becoming just another black box that works until it doesn't. Until then, I'll keep judging malls by how often they make me 'angkat ketiak'. * This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gated Communities Are Actually Great for Crypto—Marc Vanlerberghe
For more than a decade, the crypto industry has championed decentralization, transparency, and self-sovereignty. These principles are noble—and in many ways, essential. But, if we're honest, they haven't yet translated into broad, mainstream adoption. The dream of billions of people using blockchain every day is still largely that—a dream. To make it reality, we need to rethink how we build and deliver blockchain-powered experiences. One of the biggest hurdles is usability. The current dominant interface to blockchain —non-custodial wallets—remains too complex for the average person. Managing private keys, writing down 24-word seed phrases, buying native tokens just to perform transactions, navigating multiple chains, bridging assets, KYC'ing repeatedly for each app, and figuring out how to convert crypto to fiat and back. This is not a user experience built for the mainstream. We often ask ourselves why Web3 hasn't 'crossed the chasm.' The answer may be simple: most people don't want to know they're using a blockchain. And frankly, they shouldn't have to. This is where 'gated communities' come in. I use the term gated communities to mean, simply, 'urban planning.' A nice setup that is easy to navigate, offers comfort, security, and curated experiences. And in the case of a neighborhood, yes, also behind a protective layer of some kind. In crypto, gated communities are platforms that abstract away blockchain complexity while retaining its benefits. These environments give users seamless, Web2-style interfaces while the blockchain does the heavy lifting in the background. Custodial wallets, centralized interfaces, and trusted intermediaries are the gatekeepers—not to restrict access to only a special few, but to reduce friction for all. Critics argue this betrays the ethos of decentralization ('not your keys, not your coins'). But this overlooks the broader opportunity: to onboard millions, even billions, of users through intuitive experiences that build real value and solve real problems for users. Not everyone will start their crypto journey managing a cold wallet. Many will begin inside a safe, guided, user-friendly 'gated' experience—and that's okay. We can see this with dApps that successfully serve non-crypto natives. In the U.S., is quietly transforming real estate investing by using blockchain behind the scenes while delivering a simple, intuitive experience for traditional investors. Users can buy fractional ownership in income-generating properties for as little as $50, receive rental income automatically, and resell their shares at any time. What's notable is that Lofty doesn't attract the typical crypto crowd—it appeals to mainstream real estate investors who want passive income without the legal paperwork, title transfers, or tax headaches typically involved in managing properties. Renters can gradually invest in the property they live in, reducing their monthly rent as their equity grows—eventually becoming full owners. Blockchain enables flexibility and trust; but the user experience is pure Web2 simplicity. On the other side of the world, in Kabul, HesabPay enables women to buy food and supplies at local shops using simple plastic cards and SMS confirmations. These transactions settle instantly on-chain, providing transparency and traceability to NGOs and donors. But for the women using them, it's just a card—not a crypto wallet. They never had a bank account and probably will never need one. That's what success looks like: real-world utility without a steep learning curve. In Italy, home renters can buy 'tokenized' solar panels through Enel's blockchain-enabled app—even if they live in apartments or can't install anything physically on their roof. The app tracks the energy generated by those panels elsewhere and deducts it from the user's electricity bill. The blockchain ensures automatic accounting and real-time settlement; the user experience is intuitive, app-based, and familiar. In online chess, players can now earn rewards for participating in games, tournaments, or contributing to the community—without ever knowing that the loyalty points they're collecting are blockchain tokens. Worldchess, the official organizer of the FIDE Grand Prix, has launched a blockchain-based rewards program that allows players to accumulate and redeem points simply by playing and engaging. The underlying infrastructure ensures transparency and portability, but for the users, it feels like any other modern loyalty program. The technology is invisible—the experience is seamless. These examples demonstrate that blockchain is not a product. It's an infrastructure layer. And like all great infrastructure, its job is to disappear. Over time, we believe these gated communities will serve as ramps—onboarding users gradually into more decentralized, self-sovereign experiences. But to get there, we need a new generation of tools that marry user control with ease of use. Self-custody will evolve. Social recovery mechanisms (like those being developed by the DeRec Alliance) will make it possible to recover wallets without remembering seed phrases. Verifiable credentials will let users carry their identity securely across apps and services, enabling one-time KYC that persists across platforms. And complete fee abstraction will mean users never need to touch native gas tokens unless they want to. You'll sign in and approve transactions with your fingerprint, and access any app without even realizing you're interacting with a blockchain. That's the path forward: a world where the blockchain fades into the background, and delightful, safe, user-centric experiences come to the fore. If we're serious about mainstream adoption, we must stop building for crypto-native users alone. The future belongs to builders who can merge the best of Web2 design with the power of Web3 infrastructure—without making users choose between them. Gated communities are not the end-goal. But they are the best way to get millions of people in the door. And once they're in, we can invite them to explore everything else that the open world of blockchain has to in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
